As a lifetime critic of capitalism, now, I’ve changed my mind: It’s capitalism that’s saving America from its political disorder and social chaos. Without the stable capitalist structure, America would be a nuthouse. Thank God, for capitalism.
Politics in America used to be so predictable and almost boring (how many times do we hear people say they are “not interested in politics”?). Democrats and Republicans regularly switched their places, as winners and losers. Regardless of which party ruled and was in opposition, America’s basic social structure remained the same: Your money was safe in the bank, your job was onerously nine to five; aside from lone-man assassinations of political figures here and there, you could rely on the niceties, decorum and politeness among politicians. Winners went on to their jobs, followed the rules and retired comfortably when their time expired. Losers made their gracious concessions and rode into the sunset of cushy jobs on corporate boards and college campuses. America’s political stability and civic safety were so great that the Mafia’s prosperity was forgiven and pornographic peepshows at Times Square were tolerated. America the utopia was the model democracy of the world and an oasis in the sea of turmoil everywhere else. Its transfer of power was so routine and eventless that it became an outright yawner.
But, no more. President Donald Trump has made American politics unpredictable and exciting again, like 1776 America. The routine caretakers of America have become just takers of power, by all means. Now, our days in American politics and government have no resemblance to their past structure. Every day, it’s something new, another departure from conventions and constitutional habits, and neither Americans themselves nor the world know how to gauge our political directions. The president makes and remakes America’s political decisions, all according to his present feelings or previous whisperers. He literally destroys and rebuilds the White House, all on his private musings. His handling of money is such that nobody knows where the national treasury ends and his private coffer begins. Since Charles De Gaul declared, “I am France!” no political leader has so blurred the line between personal and public. President Trump’s political arena has become his private playground. His military is so privatized that Americans don’t know whether they are protected by them or should be protected from them.
Democrats and Republicans (or MAGA mobs) are now blood-enemies who are dreaming of using their own concentration camps against their enemies. Republicans are already trying it and Democrats are swearing their vengeance. Republicans are planning to keep their political power forever, never giving it back to Democrats, risking their necks at the Democratic guillotine.
In such a terrible chaos and disorder of America’s politics and government, something strange is going on at the same time: In capitalism, everything is serenely peaceful and predictable. The hotheads on Fox and MSNBC may be predicting bloody battles over democracy; yet once the scene changes to commercial advertisement, everything is all peace and tranquility where the only thing that bothers us is about taking care of our hair or penis dysfunction.
In this consumer capitalism, nothing much seems to have changed in America. If you were Rip Van Winkle who just woke up from his 10-year sleep, with little or no interest in political performances by either party, you might not notice that chaos and disorder are indeed the order of the day. As you stroll downtown, you will see the shops and stores and restaurants exactly as you remembered them before your slumber. At home, as you turn on the TV, you will see the same sports teams, both professional and college, playing each other and in the playoffs; your favorite shows are still seen on TV in real time or in reruns. Most Americans you see in the streets and meet casually here and there are just as casual and self-occupied as you remember them, who complain about this and that, their always-short money supply, and how they hate their jobs, and so on. In other words, business as usual.
On the surface of American life, nothing could be more uneventful than day to day routines in consumer capitalism: The political-wrecking-ball president attends ballgames with the usual boos and cheers from the crowd. You eat the same food, enjoy the same shows, and your local newspaper is just as uneventfully local as before. (The spectacles of immigrant deportation are like Vietnam: If you see them in detail on TV, their brutality and inhumanity upset you. Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind).
In liberal politics, winners and losers alternate. But in liberal capitalism, the game is generally one-sided and winners and losers almost never alternate: Rich people always stay rich and the poor always poor; your job controls you with its tight chains and shackles; our entertainment is just as entertaining and our amusement just as amusing; our daily supplies of pleasures and fantasies continue to be supplied by Hollywood and Disney and our processed foods are just as delicious and abundant as they have always been. Airplanes conveniently carry people here and yonder and ocean cruises offer high-seas adventures in comfort.
America can sustain itself, overcoming the chaos and disorder that America’s politics creates, because capitalism’s functions in America are highly addictive and therefore imperative — almost immutable. We can tolerate political tyranny indefinitely as long as the economy holds steady. Even Trumpsters, while destroying virtually every political rule in America, allow capitalists to continue their business of supplying precious American lifeblood.
Thank God for capitalism.
Jon Huer, retired professor and columnist for the Recorder, lives in Greenfield and writes for posterity.