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

Saturday, August 21, 2010

General McChrystal’s New Job: Dig a Bit, Please

by Russ Baker from Who, What, Why

The writer is an investigative journalist who authored Family of Secrets, which I highly recommend, about the Bush dynasty and its shenanigans. Here he takes a look at the hiring of the recently fired General McChrystal and his new job at Yale, one of US' leading universities.

The incident illustrates once again that the ruling class is insuring that those who serve the military-industrial complex insinuate themselves into the leading universities to maintain the latter's focus on serving the Empire. 

The incident also illustrates how the system works, and that it works as a system to insure that all of its components are working in harmony with the leaders of the system--those who profit from the private ownership of important economic property. 

In this example it involves a leading educational institution that trains and indoctrinates a variety of professionals who will be assigned leading roles in the various institutions of society. Once there they in turn insure that those institutions and their personnel serve the values and needs of the capitalist ruling class. 

Such a system depends upon a hierarchical system to enable a small ruling class to control all the components of a society. Thus unquestioning obedience to authority is one of the basic virtues that is inculcated in all citizens throughout their lives. Those whose behavior does not reflect that virtue almost inevitably find themselves marginalized occupationally, economically, and socially. But there are exceptions.

Although in this example the General was fired for insubordination, usually a key sin in a hierarchical system, during his career he has clearly demonstrated allegiance to the Empire and its ruling class. Thus the "authorities" don't really mind that he was insubordinate to another of their employees, the President of the US.