After The Fall

The Problem At Hand

It’s not hard to tell America is in the shitter right now. Relative to its former position in the world, the empire is beginning to noticeably crumble. Problems persist throughout the country, with the resulting pain felt first and most acutely by people of color, the impoverished, the LGBTQ+ community, the disabled, and other marginalized people. The nation’s infrastructure is crumbling beneath our feet. Our schools are in the proverbial toilet. Our food is all overprocessed and undernutritious, packaged for mass consumption rather than a people’s nourishment. Even our water is being poisoned, and even more so with each new data center brought online. These problems affect us all to some degree, and the damage is becoming impossible to ignore, yet resistance to change is met on multiple fronts.

Lobbyists and Monied Interests

The American system of governance is choked with lobbyists and private corporation interests who are deep in the pockets of both Democrats and Republicans in office. Things have been corrupt since the initial colonization of the US, and private property was always valued as more important a right even than human rights (just look at how many slave owners signed onto the Declaration of independence). Today, our rights and dignity are sacrificed before the altar of private interest via the destruction and exploitation of natural resources and the environment. Every server farm built to mine crypto is another golden calf at the altar of capitalism. Every insider trade makes the foul, acrid smoke of the incense. Every presidential scam (at the expense of his own base) lays bare the dynamic- people sacrificed for profit.

A Population Traumatized

And what happens when the Trumpistas are scammed in this way? They come crawling back to huck a couple more nickels at the Golden Calf. He moos proudly, and they receive their dopamine-hit-blessing and “own the libs” by pissing away their cash on snake oil and Trumpcoin. They are marks, little more than the targets of exploitation, and yet we are held hostage in their subjugation with them because a few too many people with too-short memories were fooled into backing a charlatan. On the other side of the coin are the Battered Blues, neglected year after year in service of donors. Neither party provides the material gains they promise or imply promises of, and the malaise only continues to deepen.

Available Solutions

We have before us a few solutions to this problem. Approaches to reconciling irreconcilable differences rarely are fruitful, so a so-called National Divorce has been called for by some on both the left and the right. The Enlightened Centrist will tell you to pipe down and suck it up, and keep taking the abuse and neglect. I would say, why divorce the two corrupted parents and leave the children- their constituents- in the hands of these unfit stewards any longer. It is time to emancipate these minors and allow them agency over their own selves. But by what means should this emancipation come about?

Reform

Some argue for reform by borderline pacifistic means is the only way forward. Fears of backlash, pendulum swings, and other forms of revolt against the new order often make change by reform slow and incremental and –  most troublingly of all – inadequate. Others suggest that pushing the envelope with a militant wing is more effective, and we see examples of this throughout history. From the Civil Rights Movement of 20th century America to the British suffragette movement, we see how the militancy of a disciplined group of hardliners ultimately made reform possible by shifting the Overton Window. Still, we are left insufficient results, though the gains made are undeniably meaningful in the context of the gradual change to which we must often acquiesce (for we are often afforded no more choices on the matter).

Revolution

The other side of the “coin” that is social change, revolution, also comes in a sort of spectrum of forms, ranging from political revolutionary talk – i.e. seizing the means of production and governance from the ruling class via mass movement politics – to full-blown violent overthrow. Personally, I would see the latter as a means of last resort, only to be embarked upon once all other avenues have been exhausted. The risk of counterrevolution and government retaliation/crackdown is very real under these circumstances, and such tactics put at risk a great number of vulnerable people should they be found to be sympathetic. This can create rifts in the revolution that become extremely problematic if allowed to bleed without any sort of bandaging.

“Popular Militancy”

I believe that a space between the two poles of revolution exists that may be worth exploring. By preserving the revolutionary spirit, but employing the militant-non-militant wings approach of many reform movements, a synthesis may be found with enough force and staying power that real change might be achieved. On one hand, a non-violent, political wing doing the organizing and electoral maneuvering – without compromising an inch with fascists and liberals – to seize power, exercise it, and return governance to popular control. On the other, the militant, in-the-streets wing to handle both proactive, aggressive street action and the nitty-gritty, unpleasant counterattacks of capital; a sword and shield against the cops, owners, and agitators who would see capital remain in the hands of the powerful whose boots they lick. Once communities are rebuilt in a saner, more egalitarian way such that they can engage in participatory self-governance earnestly and without barrier to entry for any person, the state should be dissolved and the communities, having fully developed, be returned to communal stewardship. Similarly, each wing must check the other’s power and maintain dedication to the cause, lest it devolve into a rehash of Trotsky’s “deformed workers’ state.” After all, I am my neighbors’ keeper- and they are mine.

Rebuilding Anew

Let’s say we’re successful: what sort of world might we win? The new order cannot replicate the traumas of the past one. Surely, there will be setbacks, hardships, and strife- such is the human condition. It is in how we address these ills and take steps to minimize harm that we find the true value of such a system. I have a three-point strategy for inculcating buy-in from the people, namely by addressing their material needs first and foremost. People have certain needs to live, and will require a decent standard of living to enjoy their newfound liberation. People oppressed may say such subjugation suffices if they are comfortable enough, allowing for a backslide into capitalist exploitation unless material comfort is provided for the traumatized masses.

Land Reform

First and foremost, land should not be commodified and packaged and sold off to the highest bidder. A system of popular ownership should be imposed at first to strip landowning elites (Blackrock, absentee landlords, slumlords, and the like) of their shadily-gotten holdings. Each household would have use of a primary residence and no more. No leeching others dry by charging rents, no encampments of unhoused people, no deathtrap slums that endanger people who line the pockets of the owner class. Moving would be allowable through a housing swap program, though once people feel connected to one another in their communities I should hope emigration would be minimal.

Jobs Guarantees

Anyone who wants a job should be provided one, along with retraining and education at zero point-of-service cost, paid for via taxation and leverage of popularly-owned resources (nationalized natural resources, intellectual property, technologies, and products developed with public support, etc.). The jobs would be oriented toward public service, infrastructure building, civil administration, and other necessary functions. By ensuring that those who can work will be employed, material deprivation will become a distant memory.

Basic Needs Met By Default

What if someone is disabled, or wants to pursue artistic endeavors, or otherwise wants to have a non-traditional means of contributing to society? This would be supported at the individual level by communal programs which provide universal basic housing, basic food, and basic medical care, as well as an allowance to use for incidentals and amenities up to a limit scaled based on the cost of living in the area in which they live and participate in communal governance. Should they want to supplement this amount, part-time or lighter-duty work would be assigned.

A New Age

Such a society would afford us greater freedom to pursue our dreams, enjoy our lives, and get to know our neighbors. We could finally be human to one another, and move in ways that inflict less harm on one another. This new age must come before the dissolution of the state, as – at its best – a state should seek only to secure rights for the citizenry and no more. Once popular control can be returned to the hands of the people, the state must be peeled away, like petals falling from a rose as it loses its relevance in fall, having seeded new life and fulfilled its central purpose.

How Do We Get There?

In order to get to this world, we must first change the one we’re in into a transitory state of socialism before a fully communized society can be realized. Participation in popular movements, unions, co-ops, and other structures will provide an opportunity for uniting disparate peoples under a shared banner. Whichever wing you see fits you best should be explored and grown. Cross-wing dual-functionaries will be necessary as well, to coordinate between the two flanks. Think of them as the brain that signals to the heart how fast and to where blood must be pumped throughout the revolution, and which dictates which direction the arms must swing. Once the apparatus gains strength, material wins must be secured and built upon at an ever-accelerating pace, as momentum is essential for building the force necessary to overcome reactionary elements in society. With a series of key victories, including social, political, and cultural shifts toward egalitarian socialism, the stage is set. All it needs now are the players. May they become my neighbors in the New Age.