Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Energy Transitions and the Next "Paradigmatic Image of the World"

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Energy Transitions and the Next "Paradigmatic Image of the World"

by David Murphy from The Oil Drum. I am always amazed at the ability of educated people to engage in circumlocution when discussing economics. This writer offers some astute observations about the development and demise of economic systems without ever mentioning the word "capitalism" or "capitalists". Instead he uses terms like "industrialization", "neoclassical macroeconomic theory", and "Classical Economists". It demonstrates the power and effectiveness of many decades of capitalist propaganda and indoctrination to divert attention away from a system which is increasingly being seen as dysfunctional.

A new economic model is needed--one that focuses on human welfare as being separate from income, and one that focuses on the resiliency of society rather than the growth of society over the long term.