Capitalism, and Capitulationism

I've got a list right here of points I want to cover, regarding my presidential vote last November. Anarcho-syndicalist friend Chuck, firmly positing a clash and conflict between faith and rationalism (a "clash" I simply don't find), forwarded me this intriguing article on "The Twilight of Failed Neoliberal Capitalism": http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39532-authentic-hope-in-the-twilight-of-failed-neoliberal-capitalism.

I won't reproduce it here; have a look at it yourself, and give it some thought. I'm not standing on the same square he and Chuck rest on, but there's plenty that this columnist has commendably spotlighted. Here's my response to Chuck, and the article:

 

From: Aging Child [mailto:AGeneChilde@YouWho.com]
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2017 3:12 PM
Subject: RE: Capitalism, and Capitulationism

I like the concept of a retrotopia – although I submit that Ronnie Raygun first plastered that across the national canvas. And today, conservatives and other anachronistically lost-at-sea, social future-shock cases, are looking back at Ronnie Headrest's day as a golden age! But if you were black, or an air-traffic controller, or a child in the halls of learning, back then (or today), or had/have a head that leads more steadily than your heart… those rose-colored retrospective kaleidoscopic lenses really don't fit. And the incessant sloganeering is a nauseating soporific.

"The 'iron hand of the state works in concert with the hidden hand of the market' to maximize profits worldwide": hear, hear! And re how Trump's "fantasy […] will be dissolved by acid reality with unpredictable consequences" – some are quite predictable, and a broad sheaf of them project out to disastrous. It is the responsibility of anyone whose kisser is not firmly attached to Donald's Rump to hold his feet to the fire, and keep them there – and that's folks on left, right, and center.

My feeling is that the center is growing narrower and narrower; so much of the left and right are rigid, unflexing – determinedly unflexible – and to whom moderate compromise is synonymous with utter capitulation. Are there no more aisle-crossers?

Microinitiatives: these do seem like a great seed-and-soil of hope, of (pun not intended) real grass-roots, fixing the world from square one, here, locally, out in the fields. If that can catch on, and truly spark something stable and self-sustaining and self-nurturing/self-building, then change can ultimately wind up in the boardrooms as well. Have a look at Subsidiarity: not command-economy and social approaches from the top down, remote, and bottom-line focused, but from the ground up. Think Lexington-And-Concord; think Gandhi and MLK.

This author spotlights some excellent work being done, movements and outlooks. Now: how do we translate and transplant them to the First and Second Worlds? My prime suggestion: shoot your TV, and pocket your phone – switch it off; leave it in your suitcase; criminalize the Kardashians and their clones and their network distributors of sugar-stuffed bread and third-rate sideshows masquerading as circuses. We have to stop lining up for craniectomies, no matter how much free anesthesia is wheeled out.

I like how this writer/article draws a sharp distinction between lotus-eating retrotopia, and an actual, genuine, real, lived past. And likewise, his assertion that "more people need to be empowered to think and act creatively"… versus sign up for the NRA, the assembly line, for consumerist cotton-candy pabulum.

These hopes are good, thus far, for Latin America; I hope this gent can get out to Africa and Southeast Asia, and see what parallels are taking root there as well.

Thank you for the fodder for thought, sir – cheers!

Regards,

Gene

Let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. — Psalm 19:15