Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Barack Obama finds out who really holds power

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Barack Obama finds out who really holds power

from Telegraph of the UK. The article provides a good analysis to whom the agents of the ruling class such as Obama and Gordon Brown must appeal in order to win elections. Also good explanation of social-economic class concepts. But the author causes some confusion with her statement, "who really holds power." What the author refers to is the class which both agents must appeal to in order to win elections. Both Obama and Brown know full well who their bosses are and whose interests they really serve. They're both between a rock and a hard place: having to serve their bosses (the capitalist class) while appearing to serve the "middle class".