SOCIALISM IN AMERICA?

(The prospect of socialism in America was already discussed on several occasions in several sections of this book, but of course it is always being done under different angles, pertaining to the respective sections, and in this instance I am making no exception to the rule. So, Wishful Thinking it is. Let me repeat a confession to the reader that in my younger years, even as a professional Americanologist at the USA-Canada Institute in Moscow, I used to be a tacit supporter of capitalism in America, seeing nothing wrong with it. Today, I realize that my stand on this matter was out of ignorance, caused by the lack of firsthand experience, which I now have in abundance. That is why today I can share the following outburst of “wishful thinking” knowledgeably, and in good conscience.)

There is no shame in being a closet idealist, even for the most notorious materialist, although, I confess, my speculation in an earlier entry Dialectics And Causality (posted on my blog on November 16^th, 2011), with regard to Marx and Lenin, was mostly done in jest.

But in certain respects that speculation raised a rather serious question of whether it is possible, and frankly worthwhile, to reconcile the Marxist-Leninist materialistic treatment of history with idealism? My answer is a resounding yes.

I think that it is perfectly reasonable to use the Marxist-Leninist view mostly as a convenient starting point of an honest inquiry into the Hegelian spiral of the world-historical progress, stripping it of the mystique of the phenomenology of the Geist, which, as many would complain, is too idiosyncratically attached to Herr Doktor Hegel.

One simple straightforward question, which I could address to the post-Marxian philosophers of history, and especially to Marx’s strongest critics, is this--- Isn’t everybody a closet Marxist these days, in the sense that each idealizes a specific socio-economic formation differing from the others only in his choice. Marx called his ideal communism, while others prefer capitalism, but in our modern terms the real choice is between the latter (capitalism) and socialism, which is the far more viable form of Marx’s and Lenin’s communism.

Come to think of it, aside from these two candidates, one cannot even imagine a third one, and thus, just the two of them are left in this runoff, by default. Mind you, there are shades of socialism, of course, such as the old Soviet model and the existing European model for instance, but for the sake of clarity let us stick to the European model of socialism, putting the American model of capitalism (or pseudo-capitalism, as Chomsky has been arguing for a good reason) in opposition to it.

In the harrowing choice for some, but an easy choice for others, should capitalism and socialism be placed on the opposite scales of a balance, and weigh even, let the Christian Bible be the arbiter for the Christians, and decide, which of the scales it will place itself on, thus tipping the balance. In my very first main section Contradiction In Terms (alternatively titled Capitalism and Christianity), I have, hopefully, exhausted this subject, easily guessing which party the Bible is going to side with, and why.

And now, in the very best tradition of pre-Socratic and Socratic dialectics, let us arrive at the shocking truth of the outcome of the above contest in the question-and-answer form:

--How can the fundamental problem of “Capitalism and Christianity” be resolved?

--By America accepting Euro-socialism!

A shockingly unguarded spit in the face of Political Correctness, but one of the little pleasures I just could not refuse myself in the privacy of my own cerebral home…

So, here is my answer to the problem of Capitalism and Christianity in America. The future of this nation is a European-type Socialism, and nothing else. The first step which will have to be made sooner or later, will be making the fundamental human right and the essential Christian principle of providing free medical care to all citizens, the law of the land.

Without free medical care extended to every citizen, not just to the poorest of the poor, but also to all those who are too hard-pressed to afford the high insurance rates, in other words, to all, as a matter of moral principle, no nation can call itself either moral or just.

A specter is haunting America---the specter of… Socialism…

(Thank you for the closing prompt, Marx and Engels!)