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, June 9, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, June 9, 2020

My reaction: The author explains how the ruling capitalist class is running out of options to contain the resistance of poverty-stricken people that is an integral part of capitalist rule. But, at this late date is social-democracy a realistic option that Kavanagh seems to favor? Is social-democracy, capitalism with a more human face, a bias of CounterPunch (because the core administrators of this website live off of the ownership of stocks, bonds, etc.)? My answers: "no!" to the first question, and "yes!" to the second. But, the more important question is: what will the ruling class do to contain the new resistance that has appeared following the George Floyd protests? Could they be desperate enough to use the armageddon option--a nuclear war? I have no answers to these questions.
  • Tucker: Black Lives Matter is now a political party featuring Tucker Carlson of Fox News (via YouTube) giving his commentary regarding the growing movement by the new resistance to defund police departments all across the USA. He omits any need felt by the new resistance to construct new police departments that serve the people. My commentary follows:
Carlson represents a more authoritarian faction of the ruling capitalist class, and he, of course, regards this as "insane". The existing militarized police agencies have a history of serving the defense of the capitalist class to contain any opposition from ordinary people and to carry out their racist policies that served to divide and conquer the working class. This is a redline issue for the ruling class, much like the right to own guns that must not be crossed. But this is also a fundamental issue for the new resistance to get the police out of all instiutions--particulary the schools. So, it will be very interesting to see what happens to this effort to abolish the existing police organizations across America. 
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