America has problems, and essayist Umair Haque emphasizes several of them like school shootings and the opioid epidemic. He has no analysis of the causes of these problems, but that doesn’t stop him from ending up by blaming “extreme capitalism” and “no public investment” as two major causes.
Total American government spending at all levels is estimated at 38 percent of all spending. No matter how flawed that estimate is, this provides no evidence for “no public investment”. As for extreme capitalism, there are over 1 million federal regulations in this country that negate capitalism and replace it with a corporate-fascist economy.
Haque could not be more blind to the mighty causes that are propelling America along the road to collapse. Haque ought to read an essay by Sanjeev Sabhlok titled “India After Seventy Years of Socialism”. He might then profitably examine the American case, such as the rise of dependency upon government, the failure of public schools and the unending interference in medical markets. He ought to examine the effects of continual war and mounting debts.
Philosophically, America adopted fascism, progressivism and socialism. It adopted militarism. All these philosophies (and a good many others) are immoral, and that turns into social failure when they are pursued and elaborated within institutions.
1:25 pm on January 29, 2018
