Re: [Marxism] The Derivatives Game By RALPH NADER

[David Thorstad <binesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Shane Mage wrote:
> <div class="moz-text-flowed">
> On Oct 11, 2008, at 5:10 PM, David Thorstad wrote:
>
>>
>> That does it. Till now I had been planning to vote for Nader, even 
>> though he thinks capitalism
>> can be reformed and I don't. No more. Any "socialist" on the ballot 
>> will be more deserving,
>> however pathetic most of them may be.
>> David
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>  
>>
>
> Exactly what do you disagree with in Ralph's article?  That its 
> readable, makes sense, and is jargon-free?  Sins, to be sure, but such 
> mortal ones?
=========================================================================================
I didn't disagree with anything in Nader's critique. It was fine, 
limited though it was. I just felt pushed over the edge by his 
halfhearted tinkering approach. I am sick of seeing all the pundits and 
Internet addicts I know ascribing the present capitalist crisis to 
greed, ego, or lack of "oversight" and "regulation." I don't deny that 
all those factors have played a role. However, this is getting bogged 
down in trees instead of the forest. The crisis is inherent in 
capitalism, and Nader, like the Greens and other reformers, think 
capitalism can be reformed. They are dreaming with their eyes open. I 
myself voted for Nader when Winona LaDuke was his running mate. I vote 
for anyone I hope might fuck up the system even more, so once even voted 
for Ross Perot. My vote, however (and your vote), is irrelevant, and 
will be canceled out kazillions of times over by idiots who think the 
Bill of Rights is a Commie document and that more war, in Afghanistan, 
is the answer.
    For starters, serious critics of the system should be proposing such 
things as the following:
    - Nationalize all the big banks. Put all the top CEOs and 
Republicrat politicians on trial for assholeism (Divine's solution in 
/Pink Flamingos/) and crimes against the citizenry.
    - Socialize medicine. Throw the insurance companies out of the 
health care industry. Medicare for all. (We already have socialized 
medicine in the Veterans Administration hospitals, which are owned by 
the VA and whose doctors are VA employees, but this is the elephant in 
the room that rarely gets mentioned.)
    - Close all U.S. bases abroad. Pull all U.S. troops out of 
everywhere. Eliminate the war budget.
    As far as I am concerned, anything short of this beginning is hot air.
    Marxists should look reality in the face and explain why, in yet 
another apparently deep crisis of the capitalist system, the majority of 
citizens, including the orthodox Marxist agent of social revolution, the 
proletariat, won't even come close to recognizing, let alone acting 
upon, its own interests. How many people I know who believe Marxism is 
irrelevant and passé. But, as Sartre said, I think correctly, we are 
living in a "Marx moment." Both Marx and Lenin (/Imperialism/) explained 
what is going on in the world today far better than wimpy capitalist 
candidates like Nader and Cynthia McKinney. The problem is that the left 
is irrelevant, and unable to capitalize on the advanced decay all around 
us. Now more than ever: socialism or barbarism.
    To take just one example of leftist, in this case Trotskyist, 
irrelevance: The September 2008 issue of /Socialist Action/ concludes an 
article by Aaron Bass, "Capitalism's central contradictions as seen in 
the current crisis," with the following pathetic prescription:
    "The first step down that road [to workers taking control of the 
productive forces] is demanding society-wide solutions to the impact of 
the current crisis, such as a sliding scale of wages and hours for all 
to fight unemployment and inflation [!]. In the process of fighting for 
such demands, growing parts of the working lcass will learn about the 
basic contradictions--and their solutions--described by Engels."
    This strikes me as pure wishful thinking bordering on religious 
faith and shows why the American left today is so irrelevant.
David


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