The Sorrows of Economics

We are so infatuated with the measure

That we forget that a measure is a representative

In this draught of irremembrance
We build upon a sandy ground

This is a short blog post on a longer essay I have done on this subject.

I am often called a socialist, a communist, I have even been called a capitalist and an anarchist. I have and do rejected all of these labels. These are labels for the People to decide for themselves, I cannot call myself any of these things in any real way without the acceptance of enough people. That I can participate or not within any of these designations is true, and I shall, but it is a duty, important to be sure, but no more than making sure that I eat, or drink, or make sure my body is healthy enough to engage. I will always resist any of these designations or permutations as they actively resist me in my efforts to support human beings and the world in which we inhabit in humane, self-determined ways. I deny any and all designations that foist upon us the belief that we cannot do this, that it is impossible, or a fool’s errand, I counter that any non-humane, non-compassionate, authentically benevolent centered system or structure is the Fool’s Errand because what is produced has everything to do with what was planted, the initial and subsequently supported premises; and finally, why would we wish to produce something other than this? The resistance I speak of in the last sentence will occur in any socio/economic/political system that does oppress. I am Tibetan, so I have lived experience that, for example, communist systems can and do oppress and marginalize, but also, in all of these systems perfect system, I have no disagreement, in their perfect sense they must center Humanes and that which supports them, and if this is done I don’t care if I vote for a president, party leader, or the Great Mother.

Now that I have stated, perhaps too vociferously, the above, I will state also that economic/political systems will occur, they are a natural arising of the gathering of humans, perhaps in more detail and complexity as the society grows, but even in simple ones (not simple in value, simple because necessity hasn’t lead to complexity of Systems), this occurs-what is valued, how this is exchanged, how power is shared (or not), etc. There is the ‘in’ group and the ‘out’ group, and these are designations of Value in the society. What is often left out, in most economic studies, is this break down. Take, for example, the separation of Labor and Capital. This is a gross level separation of a purely economic level but it does not take into account the separation of Labor too, this is the social aspects of separation. I will not go into detail here because of brevity sake in the distinctions but just to highlight them.

The first separation of Labor and Capital, before I look into Labor, is not only economic either. Economics are the, in a gross sense as I have identified, only 1 of the prerequisites for inhabiting the role of the Masters in the system, those that Own access to the mechanisms that produce participation in society; shelter, food, healthcare, education, and banking. Access is granted, like a toll, to those that do have access, and if it is a toll they can restrict and deny access as well. The gross level pre-requisites are of a particular social hierarchy (race, gender, class, etc) and quasi-religious/transcendental hierarchy (Protestant, etc.), and of course-economic stati of wealth. From these three the mandate and means to accumulate military etc. power arises.. There are exceptions etc. this is not a physical law, though it operates almost as closely.

The separation of Labor follows along with the social stratification but the social stratification is how far away one is from each of the ‘pinnacles’ of the social etc. prerequisites of Capital. Labor is kept in check because of its stratification. From one side they are held by their privilege in regards to the lower strati, the belief that one can lose this privilege and fall into the illustrated lower position, and they are kept in place by their marginalization which are the forces that collude to keep one in the lower positions. The second of these are the systemic practices used by dominant culture to oppress. One can look at any large system and if they see disproportionate outcomes based on demographic factors then these are systems in collusion with oppression. It is important to note that the vast majority of us hold both privilege and marginalization in our lives, and both are forces that are used to keep dominant structures in operation. The higher one achieves privilege, typically, the more these pets align with the dominant culture, not that they Own access but because the access they are granted is wide and seemingly limitless (though it is not). They too are held hostage for their consent although for this strati it is more freely given.

The system is complex in its operation but is relatively simple in its construction. It follows along the tyrannical playbook that uses hostaging necessities for consent, it uses bribery for consent, and violence (whether overt physical violence or the violence of reducing or eliminating access to necessities) for acquiescence. That this has been practiced by particular humans in all regions of the human world is true, but that it must always be this is also untrue, we must remember that we have won uncountable times, that we have set up guild towns (Hansa League and the various democratic thrusts within this), protected the planet (DDT Ban, Ozone protection, Clean Water/Air act), etc. That these were not the completion of the Perfect is true (that we even often aligned with our own destruction is true too), but it is not less true that the powers of Oppression have not also produced their perfect, the barrier between them has been Us. That we have continuously have had to be in the agonist position is true too, even with the language-resistance-but it is my hope that once we realize the structure, we can dismantle it, to attack it strategically,  and move the powers of Annihilation into the position of resistance and us into that of the protagonist.