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, July 27, 2017

Is This The Way Capitalism Works or a Sign of Cultural Degeneration?

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog. 

Roberts has a large following among liberals who, like old-fashioned conservatives such as Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, and Roberts do not like today's government and its policies. However, they will go to the ends of the earth to deny that the latter has anything to do with capitalism. No, they always blame bureaucrats, neoliberalism, or as Roberts does in this article by suggesting that it might be due to "cultural degeneration". 

They loved the capitalism as was practiced before and during their youth while ignoring such facts as the imperialist history of the US from 1898 onwards, the numerous massacres by private armies and public militias of union organizers, the seizure of the control of our money by private banking interests, the constant cycle of recessions or depressions since the second half of the 19th century, etc. 

They loved capitalism throughout their careers and, through their services to the government, aided and abetted it by promoting low taxes on the rich and deregulation of corporate operations while being generously rewarded for their services. So, it may be understandable now that they will never criticize the system. Guilt? (Well, to be fair, Roberts with this headline may be starting to question the system.)

When you create a class system and endow a ruling class with special privileges, laws and practices that insure their prerogatives and protections--in the case of capitalism, those who already possess wealth--then you must accept the inevitable abuses of the system.