Tangling with Reapers

85% - work in progress

85% of policy is in the possession of a deep state and is out of reach of partisan politics. It can and does move as power shifts in the political economy but is unaffected by any given election. The 15% which remains is significant. Some of the money and discourse expended in the course of a campaign is entered into the battle over this 15%. Much of the money is for private ends not, strictly speaking, policy at all.

Obviously, I have made this number up and won’t defend its validity. I will defend the validity of the concept of the deep state. The number you assign to its holdings depends on how you quantify power. What is crucial for party politics as now conducted is that the percentage of policy put in contest is just what is sufficient to stabilize the political system and protect the underlying relations of production. This slice must be capable of adaptation. The coincidence of numerous failed policies at the conclusion of the previous administration opened up the field in the last election, evidenced by expanded participation on the part of Democrats. The Republican primaries appeared to show a widening of the slice to the right but now, instead, serve to illustrate the gravitational pull of the deep state. Those interests which are left out of the deep state, and these arise from several directions, pull at the boundary. But they are normally recouped by the flexibility of the system. It is not the struggle to open the process which determines the opportunity given the applicant but the threat that they pose to the underlying relations of production.


The flexibility of the system is constrained by the economic potential at hand. That we have entered a period of diminishing potential would explain the increased tension, ideological and physical, around the political opening; the increased fealty of all parties to an underlying program and, necessarily, the increased partisan bitterness, required to distinguish the parties within a narrowing field.

On the one hand then, important pieces of policy are put to question. It is not true that who is elected is of no importance. On the other hand the process itself serves to stabilize the deep policies which are responsible for the state of permanent crisis we flounder in. Even within the options allowed we do not elect the policies that we think we are. I always recall my fellow parking attendant who, during the 1980 election, allowed that he would, all things considered, have to vote for Reagan if only to bring down the deficit.

These, then, are the poles from which the working class is suspended. Important policy options, within strict limitations, are being contested. But the real political struggle will eventually have to be against a deep state that is, meanwhile, reinforced by the energy and money expended in the contest. A Republican victory will embolden the positions of the dominant class but weaken their grasp of political movement within the working class. A second Obama term will solidify and stabilize the project of austerity which has been agreed to worldwide.

Some Bookmarks

The fall of the Roman empire
The ECB swallowed the market
Why does The Hunger Games strike a chord?
Survival: on Nanni Balestrini | Pierce Penniless
Andy Greenwald on Don Draper, 'Mad Men,' and the twilight of the Golden Age of television - Grantland
Americans Who Actually Make Things - Jobs & Economy - The Atlantic Cities
Peak Intel: How So-Called Strategic Intelligence Actually Makes Us Dumber - Eric Garland
Eurozine - The tune of the future - Slavenka Drakulic Italy: old Europe, new Europe, changing Europe
Ayn Rand’s Nightmare is Today’s Wall Street » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist | Do the Math
Three Polar Politics In Post-Petroleum America | Corrente
The Archdruid Report
Spain, Land of Magical Financial Realism | Finance
The Death of the Entertainment Industry | Finance
What’s Really Happening When Mad Men’s Characters Sing -- Vulture

Louise isn't sure of Vladimir's intentions

Jack Kirby’s Collages in Context — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers

Jack Kirby’s Collages in Context — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers

Afloat Underground

Gamenight Decor


Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

Oh, I know, I've used this one before. But who remembers anyway. And how appropriate that we take to the high seas at this juncture, where the Nights of Game have turned scarce.

And so we gather again in another, still undisclosed, location for some sailing and piracy:

Pass that around


Recognize that guy? Our long lost game king now returned to this major midwestern railroad hub from the pacific northwest. We'll here more from him anon.

Home Port


First a load of chit-chat, some grub, and setup:

Rustic Gamenight


Tonight's contest? Bounty, A Game of Piracy, Commerce, and Adventure

Bounty (cover)


Commerce, check. Piracy, a crucial element to be sure but kind of occasional. Adventure, well, "Lost in Space" it wasn't.

Who's $10 is that?


See you next time


Well, the money was good.

Dubloons


And, of course, there were the inevitable sea shanties:

This is the worst trip I've ever been on


A fast bit of the old jolly roger just as the evening was winding down and our prodigal king had us all walking the plank.

Counting Dubloons


Join us next time as we shift from the Spanish Main to the heartland of empire:

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Ticket to the Fair - D. F. Wallace

harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1994-07-0001729.pdf