Economics and Political Theory can never be separated from History.
Friday, September 15, 2017
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Who Are the Aliens?
Capitalism creates aliens. Any sufficiently wealthy person, whether owner of the means of production, the owner of property, or simply the parasitic inheritor, is an alien in the sense that they are removed from the common experience of the rest of society. The more isolated they become from the work of survival, the less like everyone else they are. That is to say, they lose (if they ever had it) the ability to empathize with their fellow humans, and believe that everything they have they deserve; everyone else simply isn't worthy of success due to their own character flaws.
This follow-on effect of capitalism is dangerous, not only because it reflects the unjustifiable hoarding of wealth on the part of a small number of people. But, also because those people, especially after a generation or two, begin to feel like they are different from the rest of the population, better and more deserving, not just because they work harder (which, of course, they don't) but, because they are somehow chosen by God. This is the basis of feudalism and monarchy.
If this seems far-fetched, all one has to do is to look around the US at this moment. People who think this way are already here. The whiny, over-privileged little boy who currently occupies the Oval Office is a prime example. He feels like he deserves whatever he wants, simply because he is who he is. This intense, maniacal gluttony for acquisition is precisely what makes people like this alien.
The seed of alienation is inside all humans, however. Anyone who becomes wealthy, by whatever means, is at risk of this unfortunate fate. We know this, because these people are still just human, with the same biology and underlying psychology as the rest of us. They simply have been poisoned, and transformed into something less than human, something alien.
I say unfortunate because it is a condition that, no matter how wealthy they are, cannot last. Eventually, everyone dies, and they have spent their short lives bent on getting more and more, and it is never enough. They damage society by removing resources that would be better used in some other way than just sitting in their coffers. They poison those around them by infecting them with the same psychosis. They damage themselves because they are never happy.
Capitalism is an alien god, and it creates aliens in its own image. We can do better. We can purge the alien influence on our society and rule ourselves instead. We don't need them, they need us.
This follow-on effect of capitalism is dangerous, not only because it reflects the unjustifiable hoarding of wealth on the part of a small number of people. But, also because those people, especially after a generation or two, begin to feel like they are different from the rest of the population, better and more deserving, not just because they work harder (which, of course, they don't) but, because they are somehow chosen by God. This is the basis of feudalism and monarchy.
If this seems far-fetched, all one has to do is to look around the US at this moment. People who think this way are already here. The whiny, over-privileged little boy who currently occupies the Oval Office is a prime example. He feels like he deserves whatever he wants, simply because he is who he is. This intense, maniacal gluttony for acquisition is precisely what makes people like this alien.
The seed of alienation is inside all humans, however. Anyone who becomes wealthy, by whatever means, is at risk of this unfortunate fate. We know this, because these people are still just human, with the same biology and underlying psychology as the rest of us. They simply have been poisoned, and transformed into something less than human, something alien.
I say unfortunate because it is a condition that, no matter how wealthy they are, cannot last. Eventually, everyone dies, and they have spent their short lives bent on getting more and more, and it is never enough. They damage society by removing resources that would be better used in some other way than just sitting in their coffers. They poison those around them by infecting them with the same psychosis. They damage themselves because they are never happy.
Capitalism is an alien god, and it creates aliens in its own image. We can do better. We can purge the alien influence on our society and rule ourselves instead. We don't need them, they need us.
Friday, August 4, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Fight
The Police were supposed to protect the people from villains, criminals, people who broke the law. The police were supposed to be on our side. "To Protect and Serve."
What happened to that?
Honestly? That was never going to happen. The police in the US, just like the police everywhere else, in every time period, is specifically designed to protect the rich and the powerful. They are intended to keep the rest of us in line.
The laws are written to ensure that the rich can do whatever they want with absolute impunity, or at least with a minimum of obstruction. The laws are written to make sure the rest of us behave ourselves. The laws allow the wealthy to continue to stockpile wealth at the expense of the poor. They allow the wealthy to pay no tax, while the poor foot the bill for the streets and the bridges and the rest of the infrastructure. Fines are punitive for the poor, but merely annoying for the wealthy. Sentencing, whether we want to admit it or not, is based largely upon whether the defendant looks 'respectable' or 'dangerous'.
Beyond that, when the police, the individual members of the police force, decide for themselves that the law has become inadequate, they simply begin killing people they decide are threatening. These people are never the wealthy. The wealthy are the Great Men, the lions of society, the holders of the purse-strings, to whom one prostrates oneself.
The targets, of course, are the poor. Even more, the poor that sit outside the perceived majority. People of color, mostly.
And these individuals build a culture within the whole police force of moving beyond the scope of the law to punish those who are perceived as a threat. And when those people, those threats, fight back, the police take that as confirmation that they were right. So, for the poor, the choice becomes die, or die fighting.
What do you do?
You fight.
What happened to that?
Honestly? That was never going to happen. The police in the US, just like the police everywhere else, in every time period, is specifically designed to protect the rich and the powerful. They are intended to keep the rest of us in line.
The laws are written to ensure that the rich can do whatever they want with absolute impunity, or at least with a minimum of obstruction. The laws are written to make sure the rest of us behave ourselves. The laws allow the wealthy to continue to stockpile wealth at the expense of the poor. They allow the wealthy to pay no tax, while the poor foot the bill for the streets and the bridges and the rest of the infrastructure. Fines are punitive for the poor, but merely annoying for the wealthy. Sentencing, whether we want to admit it or not, is based largely upon whether the defendant looks 'respectable' or 'dangerous'.
Beyond that, when the police, the individual members of the police force, decide for themselves that the law has become inadequate, they simply begin killing people they decide are threatening. These people are never the wealthy. The wealthy are the Great Men, the lions of society, the holders of the purse-strings, to whom one prostrates oneself.
The targets, of course, are the poor. Even more, the poor that sit outside the perceived majority. People of color, mostly.
And these individuals build a culture within the whole police force of moving beyond the scope of the law to punish those who are perceived as a threat. And when those people, those threats, fight back, the police take that as confirmation that they were right. So, for the poor, the choice becomes die, or die fighting.
What do you do?
You fight.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Marxism is Practical Christianity
Marxism is Practical Christianity
This was aimed particularly at Jamaica. But, it holds the same for every place.
This was aimed particularly at Jamaica. But, it holds the same for every place.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Hierarchy-Free Production
"...that it could be managed by any farmer..." That's basic to true collectivism. A system that can be run in a single level, without hierarchy; a truly democratic organization. Direct democracy. That is true Marxism.
Monday, January 9, 2017
The First Principle
Let us never forget: The heart of justice is ownership of the means of production by the workers.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Too Poor to Live
8 million people per year die because THEY ARE TOO POOR TO STAY ALIVE! Fuck capitalism. Fuck capitalists. Fuck capitalist collaborators. This shit has to stop!
The Crisis
In capitalist societies, capitalists come first. More accurately, capitalists' money come first. Above all, the money must be saved! If that means you or I must starve to death, so be it! This is the crisis: humans mean nothing in capitalist society, other than as a means to generate more money. Employee, customer, whatever position the human occupies, she is nothing more than a means to the generation of profit.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Monthly Review on the Nobel Economics Prize
Outland provides us with a link to the Monthly Review article on what is wrong with the Mainstream Western Economics Paradigm.
Five Basic Points
1. It must always be people before government, before party and everything else. Always, the people first. The people are fed before the government. People are defended before the government. The people are cared for in all things before the government, before everything else. If one would work in government, this must be understood above all: the people must always come first.
2. Intellectual life must never be stifled. But, intellectual life must also be in support of the cause of the people. This will be a delicate tension, but it must be maintained. Intellectuals are valuable, and absolutely necessary for the proper functioning of any society.
3. There is no room for naked self-interest. All things for the people, not for oneself. This is paramount. In this way, capitalism is absolutely incompatible. There can be no seeking after one’s own prosperity. Prosperity for the people leads to prosperity for all. This may sound naive, but it is absolutely true, given the chance to manifest.
4. There can never be one leader. All leadership must be collective. It must be built from the ground up, not from the top down. The idea of having a single great leader, a head of state, leads to cultism, or to dictatorship. This removes the people from power, which can never be allowed to happen.
5. Disagreements, rivalries, etc, will always happen. These things are inevitable. However, they must never interfere with the work of the people. Whoever is found to be working for the people must be respected, and disagreements must be resolved, rivalries discouraged. Rivalries are nothing more than competing egos. There is no room for excessive ego in the work of the people.
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