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‘Bout Time We Had A Little Class Warfare
Ya gotta feel sorry for the Left. So lost and leaderless they have to trot out 92 year old Pete Seeger and unheard-of-since-Alice’s-Restaurant Arlo Guthrie to draw attention to their participation in OWS. It’s fine that Pete and Arlo get to be relevant one more time, but it says too much about the vacuum that has become the American Left.
That’s not to say that a little class warfare isn’t called for at the moment. There’s been background white noise about corporatism/corporatists and wealthy elites and oligarchy running the show for a few years now. These things need to come out of the shadows and camp out in the park every now and then.
Of course, if the Left are leaderless and clueless, the corporatist elitist oligarchs are dumb as a box of rocks. Their string pulling puppet mastery isn’t new, but the veil of populism that hid the political/economic manipulation is disappearing. More to the point, the elite have become so consumed in their lust for money, honey and power they have forgotten, or failed to ever recognize, the buffer to their excess provided by the middle class.
The poor are powerless and always have been. Class warfare might be a natural offshoot of their position in society, but they are materially and emotionally ill equipped to rise up against institutionalized power. Not so the middle class.
The middle class has been nurtured on the illusion of power, of having a say. In truth, it’s an addiction to external stimulus and materialism that carries the middle class. Owning a home, a couple of cars, enough electronic devices, going on vacation, all inform the psyche that the American myths are real whether they are or not. Those myths, hopes or fantasies if you prefer, are in turn critical to the elite’s ability to control the masses.
The recently dispossessed middle class, remembering the illusion of power and material possession, present a danger to the status quo that the generationally powerless cannot muster. Until now, the middle class have sided, emotionally if not politically, with the elite. It is the middle class and their offspring who, until now, stood to be the benefactors of that one-in-a-million realization of the American dream.
As the consolidation of wealth and power erode the material possessions and illusions of power once held by the middle class, the emotional alliance between elite and middle class threatens to shift. The inherent danger of class warfare comes not from the defunct and befuddled Left but from the potentially violent fear of the once middle class realizing that they too are disposable in the eyes of the elite.
12 Responses to “‘Bout Time We Had A Little Class Warfare”
Well hopefully the middle class in America won’t turn to the radical right as the Germans turned to Hitler. I just don’t understand how or why the American middle class would turn to the Tea Party and Republicans when these groups are anti worker. I guess Americans just hate the idea of affordable health care, a descent retirement and a clean environment.
Wesley, I think it’s more accurate to say Americans are doubting the Democrats’ ability to deliver affordable healthcare and a decent retirement…at least for the rest of us who aren’t union workers or government employees.
Well, Americans probably are doubting the ability of democrats to deliver helpful leadership to the middle class. Conversely they probably have few doubts about having been left high and dry by republicans. Maybe they’ll actually get up on their hind legs about it.
That’s what the tea party did, JSpencer.
Hi Elijah good to read you. Not for sure i agree with you on this one. Could it be that what OWS is trying to begin something that is not of the old model of dominate leadership?
This is a quote from an article written by Jonathan Schell who is an author and visiting fellow at Yale University.
“OWS power lies not in any specific demands, endorsements or alliances but in its direct appeal to the hearts and minds of the population at large.”
” As for the development of leaders and demands, Anonymous, one of the precursor groups, offered a prescription in keeping with the spirit of the movement: “If you are looking to contact one of our leaders, go to the nearest mirror and peer deeply into it. It may take some time, but, eventually, one of our leaders will appear with answers to all of your questions.”
Something seems to be shifting and trying to emerge it does not aim to fit the old models… Maybe it will be crushed or maybe it will rise, but the cry of many of those in OWS seems to be more an indication of a new consciousness slowly evolving rather than being a political and social movement structured on the past…
Elijah this may be naive, but something is evolving and shifting around the world that has not been born yet.
The Left, the real Left that interests the Left, the farther Left:
All that’s missing, Mr. Sweete, is to refer to the police as “the guards.”
(for those of you who don’t understand: the guards of whom?)
No, the Tea Party bought into the Republican philosophy of providing simple answers that won’t work. You know, like trickle down, which is still the only acceptable economic philosophy in the party.
Jim, I think most people on both sides gravitate toward simple answers. You know, like tax the rich and keep the government handouts coming, which is still the only acceptable economic philosophy in that other party.
Dr. J, I agree that people tend to gravitate towards simple answers. However, the Tea Party people were not the answer to the problems because they simply did not want to deal with the problems (thus their name). In short, most of the Tea Party Republican representatives are the ones who view compromise as equivalent to treason. They don’t want less government, they want no government. This is discernible in their desire to eliminate all federal regulations. Please tell me, other than naming some buildings, just what the hell do they think the government is supposed to do if not regulate?
Regulations (aka laws) are created so that people can live with each other without finding the need to kill each other. Regulation on air pollution: Job Killer or Health Saver? Regulation on automobile safety: Job Killer or Passenger Protector? The list can go on for a long, long time. The regulations that we most need (and needed in the past) have to do with how banks can gamble with deposits. During the Great Depression, they concluded that it was irresponsible for banks to bet with depositors’ money and created Glass-Steagall. This prevented commercial banks from being investment banks (and vice versa). That all ended in 1999 (with the help of BOTH parties).
Btw, what Dr. J is calling government handouts other people call ‘safety nets’. Disclaimer: I am 100% disabled (and thus on SSDI and Medicare). I did, however, make sure to have disability insurance.
My Dear and Perceptive Ms. Sparrow,
We may not disagree so much as you think. It may be better to simply acknowledge the reality that this is a poorly written little piece. It peeks at several peeves but adopts no pet.
Perhaps I should have mentioned that I met Pete Seeger once in a Men’s Room or that I never met Arlo Guthrie but always admired him both as a lyracist and as a litterbug. To understand the litterbug reference requires recollection of the lyrics of the song “Alice’s Restaurant”, of course.
Best to you and your cat.
tidbits
Are we talking about the same Republicans? I haven’t heard anyone come even close to this position.
“the cry of many of those in OWS seems to be more an indication of a new consciousness slowly evolving rather than being a political and social movement structured on the past”
I think you’re right sparrow, and I don’t see the OWS going to go away any time soon… not until the problems that brought them out in the first place start being addressed in some geniune way – something that isn’t even beginning to happen yet.
“That’s what the tea party did, JSpencer.” – Dr J
In a sense they did, but as we know, they had much support from the likes of FOX and also some deep pockets. So while they may have made it to their “hind legs”, they did so with the help of crutches. In any case their tent is proving too small to sustain the movement in any genuine grassroots way.