“as for smith’s greatest adversary, marx, it matters little how loudly one protests against english capitalism when one is thoroughly imbued with its images. The protest is itself a recognition, and its only aim is, through a new kind of accounting, to confer upon objects the advantages of subjects.”
oswald spengler. The decline of the west.________________________________________________________________________
of late i have been thinking that if don trump can actually be taken seriously as a presidential candidate the time for the demise of the executive branch may be at hand…how could that help? it can’t near as i can tell…but are any of the of the other alleged candidates any better in real terms? i am skeptical at best…looking out over the wasteland of the campaign i can see only profoundly negative choices…from cruz to rubio to clinton or sanders…they are all of the hegemonic culture…all “of the system”…true believers… and none are truly concerned with my interests or well being..all enamored of power and a massaged ego…if i hold my nose and vote for one of them as the lesser of two evils i am part of that system as well…”imbued with its images”…attacking the system in its own cultural idiom…it frames the debate…it provides the choices…if i want to participate i must choose…i do not possess a method of opting out…no way of saying “none of these bozos is fit to represent my interests because their interests and mine are nearly exclusive of one another”…all i can do with my vote is validate the current system on its terms…my “civic duty” insists i choose , even if it is the lesser evil ( and i have never seen a presidential election with a positive choice )…no way of rejecting the candidates as a group…of saying anything that does not reinforce established institutions…when john quincy adams said that the adoption of the constitution would be a victory for the “aristocratic party” he was prescient…i could ignore it all…abstain...but i will vote…if only because the thought of a strong voter turn out terrifies them…that might inject some accountability back into public office…mark a return to issues instead of the production of innocuous, meaningless, dissembling, vapid, insulting, inferential, dismissive, or degrading sound bites…i loathe them enough to want them nervous.
