Don’t Mourn, Fight
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Far be it from me to claim that the US government is a democracy. In my understanding, capitalism prevents genuine democracy because of the influence money has in elections and elsewhere throughout the political system. This is especially true in the current monopoly phase of capitalism we call neoliberalism. Just ask Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump wants to run his austerity program. The power of his purse was a crucial element in the final weeks of the Trump campaign. It will continue to be so until the printing presses that print money stop printing and the engines that run cryptocurrency melt the ice caps. In the minds of the uber rich, the US government is just another subsidiary and the people are employees, customers and suckers.
I’m not going to spend much of my time here trying to evaluate why Harris lost the election. There are others much more adept at that, including CounterPunch editor Jeffrey St. Clair. I will state that as far as I’m concerned the fundamental reasons for the Trump victory are misogyny, racism and the ignorance that fuels those phenomena. As any honest observer can tell you, neither phenomenon is limited to a particular class or region of the country, but it seems fair to say the South and Midwest contain populations where such sentiments may be in the majority of the voting population.
There is no easy way to defeat fascism within the context of a capitalist economy and a bourgeois electoral system.
One cannot sit in their living room and curse at the television, hoping it will go away. As history makes clear, fascists will not stop until they are stopped by the forces opposed to them.
That fact means organizing.
It means getting off one’s ass and hitting the streets.
It means not compromising with those in one’s union, one’s church, and one’s community who push fascist agendas of austerity and division.
If (or perhaps I should say when) ICE comes to your town and begins rounding up immigrants for deportation, one cannot turn away because it isn’t happening to their family.
When women are refused reproductive choice and threatened with prison time for asserting their right to that choice, one cannot compromise with the authorities locking those women up.
When Medicaid and other government subsidies for health care are cut—leaving people without health care—one cannot merely be glad it’s not them. These are just a few examples of when and where one must oppose the programs almost certain to be implemented in the coming months.
There will be those who argue that Trump isn’t that bad. They are lying. One need only look at his Vice President (who became almost invisible in the campaign’s final weeks) to understand the true agenda of the Trumpist government. Although the leadership of the House is uncertain as I write this, the United States is extremely close to a one-party regime. From the Supreme Court to the White House, the right wing is in control. If the House goes to the GOP, we will be living in a one-party state. I don’t hesitate at all when I call it a fascist regime. I don’t think the reader should either. Doing so describes the power out opposition faces. Capitalism’s current crises demand an authoritarian government. We recognize that our future demands that government’s dismantling.
It’s time to take a risk. To put your body on the line. To get in the streets and make noise. To cause a ruckus if the situation demands it. To piss the fascists off.
Don’t mourn, organize.
The post Don’t Mourn, Fight appeared first on CounterPunch.org.