September 2009

Entangled Giant
By Garry Wills
George W. Bush left the White House unpopular and disgraced. His successor promised change, and it was clear where change was needed. Illegal acts should cease—torture and indefinite detention, denial of habeas corpus and legal representation, unilateral canceling of treaties, defiance of Congress and the Constitution, nullification of laws by signing statements. Powers attributed to the president by the theory of the unitary executive should not be exercised. Judges who are willing to give the president any power he asks for should not be confirmed.

Michael Moore on Leno: “Capitalism is Legalized Greed”
Americans who didn’t witness filmmaker Michael Moore’s appearance Tuesday night on NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show” missed one of those rare moments when the vast wasteland gives way to an oasis of realism.

Rarely since the days when author Gore Vidal regularly appeared on the “Tonight” show with Johnny Carson has a popular television program on a commercial broadcast channel provided such extended and respectful treatment to a scathing critique of the corrupt status quo.

Bourgeois and Marxist economics

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009
Crisis and Hope
Theirs and ours
Noam Chomsky

http://bostonreview.net/BR34.5/chomsky.php

Perhaps I may begin with a few words about the title. There is too much nuance and variety to make such sharp distinctions as theirs-and-ours, them-and-us. And neither I nor anyone can presume to speak for “us.” But I will pretend it is possible.

There is also a problem with the term “crisis.” Which one? There are numerous very severe crises, interwoven in ways that preclude any clear separation. But again I will pretend otherwise, for simplicity.

How history is made
Far from being “mechanical,” Karl Marx and Frederick Engels’ view of society stresses how people make history, though not in conditions of their choosing.

August 28, 2009

IT IS often argued that the Marxist view of history allows no room for conscious human intervention–that to Marxists, everything which happens in the realm of political conflicts and class struggle is merely a passive reflection of what goes on at the economic “base,” and history charts a predetermined course according to historical laws, irrespective of the actions of individuals or groups.