this in today’s Guardian UK, a study prepared by the British Ministry of Defence: Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future
[…]
“The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx,” says the report. The thesis is based on a growing gap between the middle classes and the super-rich on one hand and an urban under-class threatening social order: “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest”. Marxism could also be revived, it says, because of global inequality. An increased trend towards moral relativism and pragmatic values will encourage people to seek the “sanctuary provided by more rigid belief systems, including religious orthodoxy and doctrinaire political ideologies, such as popularism and Marxism”.
[…]
H/T to ask
what the pols seem to be missing.
BooMan had an excellent post friday that asked the question: What are We Doing…
it occurred to me when I found this poll that what we’re not doing is listening to what’s going on in the minds of the country, particularly, the demographic that is commonly referred to as the working man, aka middle class.
there is an extremely large segment of that threatened species feeling the pain of corporate malfeasance, greed, and outright thievery, coupled with an inept, ineffective, and uncaring government. the level of dissatisfaction with the current mis-administration runs deep and wide, and has lead to an unpresented, in contemporary times, dissatisfaction and overall sense the need for change. this coupled with the almost pathological sense of helplessness among a very large proportion of working americans does not bode well for the status quo.
this poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners on behalf of Change to
Win shows a profound loss of hope and confidence, on a personal level, coupled with …a stunning reflection of anxiety, anger and demand for action rising in Working America…
WASHINGTON, DC – Economic conditions for workers are deteriorating so dramatically in the new American economy that an overwhelming majority, nearly 70 percent, now say that basic security – not opportunity – is their number one concern, according to a new survey released today. The finding is a stunning reflection of the anxiety, anger and demand for action rising in Working America in the global economy. Among the other key results of the poll of 800 non-supervisory workers:
*Nearly 80 percent of workers, both college and non-college
alike, no longer believe the next generation will be better off.
Nearly half think their children will be worse off.*Nearly 80 percent of workers view multinational corporations
as too powerful, and have driven down wages, eliminated health
care and retirement security, and disregarded labor laws.*Nearly 70 percent of workers feel that government doesn’t
take action to rein in greedy and unethical behavior by
corporations and CEOs.
what does this mean? I think it portends the rapidly approaching shift in attitudes of a huge segment of the voting public that is being ignored or made light of by the powers that be. this is a major miscalculation, failure if you will, because union people GOTV. that their issues are being ignored, or even more galling, being payed lip service to, by the majority of the current slate of presidential candidates of both parties, is a huge tactical error. my take on the positions that the current slate of candidates is espousing, on both sides of the aisle, is that they ignore this growing sentiment at their peril. the lone exception, imo, being Edwards who has taken a stance that appears to identify and recognize this sentiment.
it’s considerably past time for the likes of the DLC, and their corporate enablers to control the discussion. there is a change coming, hopefully at the ballot box, but there’s revolution in the air, and to date, it’s being ignored.
hopefully, this dissatisfaction will make it’s way into the mainstream politic…the candidate that can/will tap into this discontent, and angst will be the next president, with a major mandate to move this country significantly to the left, in the direction of a New Deal for the 21st Century….is anybody listening?
this is fertile ground, and has the potential to shift the primary focus of government back in the direction of, by and for the people. hopefully, someone’s paying attention especially in the netroots. this is an area where significant inroads can be made.
I encourage you to go to the linked survey and read it…very interesting.
and yes, I know the old saw…lies, damn lies and statistics.
I encourage you to go to the linked survey and read it…very interesting.
and yes, I know the old saw…lies, damn lies and statistics.
Dada,it matters none what the country needs, let alone what the working wo/man needs. The government knows full well that the majority of us can’t survive without the (un)necesisities.
That includes being so broke that we can’t afford to have our kids teeth fixed. We can’t afford to send our kids to college anymore……we can’t afford to buy our kids thier first car…….we can’t afford…we can’t afford…..
Do you think John Edwards gives a shit? Barack Obama? Hillary Clinton? Maybe Dennis Kucinich?
Awe…fuck no.
It’s gonna take a lot more passionate action to change the course of this nation, that, or economic collapse…than a few run of the mill politicians, playing within the system.
I think Edwards and Clinton and Obama and Kucinich all care. But they can’t do it alone. That’s the myth of America – that we have these great elected leaders. But nearly all major social change in this country has come from outside the Oval Office, the notable exception of course being Roosevelt’s New Deal. And even then, he did that because that was what Upton Sinclair and Huey Long were gaining power with – plans for jobs and economic fairness. Had they not come before, Roosevelt may have gone a different route.
It IS up to us. But I don’t think we have to slam potential leaders in the process.
Go on sticking to the status quo.
Roosevelt? Granted he put a few back to work, but he kept those people, for the most part, right where they’de always been. Dependaent on the G. It worked for a while. Made a few people rich. Not the working father/mother. And then we all settled back into the familiar pattern…….
These candidates? Fuckin Americans, every one of them. Talk a lot of bullshit…get to Washington…become bullshit themselves…
Sory,
can’t get with the program.
Well, I’m going to assume you’re in a really bad mood, because I don’t want to accuse you of comprehension issues. Get some sleep and you’ll see that what I wrote and what you think I wrote are pretty far apart.
w/ all due respect, the point is that the passionate action is bubbling just below the surface.
I’m not arguing that any of the candidates gives a shit…although Edwards’ is talking the talk…it’s not what I was trying to point out.
My work brings me into contact w/ these guys like those in the survey, all the time, hell, I’m one of them….carpenters, masons, stl workers, all the construction trades….I pay attention, I talk to them….they’re pissed, they’re scared and they’re tired of getting fucked….if the pols don’t wake up, it’s going to get ugly, and in fact may do so anyway…there’s a huge amount of pent up anger and it’s going to find a vent, those who ignore do so at their peril.
hasn’t happened yet, but don’t think for a moment that it’s to far fetched a scenario. the workers could shut this country down if they ever got their shit together…bet on it, as AG says…and they will if this continues.
my2¢
like it or not…there ain’t no saviours coming…just read the fucking survey…hell take it, then draw your own conclusions.
the workers could shut this country down if they ever got their shit together…
Yup, they have the power, but don’t know it. And right there is a talking point that I’d love to see…’cept that the politicians know it too…and know that the workers won’t act. Why? Because they’re one, maybe two pay checks away from disaster.
With all due respect.
but the workers sense it. a big part of the problem is thatthey’re just as unhappy with the position of their unions, who are just as much a part of the system as the other pigs. they don’t feel adequately represented, they feel like they’re being sold out not only by the govt. and the corporatist’s, but by their own leaders…they feel betrayed on many level. my sense of the situation, which is borne out by this survey, is that they’re going to start demanding change…across the board.
the powers that be have tried to focus their anger towards illegal immigrants and a whole bunch of other boogeymen and bogus crisis, as well as fear mongering tactics on many fronts. that song and dance is wearing thin…there’s a great deal of untapped energy here, can it be channelled in a positive direction? I’ve got no answers, but it’s a hell of a question, and I’d like to see it addressed.
and if you’re not in the top 5% in terms of income and worth, in this
country, then it’s damn likely you’re only one or two paychecks away from disaster…so there’s a lot of company there, blue collar and white collar.
avarice and hubris come with a very high price tag when time comes to settle the tab.
I’m ready to settle the tab Dada.
But no matter how close we thing the edge is, the vast, vast majority of potential revolutionaries is too busy keeping their shit survivable and will vote for the media’s version of the next Jesus/Marx.
Same story, different cycle.
Here’s my idea of the candidate’s solutions….nursery rymes…
It’s gonna take a lot more passionate action to change the course of this nation, that, or economic collapse…than a few run of the mill politicians, playing within the system.
You are right that it is going to take us to get things changed. And, sadly, enough passionate action may not come until we experience economic collapse.
As you said in a point below, people are holding on because they are only a pay check or two away from disaster. I’m afraid it won’t be long before even that “safety net” is gone.
Our politicians won’t make any changes unless they are forced by us to do so. Hell, most people won’t make changes unless something cataclysmic happens.
Nonetheless, I’m encouraged by what Dada is saying. People are waking up — slowly — and realizing they are getting screwed by their own government and politicians.
As of yet, not many are willing to take the risks and pay the price that early labor organizers did. We’d all like to believe that if we get and stay engaged in the political process, we can effect significant change. On good days, I believe that.
Regardless of what it takes to effect the change, their is no doubt that it will come from us, not the politicians. They are, at best, allies in our cause — and then only if they see it as a political necessity.
Peace.
When Chomsky was writing about failed states in a recent book he noted that a main characteristic of such states was a vast gulf between the actions of the members of the government and the opinions of the very people they purport to serve. I’m guessing that the middle class of this country is only now waking up to something that our peers in the tenements and trailer parks have known at least implicitly for a while: if the US isn’t quite a failed state, it’s certainly a failing state.
At this point a vote for Frylock would be as useful as a vote for any of the other clowns running for the nomination for the Dem party mantle.
Sort of causes one to ask: Who is served by this government?
Unfortunately I don’t think the tenement or trailer park folks, even implicitly, know the U.S. is a failed or failing state, as I doubt the “we, the people” or “government of the people, by the people, for the people” PR ever played well. Struggling day to day doesn’t allow much time or energy to contemplate the state of the nation. And those struggles are personalized – after all, this is ‘merica where everyone can make it. And if you can’t? Why, there must be something wrong with you.
Thanks, dada.
what does this mean? I think it portends the rapidly approaching shift in attitudes of a huge segment of the voting public that is being ignored or made light of by the powers that be.
I think you are right. At the moment, there is an interesting, anecdotal diary entry on the recommended list at kos that describes what is simmering below the surface.
More and more people are noticing the threat of their own government. A techtonic process is going on; it appears ever so slowly, but there is a huge release of energy coming up. If it simmers until the elections in ’08, we’ll see another landslide election, but if the actions of impunity of this administration continues unabated, we may see this release earlier – and it will get ugly.
The revolution won’t be televised because the msm will ignore it in favor of reporting about the latest missing/dead white woman.
When hope is gone,(and if it isn’t gone, it sure is close to being gone) the seeds of revolution have already been sown.
For the last four or five years, the blogosphere has been nauseatingly crammed with talk about “movements” — either of bloggers, of political parties, or of candidates — and yet, when you ask about where the manifestos for these movements are, all you get is a blank look.
“We’re having a conference in New York,” someone will say to you.
Great. When will the manifesto be presented?
“We’re having breakaway working groups. You can sign up for as many as you want. And then, the keynote event will be an address by [insert famous politician name here].”
Terrific. When will you read the manifesto?
“Huh?”
Famous manifestos in history:
95 Theses
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Sentiments
The Communist Manifesto
The Port Huron Statement
etc.
Some of these declarations were for successful movements, others for unsuccessful ones; but the fact is, it’s really hard to have a genuine movement without one. How are people supposed to get a clear picture of what you stand for?
The big-box bloggers seem to think that they, in themselves — their activities, their passion, their buzz — are the manifesto, but that’s really bullshit. They’ve articulated very little of anything concrete and if they did articulate something, they would have realized sooner that they haven’t been reaching those 80% of Americans you cite. Even worse, they’d realize that they’re not really doing anything terribly revolutionary by just trying to game the existing pay-to-play system that excludes those vast tracts of Americans.
In fact, it benefits the gameplayers very much if they DON’T articulate their ideas in publishable, straightforwardly disseminable form.
I dare anyone who’s going to these conferences, to work out a manifesto while you’re there and attempt to have it read from the main stage on the day of the keynote. Report back on what happened, it should be illuminating.
I really like the idea of a manifesto. The act of crafting one would be a challenging way to get people talking and listening to one another.
“The act of crafting one would be a challenging way to get people talking and listening to one another.” I’ll say! Best held in an isolated area or a locked room? 😉
I do agree with you – it is putting together such a statement that people can get to discover their own true beliefs which can be contradictory. And then there is the whole challenge of explaining to others and trying to understand what others are saying – and coming to points of agreement. What a process!
(OT, I have been away from the internet, but wanted to let you know that in my catch up reading, I really enjoyed your diary, Chosen, redeemed, or other?, and all the comments.)
Thanks, Tampopo.
http://www.johntitor.com
Another interesting take on the future from an “unconventional source.
This kind of vast disenchantment with society is fertile breeding grounds for the American version of fascism, namely lunatic right wing evangelical Christianity and its political arm the Republican Party.
Fascism will thrive in this societal soup of loss of personal meaning, loss of jobs, disenchantment with politics, and an inability of people to see that the cause of this misery is capitalism, not liberalis, not secular humanism, not the ACLU, not abortion, not gay marriage. The lure of a utopian Christian nation sure beats reality. People without hope will find it under any rock that happens to get thrown in their path.
Chris Hedges book American Fascists is highlighted in the ads in Booman Tribune. Read It.
It’s these kids who are going to be the ones who will be ripe for the neo-Marxism, the religious fundamentalist movements, or whatever the American dream splinters into.
Let’s just say that the movements these kids (or rather, future young adults) get involved in, will make the Democrats wish they had been nicer to the Greens.
The student-loan scandal is just a small example of how deeply betrayed and cynical this future generation is going to feel.
I just don’t understand how people can not see this coming, like a train coming down the tracks with the whistle wailing.
some people did/do…unfortunately, it bodes ill for the future…
Once the next crisis or set of crises completely undermine the fundamental assumptions that these kids (soon-to-be adults), they will be embracing whatever seems to make their post-consumerism life more meaningful. This could play out any of a number of ways – maybe along the lines of embracing a Venezuela-style 21st century socialism, maybe along the lines of some form of fascism (at this point my bet would be the latter, though I hope I’m wrong), maybe something else. Just as the ruling elites were caught off guard by the Great Depression, I’m expecting that the current elites will be caught off guard by the next socio-economic crisis. Regardless, whatever emerges from the ashes in the coming years or decades will be almost unrecognizable to those of us who are pondering the future from our early 21st century blogs.
What worries me, though, is that these middle-class college-track kids are being imbued with some fundamentally sick values (that they’re their parents’ “personal projects,” that earning a lot of money is the No. 1 goal of going to college, that their job is to knock themselves out to meet artificial measures of “achievement”). While a certain percentage of these kids will rebel against these values, a certain percentage will embrace them even more tightly. That’s going to make for internecine conflict among the middle class.
When high school kids start rejecting the fundamental assumption that feeding themselves into the higher-education industry’s debt grinder (as well as the military’s meat grinder) is the way to achieve power and influence, then we might see some progress.
We might actually see genuine student strikes that make the 60s look tame, when college students who realize what a ride they’re being taken for by the higher education money machine.