***Prefatory Note from Author: The commentaries expressed in this blogpost are entirely mine, however, they were written over the weekend during a moment of what dope-smokers and drug-addicts call “moments of clarity;” i.e. when they were high as kites. At the moment of penning this post I was suffering under the influence of Benadryl combined with beer, which the label says not to do. But the type on the label is too small for: a.) people whose allergies cause their eyes to swell, itch and blur; and, b.) people drinking beer.
We are about to see a remarkable event in the history of warfare. It is an odd thing for a writer in 2011 to suggest the end of the Cold War is near. Nonetheless, that is what I am saying: “the end of the Cold War is near!” The year most of my opponents will interject to correct my error would be 1989; yet this date was simply the beginning of the remarkably brilliant military strategy of the Soviets. The year 1989 was actually the year that Communism, which had always affirmed the validity of their own philosophy while denouncing Capitalism’s depravity of merit, discovered two fundamental points on which they were totally wrong—first, Communism realized that it had nothing to offer; second, Communism realized that Capitalism had at least one thing to offer—its own demise. Having come to this dual realization that they themselves were philosophically bogus and that they could destroy the enemy by destroying their bogus selves, Communism made the logical and strategic choice to bow out of the front-lines of the battle.
In the meantime, the Cold War raged on with one notable caveat: the debunked Communists never had to foot another bill or fire another shot. As soon as the first hammer sounded against the soon-to-be-demolished Berlin Wall, the last gavel at the Stock Exchange could be heard (at a distance). In the years to follow the Communists underground discovered two more fundamental truths: a.) that, indeed, the Capitalist monster was actually better at producing capital for longer than they would care to admit; and b.) that they themselves where not totally depraved of ability—that they could accelerate the demise of the Capitalist by being passive Communists and buying the Capitalist’s debt.
So for twenty-three years the Communists retreated from Moscow, disappeared from Europe, and passively minded everyone's business (by gobbling up U.S. debt) in China. We killed the Communist, Capitalism may gloat with photos of Reagan and a crumbled Berlin Wall—but the suicide will likely be less prideful, for to be a good marksman eliminates the likelihood one will brag at having shot themselves in the foot. However, we have. And we have because we neglected to realize that peace must mean something.
After our Red enemies fled from Moscow, leisure and life ought to have taken the forefront of everyone’s thoughts. Mom, apple pie and baseball should have been our priorities, yet these could not possible fixate the Capitalistic mentality. Sure, they temporarily were embraced, not because they were worthwhile, but because they were worth something. Capitalism (come to discover) doesn’t care about spirituality, sentimentality, or leisure, unless, of course it can sell. So, we embrace “Mom” by creating Mothers’ Day, complete with a whole line of Hallmark greeting cards and floral arrangements and cheap-smelling, but expensive, perfumes. We embrace “apple pie” by invading and razing Central American populations to grow cheaply the fruit for our pies. We embrace “baseball” by making idols out of athletes so we can sell tickets and holy vestments that the industry calls “sports apparel.”
And we ride that embrace to the ultimate discovery that it petered out on us, too. We did all this only to discover that we don’t give people enough time to enjoy all they would need to enjoy in order to keep dividends rolling and capital “optimally” producing. The pundits and bean-counters quickly announce we would need 370 Mothers’ Days every year, that people would need 61 weeks of vacation, and every state would need 17 major sports teams in each sporting event, including curling and crochet. We discover in times of peace that nothing stimulates like war. So we default to that option. Let there be little doubt that America is nothing more than an armaments-producing nation. Tools of destruction are our bread and butter, as well as our own demise. In the end, having ridden the tank to the end of the road we discover we can go no further because: a.) we are out of road-building stuffs; b.) we have 10% unemployment and still no one who wants to build roads; c.) the tank is out of gas; and d.) even if the tank weren’t out of gas, it was likely called back in order to invade another sand-flea-infested North African nation.
The Communists have implemented the strategy that the jihadists have discovered—that the key to destroying the thing they despise is not in their handiwork, but precisely in the lack of it. Che Guevara’s strategy didn’t fail, he just failed to see it work—make America’s capitalism its own worst enemy. The system has long denied that it is destructive and consuming, but, rather, believed itself to be progressive and liberating. Now amidst unrest, austerity, and debilitating debt, the Beast of Capitalism has very little to say. Not only is it lacking for words, but it finds it hard to speak as it chokes on its own tail.
Meanwhile the government is proposing one of two paths, which they claim to be competitive ideas. Tax-cuts to stimulate the corporate capitalism machine, or spending increases to redistribute capital to stimulate the corporate capitalism machine. Fighting over the means, they fail to realize they agree very fundamentally (and very wrongly) about the ends—stimulating the corporate capitalism machine. And end, I might add, that is to blame for the very predicament that we are in. As a consequence of this demise, you need not worry to arm yourselves, even though it is likely that before Capitalism takes its final death rattle that it will turn on its very people. But we need not fight her, but only resist her. The best strategy is the one embraced very successfully since 1989—to retreat. It worked for the Soviets, and it will work for you, too.
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