Jack Burns Lives!

The Resurrection of Marx

Looks like the terrorist and Muslim labels didn’t work so well, so conservatives are resurrecting an old boogeyman. Karl Marx. 

Apparently the Marxist label is the pejorative du jour in conservative parlance. Yesterday, while most of the country was celebrating the end of Bush’s reign of terror, the losing side was busy plotting a new strategy. I heard little talk of trying to come together in a mutual effort of problem solving. Talk radio, Facebook profiles, blogsites, coffee shop talk all had a common theme: the “end of America” being brought about by a Marxist President and his followers. 

It’s frankly amazing. Over the top and outrageous. 

Most of them took their cues from Rush, Michael Savage and their indoctrinated parents, pastors and coaches and starting rolling out the code words and propaganda with ease and efficiency. One thing I have to give them credit for is their ability to mobilize, en masse, like a bunch of army ants marching through the Peruvian jungle.

One guy called into Rush’s show and said he had “a message for the hundred thousand Bolsheviks in Grant Park last night….Conservatives need to take it to the streets and fight to save the country.”

It’s so silly, all you can do is laugh. No point in trying to discuss it with them, believe me. 

Marx wrote in the German philosophic tradition. It’s not easily understood by the untrained reader, and there are actually very few Marxist scholars in the United States.  So, even in liberal arts circles, it’s rare to find someone with real depth of knowledge about Marxism.  Why even bother discussing it with a bunch of people that either didn’t go to college or spent all their time in a business school? You’re wasting your time, and sending them to Wikipedia will probably only worsen their fear. 

And it’s fear that’s at the root of all of this. Fear, born of ignorance, and a stubborn state of denial we have about capitalism in this country. We insist on it being the Raison d’être for all peoples, yet we deny the basic non-egalitarian nature of the system. We can’t even begin to acknowledge the undeniable truth that growth capitalism, as we know now it, is perhaps the greatest threat to ecosystems man has created. 

Fear prevents us from discussing rational alternatives, like steady state economies, that could actually save capitalism.  And greed prevents us from even being willing to consider this question…

What’s so wrong with “spreading the wealth around?” Isn’t that what Jesus taught? Didn’t the first Christians live in communal sects? 

I hope someone will plant a seed in Obama’s capable brain about the relationship between our economic system and our environment and move us past this absurd notion that we can grow infinitely in a finite world. Give some consideration to how we can have capitalism and socialism; meaning, giving more people an equity stake through employee ownership of business and via cooperatives. That’s where real wealth is built, through equity, not 401K’s and casino-like Wall Street schemes. 

Now, someone please tell me what’s wrong with that?