The Washington Post and the New York Times have articles today about the return of Karl Marx. Marx was never, of course, a bad guy. He was just a guy who saw the problems of capitalism and we live in a society that -- for decades -- has been unwilling to question capitalism.
But now we live with the "rewards" of capitalism, the most notable being increasing economic inequality and a declining participation in our civic life.
Bill Keller of Times and David Simon in the Post -- yes, the David Simon of "The Wire" and "Treme" -- remind us of Marx's influence on some of our most respected leaders. We could use some respect for the Marx considered so "evil" by capitalist purists now that we know more about capitalism and oppression. As Keller notes in the Times, Mandela found communism useful at one point in his struggle on behalf of... no, not himself as capitalism would teach, but of others. Of other people. For the sake of the common good. Some call it Christianity.
Here's Simon taking a hard look at the results of putting together a "public health policy," along the lines of healthcare embraced by countries now more advanced than the US. Simon, who is hardly a poor street person or a "taker," actually summons Marx to the argument about whether we should fight for the common good. Common.
... We can't even get healthcare for our citizens on a basic level. And the argument comes down to: "Goddamn this socialist president. Does he think I'm going to pay to keep other people healthy? That's socialism you know. HBO contract. Motherfucker."
What do you think group health insurance is? You know you ask these guys, "Do you have group health insurance where you …?" "Oh yeah, I get …" you know, "my law firm …" So when you get sick you're able to afford the treatment.
The treatment comes because you have enough people in your law firm so you're able to get health insurance enough for them to stay healthy. So the actuarial tables work and all of you, when you do get sick, are able to have the resources there to get better because you're relying on the idea of the group. Yeah. And they nod their heads, and you go "Brother, that's socialism. You know it is."
And ... you know when you say, OK, we're going to do what we're doing for your law firm but we're going to do it for 300 million Americans and we're going to make it affordable for everybody that way. And yes, it means that you're going to be paying for the other guys in the society, the same way you pay for the other guys in the law firm … Their eyes glaze. You know they don't want to hear it. It's too much. Too much to contemplate the idea that the whole country might be actually connected.
So I'm astonished that at this late date I'm standing here and saying we might want to go back for this guy Marx that we were laughing at, if not for his prescriptions, then at least for his depiction of what is possible if you don't mitigate the authority of capitalism, if you don't embrace some other values for human endeavour. ...DavidSimon,Guardian
Particularly, as Simon notes, now that we're forced to face, as Simon reminds us, millions of people who have been marginalized by capitalism. What used to be about race is now about all of us.
... All of a sudden a certain faith in the economic engine and the economic authority of Wall Street and market logic started to fall away from people. And they realised it's not just about race, it's about something even more terrifying. It's about class. Are you at the top of the wave or are you at the bottom?
So how does it get better? In 1932, it got better because they dealt the cards again and there was a communal logic that said nobody's going to get left behind. We're going to figure this out. We're going to get the banks open. From the depths of that depression a social compact was made between worker, between labour and capital that actually allowed people to have some hope.
We're either going to do that in some practical way when things get bad enough or we're going to keep going the way we're going, at which point there's going to be enough people standing on the outside of this mess that somebody's going to pick up a brick, because you know when people get to the end there's always the brick. I hope we go for the first option but I'm losing faith. ...DavidSimon,Guardian
This isn't 1932. We have created a huge problem we probably can't solve. We've already sold ourselves and our government.
... The last job of capitalism – having won all the battles against labour, having acquired the ultimate authority, almost the ultimate moral authority over what's a good idea or what's not, or what's valued and what's not – the last journey for capital in my country has been to buy the electoral process, the one venue for reform that remained to Americans.
Right now capital has effectively purchased the government, and you witnessed it again with the healthcare debacle in terms of the $450m that was heaved into Congress, the most broken part of my government, in order that the popular will never actually emerged in any of that legislative process. ...DavidSimon,Guardian
And that isn't a fictional TV series. That's our reality.
