damn it Roachboy. I actually read the entire fucking article and then had to respond to willravel and forgot a lot
it's pretty complex!
anyway, I disagree with the fact that there needs to be a huge labor movement in order to spurn obama to action simply because we have the benefit of retrospection. similarly, I don't agree with some points about how our intellectual shelves are barren and that everyone is operating within the paradigm of global capitalism (I know it wasn't worded so crassly, but I'm using shorthand and hoping you know which parts of the article Im referencing).
It's almost as if that argument is being made on the basis that the authors are making the inverse errors....fuck this is sloppy.
what I mean is that the criticism that our politics are mired in the paradigm of the right seemed based upon the critique being buried under the heavy load of marxism. I just can't see how an avowed marxist would argue or be surprised that the next logical step is hypercapitalism. and it's odd to hear someone excited about the fall of our banking system without seeming to understand that we don't have labor as labor anymore. the best I can see is that we have worker-owners. we can't ruin capitalism without ruining the livlihood of the workers.
and it's got to be from a class consciousness, not a leader making systems changes.
unless I'm totally distorting shit, it's almost like he's advocating skipping a few beats in what marx argued were necessary changes along an evolutionary process...and herein lies the rub. the fact that marx is based on the idea of political evolution...cough...now let's go back to the critique of our entire political spectrum mired in a particular worldview? you see where I'm going with this? what about marxism itself mired in a particular paradigm which either never was entirely correct or is very likely to not fit what we're facing?
damn it, my friend just showed up and she's loading the pipe. I really got to go and I hope I didn't fuck my thoughts too much.
but I read the entire article and I thought about it. and I wanted to give you a piece of what started rattling around in my head cuz I figured we'd enjoy discussing this over time.