The technological and economic machine has absorbed us into its veins. We are its lifeblood as both producers and consumers of its goods. The profit machine, which dictates the technological and economic framework, shapes our being within this framework.
Our lives are elements in a process that exceedingly elevates material aspirations to the point where we willingly sacrifice others, and ourselves, in war. This, sold as an effort to defend and promote the ideological facades which support the profit motive prevalent among ruling national elites– who currently support brutal turf wars in both Gaza and Ukraine.
Facades such as democracy and freedom of speech, in the past, it was argued, were vital support elements of the capitalist enterprise: they promote the free flow of capital and ideas, and less mentioned, pacify the working classes. We now learn, however, they are not necessary at all; capitalism can go on without freedom of speech and democracy, where ruling oligarchies of both private and public actors impose their will.
This is not terribly dissimilar, but not yet as severe, as that found in the former Soviet Union, which was state centered, but maintained a system where capital, through its various state actors, dominated labor, and would therefore more appropriately have been labeled state capitalism, not socialism, as capital maintained its hegemony, albeit under a different ownership structure.
No matter. We continue to play our manufactured roles as defenders of democracy and freedom of speech; but the reality is that workers fight other workers for these ideas which may or may not be put into practice, depending on how the practice of such ideas serve the established powers in their pursuit of profit–a pursuit itself mandated by the accounting practices inherent to the capitalist process. This is not to say there are not also authentic ideological ambitions among the ruling elite; these certainly exist; the profit pursuit, however, is structural, and must be pursued.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have demolished the facades of democracy and freedom of speech. The crackdowns on student protests in the U.S. and Europe, the alleged targeting of journalists in Gaza, the silencing of dissent in Ukraine, have exposed freedom of speech and democracy as tools to be used by the establishment to serve their purposes, and when their purposes are no longer served by these ideals, these ideals are reined-in.
When initially published, this essay received some pushback by those stating that we live in a republic, not a democracy; others, however, argue the U.S is a democratic republic. Either way, this is a distraction from the argument.
The term democracy is used to describe the power exercised by the broad masses over its government. Democracy shrinks when the established powers reduce freedoms of speech. Democracy is also the term the established powers use to describe and justify their endless wars.
This latter point is interesting, because war is the most undemocratic act of all: Through war nations seek to impose their will; war does not uplift the democratic masses; it slaughters, civilian and soldier alike, in a heartless frenzy of violence.
The continuing decline of democracy and freedom of speech in the western world is leading towards the failure of the western systems more broadly. There are many reasons for this. Broadly speaking, any system which willingly and continuously sacrifices human life to advance its material and ideological ambitions, lacks the moral foundation necessary to withstand the test of time.
Comments are welcomed, civility requested, please no partisan politics.