The alternative to fervent nationalism isn’t corporate liberalism – it’s social democracy

[LuckyTheDog]

By Jake Johnson

In his 1946 essay reviewing former Trotskyist-turned-reactionary James Burnham’s book “The Managerial Revolution,” George Orwell made several observations that resonate just as powerfully today as they did when they were first published.

“The real question,” he wrote, “is not whether the people who wipe their boots on us during the next fifty years are to be called managers, bureaucrats, or politicians: the question is whether capitalism, now obviously doomed, is to give way to oligarchy or to true democracy.”

<SNIP>

The so-called “ignorant masses” understand that “there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies,” and that “the government doesn’t do enough for older people, poor people or children.” But it is elites whose entrenched interests undercut any attempt to remedy these trends.

There is, in short, an appetite for social democracy in the United States, but it is elites — economic and political — who stand in the way and insist that such an appetite is the result of excessive imagination.

MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/alternative-fervent-nationalism-social-democracy/

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Your clip points to a fundamental divide among Democrats ...

that became clearer than ever during this recent primary ...

“The real question,” he wrote, “is not whether the people who wipe their boots on us during the next fifty years are to be called managers, bureaucrats, or politicians: the question is whether capitalism, now obviously doomed, is to give way to oligarchy or to true democracy.”

The intra-Party divide is found in the emphasized phrase ... a significant segment of the Democratic Party do not see, or want, capitalism as (or to be) a failed(ing) proposition/experiment; while, an increasing number of voices within the Party does, and does.

[Scootaloo]

2. I can understand not wanting to see it as such

But the rub is, Capitalism is predicated on ever-expanding market growth. Denied that it basically devours itself - think like an addict selling off their belongings for the next fix. And the world is not infinite. We have limited resources to fuel our market. And a great many of those resources are locked up by other people, further limiting our access. Which is, by the way, the point of "free trade" agreements - liberation of those resources (capital) in order to keep capitalism chugging along.

And for the record, socialism faces the same decay - just at a much slower rate, since it is not driven by infinite growth of markets. Peopel still consume, and so long as population grows, so does consumption, which will still hit the resource limit.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. Actually, you are only partially correct ... Capitalism is predicated on ...

ever-expanding market growth , to include the developing/development of new markets, through new products and services, i.e., innovation.

I will grant that in its current iteration, Capitalism is stalling for a lack of focus on innovation ... which I see as, both, a regulatory and cultural problem, i.e., the business culture incentivizes short-term (booked) revenue growth over long-term revenue growth ... and the re regulatory system does not sufficiently incentivize new product development; nor, punish short-term revenue growth.

[AgingAmerican]

5. Without unlimited resources, Capitalism will eventually collapse

Capitalism is putting too much pressure on the biosphere and will eventually (if not already) will doom the human race.

[HumanityExperiment]

7. agreed

capitalism doesn't factor in 'finite' resource into it's 'model', let alone 'sustainability'

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. That is what I consider a/the regulatory failure.

[HumanityExperiment]

16. without inherent ethics and...

without focus on enhancing positive and diminishing (or baking them into the actual costs) negative externalities we will never break free of the fundamental bit that fuels it, greed or to put it another way... MORE

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. Regulatory pressure tend to lead to cultural changes ...

i.e., focus on enhancing positive and diminishing (or baking them into the actual costs) negative externalities.

This is NOT to say we will free ourselves from greed ... ever ... in whatever economic system that can/will evolve in the near term.

[LuckyTheDog]

9. I know this sounds a bit nuts, but...

... the long-term game plan for humanity has to include unlocking the resources of the solar system. Earth's resources have gotten us here. But if we want to be around for next million years, there is no viable economic model that doesn't include space exploration.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. No ... That does not sound nuts ...

it is another way (an example of) expanding the market through innovation.

[DanTex]

10. What are you talking about?

Capitalism is not predicated on anything except for private property and a market economy.

[yallerdawg]

3. The People's Republic of China...

the only remaining relic of the Great Socialist States of the 20th Century, has turned to capitalism, entrepreneurship, private ownership, private accumulation of wealth - no more 'agrarian peasant' Maoist vision.

They are now practicing - Oh My God - a Third Way vision of (from wiki):

Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy...

Social democracy originated as a political ideology that advocated an evolutionary and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism using established political processes in contrast to the revolutionary approach to transition associated with orthodox Marxism.

[DanTex]

11. It's also interesting that that was written 70 years ago.

People have been predicting doom for capitalism, in the same language as they use now, since capitalism was invented. And here we are.

What Churchill said about democracy also holds for capitalism: it is the worst economic system, except for all the others that have been tried.

[JaneyVee]

6. Even social democracy has winners and losers.

[LuckyTheDog]

8. Nothing is perfect

But better is always preferable to worse.

[DanTex]

12. Social democracy is itself a form of capitalism.

It is capitalism with more redistribution of wealth and a stronger safety net than we have in the US. But it is still capitalism, and not socialism. So it's a little weird that the article starts out with a quote from 1946 about how capitalism is "obviously doomed."

[Hortensis]

13. There is NO SUCH THING AS corporate liberalism.

Good grief.

Liberalism is "All men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Liberalism is exemplified in the Bill of Rights.

Conservatives made corporations legal "humans" so they could benefit from the freedoms established in the Bill of Rights. Some liberals of that time went along because that seemed to solve a problem that needed to be solved, but that chicanery is no more liberal than extending rights to religious freedom to corporate entities. (Thank you for dropping dead, Justice Scalia.)