[Peace-discuss] The politics that dare not speak its name...

[C. G. Estabrook]

[As the Democrats and the Republicans move ever more to the right and become 
increasingly irrelevant -- the Obama/Cheney dueling speeches this week were 
remarkably pointless -- space is opened for the common-sense critique of the 
capitalism that both parties are meant to defend: socialism (if only in its 
reformist form, social democracy). --CGE]

	Published on Sunday, May 24, 2009 by The News Journal (Delaware)
	Capitalism Produces Rich Bankers, but Socialism Produces Happiness
	by Phillip Bannowsky

Socialism is better than capitalism. So say 20 percent of Americans, and another 
27 percent say they can't say which is better, according to an April 9 Rasmussen 
poll.

There's hope.

When you consider that virtually no newspaper, broadcaster, well-funded think 
tank, teacher, or anybody's boss or commander ever said something nice about 
socialism, it's remarkable that only 53 percent of us still favor rule by the 
moneyed class. Perhaps folks are learning how capitalism sacrifices happiness 
for individual gain.

As Billy Bragg exhorts us in his update of the socialist anthem "The 
Internationale":

	"Stand up, all victims of oppression
	for tyrants fear your might
	Don't cling so hard to your possessions
	For you have nothing if you have no rights."

No less a "capitalist tool" than Forbes Magazine let a red cat out of the bag 
with a report this month that the happiest countries tend to be Scandinavian 
socialist democracies. High per-capita GDP certainly plays a role in their 
felicity, but even social democratic New Zealand, with per-capita GDP only 64 
percent of the United States', ranks with the 10 democracies above us in the 
happiness index. They pay high taxes in these pinkotopias, but folks enjoy 
entitlements like free college, extensive elder care, and 52-week paid maternity 
leave.

The 2005 poll measured personal reports of enjoyment, pride in achievement and 
learning, being respected, among other things. Forbes suggests that such 
happiness derives from family, social and community networks, and a decent 
work-life balance, noting that the average workweek in Scandinavia is 37 hours.

Nice dream, but how do we get there? Most of these countries dumped capitalist 
exploitation long ago and instituted mixed economies with socialist ideals. More 
contemporary models are the 11 Latin America countries pursuing "Socialism in 
the 21st Century." They too reject top-down Leninism for a system based on 
participatory democracy and solidarity.

In Ecuador, a land I have studied and worked in, a broad coalition of 
indigenous, environmentalists, trade unions, professional organizations, 
feminists, gay activists, left parties, and students laid the groundwork for 
transformation. They just re-elected Rafael Correa, their leftist 
standard-bearer, as president. They fought racism, oligarchs, oil companies, and 
corrupt politicians for decades.

The economies of Latin America's red eleven are improving, although none of them 
has instituted a socialist utopia. They are still subject to the slings and 
arrows of egotism, error, and internecine conflict. But they have overcome the 
greatest impediments to their advancement, including the U.S.-based bankers who 
are draining our treasury now. And the civil society they created in the 
struggle is the guarantor of their democracy.

Before finding the path of progress, many of these countries had lurched from 
violent paroxysm to confusion and resignation, not unlike what the U.S. 
currently endures.

For example, our Auto Industry Task Force just bankrupted GM and Chrysler, fired 
tens of thousands of employees, extorted immense sacrifices from active and 
retired autoworkers, and is dominated by the investment bankers who absorbed 
trillions in national wealth to keep themselves rich after destroying the economy.

Instead of seizing plants as our Canadian comrades are doing, or adding 
"bossnapping" to plant occupations as the French have done, we shake our heads 
as the union negotiates the terms of surrender.

What could we do with socialism? Well, take banks for starters: take them, so 
instead of private scams that go broke gambling with money they don't own, 
they'd become public utilities that finance production, infrastructure, and 
homes. And treat aging industries like autos: instead of dumping, we'd transform 
them according to a national plan for green jobs and a healthy environment.

Solidarity is the path as well as the destination of socialism. Solidarity 
grieves when a worker loses his job or sees her pension slashed. Solidarity 
cheers when a union wins middle-class pay. Solidarity rejects the greed of 
insurers as the distributor of healthcare and demands single payer for all.

Solidarity smells the rat who divides white from black, black from gay, native 
from newcomer, or America from the rest of humanity.

	"So come brothers and sisters
	For the struggle carries on
	The Internationale
	Unites the world in Song.

	"So comrades come rally
	For this is the time and place
	The international ideal
	Unites the human race."

© 2009 The News Journal

Phillip Bannowsky is a member of The News Journal Community Advisory Board and 
is a retired autoworker. His novel, "The Mother Earth Inn," recounts the early 
stirrings of Ecuador's current transformation.