Capitalism & Climate Change

Bill Moyers interviews Naomi Kline who makes clear that the choice we face is whether we will let capitalism kill all life on earth or move beyond it to eco-socialism.

America's Post Election Hangover

Nothing has changed but at least it hasn't changed for the worse. Well, a few things have changed: Gay marriage is legal in more states as is marijuana but the reality is that little would change whatever the outcome because as an excellent article in Der Speigel correctly points out: America is a country of total capitalism. Its functionaries have no need of public hospitals or of a reliable power supply to private homes. The elite have their own infrastructure. Total capitalism, however, has left American society in ruins and crippled the government. America's fate is not just an accident produced by the system. It is a consequence of that system. The struggle for Working Class Democracy and the empowerment of the 99% must continue. It is a matter of life or death.

I got the Swing State Blues

The sun hesitates
just below the horizon
this morning;
two nations in an unsettled dawn
of fear and loathing

The campaign signs uprooted,
the bunting
torn and trampled
in the grim stillness
of a deepening winter

OK, I did it. I swore I wouldn't and I feel sick about it. I wanted to vote for Jill Stein but it's tight here in this swing state where we've been inundated with hype and badgered by party activists. As bad as Obama is, Ryan and Romney are worse, posing a real danger. I argued with myself about the benefit of having the wolf minus the sheep's clothing; about no illusions among the half-assed liberals and slack wannabe revolutionaries and who would really be better for the struggle. But reality is merciless and given where we are with climate change, we really can't afford a coal and oil frenzied fascist at the helm. I know, I know, and I've pointed out on this blog Obama's caving to the corporatists and his expansion of the repressive pig-state but wiser folks than I concur that I should vote for Obama to defeat Romney. I was moved by Robert Scheers's reasoning as well as others. I bit the bullet, or more accurately, slugged down a few drinks and touched the drones, nodded like a zombie to the Assassin in Chief acknowledging that Romney would be worse. I did the Amerikan thing and voted against the greater of evils knowing that the lesser gets more evil all the time. I've washed my hands compulsively since and continue to drown my guilt in high quality spirits.

Whoever comes out on top, you and I will still be on the bottom, struggling to survive a failing and increasingly oppressive system as the ecosystem spirals to collapse. The fight for a better world will continue because our "campaign" doesn't depend on spin, corporate backing and bullshit. We fight for a life worth living, much less life itself. As Ma Joad said, "We're the People and we just keep going."

See you in the streets.