America Against America

Hence, economic and social inequality, political dysfunction, climate change, public and mental health crises, and war all have a direct, clearly identifiable, and singular cause. This direct, clearly identifiable, and singular cause is then concealed and suppressed by the American corporate and government sector through money donations and grants to the academic and media sector. This means that many professors and journalists are paid to distract, deflect, and ‘beat around the bush’ for as long as possible in order to avoid elucidating and shedding light on this direct, clearly identifiable, and singular cause that is behind the major threats facing humanity. 

I mentioned the concept known as the “Periodization of Capitalism” in previous blog posts. This concept suggests that the life of capital and capitalism in general consists of three stages. For one, there is the development and growth stage of capital. Second, there is the extraction and exploitation stage of capital which comes after development and growth. And third, there is the domination and ruling stage of capital. Much of what Americans in this day and age have experienced up until recently is the second stage of capital, namely, the extraction and exploitation stage of capitalism which is known as “imperialism.” What “imperialism” and thus the abuse, exploitation, and extraction of other peoples and nations requires is a lack of independence and sense of self-reliance in other countries. Thus, as the American economist Michael Hudson wrote, American foreign policy since the transition out of a policy of “isolationism” in the early 20^th century “has sought to reverse foreign state control over economic policies generally, and attempts at economic self-reliance and independence from the United States in particular.” As a result, my proposal to the Afghan ambassador to America while I was his assistant suggesting an ‘infant industry model’ going forward essentially got thrown back at my face. 

Arguably, what fosters class disparity and inequality more than anything else and in turn fosters all the other major problems facing the international community and international society is the attitude, beliefs, and ideas of the narrow class which is economically and socially dominant over the ‘99 percent.’ Although material conditions have largely improved for everyone in the United States over the last two decades, perceptions have changed largely as a result of changes in the ‘information ecosystem’ due to evolutions in globalization and technology since the start of the 21^stcentury. To a certain extent, the changes in perception amongst Americans are reflected in the fact that more than half of Americans now see themselves as “lower class” whereas two decades ago, the number of Americans who perceived themselves as “lower class” made up only about 30 percent of the country’s population. 

As one Chinese observer of America who is now a high-ranking official in the Chinese politburo noted in his observations of America during the peak of the infamous Cold War, the “eccentricity” of America is what spurred America’s social and technological advancements in the 20^th century, and these advancements resulting from the “eccentricity” of the ‘American Mind’ catapulted America to global power status. Wang Huning is perhaps the equivalent of a “Tocqueville of the East” due to his interesting observations of America. But paradoxically, Wang also noted that the obsession with domination and rule over people as well as overreliance on technology are major flaws in the American system which need rectification. The combination of hegemony and “the closing of the American mind” which destroys the eccentricity and vibrancy of a society as a result of a whole-of-government policy based on hegemony is an issue which I have developed and stressed for the last few years. But as many writers may have noticed, when one is compelled to say or write something, it means that most likely, someone has already said or written it before.