13 July 2008

To expect nature to adapt to our destructive ways is to say that whatever does not conform to the needs of the current socioeconomic system is unnatural and should be allowed to die a quiet death. It is to conflate social Darwinism and biological Darwinism. It is to prescribe the sacrifice of the 4,000,000,000 years of evolution to the 200 years of industrial capitalism. Nature will always be with us, whether we deign to call ourselves a part of it or not. The same cannot be said about capitalism and the urge to maximize profit at all cost. Staggering power and profit for the very few, along with powerlessness and degradation for the many and for the environment, are fairly new phenomena. The powerlessness that is implied in succumbing to the needs of profit making is in fact the powerlessness caused by capitalist relations between capital owners and those who work for them. That state is neither natural nor eternal.

1 July 2008

Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the so-called neo-cons are not aberrations. They are expressions of the essential character of the American imperial project that has been going on for over two hundred years. That project began with the genocide of the native population of the continent. Once all the land to the Pacific Ocean had been taken from the natives and Mexico through massacre and war, the imperial project expanded to other countries and continents. It has been based on the unquestioned assumption that whatever is done in the name of the United States is the essence of righteousness. And, what is more, the project will continue, no matter who occupies the White House.