As wave after wave of demented Astroturf absolutism crash over Barack Obama, and morons tote AR14s to town meetings, while, at the other end of the rainbow, we on the left feel we are being progressively sold out to a hollow and corrupt center, I still cannot quite bring myself to abandon the president after just a matter of months. My sense of loyalty demands better. It did, however, occur to me that Obama might well be – in the long run of history – playing the role of America’s Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was a communist who eased Russia into a soft landing in the next phase as post-Stalinist socialism disintegrated, and, in the same way, Obama is a capitalist who could well be ultimately smoothing the way to a brave new nation as the foundations of 21st century capitalism crumble and fail.
The only problem is that when the Soviet Union fell, it had a ready-made ideological airbag in the form of its own distorted version of bare knuckle free enterprise, with the Moscow mafia attending the confinement as midwives. As capitalism in the USA ceases to be sustainable, there is no obvious replacement system and it may have to be made up as it goes along. Plainly the most viable bet would be on a form of digital neo-socialism with software substituted for the bureaucracy that was the downfall of so many old-style soviets. Unfortunately, if the recent rightwing shenanigans are an indication, massive destabilizing pressure will be exerted to panic the population into lumpen TV-driven fascism fronting for an authoritarian corporate totalitarianism – Orwell with Twinkies and Twitter. But lets not forget how, in Russia, it took tanks in the streets to make the Evil Empire safe for Pepsi and Burger King. This may not be easy.
Similar sentiments – but without the gonzo flamboyance – are expressed by Robert Kuttner writing in The Washington Post.
“When economically stressed and frightened people are anxious and sullen, you never know who will capture their fears and hopes. In the 1930s, economic anxiety produced leaders as different as Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler. History shows that if the reformist left doesn't offer a plausible story and strategy of reform, the lunatic right will gain ground even with an implausible one. So where are the liberal protesters? The initiative has passed to the know-nothing right for two big reasons.” (Click here for the whole thing.)
The secret word is Transition
The only problem is that when the Soviet Union fell, it had a ready-made ideological airbag in the form of its own distorted version of bare knuckle free enterprise, with the Moscow mafia attending the confinement as midwives. As capitalism in the USA ceases to be sustainable, there is no obvious replacement system and it may have to be made up as it goes along. Plainly the most viable bet would be on a form of digital neo-socialism with software substituted for the bureaucracy that was the downfall of so many old-style soviets. Unfortunately, if the recent rightwing shenanigans are an indication, massive destabilizing pressure will be exerted to panic the population into lumpen TV-driven fascism fronting for an authoritarian corporate totalitarianism – Orwell with Twinkies and Twitter. But lets not forget how, in Russia, it took tanks in the streets to make the Evil Empire safe for Pepsi and Burger King. This may not be easy.
Similar sentiments – but without the gonzo flamboyance – are expressed by Robert Kuttner writing in The Washington Post.
“When economically stressed and frightened people are anxious and sullen, you never know who will capture their fears and hopes. In the 1930s, economic anxiety produced leaders as different as Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler. History shows that if the reformist left doesn't offer a plausible story and strategy of reform, the lunatic right will gain ground even with an implausible one. So where are the liberal protesters? The initiative has passed to the know-nothing right for two big reasons.” (Click here for the whole thing.)
The secret word is Transition
Mick reminds me that it's time to close up the laptop, say fuck you to Twitter, and go outside before the daylight's gone.
ReplyDeleteHave a beer. Get to know your neighbors. Hold a block party. Walk your dog. Buy dinner at a Farmers Market. Join a local volunteer group.
Get local. That's the best defense we have against the corporate effort to destabilize our social building blocks.
Heck, there'll be beer and steaks and dogs. How bad can it be? :)
Option A: Your stereotypical cranky & bitter old neighbor calls the cops & gets three equally stereotypical teenagers arrested for smoking pot while on their walk down the alley...
ReplyDeleteOption B: Somebody hooks up a propane tank improperly & Hank Hill cries because the flaming debris wounded 12 people, permanently disfiguring a child's face & killing 4, not counting the unborn child of a young woman 6 months pregnant, killed in the accident.
Option C: Mutated swine flu destroys all but 3% of the human population after a scientist went insane & released their engineered strain, intent on killing every living human on the face of the planet. A decision made only after discovering that their spouse has been unfaithful to them & having a affair with a life-long neighbor & friend, a discovery made at the block party of course.
Option D: Due to the neglect of sanitation standards in cooking, an infant catches salmonella & is hospitalised. Over the course of a few weeks, the child deteriorates, catches pneumonia & doesn't make it out of intensive care alive. An grievous parent takes to vigilantism & in the cold silence of night, breaches the entrance two doors down on the opposite side of the street, not intent on killing the person they consider responsible for their child's death, rather, administering justice. To make them also endure the loss of a child, albeit a considerably more violent loss. The events that follow make international headlines within 24 hours & become known as the hopscotch murders. Memorials are held & there is constant media coverage for a month and a half, then off and on as the court proceedings take place over the course of three years.
It can be fairly fucking terrible under the right circumstances.
Wow.
ReplyDelete:) I like it. Of course, in our case it was delicious steaks washed down with local beers over good times building bonds with the neighborhood. Then plans made for more fun tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWe all boldly create our own reality.
And those who timidly choose to stay behind? Lurking in the shadows behind their dark anonymity? We wish them well...
LOCAL beer, you say?... ;)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, brewed right behind my house... ;)
ReplyDelete