> Is it really that new? Do people really not know that there is an
> upward (re)distribution of wealth happening? Not to be rude, but I call
> bullshit on that. People know.
It's not that they don't know, it's that they cannot know. The life-world and habitus of Americans are so shaped by their Empire, that you could tell them point-blank, "Your dying Empire is ripping you off" and they wouldn't understand.
Most Americans have no frame of reference which would enable them to critique their Empire. They grow up in malls and consumerized spaces with little to no solidarity. Few Americans bother to learn foreign languages, only the younger generation gets their news from the Web, and much of the Anglophone media recycles the bromides of neoliberalism.
As a result, they desperately cling to figures like Obama -- leaders promising change, like the Roman Emperors promising renewed Roman glory. Which is why disappointment with Obama is politically productive -- that's the moment when we can finally begin to get somewhere.
-- DRR