Can we throw away the false "two sides" frame of politics yet?
What I’m seeing right now is at least three sides.
First, we have the “right,” which believes that government never works and unwittingly fetishizes corporate tyranny as a public benefit.
Second, we have the “left,” which believes that government always works and unwittingly fetishizes government tyranny as a public benefit.
Finally, we have a growing group of people who understand that big business and big government are actually one and the same, and who know that the system must be changed fundamentally if we are to avoid a return to a new form of pre-Enlightenment feudalism.
The fact is, the biggest service we can do for our growing movement is to open the eyes of the so-called “left” and the so-called “right” to the fact that big government and big business are the same thing, that both “sides” are supporting policies that tighten the noose around their freedom. What they’re doing right now is the political equivalent of auto-erotic asphyxiation that is sure to go wrong, leaving the body politic swinging pathetically from the closet door, the belt of liberty cinched tightly around its neck.
To have any hope of turning back the tide of the neoliberal Counter-Enlightenment, all of us need to get past the polarization and bunker mentality that has been forced on us by the dominant, normative narrative.
**Note: this post is adapted from a comment I made over at Russ's place. Visit it. He makes you think.
