Radical Centrists of the World, Unite ! A specter is haunting America, it is the specter of Radical Centrism. First, there is the question of relevance of the 1848 Manifesto. When I taught Russian history for the US Navy in the last years of the Cold War, it struck me that the idea of a manifesto was brilliant. An entire philosophy in relatively few pages. Of course, this follows the example of another short document of global importance, namely, the US Constitution. But whereas one must read various longer texts ( Locke, Hume, etc ) to grasp the full depth of the Constitution, the Manifesto is self-contained --and well written to boot. Had some of my students try to write manifesto-like papers to see what might be done with the concept. Great teaching tool. But who was more important Karl Marx or James Madison ? 50 years ago it was still possible to say Marx. Now that idea is absurd, it is Madison by a mile. There are other considerations. Marx in his early years said things that are still worth a good deal. Someone could take the 1844 Manuscripts, maybe augmented with some later essays ( perhaps his paper about Feuerbach ), and create a new Manifesto with far greater relevance than the 1848 Manifesto. All kinds of assumptions in the 1848 Manifesto are simply untenable. Among other things the proletariat is not a class of saints and the bourgeoisie is not a class of sinners. There are plenty of idiots in both social classes and we need to be completely honest about this. The whole idea of a class theory for all politics is, IMHO, utterly absurd. Instead, class is just one factor among others based on culture, religion, ethnicity, specific kinds of occupations, etc. That is, Saint-Simon was right, we need a science of society --what became sociology-- as our guide, and NOT a social ideology. Of course, all-too-many of today's sociologists are Marxists of one kind or another, but that defeats the very purpose of social science, which ought to be objectivity, NOT championship of an economic class of people We need to reward ability and accomplishment and if there are people who do not contribute productively to society, to hell with them. This assumes allowances for disability, age, and involuntary incapacity, but it also means no affirmative action based on anything but merit. Marx stole Saint-Simon's motto and corrupted it. Here is the original : >From each according to his ability, to each according to his work. I agree with you on the immorality of disparities of wealth. But if it is understood that if someone does become wealthy he or she automatically has the responsibility to use a significant part of that wealth for social betterment then the terms of debate change accordingly. Otherwise it is obscene for finance capitalists to reap rewards that are hundreds of times that of productive workers. The question is how to do this. Marx had no answer except --at least by implication-- revolution. Far better to bring this about through a Constitutional Amendment. What could also be done is to write an Anti-Communist Manifesto. However, were I to do this it would NOT be based on pure laissez faire nor on pure Keynes, or pure anything else, it would be Saint-Simonian in inspiration. Je juis Saint-Simonienne My French is not so hot, but the meaning is that I am a Saint-Simonian, and proud of it. But, in a sense, there already is a Saint-Simonian manifesto, it was written by Kelso and is called the "Capitalist Manifesto," even if a better title might be the Stakeholder Manifesto since the gist of it is that workers should own the means of production jointly with the bourgeoisie. In any case, we must be clear that we are not only anti-Fascist but also anti-Communist. This includes being strongly opposed to Gramsci and Cultural Marxism. The damages done to society and culture by Gramscian criminals --often tenured academics-- has been enormous and will require decades to correct. To get the process started we should round up all the Cultural Marxists and take them out and shoot them. While we are at it, we should also take out all the finance capitalists we can find and shoot all of them also. No more playing games with politics, we need to get serious about this. Verstehen sie ? Baron Wilhelm von Rojas fan of Otto von Bismarck ;-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 12/27/2011 7:32:34 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
"Communism lite." _ “A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.”—Fredrich August von Hayek On 12/25/2011 3:23 AM, cornucopianow wrote: L.S. Herewith I send you the Civil Manifesto. Please send comments: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) CIVIL MANIFESTO (Referring to “Civil Society”. “Civil Rights”, “Communist Manifesto”) In the view of the authors of the Communist Manifesto the expulsion of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat was a natural phenomenon. It would be the unavoidable result of the development of the forces of production as free enterprise not longer being able to satisfy the needs of the wage earners (“salary-slaves”) whereby subsequently the bourgeoisie would be removed with force and the proletariat would triumph. Meanwhile the communist experiment, besides having caused immense human suffering, has proven that, contrary to the expectancies of the authors of the Communist Manifest, the market is in a better position to satisfy the needs of the people than the centralized plan economy. In countries where the centralized plan economy is still functioning (North Korea, Cuba) the people suffer a wretched existence. And citizens of the former communist countries in Eastern Europe hope to profit by the prosperity in Western Europe. Today there is again discussion about the market economy. But the uncurbed spread of the Casino-capitalism is not a natural phenomenon. The neo-liberal ideology is deliberately produced by humans. And Alan Greenspan, greatly inspired by Ayn Rand, has occupied (sic!) a central position in this process. He is greatly responsible for the development of the financial crisis by rejecting the regulation which could have prevented the crisis. Furthermore the government in the United States has passed tax laws according to which millionaires pay less tax than the man in the street. Conclusion: The market must not be substituted by the plan (however some privatisation having gone to far should be pushed back) but must be regulated by law such as to prevent the destructive functioning which the market can assume in certain instances. In the present crisis-situation several people make proposals for a more just and humane society. Think about the Occupy Movement, but also about the “Patriotic Millionaires”. But sometimes the “Occupy Movement” is accused of being unclear about goals. A clear programme may be clarifying. A shortlist of goals for a couple of areas may be useful. Individuals and groups may specify their position regarding those goals. Thus the Civil Manifesto could be an instrument for the attainment of political power. Income -Specification of minimum income. -Specification of the ratio: maximum/minimum income (for instance not bigger than 10). DRB: Implicit redistribution with the suggestion of a minimum income for simply existing?? Their existence is not my responsibility. Pensions -Specification of age for retirement DRB: Against a mandatory retirement age. Seems to imply that after that age ones contributions are not wanted or needed. Worklessness -Specification of unemployment benefits -Specification of duration of the payment of unemployment benefits DRB: This already exists, with discussion over the duration. Should the benefits equal the salary that was once held? if so, what is the incentive to go back to the workforce? Should it be a set amount, no matter previous salary or position? Banks -Split of savings-banks and investment banks -Prohibition of harmful derivatives -Establishment of a national bank DRB: Sleep through the savings and loan debacle in the 1980s???? This would basically undo what the Bush and Obama Administrations did in reaction to the 2008 meltdown. Not all derivatives are harmful. They shouldn't have been playing with people's living quarters, however. Housing -Integral housing policy -Equal positions for renting and buying -Maximal mortgage of 400 $ DRB: Don't want the government to have a housing policy, they've screwed it all up beyond all recognition. The second point is not spelled out well enough, but I have to say no to what I think it means. If that is $400 per month, that's not even a $50,000 house. Get real for a minute... Healthcare -No privatisation of healthcare (no profit generation for hospitals). -Affordable healthcare of a good quality for everybody -Elimination of superfluous layers of management DRB: 1) No. 2) Nice goal, very expensive to get there. 3) We are going to build a giant government department but reduce the superfluous layers of management??? That's contradictory. Education -Good education for everybody. No restrictions for people with low incomes DRB: Let me tell you the tale of my daughter and her student loans. She cannot find a job in the field that she has been educated for. So she is now working in retail, and does not make enough to pay the principal and interest on her student loans. Even while living rent and car payment free in my house. We even buy her food. She repays us for gas and cell phone. Universities have become administration heavy. Fire several layers of administrators and that would lower the cost of college. Sustainability -Furtherance of the efficient use of energy -Furtherance of vegetable consumption, restriction of meat consumption. DRB: One has to produce the raw materials (coal, oil, natural gas) or efficiency does not matter. Why are we still buying Saudi oil instead of Canadian oil? Why stop the Keystone Pipeline? The oil ticks (think blood sucking animals that feed on cattle, dogs, cats, etc) in the Middle East have enough money. We will be stupid, and Obama the MOST stupid, if we do not pursue this pipeline. DRB: I'll eat what I damn well please, thankyouverymuch. - -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
