More Capitalist "Democracy"

So the DSA wants to try governing. With some electoral wins under their belt and other aligned progressive winning against establishment Dems, they now have their eye on the prize. But as Bernie or AOC have shown us, playing in the arena of capitalist "politics" has a real cost. At its most basic, you have to decide how anti-capitalist-pro-socialist you want to be. You can hedge by talking about Medicare for All but eventually someone is going to bring up Marx- you know, things like ownership and markets and Capital. Already we see the uncomfortable questions around policing and prisons and military budgets.You can give speeches about the working class but at some point the middle class is going to start pressing hard. They are used to a steady supply of treats and anything that smells like austerity will not get hteir vote. On the other hand, Having Trump blather on about communists may actually help to swell the membership, give young folks an option for a political home that isn't run by consultants and corporate donors.The bottom line is this: the struggle for socialism will require more than canvasing and voting. We have seen this movie before and even when there was a massive base of industrial workers, oligarchs found ways to contain and divert populist insurrection. They start wars. They cause recessions. Remember, capital can go on strike as well. One very positive thing this left-wing politicking has done is exposed Zionism to critique, something that was absolute taboo just a few short years ago. The word genocide is now commopn parlance among progressive politicians. Closely followed by the insinuation that Netanyahu talked The Donald into attacking Iran only heightens Israels pariah status. And now AIPAC lost an election it dumped 30 million dollars into, reinforcing the ant-semitic trope of the rich manipulative Jew working behind the scenes. It is hard to imagine a more spectacular fall from grace. What is totally insane is that the average Israeli is apparently stunned at the American reaction. But we are the victims, they cry! The perpetual ever-lasting victims, now matter how grotesque our brutality. This new cadre of left-wing Dem candidates may end up backing down on de-funding police but not on support for Israel while the genocidal Zionist project remains their nationalist ideology. And Netanyahu will remain an irritating thorn in the side of Trump and the Republicans as he throws sand in the gears of any kind of Iran deal. In the meantime DSA Co-chairs are out trying to explain democratic socialism on conservative media. They are having to explain the part of the DSA platform that calls for abolishing the Senate and city owned grocery stores.

More Bill

NBC wants to do a feature segment on the climate so who do they call? Good old Bill McKibben. This speaks to the total void when it comes to new, fresh, climate movement leadership.An article in the Guardian reports that climate activists are tired of being "hushed" and argue talking climate is not a distraction from the "affordability agenda". So what new, exciting strategy has Bill and the young campaigners come up with? " In other districts, organizers have circulated petitions calling on the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, to prioritize climate issues or plan to call on their representatives to connect the climate crisis to recent heatwaves." That ought to put a fire under their asses! You could almost imagine that the fossil fuel industry is funding the whole thing. The "hushing" is something the Searchlight Institue has proposed after polling showed:"While battleground voters overwhelmingly agree climate change is a problem, addressing it is not a priority for them." For these folks, it's a problem, just not one they are willing to risk anything to solve. In other words, it's their children's problem. And while the children should logically be the ones in open revolt, their brains have been donated to tech enchantments. So there you have it. Sclerotic leadership, lazy, boring strategy, and more petitions as the world burns. Bill thinks the super- elNino will kick things into gear. "Many more will have to suffer, many more will have die - don't ask me why". The entire Colorado River system is in crisis mode. Do you hear anything about it? No, but when Jeff Bzos and Leonardo Di Capria give a few million to save species faced with extinction it's on the front page. A few million. C'mon. And now as fires rage across a burning planet, everyone breathlessly awaits the end of the Iran war so we can get oil tankers moving again. Exactly as happened with the pandemic, any slow down in fossil fuel emissions is viewed as a threat to our way of life, something to be avoided at all costs. Upside dwon world!

Which Side Are You On?

Couldn't be much clearer. An email from the local Democrats states: "We are capitalists!" Obviously the recent success of Democratic Socialists running for office has caused some consternation, along with the red-baiting that is now coming out of the White House and Republican headquarters. It always eventually comes down to this; we saw it with Bernie and AOC: how do you talk about capitalism. The local Dems want to insist there is a kinder, gentler capitalism that they are working to achieve. They are both liberal and "progressive". They want to separate political economy into two spheres, claiming they can make the system of liberal democratic capitalism work for everybody. That we can have a modern New Deal where everyone shares in the growth. But this is all a fantasy, as the last seventy years has shown. "Democratic" capitalism is an oxymoron. If you claim to be a capitalist you are claiming allegiance to a class and claiming you will work in the interests of that class. Simple and clear. So it is good they are so out front about where they stand. Now it is up to workers to decide where they stand. As the old John Sebastion song says: Did you ever have to make up your mind? Of course we know that when push comes to shove ( as it will) the Dems will hang the far left out to dry. It's always the damn radicals who spoin their dream of labor peace and the rising tide lifting all boats yada yada. The dream of government of, by and for The People. Of environmental laws that protect the environment. Of justice for all. Yada Yada. Along these same lines of acknowledging the unity of politcal economy, I wish Nate Hagens, who pilots the Great Simplification project, would acknowledge the Marxian critique of Capital when he describes what he calls the "Superorganism". Capital is a superorganism in the way it encompasses systems of law and governance and politics and cutural production along with the economic. He may simply have the same issue Michael Albert has, that it sends the wrong rhetorical signal or there is too much historical baggage with Marx. But we need to give credit where credit is due. Marx saw the catastrophe Nate describes 140 years ago. He predicted "the common ruin of the contending classes" and that the "metabolic rift" with the earth's natural systems would be our civilization's undoing. Capital's Achilles heel. I think Nate is doing great work but it wouldn't hurt to have someone on who could talk about Capital. Just sayin.