Surviving Capitalism (Not) : American Empire and the Future: High Noon for the Imperium

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, May 19, 2012

American Empire and the Future: High Noon for the Imperium

Click here to access article by Paul L. Atwood from CounterPunch.

This writer covers a lot of ground while trying to establish the truths about our current political realities--possibly too much ground. But, he does it so well in this piece. My only criticism, and a frequent one regarding social-political critics, is the glaring omission of the name of the underlying system which is the source of many of the disasters facing us today: capitalism--the system that insures the private accumulation of socially produced wealth. Instead, he uses circumlocutions like "globalism" or "American way of life".

I don't know if he is a liberal who feels that there is no alternative, or if he fears adverse consequences from colleagues and authorities if he should mention the taboo word of capitalism in connection with disasters and war crimes.