by Ron Horn for this blog.
It occurred to me this morning that the dramatic outrage by young people who are filling the streets across America in protests about the election of Trump requires some examination. After all, would the election of Hillary who is a warmonger provoke such outrage? I think not. What follows is my attempt to offer some explanation for this.
The capitalist ruling class and its directorate hidden away in the deep state have used one of their political parties, the Democratic Party, to support more liberal social identity and lifestyle issues. This support has attracted so many in the much stunted left that exists in the US in order to distract them from all the imperialist adventures and war crimes that our masters are madly pursuing all over the world. I don't recall foreign policy issues being much discussed in the Democratic Party's primary elections and none at all in the final campaigns for president or Congress. That our masters in the ruling capitalist class would insure this lack of discussion makes perfect sense to me.
A careful reading of history reveals that the early capitalist class in their early struggles against feudalistic authorities of monarchs and aristocrats had to enlist the support of common people by making all kinds of promises about democracy (rule of the people) and freedom from all kinds of feudal restrictions. They undermined the legitimacy of feudal authorities by smashing the ideology of the divine right of kings and replaced it with promises of the rule of law.
They set up congresses and parliaments that were elected by the people, except that only propertied people of their class could vote in their elections. To be sure, some restrictions were removed, but the new ruling class soon imposed their own restrictions on ordinary people and didn't hesitate to use slaves to build their fortunes. Then, of course, they made the laws which ordinary people would be ruled by. Whenever these deceptions and illusions didn't work, they never hesitated to use their control of police, military, and private armies to violently advance and secure their interests of profit and power.
To be brief, these deceptions and illusions changed over the succeeding decades and centuries to where we are now. The ruling capitalist class have consolidated their ownership/control over every institution, but most especially ideological institutions (education, media, and entertainment) which insures that everyone is indoctrinated with thoughts and values that supports the system of capitalism, the goose that lays their golden eggs of wealth and power, and the many exploitative policies and actions of capitalist rule.
Deception is the prime ingredient of capitalist rule, and the latter have refined this through scientific research into very effective propaganda (our masters refer to this as "public relations") which can be recognized as the management of deceptions and illusions. They now can sell ideas, values, and policies to Americans like soap or toothpaste and do it very effectively.
Okay, you may say, but what has all this to do with young people's outrage?
One of the capitalist parties, the Democratic Party, has for the last eight years promoted social identity politics, especially among younger educated people. I think that this served to offer some rewards to a substantial section of US population after the shock of 9/11, to distract them from the increasing challenges to the establishment myths about how this happened, to distract them from the ruling class's aggressive foreign policies of subversion, invasions, and never-ending wars, and to distract them from the ruling class's neoliberal policies that are so adversely impacting the domestic economy. Hillary Clinton tried to ride on this social identity legacy that was so prevalent in the Obama presidency, but was so contaminated by scandal (FBI investigations) and her aggressive war actions that she failed to arouse much support as became evident with the turnout of crowds where she spoke. This was in dramatic contrast to Trump's crowds.
Okay, I feel rather confident about my analysis so far, but from hereon I must rely on educated speculation simply because, as always, the real "deciders" are totally hidden behind a huge curtain of deception.
I don't believe for a second that our capitalist masters today depend on their election system to select who heads crucial offices like the president. Given their history of deceit, of conspiracies that caused the assassinations of the John and Robert Kennedy (and many other figures that opposed ruling class policies), and the huge conspiracy of 9/11, I don't believe they could simply let Americans choose even between two such despicable characters like Clinton and Trump. They engineered it--evidence is already coming out to support this assertion.
They, too, observed the crowds that the two candidates were attracting, made a deal with Trump, and saw to it, by hook and by crook, that he won the election. Identity politics had worn out its usefulness. This is why so many young people are outraged. Trump represents the negation of everything that identity politics stand for. With Trump the ruling class can create more austerity at home so that they can better afford their policies of military and subversive interventions throughout the world.
But what about the ruling class's neoliberal policies? What about all of Trump's political campaign statements about restoring the American economy and re-building its deteriorating infrastructure? Could our masters be giving up on their neoliberal agenda in the face of so much opposition worldwide? If they don't, such policies will further erode the American economy and outrage Trump's supporters. Could we see manifest what now is a more latent fascist state into full-blown fascist rule? So, it will be interesting to see how our masters handle that. Stay tuned, or better yet, stay informed and active.