Shades of Karl Marx

I'm not big on Marxist anything... that politico-economic philosophy led to the death of well over 100 million people and some very ugly governments.

But this fellow, David Harvey, has some good points to make.



I want the social and economic change the above says needs to be done, but I don't want it in the context of the good buy-bad guy analysis of typical Marxist "analysis". I certainly don't want the "liquidation" of the bourgeoisie as carried out by the Communists. But I do believe that the economy needs to be "adjusted" so that those at the bottom, who do all the really hard work, get more of the economic rewards. I want this done via better taxation, better social benefits, and through a re-strengthening of the union movement.

In Canada we have a strong third party, the New Democrats which are a social democratic party. But sadly when they get in power they have proved inept. In British Columbia they created boondoggles for favoured industries and favoured organized labour groups. They've had no universal vision and they certainly haven't shown any ability to lead a revitalized capitalism that gets the golden goose laying bigger and more frequent golden eggs. I'm all for the "golden goose" party. A party that wants to harness the dynamism of capitalism but puts a harness on the capitalists to make sure that the lion's share of the goodies coming out of their efforts flow to the broad society and not just to their ever-fattening pockets.

In short, I'm for the infamous Obama call for "change" but I don't have an Obama capable of leading me to the promised land. I don't see any political party with a platform that will deliver the goods.