[lbo-talk] Iraq war (was: stupidity is most dangerous in people with high IQ)

[Wojtek S]

Marv: "It's interesting how left-wing idealism expresses itself these days.
When the industrial working class was militantly on the rise, left-wing
idealists typically exaggerated the capacity of the masses and
underestimated the power of the ruling class in keeping with the idea that
history was unfolding as predicted and the system was crumbling. Today,
given the historic decline of the workers' and socialist movement,
pessimism is the underlying mood on the left, despite the temporary
excitement and hope occasioned by events like Occupy and the Arab Spring."

[WS:] My suspicion is that idelalism and pessimism is what sells
intellectual commodity in this market niche occupied in a large part by
blaise intellectuals.  Being upbeat is sooo bourgeois and sooo uncool.

OTOH, I just finished reading a book by Gar Aleperovitz "What Then Must We
Do?" http://whatthenmustwedo.org/  It is the polar opposite of idealistic
pessimism.  Alperovitz starts with the same premise that most on the left
do - that the system is broken, political participation (voting,
electioneering etc), or even civil disobedience will not fix it - mainly
because of the decline of labor unions that used be a major moving force in
the political arena.  Only a systemic transformation will.  He is not
dismissing the need to engage in political action or civil disobedience, he
is just saying that they alone are insufficient to "fix the broken system".

 However, his idea of systemic transformation does not involve war,
fighting and similar things that appeal to macho men, but rather
institution building.  He proposes to start with the existing institutions
that "democratize wealth" (his term) which include employee owned
enterprises, cooperatives, B corps, and various partnerships involving
local governments.  These are only a starting point, a material base for
the institutional transformation that need to be systematically pursued.

 The book does not offer any specific plans how to build up such new
institutional framework, but this is a wise thing.  He advocates building
on local success strategies that may vary from place to place, instead of
following a master plan.

The book is written in plain English and on that account I think it will be
pooh-pooh'ed by lit critters who like "deep" text analysis, but it is very
upbeat about the future.  It sees the system as broken and surviving mainly
thanks to the political impasse and paralysis in Washington and believes
that opportunities for a systemic transformation are there, but they
require action.

I would also add that I suggested similar ideas - the need for building
institutions that will form the material base for progressive/left
politics, and starting with the exiting ones (coops).

PS.  I do not read Counterpunch - its macho cockiness rubs me the wrong way.

-- 
Wojtek

"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."