Dark Studies
The Revolution Is All In Your Head
Saturday
Our Long National Nightmare is Over . . .
Perhaps I'll begin by writing some cover letters.
To recap: We're fucked and I told you so.
Maybe this Obama guy can turn things around. I sure hope so, but I for one am hedging my bets.
Anyway, thanks for reading and good luck out there.
Thursday
Markets don't care if you believe in them or not.
My own vision. . .is that the forces of the market are just that: They are forces; they are like the wind and the tides; they are things that if you want to try to ignore them, you ignore them at your peril, and if you understand that they are there, working their way, if you find a way of ordering your life that is compatible with these forces, indeed which harnesses these forces to the benefit of your society, that's the way to go. - Al Harberger, University of Chicago
The unhappy coincidence of a presidential election and an economic downturn has resulted in more than the usual share of public idiocy. I feel it is my duty once again to point the accusatory finger at our leaders in the hope that they will be so ashamed that they quit public office without delay and take up lives as wandering ascetics, begging forgiveness and small morsels of food from the people they have wronged.
THE STIMULUS PACKAGE
The idea behind this proposal, which, I should note, has received broad bipartisan support, is that $600 in my pocket is going to somehow restore confidence in the American economy. This is a silly idea. The federal government has proved itself to be an incompetent regulator, millions of Americans hold underwater mortgages, stagflation is in the air, and our record high deficits are only going to get worse when the baby boomer entitlement bomb goes off. . . but don't worry about all that, Best Buy is having a sale on embarrassingly large televisions! Act now, before you're broke again!
Even sillier than the idea itself is Hillary's assertion that "This stimulus shouldn't be paid for," an utterance so devoid of basic economic reasoning that it makes my head hurt. Let me 'splain you something Hillary. Either that $600 is funded by a loan or the government is running a printing press in the basement of the treasury and creating dollars. Whether I fund this policy by repaying a government debt at some future date or watch the value of my savings evaporate today is irrelevant. My future consumption will be reduced. It is lovely of the government to permit me to borrow from myself at such a comparably low rate, BUT I DON'T ACTUALLY NEED THE CASH.
THE HEALTH CARE PROPOSALS
I think we can all agree that it would be a better, happier, more awesome world if the price of healthcare were lower and there were more of it available. Even a basic acquaintance with market theory suggests a simple and obvious avenue for government action: attempt to shift the healthcare supply curve outward.
Unfortunately, all of the reform proposals with which I am acquainted propose the exact opposite. Our wise presidential candidates imply that we should enact massive demand subsidies while imposing price controls on suppliers. The predictable result will be a shortage.
I point these things out not to whine about socialized medicine or government intervention. To the extent that I believe the government should be involved in promoting social welfare at all, I believe that public health and economic stability are at the core of its mission.
I raise these issues because our leaders seem to view markets as somehow optional. In the same way that walking down a railroad track with your eyes closed wont keep you from getting hit by a train, and ignoring markets in the design of policy doesn't makes them go away.
Tuesday
Thursday
More Obscure Books: The Open Society and its Enemies- Plato
Popper takes pains to shatter the idealized and very popular vision of Plato as a deeply moral and fundamentally righteous crusader against the excesses of a democracy run wild. He does this by examining Plato's own social context, his place within the intellectual movements that go unnamed in his dialogs but had to be in the mind of so educated and politically engaged an author. Moreover, he turns Plato's own words against him, citing familiar passages and delivering plainspoken critiques that cut past Plato's clever tricks.
Plato's subtle but seductive war on the notions of egalitarianism, democracy, and openness that had exploded during Athens' golden age, his betrayal of Socratic notions of Justice, and his own sordid political and pedagogical experiments leave little room for doubt about his intentions. His work, particularly the Republic and the Laws where his political program is most explicitly revealed represent an unabashed embrace of social control and collectivism. The search for the "best state" is shown to reflect a tribalistic and totalitarian impulse to establish the unchallenged rule of the master race by eliminating all vestiges of openness and freedom from the society.
That Plato's program purports to answer the very basic human needs for happiness and justice is little consolation when these terms are defined as "knowing and staying in one's place" and "that which is in the interest of the state."
Here are some choice quotes from Karl Popper's book:
... Of much greater merit, although it too is inspired by hatred is Plato's description of tyranny and especially of the transition to it. He insists that he describes things which he has seen himself; no doubt the allusion is to his experience at the court of the older Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse. The transition from a democracy to tyranny, Plato says is most easily brought about by a popular leader who knows how to exploit the class antagonism between the rich and the poor within the democratic state, and who succeeds in building up a bodyguard or a private army of his own. The people who have hailed him first as the champion of freedom are soon enslaved; and then they must fight for him, in "one war after another which he must stir up...because he must make the people feel the need of a general." With tyranny, the most abject state is reached.
...[Plato] insists that only internal sedition within the ruling class itself can weaken [the state] so much that its rule can be overthrown.
...Most people in civilized countries nowadays [1944] admit racial superiority to be a myth; but even if it were an established fact, it should not create special political rights, though it might create special moral responsibilities for the superior persons. Analogous demands should be made of those who are intellectually and morally and educationally superior; and I cannot help feeling that the opposite claims of certain intellectualists and moralists only show how little successful their education has been, since it failed to make them aware of their own limitations, and of their Pharisaism.
...All theories of soveriegnty are paradoxical...We may distinguish two main types of government. The first type consists of governments of which we can get rid without bloodshed - for example by way of general elections; that is to say, the social institutions provide a means by which the rulers may be dismissed by the ruled, and the social traditions ensure that these institutions will not easily be destroyed by those who are in power. The second type consists of governments which the ruled cannot get rid of except by way of a successful revolution - that is to say, in most cases, not at all. I suggest the term 'democracy' as a short hand label for a government of the first type, and the term 'tyranny' or 'dictatorship' for the second. This, I believe, corresponds closely to the traditional usage. But I wish to make it clear that no part of my argument depends on these labels; and should anybody reverse this usage (as is frequently done nowadays), then I should simply say that I am in favor of what he calls "tyranny" and object to what he calls "democracy;" and I should reject as irrelevant to any attempt to discover what "democracy" "really" or "essentially" means, for example by translating the term into "the rule of the people." (For although 'the people' may influence the actions of their rulers by the threat of dismissal, they never rule themselves in any concrete, practical sense)...He who accepts the principle of democracy in this sense is therefore not bound to look upon the result of a democratic vote as an authoritative expression of what is right. Although he will accept a decision of the majority, for the sake of making the democratic institutions work, he will feel free to combat it by democratic means, and to work for its revision. And should he live to see the day when the majority vote destroys the democratic institutions, then this sad experience will tell him only that there does not exist a foolproof method of avoiding tyranny. But it need not weaken his decision to fight tyranny, nor will it expose his theory as inconsistent.
...Democracy (using his label in the sense suggested above) provides the institutional framework for the reform of political institutions without using violence, and thereby the use of reason in the designing of new institutions and the adjusting of old ones. It cannot provide reason.
...The more we try to return to the heroic age of tribalism, the more surely do we arrive at the Inquisition, at the Secret Police, and at a romanticized gangsterism. Beginning with the suppression of reason and truth, we must end with the most brutal and violent destruction of all that is human. There is no return to a harmonious state of nature. I we turn back, then we must go the whole way - we must return to the beasts. . . We can return to the beasts. But if we wish to remain human, then there is only one way, the way into the open society. We must go on into the unknown, the uncertain and insecure, using what reason we may have to plan as well as we can for both security and freedom.
Monday
Godwin's Law Comes to the Mainstream Media
Ms. Wolf is probably justified in her invocation of the Evil One on this occasion, but this is the first time I had seen it done successfully by a serious journalist. This is because her use of "fascism" is not rhetorical and hyperbolic but is on the other hand highly technical and descriptive. The trends she identifies in American political life and the parallels she draws to past instances of democratic collapse have concerned me for some time. Her contribution to the ongoing discussion is much needed because, as she says, the window permitting a peaceful democratic counter-movement is being closed. Take a look.
Friday
How to Steal a Country
Our elected legislators are running around like a bunch of unsupervised children. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, I knew that staffers often voted on behalf of their senile and doddering bosses who probably don't know what city they're in half the time, but these guys are really brazen about stealing each other's votes.
Monday
Stuck Pigs
That Isn't News
If you’re reading this, you probably already know that the mainstream media is a smoldering wasteland of celebrity gossip, stories about sex offenders, and senseless economic hysteria. I contend that it’s worse than you think.
Tuesday
In the long run we're all dead
Let us review the facts:
The President and VP of the United States have lost the support of all but a radical fringe of the Republican party, and have even succeeded in alienating the traditional base in the last six weeks. The White House has gone into siege mode, and is increasingly desperate to redeem the Bush legacy - even if it means bringing the ominous predictions of a generation long battle for the Middle East to fruition. This administration has demonstrated its willingness to exploit terrorism and war to increase its political power, and there is no reason to believe that they will not attempt to do so again. Their record of restricting freedoms and trampling the constitution in the name of security may precipitate a confrontation in the event of intervention in Iran or Pakistan.
Congress has abysmal approval ratings, and cannot enforce the cooperation or obedience of the White House given a highly politicized Justice Department and the culture of loyalty fostered within it and the rest of the Executive. The Supreme Court is packed with Bush followers as well, and it is unlikely to provide any significant check on executive power even if it becomes obvious that the President is acting outside his constitutionally limited role. The mainstream media has been effectively neutered by the Bush Administration's overt carrot and stick policy of offering unprecedented access to compliant reporters but mercilessly freezing out the opposition.
Spaces for popular protest are being closed by widely publicized yet continuing surveillance programs that may allow government access to highly personal data and the communications of any American citizen. Knowledge of this capability combined with a well executed crack down on a few classes of social deviant could produce the kind of self censorship upon which true authoritarianism depends. Moreover, many Americans are still in the dark about the nature of the economic and political crisis facing this country, and can be easily manipulated by demagogues as a result. Since the 60's, Americans have lost faith in the efficacy of protest and street action to bring about lasting change, and participants in such acts of resistance are viewed as hopeless radicals or dreamers.
The immense quantity and diversity of information available on the Internet has resulted in a sort of ideological fragmentation, and without filters and mediators of culture, it becomes impossible to mobilize new coalitions that will have impact on the democratic process. The Web 2.0 phenomenon and the rise of social networking may permit a true political dialog to resume in time, but for the moment these forums are underdeveloped and lack the kind of cross cutting participation that would make them viable vehicles for change.
Despite the lull in terrorism at home during the last few years, it is still quite likely that we will be attacked again. Given that the stated goal of our enemies is to turn us against each other by exploiting the tendency of our government to overreact to perceived threats, we have done a poor job of sticking together. In an atmosphere of fear an uncertainty and absent a real alternative to Republicrat orthodoxy, the path of least resistance for politicians is more redistributive populism, more deficit spending, and more war. However, military power cannot solve our essentially political foreign policy problems, our country is already committed to entitlements it cannot afford, and increased government intervention in the economy is likely to undermine our few remaining competitive advantages.
While this all sounds quite bleak, even to a bleak prediction aficionado like myself, it is important to point out that all my short term pessimism is tempered by a firmly held belief that in the long run I will be dead as fried chicken along with all the the sons of bitches that got us into this mess. With any luck they'll go before we do and we'll have a chance to clean the place up a bit before its time to go.
But seriously, what I was going to say before the black wave came over me is that in the long run, it really doesn't matter if the federal government implodes and America becomes a pitiable backwater. Those of us that can flee will do so as people have done for all of recorded history, and we will carry with us the ideas, the information, and the drive that made this country a great place to live. In other words, lets give the reform thing the old college try, but if it doesn't work, well, keep practicing that Spanish.
Wednesday
Monday
War: Are we still that fucking stupid?
Repeat after me:
. . .
I solemnly swear that I will never initiate the use of force, nor will I allow political representatives to do so on my behalf. I reject the use or threat of violence as a political tool both because it is morally indefensible and practically ineffective.
. . .
A victory in battle cannot settle the great questions of human life, and furthermore such questions are not meant to be buried.
To be human is to be in error. This condition has the makings of a great comedy or a great tragedy; so far we have chosen the latter.
Wednesday
Banish borders, not immigrants.
Indeed, you could even say we are a species of nomads. Though few modern peoples bear resemblance to the original low-speed nomads - walking across the wilderness from water source to water source, following the big game that was their livelihood - the churning flow of human populations and the reasons compelling our motion have changed very little.
We still roam the earth searching for what we need.
You've lived in one place your whole life you say? Well, if you're like most Americans, you commute about 25 minutes to work each day. You set out from the place where one vital resource is located to acquire another that you need to survive. That you return to the same shelter each night and the same job each morning makes you an adept and speedy migrant, but a migrant none the less.
Imagine how difficult your life would become if arbitrary but impenetrable man-made boundaries were drawn across the landscape in such a way that the many resources necessary for your survival were separated from one another.
This is the situation created by states that erect barriers to peaceful migrants and their goods. Our governments have closed down the natural and vital flows people and resources in a foolish and ill devised effort to protect a few enclaves of wealth.
The irony is, the only reason these enclaves, the very estates of intrepid migrants, might now be threatened is that many years of holding back the trickle of humans has turned them into an angry flood. We should stop blaming the people who follow their fortunes as all of us must. The border is the crime, not the crossing of it.
Friday
Proxy War: still the best bang for your buck!
If you answered that ALL the Fatah militants were carrying U.S. made M-16 rifles, the standard duty rifle for U.S. troops since Vietnam, you win today's grand prize.
This weapon is the hallmark of U.S. involvement in a war. Go to the Bay of Pigs and you will still find their spent shells in the sand. They are too expensive, require too much maintenance, and are too difficult to acquire for most would be guerrillas. Quite simply, our government had to supply them to these fighters.
By contrast, look at the weapons wielded by Hamas fighters. They all carry the ubiquitous AK-47, the dirt cheap and extremely reliable Soviet assault rifle faced by U.S. troops in so many conflicts over the years.
Just because no U.S. troops are fighting in Palestine at the moment doesn't mean we don't have a dog in this fight. We need only listen to the smug statements of our representatives in the region to know that this violence is part of the larger War of Terror. We have opposed Hamas since the beginning of their ascendancy, needling them with the economic sanctions and silent treatment so characteristic of the Bush Administration. Now we fund their enemies in a feeble attempt to topple the democratically elected government. Do we expect them to behave better now that they have routed our proxies?
Monday
More on secrecy.
The author would seem to agree:
For the past six years, I've been exploring the resurgent culture of secrecy. What I've found is a confluence of causes behind it, among them the chill wrought by 9/11, industry deregulation, the long dominance of a single political party, fear of litigation and liability and the threat of the Internet. But perhaps most alarming to me was the public's increasing tolerance of secrecy. Without timely information, citizens are reduced to mere residents, and representative government atrophies into a representational image of democracy as illusory as a hologram.
Tuesday
Shhh! It's a Secret.
As we become less capable of confronting the world in a coherent way, we are increasingly dependent on politicians to tell us what to think. Even though their "information" may conflict with realities that slap us in the face every day, the cognitive dissonance causes paralysis.
The fundamental crisis facing our government is that most of its actions are so highly classified even other officials can't and don't know what's going on. How can they plan complex operations? How can they coordinate policy? The Iraq debacle makes it obvious that they cannot.
If a government can't even trust its own employees, we must assume that it's up to some seriously twisted shit.
Forget about media bias for a moment and consider the impact of secrecy on our society. True information is the blood of democracy. We need the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God. Without it our political discourse is starved of air. We become captive to "experts," pundits and smooth talkers, insiders who can claim privileged access and special information. We are no longer participant citizens but subjects.