I find it fascinating how the both the Right and the Left treat almost anything as a sign of a creeping socialism or fascism. Perhaps to avoid asking the question whether the specific policies in question are at all justified in response to real issues on the ground…
-- Ernie P. On Oct 31, 2012, at 2:01 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > > Informed Comment > Top Five Signs of Capitalist Dictatorship in the Romney Campaign > Posted: 31 Oct 2012 10:42 AM PDT > The mainstream media and even Democrats have been slow to call Mitt Romney’s > deliberate falsehoods “lies.” But after just calling them what they are, it > is also important to analyze their meaning. Lies on Romney’s scale do not > simply show contempt for the intelligence of American voters. They show > contempt for democracy, and display some of the features of capitalist > dictatorship of a sort that was common in the late twentieth century. > Mohammad Reza Pahlevi in Iran, Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, Park Hung Chee > in South Korea and P.W. Boetha in South Africa are examples of this form of > government. Capitalist dictatorship has declined around the world in favor of > capitalist parliamentarism, in part because of the rising power of middle and > working classes in the global South. > > Capitalist dictatorship has many similarities to fascism, but differs from it > in lionizing not the workers of the nation but the entrepreneurs of the > nation. Fascism seeks a mixed economy, whereas capitalist dictatorship > privileges the corporate sector and attacks the non-military public sector. > But both try to subsume class conflict under a hyper-nationalism. Both > glorify military strength and pick fights with other countries to whip up > nationalist fervor. Both disallow unions, collective bargaining and workers’ > strikes. Both typically privilege one ethnic group within the nation, marking > it as superior and setting up a racial hierarchy. > > One big difference between capitalist democracy (as in contemporary Germany > and France) and capitalist dictatorship is the willingness of the business > classes to play by the rules of democratic elections, to allow a free, fair > and transparent contest, to acknowledge the rights of unions, and to respect > the universal franchise. Businessmen in such a society share a civic ethic > that sees these goods as necessary for a well ordered society, and therefore > as ultimately good for business. They may also be afraid of the social > disruptions (as in France) that would attend any attempt to whittle away > workers’ rights. Attempts to limit the franchise, to ban unions, and to > manipulate the electorate with bald-faced lies are all signs of a barracuda > business class that secretly seeks its class interests above all others in > society, and which is not afraid of workers and middle classes because the > latter are apolitical, apathetic and disorganized. > > Sound familiar? > > 1. Romney’s contempt for the democratic process is demonstrated in his > preference for the Big Lie. In order to scare workers in Toledo, Ohio, into > voting for him, he alleged that President Obama was arranging for Chrysler’s > Jeep production to be shifted to China. Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne sent > an email to all employees refuting Romney: “I feel obliged to unambiguously > restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United > States to China…” He pointed out that Jeep production in the US has tripled > since 2009. Romney’s political ad containing this sheer falsehood, is > blanketing Ohio. > > 2. Romney backs Koch-brother-funded attempts to bust public unions, as in > Wisconsin, even though that effort has run into trouble with Wisconsin courts. > > 3. Romney supports Koch-brother-funded attempts to suppress voting, typically > through state legislatures requiring voter identification documents at > polling booths. Such identification often costs money, so that it is a > stealth poll tax. It also requires, for non-drivers, a trip to a state office > and bureaucratic runarounds. Voter i.d. requirements hit the poor, Latinos, > African-Americans and urban people who use public transit hardest, i.e., > mostly voters for the Democratic Party. In some states, the courts are > questioning the laws. But in many states they are now entrenched. Limiting > the franchise was a key tactic for Apartheid South Africa’s government under > Boetha, which was run as a capitalist dictatorship on behalf of the white > Cape Town business classes. > > 4. Romney’s devotion to increasing military spending and his rattling of > sabers at Russia, China, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (aren’t we up > to about half the world now?) are typical of the militarism of capitalist > dictatorship. His repeated pledges to defer to the wishes of the officer > corps with regard to whether to end the Afghanistan war suggests a certain > amount of Bonapartism, where the business classes bring in the generals to > make key decisions. The problem for small authoritarian business classes is > that they are in competition for resources with the much larger middle and > working classes and in a parliamentary system they risk being outvoted. In > order to suppress the latter’s claims on resources and deflect any tendency > to vote along class interests, the business classes in this system pose as > defenders of the nation, thus hiding class conflict and legitimating the > diversion of resources to arms manufacturers and other corporations. > Nationalism, militarism and war, along with voter suppression, can even the > playing field for the rich. > > 5. The Romney campaign’s remarks about “Anglo-Saxons” better understanding > allies like Britain, and its support for the racist Arizona immigration and > profiling law show a preference for racial hierarchy, with “Anglo-Saxons” at > the top. Again, many capitalist dictatorships privilege a dominant ethnicity, > as with Apartheid South Africa or discrimination against native Chileans by > the Pinochet regime in Chile. Fostering racism is a way of dividing and > ruling the middle and working classes, of binding a segment of them to the > dominant business classes. > > Obviously, the Romney version is capitalist dictatorship lite. But its strong > resemblance to the full form of that sort of polity is highly disturbing. > While these tendencies have existed on the Republican Right for some time, > the sheer level of contempt for democracy as demonstrated in the Big Lies, > the exaltation of war, the racial profiling, and the new extent of attempts > at voter suppression and union-busting all indicate a sharp veering toward > authoritarianism. > > > -- > 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 -- 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
