trump Archives - Revolutionary Misfit

I just finished reading Naomi Klein’s newest book: No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need.

The book does a great job of identifying Trump for what he really is, despite his riding to victory on a wave of populist petulance. Trump is a neoliberal, pure and simple. And a very dangerous one. One who’s even less bashful and more bold than others when it comes to using the “shock doctrine” to push forward policies that favor the rich at the expense of people and planet.

Why does society keep inflicting damage to itself by handing over power to the Trumps of this world? What is behind the lure of neoliberalism? That’s the $100,000 question that this post will pry at an answer to.

My last post was an attempt to debunk the populist-inspired “globalist” conspiracies and reveal the real problem we all face: neoliberalism. I went through a very brief synopsis of how we arrived at this juncture, with societal power reduced to a proverbial sack of potatoes. The rich keep getting richer, and more powerful, while the rest of us seem content to sit back with the popcorn to watch the reality show.

Naomi’s book is a call to get up off the couch and do something about this! She’s right and I applaud her for the effort.

But why? Why do we let these guys get away with it?

Could it be that the idea that happiness and fulfillment can be best achieved via great wealth is one that’s ingrained in our societal psyche? We revere the wealthy. We aspire to their vaulted status. We buy Trump’s books and even pay our hard-earned cash to attend the disgraced Trump University. The message of both is that we can be like him…we too can have our wildest dreams fulfilled if we just focus on winning at the expense of whoever is on the other side of the transaction.

Trump is the most “transactional” president we’ve ever had. Granted, he’s running into some problems with that approach. Being president is not the same as completing a real estate deal. That’s because the “transactions” have more far-reaching consequences.

Nevertheless, Trump is seen as the guy who always comes out on top…and we want to be that guy too…right?

The problem is “we” can’t…at least not all of us. And that’s what neoliberalism does at its core. It rewards the few who are able to come out on top at the expense of the vast majority of the rest of us…and of the planet.

Neoliberal leaders talk about a level playing field (they call it “equal opportunity”), while doing everything they can behind the scenes to tilt it in their direction. If you’re willing to step back and look at the big picture you can see the truth in that statement.

If “trickle down” has worked so well, then why do the top 1% control more income and wealth than the bottom 90%?

It’s really not that hard to see what’s been happening for the past 40 some years. Wages of the middle class have stagnated. Income and wealth flowing to the top 1% have skyrocketed. And at the same time our planet has gradually overheated to the point where we are all about to get cooked!

In our country we hold fast to the capitalist-infused idea of the “American dream.” That anyone can make it and make it big in America. That even I can become Donald Trump, while ignoring the fact that even Trump was only able to “become Trump” with considerable help of inherited wealth and neoliberal-inspired pro-corporate financial laws and regulations.

Perhaps it would be better to call the “dream” a fantasy. Because it’s pure fantasy to believe that 300,000,000 wannabe Trumps, all vying for as much American pie as they can squeeze into their pie-holes, while ignoring the poor suckers who are starving, will ever “make America great again.” It (they) won’t. That mode of thinking gave us Trump and that should be proof enough of its inadequacy as a viable solution to the societal problems we face.

And if that’s not enough it also gave us global warming…

In fact, how much “proof” do we really need that this ideology does not work and will in the end create a nightmarish reality that I don’t believe any of us truly want to wake up in.

The lure of neoliberalism is strong. The marketing of brands like Trump have made it so.

But that doesn’t make it good for us.

I’ve gone through some serious changes over the last decade.

Lately I’ve been making some assessments…questioning where I am and how I got here…

and wondering how much those changes played a role in the transportation.

A little over ten years ago I was one motivated mofo. I took decisive action towards achieving goals. And I did achieve many.

Then something began to happen. I, over time, began to identify myself as a victim.

A victim of what, you ask?

Of my own poor choices. Of hardline, my way or the highway, thinking on the part of others. Of a rigged society. Of luck, most of it bad. Of the economy…the government…the establishment…of Da Man…

I’ve always been a rebellious, quasi-revolutionary, sort of dude. And living in Costa Rica, and deeply identifying with the people here, really brought that nature out.

But, here’s the problem with rebellions, quasi-revolutionary, dudes…

We often wander into victimhood. We often succumb to the idea that the problem is out there…and not in here.

We often find ourselves, turning on, tuning in, and dropping out, as Dr. Timothy Leary infamously exhorted during the counterculture-era in 1966.

Now, I’m not saying that there are no victims. Certainly there are…

All of us still here, alive and kicking, are victims of life…

However, I’d rather be a victim of life than a victim of evolutionary chance (as in, my birth number never came up), or of evolutionary struggle (as in, my death number did).

Life’s tough…make no bones about it…tough as hell.

But as soon as you begin to IDENTIFY yourself as a victim…as in, that’s who I am…

then you’ve just lost a whole lot of your inner strength to change your situation, as well as being of any use to change that of others…

you’ve lost your impetus for impact.

And I firmly believe that lately I’ve been wandering in that wilderness of victimhood.

A big problem with all this is that I can see myself spending more time blaming than I do really getting down to the business of making positive change actually occur…

in my life as well as the lives of others that I might be able to touch, or to influence.

Simply put, there are no victorious victims.

Right now there’s a lot of blaming going on in this hyper-political environment leading up to the November presidential election.

Trump blames every minority group or foreign power for America’s problems.

Sanders blames the 1%.

I still haven’t figured out what Hillary’s doing, other than trying to stake her apparently inherited claim to assume the most powerful position on earth.

Of course, if you pay attention to anything I say here, you know that I agree wholeheartedly with Sanders.

But the danger with all this blaming is the temptation towards assuming victim status…and thus relinquishing our own power to be impactful.

As victims we tend to sit around and wait for change to happen…

We feel disempowered to really do anything ourselves about what we perceive as less than desirable.

Victimhood is not a highly motivated state of mind from which to take action.

I know…I’m there…and I feel anything but motivated. I sometimes feel like curling up in bed and just staying there until my situation improves.

One can be quite comfortable in victimhood, since it’s far easier to not take action because you believe the cards are stacked against you…

But inaction will never make a situation better, and may very well see it deteriorate towards uncontrollable levels.

That’s kind of where we’re at with global warming, now isn’t it?

So, what’s the core message of this post?

If you’re feeling victimized…great! Let it make you angry. Let it get under your skin. Let it make your blood boil. Let it provoke rebellion. Let it bring out that revolutionary spirit…but don’t let it lead you to assume the role of a victim…

Don’t wander into the wilderness of victimhood.

We, you and I, have the ability to impart change…to make an impact…in our lives and in our world.

So, get out of bed…get out of victimhood…and just do it!

And remember that there are no victorious victims…so, simply refuse to be one.

The Lure of Neoliberalism

There are No Victorious Victims

Connect with RM