Legitimization

In a debate taking place between Patrick Bond and Tom Athanasiou on SCNCC list, Bond made this statement: ... The big question from this COP is whether to legitimize or delegitimize the elites. With his request to OPEC buddies to increase the oil pumping, and his failure to get his own party behind his weak climate plan, Joe Biden is helping us move rapidly to the latter. Tom, whom I have debated in the past, finds this point about pulling back the curtain to be nonsensical. I have long argued it is in fact the real task and think it is worth revisiting the work of Jurgen Habermas on legitimization theory to understand the degree to which a hegemonic discourse can be undermined through contradiction. Habermas explains how power that does not depend on coercion must appear legitimate. It is this buy-in by ordinary citizens that upholds the entire ediface of capitalist "democracy" and I think Bond is correct that Biden, following Trump, is whittleing away at the system's legitimacy in the eyes of many. Of course the system (and its dominant narrative) has long been riddled with contradiction: we all hate rich people but we all want to be one. We all know two party "politics" is a farce but we still vote. We all know endless growth is impossible but we still work and shop and invest.The real question is which contradiction breaks the camel's back. When a tool like Biden has to publicly admit "the irony" of pumping more oil while calling for emission reduction you know legitimacy is in play. Of course it is not ironic, it is madness. Lift the curtain high enough and you just see a sad old man who achieved his dream and finds it's a nightmare. Just like a boycot on voting is a radical rupture, not showing up for the COP show would send a message to elites that the Kubuki is no longer entertaining.