This means that within our consciousnesses and in everything that we do and produce, there in lies a direct or perhaps indirect influence stamped by the existing economic position we endure. In the world of Marx, it is the economy that determines how we act and how we express ourselves. The implication that our economy can and does control our psyche, and that its manifestation is always visible in the end result of all that we create and control, regardless of whether or not the intent resonates on a conscious or an unconscious level.
MARXISM: ECONOMY = SUPERSTRUCTURE (the root of all political and social expressions within each society)
At first glance, I thought, “Well in fact this is quite a bold, borderline absurd overstatement!” I can see a clear correlation between the economy and the big institutions—the obvious influences such as political agendas, community reconstructions, i.e. New York’s struggle to reconcile its budgeting issues where to take cuts et al… We can also apply this said forecast on how the structure of our government is currently repositioning itself—the shift of power from one popular party to the ex-underdog taking the lead. This change is eminent. Many conservatives have chosen to push their political views aside, in the name of fixing this currently defective economy. Of course in this instance, I am mostly speaking of the American public and not the Republican Party in office, for their political agendas are apparently still very much in tact. Bobby Jindal, the Governor of the state of Louisiana, reminded us yesterday just how much, when he delivered the Republican rebuttal to our newly appointed president who is absolutely screaming to induce CHANGE in our endangered economy. On the other hand, I would say, or correction, Marx would say that Jindal’s comeback is all too predictable on the Republican’s side really. Marx would refer to such tactics/propaganda as the bourgeoisie’s economic strategy—to protect the interest of the wealthy top 2%, while the lower percentage of the population continues to suffer the consequences.
Whether or not Obama is over-promising at the moment, I believe ceases to bare any relevance to revamping the landscape of this economy. Obama’s intention is to get everyone to join the bandwagon that is headed into a more responsible direction. A direction that will point towards investing our capital ventures into what will ultimately rebuild the foundation of our nation—education, health care, and solar and wind power. So even if we fail to generate immediate revenue, our investments will inevitably have beneficial outcomes. And how we get there is all debatable and that is not the point of this article. The point of this article will be to start monitoring this change we speak of so often nowadays. This word CHANGE, what does it represent as it slips out the mouth of millions, and perhaps billions of people around the globe?
For me, and for the purpose of this series of articles I'm working on, I will temporarily take the context of this word CHANGE out of President Obama’s mouth and will then place it back into the stance of a Karl Marx, one of the most intuitive philosophers, political economists, sociologists, and certainly one of the most influential revolutionary figures of all time. As I said, it is easy to see the trickle down effect of the economy seeping into CHANGES in the makeup of our governments, our communities, and even education. However, what will be more fascinating is to also monitor what else Marx included in his list of CHANGES. Because what he boldly declared just as well, was that the power of the substructure will also be inherently visible in the arts, in the media, in design, in marketing, in the sciences and in technology. I hope you will join me in this journey, as I record these traces of CHANGES—changes in our behavior as humankind. My goal is to record how we express ourselves in different mediums as the economic downturn calls on all us of to reinvent ourselves once more so as we can continue to tell the greatest story of all.
