The thing about Marxist theory that always gets over looked is that Marx believed the revolution he envisioned would happen in the USA. In fact he thought it had already started here first with our original revolution in 1776 and then with what many believed was its continuation in the Civil War. We had over thrown the idea of an aristocracy in the first war of independence and then destroyed its vestiges in the South when the Union beat the Confederacy. The one thing he overlooked or did not understand was the libertarianism that was part of what made up the underlying foundation of the psyche of the US.
In Europe and Asia when Marxist took over a country they just supplanted the aristocracy with a party elite. Many times they continued the same policies with different names. Russia is a prime example it took the Bolsheviks less than ten years to adapt the Tsarist idea of an imperial Russia but this time they called it world communism, same policies new name. To a peasant or factory worker the slogans changed but their life pretty much stayed the same or got worse was the new elites consolidated power.
Here in the US we have an almost allergic reaction to power consolidation that has repeated itself over and over again; Andrew Jackson’s populist movement and the destruction of the Bank of the United States, the rejection of reconstruction in the 1870’s, Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting at the beginning of the twentieth century. All these things happened in the US because the people saw the government or a private group grabbing too much power.
Today’s Tea Party movement is the same reaction to the power grab that the Federal Government and Wall Street have attempted. In the 60’s the reaction came form the left today the react is coming from the right but it is the same rejection of centralized power that has marked American politics for over two hundred years. The fight to right the power imbalance might last just this election cycle or it could be the defining movement of this generation it depends on how Washington and Wall Street react.
FDR did a course correction in the late thirties that let him stay in power but really end most of the radical aspects of the New Deal he tried to push. Wither the Washington party (The bosses of both parties) change their way of doing business will determine how long this grass roots unrest lasts and how far it goes in changing things. If Washington backs off the storm will clear after the November elections but if the power brokers fight to continue with the bailouts and power grab then we are going to be in for a long and bumpy ride.
Wow I had forgotten that I started this blog over two years ago it was during the election I was getting pissed by all sides. Since then I have been writing some science fiction stories and articles at http://www.republibot.com/blog/164 .
