As The World Burns

"We're in a period now that's just like 1955. Things are going well and people are satisfied. Nobody wants to rock the boat."
- Some pundit on The McLaughlin Report 1/2/99

"The Global Climate Coalition just doesn't want us to notice that the climate is ten times worse that it was ten years ago, that 230 million people in China were dislocated by floods this year, that Mitch was the worst hurricane in 200 years, that jungles were on fire all over the place in 1998. We're not supposed to know about that; and if we do know, we're supposed to conclude that it's some kind of astonishing freak accident."
~ ~ Bruce Sterling, Wired News, 1/26/98

America today is this really weird layer cake. The top layer is relatively thin, filled with a few million recently minted millionaires. A volatile but basically happy US stock market remains high on the hot air balloon of Yahoo capitalism. They read in their daily newspapers that crime and unemployment are down and Viagra is up, shoppers spent 15% more this Christmas, and TV-via-Internet and Internet-via-TV will soon offer a near infinite selection of entertainment and "information" 24 hours a day.

These are good times.

The next layer is thick with the professional class. Lawyers are doing well in these litigious times, and doctors have it made, what with so many people mysteriously ill all the time. Social workers and teachers are tired, but prison bureaucrats are wired. And young computer professionals can afford to be both hip and apolitical. Yes, good times indeed.

The next layer of the cake is fatter still. It's wobbly, a bit liquid, and constantly threatening to sink to the bottom. In the Eighties, Reaganomics somehow managed to "grow the economy" while at the same time decimating the middle class. It was a revolution in expanded profits and lowered expectations, and if you listened carefully enough, you even heard the explicit propaganda of conservative pundits saying that periods of middle class economic comfort like the Fifties and Sixties were "historical anomalies." By 1992, speedy new President Clinton could pep talk the American people into being excited by the notion that they "will have to change jobs five or six times in your lifetimes." By the mid-90s, the expectation of economic security and consistency was pretty much doused. Our now-a-go-go, no-downtime, pay-as-you-go world had been successfully sold as terribly hip and exciting, and successful businessmen were glamorized as big goddamn risk-takers . . . as fucking road warriors!!?? A small expansion of temporary opportunities to work, and to invest in the stock market, was enough to qualify as good times for a shaky young temp class that responded to this slight glimmer of economic hope by following their biological imperative to increase the population. But an inchoate sense of foreboding permeates this layer. Good times? It's so hard to tell.

Finally, at the bottom of the cake is a layer that may be as large as the one just above it, it's hard to tell. Economically marginalized people with inadequate incomes come in the widest variety of flavors and many, if not most, are invisible. Aside from low-wage earners and part-timers, consider those who have dropped off the radar and out of the unemployment and welfare statistics completely: couch surfers and street crawlers, prisoners, low level drug dealers, barely-surviving freelancers (sound like you?), permanent college students, unemployable over-50s, and can't-get-started young adults. This group is not merely unaccounted for in the economic statistics. We are unpolled, unconsidered by politicians and pundits, and-for the most part-unregistered. I will bet my nascent political career, a tub full of Cheez Whiz and a six pack of Robo that this group is at least close to 50% of the population.

These ain't good times. It's a mosh pit down here, but despite the anger, chaos, and cheap drugs, people down here have a clearer view of what's going on in our world than those above . . .

Still, all this class disparity isn't my main point. Whether we're trying to stay on top or say afloat, we're all under such rapid fire psychic assault from the speed of response demanded by the hyperkinetic pace of our economic culture that we live from one economic/emotional crisis to the next. Even Bill Gates feels insecure. We are so busy dealing with each and every next threat to our personal security that we're able to forget the big picture.

And the big picture is that 1998 was a year of terrible bad news. Forget about the death of a salesman . . . er, the impeachment of a President . . . and speck out these serious bigtime crisis points that spell death to the smug by the time the 2000 election rolls around.

In 1998, the heat was on. It became obvious to the most casual observer, and even to the vast majority of the scientific community, that global warming is real. Say it again: Global warming is real! Half of Europe is going to be underwater in a few decades. Crops will die. Icecaps may melt. Ad infinitum. Look into the consequences of global warming. Hmmm, could wreak havoc on your IRA.

* In 1998, most mainstream economists had to acknowledge a worldwide depression. They called it the Asian flu, but Russia, Mexico, Brazil . . . most of the world was sinking. Even the US stock market got briefly rattled. Beneath the surface-where mass media gave us bread and circuses -- economists and politicians were making the startling admission that their entire post-Cold War strategy of corporate capitalism had failed. This strategy, ironically named neo-liberalism, basically said that all you have to do is open up "free markets" globally (Free? Actually operating under strict rules advantaging those who already control the wealth) to corporate expansion, consumerism, and touristry, while limiting the "waste" involved in government intervention and social welfare, and soon there would be bright and shiny middle-class centrist democracies all over the world, filled with sophisticated global citizens of all races and genders buying cell phones, cappuccino frappes, and watching Allie McBeal. Repeat after me: While the news media was parsing Monica Lewinsky's every blowjob, the entire post-Cold War strategy of global capitalism was declared a failure in the year 1998 at the expense of hundreds of millions-if not billions-of downsized starvers.

* In 1998, our government and news media prepared us for the likelihood of horrific biological and chemical warfare/terror events. While grotesque biological slaughter has been a possibility ever since Whitey gave blankets to the natives, and certainly has been practiced on occasion throughout more recent times, sometimes over an Agent Orange soda and Napalm fries, suddenly we were informed that biological terror events were imminent and inevitable. Whether this was the result of a realistic assessment of the slow democratization of knowledge, chemicals, and technology, and thousands of desperate outcasts from the former Soviet Union's military/industrial complex, or an indication that our own national security forces have plans for us, or both, I leave to you and Robert Preston to guess. In any case, biological terror reared its fevered, pustulating, gut-vomiting head for several days in the mainstream media, before disappearing behind Monica's ample frame, its promises of small random holocausts providing an odd background noise to these alleged good times.

I want to make something clear here. I'm not an apocalypse monger. I don't believe the Bible. I don't need the realization of the Book of Revelations so I can self-righteously wave my hands and shout, "I told you so." I'd rather see good times. Hell. I don't even have a huge moral hard-on for seeing Capitalism go down (or Communism, for that matter). I can even have a good time in a mall. I'm easy. If things were going swimmingly, I'd be the first to let you know.

There's only one good thing I can say about the Helter Stupid that seems to be coming down fast in the next couple of years-as weather catastrophes, the collapse of the global market, and biological horror hits home. In the chaos and confusion, people might actually elect me President. And as the world burns, and the seas rise, at least you won't have to hear a lot of pompous horseshit about "the honor of the office of the presidency" and the sanctity of the Constitution, as if Congress and six different administrations haven't wiped their asses with the Constitution-for one instance, every time a President bombs a foreign country without submitting to the War Powers Act and they all just sit back. As if anybody in the last three generations with half-a-brain has any more respect for our elected officials than they do for Mariah Carey.

At least we'll have a chance to see how Bob Barr responds to the nomination of Larry Flynt as Attorney General.

Two Cheers for Governor Jesse Ventura

The Revolution® has been held back by the fact that it's difficult to explain. My feeling is that you can't really get it without reading The Post Modern Contract and The Revolution®: A Political Party. But in casual conversation, even I have trouble coming up with a simple explanation. Sometimes I just whip out a couple of our platforms, like "Oh, we're for cutting the military budget in half and ending taxes on the working poor and the middle class." But these ad hoc, grab-bag, policy points seem unsatisfactory. A political party requires something like an ideological definition as in "we're monarchists" or "we're anarchists" or "we're radical centrists" or "we're liberals." Who are we? Well, The Revolution® has been joined by self-described anarchists, communists, greens, libertarians, socialists, Zapatista enthusiasts, liberals, even militia sympathizers, and most of all-lots of young people. They joined because they agreed with at least 10 of the 15 points in the Party Program. Period. And that's entirely appropriate to our times. Post-modern politics is post-ideology, ad hoc, and syncretic. In Minnesota, the former Rolling Stones body guard and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura defeated the mainstream candidates with an ad hoc politics that was neither left nor right, but which reached out to an unlikely coalition that was dominated by the former non-voter. Ventura got the true ad hoc post-ideology non-believers . . . including something like 70% of so-called Generation X, essentially by talking up Victory Over Horseshit. While the mainline candidates campaigned within the conventional boundaries, Jesse said pretty much what was on his mind, defining himself as a man who had positions on most issues without ever confining himself to an ideology. (Jesse's ad hoc politics ain't mine, but I congratulate him nevertheless on a successful VICTORY OVER HORSESHIT! campaign).

Ad hoc politics are the only appropriate response to a fast changing world. If your belief system doesn't dissipate at least for awhile every evening you're not paying attention. This is all obvious. More importantly, ad hoc politics is the only way to get anything done. With media decentralized and attention dissipated-as signal and noise both battle in excess while most of us tune out and learn to be selective-we no longer have big blocks of political believers and voters. We no longer have an American culture from which we can grow a consensus politics. America today is subcultural. I'm not just talking about "subculture types." The whole country is divided up into tiny subgroups ranging from grown women who form fan clubs for Barbie Dolls to gays who actually vote Republican, ad infinitum. The only possible way to make needed political change is to bring disparate mentalities together in temporary alliances around loosely held agreements and interests. It's more than tempting to just blow it off. After all, if the solutions to problems are only viable for 15 minutes until the next technological upgrade complexifies the situation, why bother?

Well, for instance, America is a police state. As I've pointed out in a previous piece, Amnesty International has found it necessary to sternly rebuke the US for the systematic abuse of the civil liberties (mostly) of her poor and her non-white citizens. Meanwhile, a more privileged and politically Libertarian group who have been labeled Netizens stand rightfully appalled by astonishing government attempts to attack basic freedoms online. But do these groups ever consider coming together to make the notion that liberty matters less obscure to the American body politic? In fact, an ad hoc political campaign that calls for us to "Defend civil liberties" and "Close down the prison/industrial complex" can represent the interests of such disparate groups.

Think of the ad hoc coalition The Revolution® could pull together if people thought we were a really happenin' thang. Many of these, of course, overlap:

• Freak Power: counterculture types, urban hipsters, subculturalists 1.5 million
• Register the Rabble!: The economically marginalized, the homeless, the voiceless, and the headless horseman - 5 million
• Political activists/left/environmental 1 million
• People deeply concerned about privacy and civil liberties, including netheads - 3 million
• Libertarians (once they realize that, unlike their own party, we can win) - .5 million
• Recreational drug users (most of whom are at least as in control of their own actions as occasional drinkers and Republicans) - 5 million
• Survivalists and secessionists (those who don't mind voting for a half-Jewish urban weirdo) - .25 million
• Genuine liberals - 2.5 million

Have I forgotten you?

There remain several objections to ad hoc politics. Advocating ad hoc politics begs the obvious question; Why these ad hoc politics? If politics be ad hoc, why not just pure opportunism? Why not just poll-based politics? In other words, why not Clintonism?

Well, as the man said, "Where do you want to go today?" Our ad hoc politics are not guided by ideology, but they are guided by desire. They are politics with a goal. And I've suggested two goal posts. One goal post-perhaps we see it on our left as we come downfield-is increased basic well-being; democratization of opportunity, voice, and resources, power to the people. The other goal post, perhaps we see it on our right, is increased personal freedom; don't tell me what to say, don't tell me what to put in my mouth, and don't tell me what to do with my business (provided my business doesn't exploit and pollute, and isn't of a size where it becomes as oppressive an oligarchy as a state monarchy or dictatorship)--power to the individual.

Power to the People and no more Stalin Around

I'm going to claim here that there hasn't been a really good revolution since the 19th Century (and you're going to have to forgive this fairly ahistoric exercise in political oversimplification. It is, at least, purposeful). Up until the 19th Century, making revolutionary changes that both increase power to the people and individual freedom was relatively uncomplicated. It's not too hard to trace a straight line from the Magna Carta to the Age of Enlightenment (and the American Revolution) and see that both collective opportunity and individual rights were expanded; from the 'divine right of kings' to the rights of male nobles, and then from nobles to those of the common (white) man. But with the advent of the Industrial Age, you start to get accumulations of capital that were previously impossible (not because there weren't enormous discrepancies of ownership, serfdom and slavery: obviously there were, but because they're just wasn't that much total capital involved). As the power of industrial capital rises, transportation shrinks the subjective size of the world, and populations increase; the Byzantine quality of real political power complexifies. By the late 19th Century, Marx and Engels can rightly express their contempt for bourgeois democracy, and its Rosseauian credo of individual rights, as a charade masking the real power of capital accumulation. It's a small leap to a Leninist analysis in which the masses have to be re-educated towards participatory democracy by an all-powerful and disciplinary vanguard party, a transitional bureaucratic dictatorship. And thus, the sad politics of the 20th century unfolds, with its enormous depersonalized voting blocks and continued complexifications of political and economic power in the "bourgeois democracies," and its Stalinist (and sometimes fascist) bureaucracies achieving minimal economic security while presiding over nation states that are maximum security prisons. Meanwhile technical, scientific, and cultural events evolve with such speed and potency that static political ideologies-and even the very notion of politics-start to implode.

I'll leave detailed scattershot analyses of the post-H-bomb 20th Century for another time. But to compress it all into one simple conclusion; we have arrived at the beginning of the 21st Century with a global rabble that is sophisticated enough to enact power to the people and freedom to the individual. No vanguard bureaucracy or corporate oligarchy can stand in our way if we can coalesce around some ad hoc political arrangements before we diverge, post-politically, into identity tribes and conceptually-rugged individuals.

Join The Revolution® Party Like It's 1999.

So who are we? Well, I don't know about you, but I suppose I'm taking classical pre-industrial-age-liberalism-veering-hopefully-towards-post-political-functional-anarchy into the post-industrial age. In a pinch, you might define it as Radical Liberalism or Liberal Libertarianism or 21st Century Left Libertarianism or even 21st Century Libertarianism, depending on how you feel and who you're talking to.

And who R.U.? Hopefully, you're someone who is ready to finally put an end to the politics of the 1950s in America. You're ready to vote and march against Victory Over Horseshit in America. You're ready to political party like it's 1999.

Maybe you're even competent. And if you're not, why not become so? Maybe you can raise funds and spread the word effectively. I'll tell you what. I just read a biography of Che Guevara. Hey, a handful of lunatics overthrew the Cuban government, even though they were attacked, lost almost all their weapons and got lost and separated their first day out. And you can't even come up with $75 and coax in five new members? Besa mi culo! Go back to Taco Bell and the talking Chihuahua, then!

Oh, never mind . . . don't go. Stay. Vote. March. But if you want to make sure something actually happens for a change, do your part and proceed to the Membership and Volunteer Page. Heck, we'll even let you in for $25.

Now try to imagine the millennial madness-as all flavor of fundamentalist pitches tent in the "holy city" of Palestine getting in shape for the great biotoxin shootout at the end of the millennium, celebrating 2000 years of mass murder and travesty in the name of some old counterculturalist with an overblown sense of world historic destiny - The Revolution® moves from vague rumor to dynamic player in a worldwide crisis of value and politic.

Indeed. In light of the implications of our historic party year 1999, I have changed my name to "The Presidential Candidate Formerly Barely Noticed At All As R.U. Sirius." (Optionally you may use the symbol: $$!!!??). The theme is "Political Party Like It's 1999." The slogan is still "Victory Over Horseshit!", which some may say contradicts the theme . . . but hell, we're nothing if not flexible. Here's a bunch of alternative bumper stickers slogans:

I'M REVOLTING!
REGISTER THE RABBLE!
AMERICA IS A POLICE STATE
R.U. SIRIUS: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE
THINK REALLYDIFFERENT
LIBERTY MATTERS

Throw Some Parties Like It's 1999

So now that you know . . . or remember . . . what this is all about, what's to prevent you from organizing parties for the party, other than your own lazy butt and the fact that you lack the courage to steal mom's jewelry and take it to the hock shop? There's ready-to-print Party Propaganda ready for you to pass out on the Party Website (http://www.revolting.com) and in a week or so, there'll even be bumper stickers and buttons. Party themes might include: One Pie Thrown for Every Two Eaten." Local targets might include the mayor, the principal, the dean, the narc, or the corporate polluter. Or come up with your own party theme. Play nice.

• Victory Over Horseshit Million Person March
• Some time this Fall, let's bring a million people to Washington BC to march for Victory Over Horseshit!
• Horseshit is . . . a war on plants
• Horseshit is... the biggest military budget increase since the end of the cold war
• Horseshit is . . . profiting off of the mass incarceration of human beings
• Horseshit is . . . democrats and republicans both having exactly the same sponsors
• Horseshit is . . . the mainstream media telling us things are going swell
• Horseshit is . . . the Headwaters deal
• Horseshit is . . . killing Iraqis isn't even mentioned in the mainstream media
• Horseshit is . . . Bill Clinton preaching abstention to teenagers
• Horseshit is . . . searching workers and students' urine, for fuck's sake
• Horseshit is . . . mandatory school uniforms
• Horseshit is . . . billions of dollars of tax money going to corporations who then turn around and charge us what the market will bear for their products
• Horseshit is . . . still being the only country on the planet with troops stationed in foreign nations the world over
• Horseshit is . . . Jesse Helms
• Horseshit is . . . family values, or any attempt by the government to tell us what our life philosophy ought to be
• Horseshit is . . . the criminalization of youth
• Horseshit is . . . calling our system a democracy when it's almost as rigged on behalf of Republicans and Democrats as the Soviet Union was on behalf of the Communist Party!
• Horseshit is . . . anti-drug fanatics destroying the hemp industry, and with it, the forests
• Horseshit is . . . Clinton and Gore acting like they don't know better
• Horseshit is . . . federal regulations on drugs are controlled by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries
• Horseshit is . . . the vast majority of health care money going to insurance companies instead of health care
• Horseshit is . . . penalizing people who buy cigarettes while subsidizing people who make cigarettes.
• Horseshit is . . . military weapons programs that are funded not for defense but to distribute money
• Horseshit is . . . the government admitting that the bombing of Sudan was a mistake and the mainstream media ignoring it
• Horseshit is . . . believing that Clinton is any better than McVeigh or Kaczinsky
• Horseshit is . . . taxable scholarships
• Horseshit is . . . any governmental agency that fucks up so bad it needs a PR campaign
• Horseshit is . . . not earning a living wage and still having to pay taxes
• Horseshit is . . . patenting the human genome
• Horseshit is . . . spending more to bomb Iraq than it would take to buy it.