That’s a bit like say Patriarchy gave women the vote; the Southern slaveocracy freed black people; and the religious right gave America legal same-sex marriage. She needs to stop peddling this absolute bullshit in the debates and on the stump.
Hillary needs to go back and study the history of capitalism, the history of anticapitalist activism in America and around the world, the history of the New Deal, and the outside agitation and activism that led to it — for starters.
I’d suggest these three books to begin her journey of discovery:
The Origin of Capitalism, by Ellen Meiksins Wood
The Invention of Capitalism, by Michael Perelman
The Age of Acquiescence, by Steve Fraser.
In reality, if you study the history of capitalism, and follow its rise right up to the present day, and if you’re honest about it, and you’re not trying to win points with your benefactors, it’s actually impossible to make the claims Hillary makes. Take away the outside agitation for change, the outside activism against crushing business practices inherent in capitalism, take away government intervention that followed all of that, and you’re left with capitalism’s Dickensian and Darwinian hells — and worse. You’re left with near-slave conditions for workers, near-slave wages, and the kind of grotesque inequality we see today but much, much worse. And you’re left with the knowledge that capitalism itself was built on slavery, and prolonged its dominance in America.
And for those who say that’s all in the past, we see it in 2016, throughout much of the “developing” world. We see what capitalism is at its core, and what it always reverts to when no one is looking:
Slave Labor and the Thai Fishing Industry
Several investigations by the Guardian over the past two years found that Thai and migrant slaves are being used on trawlers catching seafood in Thailand. Their catch has been sold by major US, British and other European retailers.
Bangkok says it has mostly completed a set of measures set out by the EU last year to clean up the industry, including registering fishing vessels and cracking down on human trafficking networks.
And Hillary doesn’t have to go far from home, or far back in time, to see how offensive her statements about capitalism are, especially to the families of those who died fighting against capitalist oppression here, the striking coal miners, the endless parade of workers trying to unionize, the beaten, jailed, murdered, the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and on and on and on.
Study the history of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and remember that RFK once stood by him. Study how many wars our capitalist class has launched, to protect and defend their markets, or smash open new ones by force — with workers being used as cannon fodder. She would do well to remember that the Iraq War was waged under false pretenses, not for “freedom and democracy,” but for oil and the capitalist class.
In short, Hillary — and those who agree with her about capitalism — needs to do some serious soul-search and rigorous, thorough research. Capitalism didn’t bring us the middle class. We got their despite its best efforts to hoard all wealth and power at the top, leaving nothing left for the middle class or anyone else.
Tuesday, Feb 16, 2016 · 5:36:23 PM +00:00 · diomedes77
This is really good news:
U.S. Closing a Loophole on Products Tied to Slaves
WASHINGTON — President Obama will sign legislation this week that effectively bans American imports of fish caught by forced labor in Southeast Asia, part of a flurry of recent actions by the White House, federal agencies, international trade unions and foreign governments to address lawlessness at sea and to better protect offshore workers and the marine environment.
Last week, the president signed the Port State Measures Agreement, which empowers officials to prohibit foreign vessels suspected of illegal fishing from receiving port services and access. The United States became the 20th country to ratify the pact.