Lessons to be learned

The selection of Paul Ryan to the Republican ticket brings socialism into the debate foreground. A campaign sagging under its own tepid assumption that the opposition can win, regardless of its history or countenance, just because times are tough and it is the opposition, elects to rally around the banner of explicit capitalism. The shallowness of its position can be perceived in Mr. Ryan’s ever so slightly dissembled philosophical roots, Atlas Shrugged. Unnecessary to recap or refute or even insult such a book. It functions as a secret handshake among a social caste to privately signify what is publically muted; that the concessions made to the working class movement in the 20th century, and labeled the welfare state, can and should be revoked at the requirements and discretion of the ruling estate.

These views are popular among the progeny of the elect, such as Messrs. Ryan and Romney, but they are known to upset the body politic. For that reason they are usually confined to doyen of the Federal Reserve and places where the discussion is off the record and among friends. It is not only fear of being overheard by the wrong sort of voter which keeps Ms. Rand away from the podium it is the objective situation of capital in the modern era. Social insurance and the prominent economic role of the state have been inscribed in capitalism since overproduction became a permanent feature of the world market in the late 20’s of the previous century, alleviated only by the devastation of WWII.

But the inscription has been rubbed shallow. And the political fortunes of its guardian party have suffered a similar erasure. The loss of stature by American manufacturing and the decimation of its organized ranks have left the welfare state exposed politically. Historically and materially institutions such as Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and Medicare are born from the socialist political program of the working class. But the compromises negotiated between capital and labor from the 30’s through 60’s re-baptized them as part of the panorama of capitalist progress. As long as the good times rolled.

Now, everywhere, political parties, ruling and opposition, subscribe to the credo of austerity and are faithful only to the overlords of finance. In the U. S., once upon a time, the Republican Party could balance its reactionary numbers with a large dose of fealty to the post-war Keynesian consensus. Its shift to the South has changed this but not as much as the general erosion of this consensus. The magnitude of world over-production, generating crises in the credit system as well as in global climate, has narrowed the range and magnified the costs of Keynesian tinkering to the point where the Republicans have escaped its hegemony entirely and the Democrats have turned gun shy.

Which leave the Democrats alone masters of the entire field of generally agreed upon economic principles, from cut to the bone to spend like there’s no tomorrow. And nowhere is there shelter from the storm. While the Republicans are freed to partake of any fantasy that can find funding from among the many and varied pools of crackpot wealth and which can avoid offending the upper crust as a whole.

But John Galt will win no general elections. The only tactic available to the GOP as it stands accused of the theft of grandma’s Medicare will be to dissemble. Its cover story of benign tolerance towards long established working class achievements looking nothing but threadbare it will be forced to attack the Democrats on the same ground; their acquiescence to the slow but accelerating squeeze of the working majority and their failure to take effective action in the face of economic disaster. 

It should not be forgotten that in 2008, with the global economy on the verge of locking up, both parties waited politely in the corridor as the titans of capital divided the public purse amongst themselves as they saw fit. At that time I commented that this was a lesson they would rather not be teaching. Now, in 2012, we will have a graduate seminar taught by competing lecturers. Do not think that everyone will be sleeping through the course.