Is it possible that this next decade will usher in the end of western capitalism? The more I think about it, the more this seems to be a real possibility. Here is what I mean. If the republican controlled House enacts its own chosen legislative agenda, or even if it succeeds in blocking and obfuscating everything the democrats try to do, the middle and working classes of this country will be absolutely crushed. Social services ruined, tax policy favoring the rich even more, etc. etc. etc. This will result in only a couple of possibilities. One, a massive revolt by the lower classes. We've seen this kind of thing before, but it has been awhile since it has been anything other than cultural. The 60s provided a kind of blueprint for a nation-wide movement, but it was vague, unfocused, and mostly concerned with moral and cultural evolution. We need to look back to the massive worker-centered protests of the late 19th century that were fueled by labor unrest related to periodic economic swan-dives that rocked the nation in 1873 and 1893. Think Haymarket square riots, Pullman riots. I'm talking bloody, fiery, angry mobs that were sick of being exploited by the power class. It could and probably should happen again. The second possibility is one that I certainly favor, and which seemed likely to happen anyway until last week's election debacle. A further shift to a Scandinavian-style political and economic environment. This has been the lefts' dream of course for decades now and in some important ways, Obama almost heralded the dawn of this promised age. His watered down health care legislation and his equally diluted plan to create jobs via government investment in green industry pointed the way down this pragmatically utopian path. But this path was blocked last week by a resurgence of idiotic republican voters; a blockage that seems to be only temporary. The republicans have no plan, other than continuing to swindle, hoodwink, and bamboozle ordinary Americans into voting for politicians who will continue to legislate in favor of Wall Street and big business by sidling up to conservative America's fear of abortion, gun control, and, well everything really. This lack of a plan has to backfire, right? I think so. I hope so. I imagine that even conservative America will begin to realize that they have been dependent on government's teat for decades, and that the "free market" really just means the rich preying upon the not rich. Which, hopefully, theoretically, will result in a leftward movement among the American electorate. This could all happen within a decade. And, whether or not this movement is a violent, furious shift, or a ballot-box renunciation of the republican death-machine, there is a good, good chance that American capitalism will have a decidedly socialist flavor as a result.
Still applying for publishing/editing jobs, with no bites yet. Second private school observation coming up next week. The slog continues...
Also: the following link is a great summary of why I decided not to attend grad school next year. Watch and learn.
http://www.leavingacademia.com/2010/10/i-want-to-be-a-college-professor/
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