Daily Kos: Realigning For Revolution

Daily Kos: Realigning For Revolution: "First, we need to understand what's going on, and that may be boiled down to one word: 'globalization.' We are now, and have been, in an era of 'post-modern politics.' 'Modern' politics was centered on the nation-state, as indeed was the basic economic system we call 'capitalism.' National capitalist economies of the so-called 'core' nations spread over the world in a competition for control over colonies -- where resources were exploited for the benefit of core nation elites. Gradually, since the end of World War II, capitalist elites have become internationalized -- first among the 'core nations' and now among elites in the formerly colonial periphery. A recent kos diary, for example, revealed that Saudi princes own a sizable chunk of stock in Murdoch's Fox empire.

With a globalized capitalist elite comes a global economic order, enforced by a global political order. That global political order has one central requirement, namely, integration into the global economic order. The catch is that such integration must be on terms acceptable to the global capitalist elite -- which winds up meaning, on terms dictated by the global capitalist elite. This is the great sin of such regimes as Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and of course, Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. Everybody asks why some authoritarian regimes like Saddam Hussein's, must be "changed," while others like the dictatorships still found in Central America or sub-Saharan Africa excite no particular concern. The reason is that some dictatorships benefit global corporate elites, while others do not. If Hugo Chavez permitted the continued exploitation of his nation's oil wealth on terms dictated by international oil companies, no one would have the least concern for any "tyranny" found within his borders.

As for the American working class, In the "good old days" of American affluence -- that would be the '50's and '60's -- the traditional division of the world between the "core" and the "periphery" permitted US elites to spread the wealth to American wage earners. This is classic imperialist theory, where national elites essentially buy off their own working classes. As national elites have gradually fused into one international corporate elite, the basic deal between elites and certain preferred elements of the working class has broken down.