Miguel Afonso Caetano"Although it’s uncomfortable to do so, the ineffectiveness of our mass institutions and forms needs to be recognized and faced head on. There is an unfortunate tendency on the left—as there is to all movements out of power—to sloganeer instead of taking a hard look at the actual power constellation of our society. But this is precisely what we need to do.
So, what have the last twenty years demonstrated?
The rich can get richer and the poor can get poorer without there being a serious reaction; people are as a whole unwilling to put their lives on the line for politics.
Congress largely has abandoned its role in war-making.
The “voice” provided by social media is largely an illusion when it comes to affecting those who wield real power, while the mass media is more interested in circuses than in informing.
There is not a clear link between popular protest and political reform.
Those who control the Democratic Party feel no compunction to listen to their supposed constituents.
For the moment, at least, capitalism has won, and its victory is totalizing.
You don’t need that many people to control and run the US Empire effectively.
Of course, I do not wish to imply that the above realities are eternal. Humans, as Marx rightly said, make their own histories (even if, as he added, we don’t make them as we please).
We live in a grim era where morbid symptoms abound. Our goal for the next decade must be to change that, and the only way to do so is to identify the present constellation of power in our society and strategize accordingly.
If we do not, we will all continue to suffer."
https://www.foreignexchanges.news/p/the-end-of-mass-politics
#USA #MassPolitics #Politics #Elections #Inequality #DemocraticParty
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