The Post-Political

The smart ones don't try predicting the future. Richard Seymour is a smart one but this, written last spring is a great example of why prediction can only lead to apology: "Bidenism could establish a broad, post-neoliberal, imperial centre that, short of massively escalated gerrymandering, will marginalise the Right for a long time." Seymour is a Brit and, perhaps, can be excused for not grasping how totally incohate US politics are. Despite Trump he still believes our "Politics" have some basis in reality, or materialism, or can be explained through some logic. It is reasonable to think there must be historical trends, constituencies, popular policies and such, so that a term such as "Bidenism" might make sense. But when David Bryrne wrote "stop making sense" he profoundly intuited the current zeitgeist. It is always tempting to try to instill meaning, to find some deeper layer, but this banal, poorly acted and directed piece of elaborate theater is just that; shitty theater. Ideological rubble long ago buried and suffocated "the politcal". So yes, some sort of "Right" might be marginalized for a few hours or weeks or even months, but, following the immolation of "Bidenism, they (call them conservatives if you need to cling to the old terminology) will rise like the Phoenix and flail for a bit then sputter and collapse. And some new absurdity, maybe what, "Harrisism" will flail for a bit, or "Pete Buttigiegism". Seymour's prediction of "post-neoliberalism" falls into the same category. Whatever new "ism" supplants the current system of thievery and cons, it will be just as tiresome and unimaginative so why continue referencing it as some legitimate expression of new politics?