There are a lot of diaries and comments about the Class War. Great stuff, actually. And there's a lot out there about what D.C. should do about it. There are a few diaries about what "we" should do about it. There are many diaries lately about what is being done on specific fronts, such as WI, MI and OH. And very recently, some bandwidth has been given to speculation about why "we" (the people) aren't rising up here against the ruling elites like some people elsewhere.
There are perhaps an infinite number of reasons why we shouldn't, can't and/or aren't taking larger, more comprehensive, decisive and definitive action. But they are ALL, every last one of them, forms of denial, ways in which we avoid taking full responsibility for the truly gargantuan task of truly dealing with the Class War (at least to the extent that certain expressions of human nature such as greed can ever be definitively put in check).
Many of us already recognize that The Class War is shredding the fabric of society--destroying businesses, careers, jobs, employment benefits, employment conditions,unions, mortgages, partnerships, marriages, families, communities, the Middle Class, the Lower Class, the economy, civil rights, international treaties, the rule of law, all manner of progressive causes and on and on. And many of us agree thgat The Class War is expanding disaster capitalism, legal white collar crime, the income/wealth/influence gap, etc. But precious few of us think we aren't taking enough responsibility for the outcome of the War. We all seem to have a permanent pass on that.
Call it inertia, laziness, lack of empathy, lack of internalization, lack of moral imagination (yes), mediocrity, pragmatism, entropy, confusion, lack of understanding, under-estimation, lack of focus, whatever, these "reasons" are all, by this time, forms of denial.
More than enough information has floated in over the transom for people to know by now the history and present status of the war, and general trend-lines of the future are easy enough to project. The Class War is not merely inconvenient, it is devastating. It has practical implications, it has philosophical and moral dimensions. It affects some more than others, but still everyone on the planet. (And it affects the planet.) Many of these are unwitting victims, like people who haven't even been born yet, who will be born into the War out of control. And the status of the War will have been in part our responsibility as actors who have influence on the outcome, particularly when we organize and work together, which we all know to be true. Anyone who doesn't accept this is denying something. Many things actually.
We are operating on multiple levels of denial. This Q&A encapsulates a few of them.
1) Is the War really that bad? Aren't we just letting the perfect be the enemy of the good?
GOOD?
Hello? Really? Really? WTF? Have you seen the freaking charts? Did you pass Chart-Reading 101?
As with Climate Change and evolution, apparently no amount of data and facts will fully permeate this denial mechansim, so it's tough to say what will work, other than waiting until every damn one of us is financially devastated from one direction or another (income, equity, investments, pensions, medical expenses...take your pick, these and many more mandatory lotteries are up and running every day!). I thought this kind of lack of empathic vision was a conservative ideological blind-spot. But clearly many Democrats have it too. If not yet, what level of concentration of income, wealth and political influence would you agree IS unacceptable? In another 30 years, the Plutocracy should double its share of the income and wealth and, hence, influence, up to about 100%? Will that be too much? Please advise.
Christ on a cracker.
2) Can we really make a significant impact? Can we fight the plutocrats?
Of course we can. This one is an imposter of: Will we make a significant impact? Some people deny that we can do anything signifcant, which is really just an excuse for not doing it.
3) Can we do more?
Lots of people are organizing, demonstrating, blogging, donating, contributing in-kind, etc., and they're all, every one of them, to be thanked and commended. The folks working tirelessly in WI, for example, are my heroes. (PLEASE REMEMBER I SAID THIS, LEST I BE CRITICIZED FOR NOT APPRECIATING EXISTING EFFORTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. I DO.)
Of course we can do more. Pretty much each and every one of us; I'll allow there are some exceptions. Some more than others. As importantly as doing more, however, is that we need to do things differently. That means not only D.C. has to change but WE have to change. (gasp) We have to changed ourselves before we can change D.C.
4) Can we reasonably expect each other to do more than we are already doing? After all, we have lives to live, too.
Reasonable has nothing to do with it.
Unfortunately, the reality is that obviously it will take much more time and effort on our parts to get this done. Reasonable or not, that's real. Most of the people who have ever lived have done so under conditions we would consider unreasonable. Our descendants will be living in far less reasonable conditions if we don't make a significant impact now. And the ongoing effects of the War are going to cramp our very own styles a helluva more in the years ahead than fighting this War for real will in the short-term.
Though it may seem like it, I'm neither sado nor masochist. There's almost nothing I'd not rather be doing than devoting myself to The Class War indefinitely.
I'm just being realistic about what The Class War means and what it will take to significantly impact it.
5) Isn't what we are doing working?
Another version of: are we letting the perfect be the enemy of the good?
While our efforts are commendable, especially since there are so damn few of us, the obvious truth, going on four decades now, is that they aren't fucking working.
Look at the economic charts. Look at the media. Look at energy policy. Look at education policy. Look at Civil Rights. It's all the Class War and we are failing spectacularly.
6) Do we have to do more?
Since our only strength against concentrated influence of wealth is our concentrated influence in mass numbers of people, that should has to become a much more central feature of our approach going forward. Yes, we can work smarter, there are all sorts of technologies that can help, but there's no getting around working harder, too. Continuously recruiting and organizing people, many more people than we have before, is a big job.
7) Is it our responsibility?
Hell yes, it is. Democrats/Progressives have argued the moral dimension of money for over a century now. (Perhaps some of us don't really mean it?) And since, as Rep. Kucinich recently and effectively argued in WI, "economic democracy is a pre-condition for political democracy", we are also fighting for democracy itself, which others have done in the past for our benefit. Do we owe it to the future? Yes. Are we immoral, degenerate slobs who should be castigated by our descendants if we don't? Absolutely. Do we hold it against our forebears for slaughtering Indians, engaging in slavery and treating women and children like crap?
8) Is it fair that fighting the Class War falls so heavily on our shoulders when it affects just about everyone?
Does it really matter if it is or isn't? Are we gonna wait for the apologists or the Republicans?
The only fairness there is in this world is that created by those who, fairly or not, took it upon themselves to create it. And it is as delicate and transient as a snowflake. Fairness takes constant effort.
Defining the particulars of what "success" in The Class War would be is really the topic for a different diary. For the purpose of this diary, I would simply assert that:
The pinnacle of economic justice in America, as imperfect and lacking as it was, occurred decades ago, when prosperity in the form of income, wealth, employment benefits, employment conditions, retirement security and political influence was most broadly shared. While even those conditions were far from ideal, they were far superior for most Americans than the conditions we have today, seatbelts, refrigerators with ice-makers, cars with airbags and flat-screen TVs (with remotes!) notwithstanding.
In a sense, then, one definition of "winning" the class war would be measurably enabling and establishing a period of time in which the Plutocracy would be checked and balanced, economic and political democracy would flourish and the current trajectory of all the common measures of the Class War would be drastically altered for the better, much as they were in the decades following FDR.
How long, America?
Will we overcome all manner of denial and accept responsibility not just for talking about and/or participating in the war primarily when and as it's convenient but for the outcome of the Class War?
Until we achieve a critical mass of people who accept this responsibility, including a critical mass of opinion leaders from communities such as DKos, Democrats and Progressives will remain mired in denial and The Class War will rage on, claiming more and more lives.
When and if we have that mass, we can discuss further the definition of "winning" the class war and how to do it. Until then, any deck chair games will do.