[lbo-talk] The Empire's Freedom

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Fri Nov 4 08:56:47 PST 2005


Marvin:


> Wall Street appreciates this distinction. It's the foremost reason, IMO,
why
> it still supports the Republicans in its majority, even though it feels
> equally comfortable with Bob Rubin. It's the unwashed in the DP, and their
> greater propensity to stand in the way of corporate objectives, which
> determines which of the two parties it NORMALLY prefers to see in power.
For

I think you are exaggerating the importance of the 'class warfare' to the ruling class. That threat was effectively neutralized in the 1920s - as demonstrated by the saying " I can hire half of the working class to kill the other half." Specifically, the ruling class and its mercenary punditry mastered the art of public opinion manipulation mainly by mastering the art of marketing and advertising. Perhaps they cannot sell just anything (cf. social security "reform" that seem to run aground), but they can easily dissuade or simply scare away most people from anything they deem dangerous to their interest (cf. the botched health care reform).

Thanks to the development in marketing techniques on the one hand, and ironically technological and organizational changes that allowed them to do away with the conscript army and use mercenaries - the elite dependence on public approval decreased quite substantially as compared to, say, the turn of the century. They can practically do what they want without getting much public support, but merely neutralizing public opposition.

Wojtek



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list