The Empire Strikes Back

I will quote from Thomas Piketty on the rise of Bernie Sanders: the US enters a new political era (The Guardian, reprinted from Le Monde, February 16, 2016).

How can we interpret the incredible success of the “socialist” candidate Bernie Sanders in the US primaries? The Vermont senator is now ahead of Hillary Clinton among Democratic-leaning voters below the age of 50, and it’s only thanks to the older generation that Clinton has managed to stay ahead in the polls.

Because he is facing the Clinton machine, as well as the conservatism of mainstream media, Sanders might not win the race. But it has now been demonstrated that another Sanders – possibly younger and less white – could one day soon win the US presidential elections and change the face of the country. In many respects, we are witnessing the end of the politico-ideological cycle opened by the victory of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections.

Let’s glance back for an instant. From the 1930s until the 1970s, the US were at the forefront of an ambitious set of policies aiming to reduce social inequalities. Partly to avoid any resemblance with Old Europe, seen then as extremely unequal and contrary to the American democratic spirit, in the inter-war years the country invented a highly progressive income and estate tax and set up levels of fiscal progressiveness never used on our side of the Atlantic...

I'm here to tell you — this is total (albeit high-quality) bullshit.

Are we really supposed to believe that democracy in America works? Are we really supposed to believe that we are "witnessing the end of the political-ideological cycle" which started with a bad Hollywood actor? That such cycles actually exist? That the appalling power and money-grab which began in 1980 was merely a temporary setback ? (We were in the wrong part of the cycle.)

The sky's the limit, Progress is inevitable, and Human Nature does not exist

But in particular, are we supposed to believe that all this corruption, immorality and inequality is just going to melt away? That the elites ("winners") will do nothing to defend their interests in the face of a "socialist" threat to their interests by disgruntled American voters ("losers")? Or, if not Bernie, a future "possibly younger and less white" version of Bernie?

If we believe Piketty, we start to doubt that words like elites, power and money  have any meaning at all. Vote for Bernie! That's all you need do to turn The Titanic around. We can still miss the iceberg!

77% of American "adults" believe in angels. I'm not fucking kidding.

Are we really supposed to believe The Empire Won't Strike Back?

 

 

Comments

[colinc]

Edgar/Bug: Y'know, I've noticed an infestation here. Everywhere I look, in fact. Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority as they scurry about their short, pointless lives.

Zap-Em Man: Well, yeah. Uh... don't you want to get rid of 'em?

Edgar/Bug: Ah... in the worst way.

:)