However, I wanted to comment on this:
> The problem is, it's not anti-democratic. I just recognize the razor
> thin majority are pretty much doomed, if they keep on voting for
> illusions. From my experience you can explain it (just about any
> issue) to them until your blue in the face and they seem absolutely
> convinced otherwise by their own illusions, with generous helpings
> from the media and the political establishment. So, I give. Fuck
> it. They are pulling themselves down the toilet.
Beyond personal illusions and the help of the media and establishment, I think we need a better framework for our explanations than seems available now.
AFAIK, there is no explanation for why we need another system to replace US capitalism, plus an explanation of how that system would work in practical terms, which can be understood by the average person and makes sense to that person. I know there are very sophisticated such explanations around and I've even seen some of them, but hell, I have a PhD and have been interested in this subject since forever, and I can't understand them.
What I would like to see is something like the Communist Manifesto, but brought up to date and aimed at the American population of 2004. I would emphasize that it must make sense, be convincing, to that population. The existing anti-capitalist manifestos, those that I have seen at any rate, are just not convincing.
One could say, "Yes, but it's the 'false consciousness' of Americans that prevents them from being convinced." But that's just another way of confessing that we haven't been able to come up with something convincing yet. Instead of blaming our own inadequate efforts, we blame the people we are supposed to be talking to -- they're just too stupid or mentally fucked up in some way to appreciate what we can see so clearly. That does wonders for our own comfort, but doesn't get us any closer to getting the problem solved.
One difficulty that needs to be overcome is that the current capitalist ideology, especially the US variety, has the following great appeal: it is based on an individualist appeal to basic desires for security and prosperity. From the beginning, capitalism has always appealed to the marginal person, the little trader or craft worker scratching for a living outside the system of the feudal nobility. Even when it became the dominant system and spawned huge corporations, it still preserved the aura of "giving chances to the little guy to strike it rich."
Everyone, supposedly is given a chance to "make it," and if they don't take that opportunity it's their own damned fault. Never mind that at this point, this ideology is ridiculously out of touch with reality. When they need to, people will believe anything that gives them comfort -- even religions. What we need is something that will have a more powerful appeal than the myths of capitalism.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile