Fundamentals

by Stephen Fleischman

Let’s get down to fundamentals.

The two warring Democratic candidates in the presidential election have their slogans.

Obama wants change. Hillary wants solutions. Yes, they discuss all the issues that are fit to discuss. Even McCain talks about death and taxes.

But nobody wants to take on the fundamentals—the source of the status quo requiring change and the root cause of the problems for which Hillary wants solutions. It’s not just the economy, Stupid! It’s the system…to use a Clintonian euphemism.

A system based on greed, profit and exploitation of one class by another will eventually land it in the ditch. You don’t need Karl Marx to tell you that. He made a landmark analysis of Capitalism in the 19th Century and so far his predictions have been right on the money. Empires fall—from the Roman to the German. They dig their own graves.

Capitalism, by its name and nature supports the rich, propertied and corporate class. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a Marxist to see that. Competition between corporate entities, in various nations, leads to monopoly and war. When corporations control a government, it’s Corporatism. We’re in that stage of capitalism right now. Benito Mussolini, pre-World War II dictator of Italy, gave it a name. He called it Fascism.

For the capitalist system to survive—it must have constant economic growth and find new markets and sources of raw materials.

There are two ways to do this, the first, by going into countries, anywhere in the world, and taking what you want by military means (commerce follows the flag, as the British used to say), or it can be done by diplomacy and economic penetration. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an example of the second way, the war and occupation of Iraq, an example of the first. Of course, the natives of those countries don’t like either method. So, one way or another, they fight back.

Right now, we’re spilling blood for oil and heading into a recession at the same time. We have a new complication that ranks with global warming. Oil is peaking. Supplies can only diminish from here on. Are we going to fight for the last drop of oil on earth before putting maximum effort into looking for alternative forms of energy? Looks that way. Big oil still has clout.

Wealth produced by the working people of this country flows in only one direction, up. According to University of California statistics, the top 1% of Americans own 33.4% of the wealth while the bottom 80%, the overwhelming majority of wage and salaried workers, are left with a measly 16%.

Do the presidential candidates discuss any of this, and if not, why not?

The answer to that is easy. They’re all corporate candidates. The oligarchy can’t lose, whoever is elected. The American mainstream media, that molds popular perception, supports one or another of the corporate candidates. And why not? The same corporate entities own the mainstream media. So they keep the public distracted by endlessly debating the fine points of their choice, turning the election into an entertaining horse race. The average Joe would do better going to the track.

The presidential candidates are fighting for the votes of “We the people…”
So why isn’t it fair game to take on some of the faults and flaws of the capitalist system? Many of Obama’s needs for change and Hillary’s solutions to problems stem from capital’s depredations. But no candidate dares to mention the “C” word.

It was not always thus. In the depth of the last depression, Roosevelt saved capitalism with the New Deal—the NRA, the WPA, the TVA and the rest of FDR’s acronyms. Of course, the beginning of World War II helped. War frequently pulls capitalism’s chestnuts out of the fire.

But, in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (the Wagner Act) was passed. This put government on the spot. It had to support the working class. Government supported unionization and collective bargaining that helped distribute the wealth more equitably. So, you see, workers rights can be protected even under capitalism. All it needs is a president and an administration to fight off the economic royalists.

If that doesn’t happen, there can be trouble in River City. Times change and conditions have a way of turning into their opposite. Marx’s historical materialism demonstrates that. There are nodal points in history, when quantitative changes leap to a qualitative change. Revolution is such a nodal point. All phenomena in the universe consist of “matter in motion”; all things are interdependent and interconnected.

We’re headed into the great unknown right now. Most economists agree a recession looms. Some pessimists see a deeper recession, some a depression rivaling that of the 1930s.

There are all kinds of ideas out there lying dormant. If understood more universally, they could be helpful in advancing the welfare of this country.

Why don’t our presidential candidates talk about them? Stand up to their corporate sponsors.