Public/private is a hegemonic border within the political culture of capitalist societies, intended somehow to delineate proper divisions of labor between government and capital, between politics and the economy. The discourse has proven irrepressible, even as these intended distinctions prove themselves impossible at the levels of political economy and everyday life.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
p/p, m/f, socialisme ou barbarie
Public/private is a hegemonic border within the political culture of capitalist societies, intended somehow to delineate proper divisions of labor between government and capital, between politics and the economy. The discourse has proven irrepressible, even as these intended distinctions prove themselves impossible at the levels of political economy and everyday life.
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"intended somehow to delineate proper divisions of labor between government and capital"
whereas PPPs, either in infrastructure or service terms, actually serve to blur the lines between what the state ought to provide (e.g. social housing) and what market forces offer to supply (speculative property development).
I was in the position of explaining the differences between a capitalist economy and a socialist economy today to a group of 12th graders.
evil r+b,
you must explain!
gabba,
we are once again on the same page. thank you for your attention to this matter.
evil r+b - please tell me your answer was "In a socialist economy, the people suck off the teat of the gummint, just like you public school kids!"
Much more happened than I can report. Actually, the funny thing about this situation is that I found myself minimizing my own sympathies for socialism to try to make the standpoint of American conservatives (no to universal healthcare, etc.) plausible to a bunch of wannabe leftist and idealistic kids: "Hey. Would you want to pay extra taxes to help pay for the healthcare of a poor family with nine children? Do you want to wait for months or years for necessary medical care? Do you want to surrender a major portion of your income to make sure a bunch of loafers can stay on the dole? Do you want your land confiscated by the government and redistributed to other people?" Shiiiiiiiiit. I always feel like I need to defend the one kid who really is a Republican. I don't know why.
(I also explained the origin of the terms "left" and "right" -- the places where the Jacobins and Royalists sat in the National Assembly after the beginning of the French Revolution)
We were discussing the Cold War, baby.
Did I make it clear that I don't agree with any of the standpoints I was voicing to those kids?
R+B, fucking awesome.
Evil guy,
Did the kids stand up and yell "fuck no!!" to all of your questions?
No, they looked vaguely awake and mildly interested.
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