Michael Perelman wrote: > > Nothing for the people who are being plowed under > > by the crisis. All we have to show for our troubles > > is Obama and Hillary.
Julio Huato wrote: > I guess that's because: > > Humans make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; > they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under > circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past -- > e.g. the Democratic Party. The tradition of all dead generations (e.g. > those under Roosevelt, Reagan, Bill Clinton, etc.) weighs like a > nightmare on the brains of the living. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee. > And just as they seem to be > occupied with revolutionizing themselves and things, creating > something that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of > political crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to > their service, borrowing from them names, battle slogans, and costumes > in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honored > disguise and borrowed language. In like manner, the beginner who has > learned a new language always translates it back into her mother > tongue, but she assimilates the spirit of the new language and > expresses himself freely in it only when he moves in it without > recalling the old and when he forgets her native tongue. Did Marx advocate supporting the people he described here -- or supporting their illusions? The simple reason why the crisis is being used to legitimize genetically-modified crops etc., as Michael laments, is what I say too often, boring everyone to death: if there's no significant organized opposition to the powers that be, they will exploit all crises to their own advantage. As Carroll often says, without an opposition force, no economic crisis is really a crisis for the system. We need to get away from obsessing about the election (Obama vs. Clinton, candidate X vs. McCain) and get back to organizing a true opposition to the extent that we can.[*] If people feel like voting for a Democrat in November, that's fine with me, since voting is a pretty futile activity anyway -- until there really is a significant opposition to the powers that be. The wheel may be rigged, but it's the only game in town.[**] The point is to set up an alternative game and replace the "only game in town." Someone might mention Nader as a true opposition force. But his main concern seems to be getting revenge on the Democrats for trying to keep him off the ballot. [*] on U.S. National Public Radio this morning, the newsreader said the following about the Pennsylvania primary, quoting some president: "the long national nightmare is over." Though he was joking, it's quite apt. [**] Robert Solow allegedly used this phrase to defend neoclassical economics. Does anyone know where/when he did this? -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
