THE SOCIAL CAPITAL
Words, words, words. They should be neutral things, but they are being used lately to confuse people, to scare them, particularly in the USA and on some Latin American countries.
Terms like “left” and “socialism”, or even communism started to turn up in protests, even in countries like Argentina, where communism was never in the government, like in Europe was and continues to. This fact seems to contradict what has been repeated over and over, like an ideological mantra, that communism intention is to take over the world. AFAIK communism was never part of the US Congress, not to speak the presidency.
The object is one and one only: to scare people with words. Words people think they understand, but don’t.
That’s why I have been trying to describe or explain things in a different way for the last two or three years. Think of the left representing workers and the workers interests. Think of the right representing the private companies, and what companies want. And you will be closer to how things are at the present moment.
No need to tell me this classification is no accurate, because I know it’s not. But its simplicity helps identify the major interests and the major players.
It helps understand what Europe or Canada or Australia or New Zealand are, and why what they achieved can be applied in the USA, Latin America and other countries.
What they have is an hybrid form of capitalism with social concerns. So how do you call that? Social democracy? I don’t think it’s accurate, it’s too vague, because we are talking about a way to handle economics, not democracy. Democracy is mainly a way to pick your representatives in elections, not a way to do things when actually governing, when taking the decisions that affect the economy. And the economy is directly related to people’s lives. The economy affects the people.
Why not say it’s the leftist way to handle capitalism? Perhaps a hybrid capitalism. A capitalism where decisions are shared, instead of being imposed. Because that is what the rightist way to handle capitalism has become, since neoliberalism became operative in the early ’80s. Their main characteristic has been to impose their way of doing things, not to share decisions. If you want to talk democracy here, neoliberalism is the most anti-democratic system of all, except for dictatorships, which BTW is something they do like, even if they don’t have the guts to say so.
What has the neoliberal way of doing tings caused? Well, Thomas Piketty showed it very clearly on his book, with all the numbers you need, which neoliberalism does tend to hide: wealth accumulation in the hands of few people, a freeze or lowering of salaries all around the world.
So now you may see why my simple way to classify things mentioned above, what left means and what right means, may start to make sense.
What are the “dirty words” for the right: strong government, unions, social programs (particularly public education and public health) and most of all: democracy. Having the people the power to select their government, many of whom will not agree and fight their ideas, like try make people believe in a fantasy they call “the free market”, or that is the “market” who should dictate decisions. Rubbish: it’s they who make and force the decisions.
A hybrid capitalism is part of the things Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan have been offering since the end of War World II, and neoliberalism has fought in every of those countries, causing so much harm that has proven painful to correct, like the present pandemic has proven in several European countries, or in Canada.
Of course this just tells just part of the story. It’s time to finish with the scares they do not cease to produce, supported by neoliberal foundations that take advantage just of what they hate the most: democracy. New things, like fake news and lawfare, are being and have been, particularly in Latin America, used to control elections and prevent popular governments to continue to win elections. Remember: neoliberalism does not want democracy, it has even mentioned explicitly by their ideologists as a threat to what they want to accomplish. But they are using it to get to you.
We are living a war, a war between hybrid capitalism, which now has become the left in the real world, and neoliberalism, which now has become the right. And you will be the casualty of that war.
How do you defend yourself? First of all pick your representatives well, but not just the federal ones. All representatives, even those in your local club. Keep away from those that promise economic profit, because that will mean less people working, and what you need is workers. Keep away from those that attack or criticize unions, particularly if you are a worker. Pay attention when they start using the word “corruption” to attack the more progressive politicians or governments.
The incredible thing is that these are very old concepts, very old ideas, that became valid once again.
Just try to look at them in a different way. Do not let anyone scare you with ideas from the ’50 and ’60. Because what they want is your money, and the thing is they are attacking your mind to get to it.
Some final words. Try to defuse the word “socialism” and concentrate on the simpler term “social”. Think of what is social in your life, from private life to job’s life. No matter what your job is.