Op Ed: Totalitarian Recall

In U.S. politics we often hear terms like "communist," "socialist," "freedom," "capitalist" and "democracy" being used to persuade us in one way or another. We think that we know the meanings of these words, but do we really? The reason that I put all of these terms in quotations is that when we hear them, they are leading; they have an obvious emotion or idea that they are allegedly linked to. For instance communist and socialist mean evil, un-American, bad! But if you look closer at the true meanings of these terms without political bias, the illusions that are so elaborately constructed to influence our minds and predispose us towards particular ideas seem to fall apart. If you are now thinking "socialism and communism ARE bad; freedom is the best, go USA, we're the best!" then here is what I have found.

I do not like being micromanaged. I'm an American, and I like freedom; not like those enslaved commies in Russia and Cuba. I also like the idea of guaranteed health care for everyone, but that is labeled socialistic (and bad...?). What is wrong with socialism, then? I say let's see what this socialism stuff is all about. I acknowledge and appreciate the things that capitalism has allowed us to achieve, but economic systems should evolve; unfortunately ours has mutated.

The perfect capitalist cares first and foremost about monetary gain; all other interests are secondary to economic growth and acquisition of capital. Karl Marx prophesized over 100 years ago that capitalism would ultimately lead to either a socialist democracy with true equality (communism) or a barbaric survival of the wealthiest (totalitarianism). It is abundantly clear to me that we are heading down the path of the latter when we should strive for the former. The few who have money and power impose their will on the many. The government is intended to answer to the many, not the few.

Unfortunately for us, our government now consists of a conglomerate of those few who hold private interests. Look at the most recent stimulus package that was passed. Though Obama promised a package free of earmarks as well as 100% visibility (meaning a minimum of five days for voters to view bills online before they are voted on), the stimulus package was delivered to Congressmen near midnight the night before it was voted on (1000+ pages to read overnight), and it had quite a few "non-earmarks," for example:

-$30m for habitat restoration project in San Francisco for a species of rat, authored by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (who is from the San Francisco area)

-$500m in biofuels bonus money, authored by Representative Bruce Braley, Iowa (Iowa has over 40 refineries)

These private interests are held by individuals and paid for by the masses. We have no choice but to blindly follow our government, which is manipulated by ultra-capitalists, into our ever-deepening economic slavery. Personal freedoms are disappearing rapidly (ie the patriot act, which was snuck through in the name of "the war on terror"), and the only thing that the average citizen can do is choose between pre-determined officials and write to them hoping they even read it.

We are slaves to the system, and it is only getting worse. In an ideal democracy, every citizen (voter) would be educated to the highest degree possible. Public education would be heavily emphasized, and the country would benefit from having educated citizens who can think critically and make educated decisions; yet in our country public education is laughable. Most people are informed through media, which is again largely controlled (and filtered) by private interests who have power over the government. The other option is to pay for higher education, which is expensive and therefore unavailable to those without the financial means to purchase it. So the choices are: a) pay for higher education or b) become indoctrinated by the mass media.

The effect of this is that education has become yet another commodity, and educated people become the minority. If democracy depends on voters being educated, and few people are educated, then this is a terrible democracy; we are political and economic slaves via capitalism. It appears to me that freedom and capitalism are actually in direct opposition to one another; maybe those damn commies were onto something.


In conclusion I will define my key terms and allow you to draw your own conclusion as to where we are headed.

1) Communism is a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where every member of society participates in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

2) Socialism is an economic system in which control and ownership of the means of production and distribution is vested in the community or state as a whole, emphasizing equality.

3) Capitalism is an economic system in which production and distribution is owned privately, allowing value of products and labor to also be determined privately.

4) Democracy is a society governed by the people with total equality.

5) Slavery is the subjection of one to the will of another.

6) Freedom is personal dominion over public and/or private life.

7) Totalitarianism is a society in which a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life and is characterized by an all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the mass media; an individual or small group controls the state and the economy, regulates or restricts free discussion and criticism, uses mass surveillance, and uses widespread terror tactics.


Note:
If you are familiar with the movie Wall Street, then you may remember a scene from the movie that relates closely to what I wrote about in this article. I didn't ever notice this until recently, so it was astonishing to see the same types of concepts so blatantly articulated in a blockbuster movie.

Here is the dialogue I am referencing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/quotes):

Gordon Gekko: The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you.
Bud Fox: How much is enough?
Gordon Gekko: It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.