20 October 2005

KARL MARX WAS RIGHT IN ONE RESPECT

Jonathan Weisman and Charles Babington, (Extracted from "Iraq War Debate Eclipses All Other Issues", Washington Post Staff, 20 November 2005)

"After largely avoiding the subject since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lawmakers are suddenly confronting the issue of President Bush's handling of the war. The start hasn't been pretty.

Political stunts by both parties have created an air of acrimony that is infecting the parties' entire agendas. The bitterness reached a new high -- or low -- on Friday when House Republicans forced a late-night vote on a resolution for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces."

[Ed Maybe the US political parties are now finding a real issue to fight about. But on other issues -- as all the main parties and their oppositions in all developed countries -- they are joined at the hip in being confused about policies for the future. They ought to pay attention to the one crucial point on which Karl Marx was correct. The nature of the productive process defines the social mix within a country. We are now into an era of increasing automation where education, jobs, culture, politics and much else is becoming increasingly divided between a hard-working, highly-paid, highly-skilled meritocracy and an increasingly dumbed-down majority becoming poorer by the year. Economists haven't begun to think about this seriously enough yet -- and even when they do it will be another generation before politicians cotton on.]

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