Karl Marx was correct when he told us that the political and economic superstructure in society is erected on, and is a reflection of, the economic base. I think that is so self-evident that even the most ardent Marx hater would hesitate to deny it for fear of being open to ridicule. However, Marx did not originate that observation, he only articulated it best. The base and superstructure thesis was a striking feature of Adam Smith's writings a century before Marx and was one of the many things that Smith and Marx had in common. I raise this point because I have been contemplating the remarkable rise of Donald Trump as the representative of a large portion of American sentiment. His rise to fame is indicative of the irrational anger of a population being driven to despair because of the dominant economic ideology of the free market that is quite literally destroying American society. I call it irrational because the anger is directed against all the wrong targets, and Trump's electoral platform is a reflection of that. The dominant individualistic free market ideology that permeates the United States is exposed for the fraud that it has always been and this time there is no collectivist, indeed socialist, New Deal solution in sight to rescue the American system. This is not the first time that the individualist free market based economy has crashed spectacularly but the abiding characteristic of western politicians is their complete inability to learn from mistakes, and. because they are either incapable or unwilling to admit the real cause of their crisis they blame anything and everything except the obvious that is glaring them in the face.
The American political system is the result of this perverted and fraudulent economics and the political leadership is a reflection of just such a perversion. However, as with the situation in Britain, the politicians in America are not affected by the crisis as they are all benefiting from it enormously. As a result it is not in their interests to be tackling the problem at its roots and so they constantly seek to shift the blame, and the public's attention, away from the real culprit. This is a political and economic system that is erected on greed, legalised theft, exploitation and a complete disinterest in its effects on the wider society. It is a system that scapegoats, just as Trump's solutions to America's perceived problems are all founded on a scapegoat mentality. Just as the free market economic system is one huge lie, so is the political system that claims to offer solutions, and the personnel who compose the political system are themselves pathological liars. The British are at this time asking why it took the Prime Minister six attempts to explain his involvement in offshore tax avoidance schemes and the answer is that he is a typical representative of a class of people, a Westminster politician, who is simply incapable of being truthful. Being truthful scares them, it is alien, people like the Camoron are programmed to lie as a matter of habit. Being truthful is a serious sign of weakness in Britain and the British elite seriously believe that they have a right to be secretive and unaccountable. Thus, the first reaction for any Westminster politician is to lie as the British people have no rights to truth and accountability from their masters and betters. How dare we demand to know what these people are up to?
In Britain we had the spectacle of the Cambridge spy ring openly admitting that they were able to get away with spying because they were members of the British aristocratic elite. Because of their class position they were above suspicion even when it was well-known what they were doing, as in the case of Anthony Blunt who was employed by the Queen. Both the Royal Family and the government knew that they had a soviet spy within their ranks but chose to ignore it because he was one of them, he was not a trade unionist or a worker or one of the little people, he was an English gentleman, so that's OK. So, the problems besetting our countries cannot be the fault of either the American or the British ruling class, it must be someone else's. Thus, in both Britain and the US we have the same phenomenon where a population that has been impoverished and bullied by a similar set of gangsters, working from the same script, is venting its anger against people who are themselves victims, the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled, the EU, immigrants, Mexicans, and of course, Muslims. What this angry constituency cannot come to terms with is that their country is no longer the white, male, Protestant dominated society it was in both societies in1776 and they feel threatened. In Britain it is fuelled by inventing a supposed erosion of 'British values' (whatever they might be) by the poison of multiculturalism.
Thus the real cause of the problems besetting both Britain and America is the dominant economic ideology of free market neoliberalism, but no-one ever looks beyond their own selfish interests to examine the real cause of problems today because it is oh so much easier to blame the scapegoats. It's always someone else's fault. In America this irrational hatred against people who are quite innocent of the causes of the crises we are witnessing is whipped up by right-wing criminals in the political process and the media with people like Fox news and the right-wing xenophobic talk show hosts who will happily lie through their teeth persistently pandering to the lowest form of opinion that we witness being spouted by evangelical Christians, racists, homophobes and people who simply hate anyone outside their frame of reference. In Britain we have the same phenomenon being promoted by the Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph and all the major news outlets. As I have said before, even the BBC is hardly worth watching anymore and certainly cannot be trusted. Donald Trump is simply a manifestation of this madness and at least we have Trump to thank for the fact that he is so horrific that even Americans are asking how this could have happened. Perhaps the possibility of President Trump will finally bring about a genuine reflection of the fundamental and root causes of our many problems, but I have no confidence that this will happen. So, if you dismiss the concept of an economic base supporting and defining a political and social superstructure because Karl Marx said it, then you are not only showing prejudice, you are being stupid. You are also dismissing Adam Smith and David Hume, but they were only Marxist mouthpieces anyway, weren't they? You have been warned.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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