Preserving the Security of the Constitutional Order in the United States

TML Editorial

TML is producing a Supplement on the unfolding events in the United States on the eve of the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th president of that country. These events have significance for the U.S. polity and, by extension, the Canadian polity and the peoples of the world.

Material in this issue focuses on explanations for what is happening in the United States by delving into what is relevant and what is not so as to get to the heart of the matter. The lead article by Kathleen Chandler explains why the U.S. House of Representatives called the rampage which took place at the Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6 an insurrection using the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, rather than Article 1 of the Constitution, on Congressional powers, and the implication of this to the workers' and peoples' striving for justice and democracy. Kathleen Chandler leads the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization (USMLO). Other material is brought to you by the Hardial Bains Resource Centre (HBRC) which carries out ongoing work on matters of concern to the forces fighting for change which serves nation-building by humanizing the natural and social environment and opening society's path to progress. 

One of the HBRC's major fields of investigation concerns how disinformation works, in its ideological and material forms, not in terms of beliefs. An article on disinformation is published below with the aim of helping readers provide themselves with the orientation they require when they attempt to understand what is going on, how it is spoken about and the measures which are being taken.

We focus on what the police powers are in relation to representational government and how disinformation works in terms of the ideological form, not just individual beliefs. Disinformation involves the destruction of what is being informed, what is providing form.

An important feature of analyzing unfolding events is not to confound the objective world with one's subjective impression of that world. Rather than a reflection of the objective world, an analysis can become an amalgam rendered through the prism of one's own understanding of what one is observing, reading and hearing. Hence the expression: One sees not what is there but what one thinks is there.  For instance, various forces describe what is happening in the United States as a problem of extremism, or fascism, or authoritarian, or populism, or pre- or post-fascism and the like. There is a refusal to discuss actual human relations and what they reveal, in part because information is lacking, and deliberately so.

Human relations, all the many relations between humans and humans and humans and nature, are not a collection of things. In a polity, they concern the basis of political relations which are not the same as social relations of production. A polity has relations, individual and collective and in terms of the whole. Theories of governance, balance of power, the distinction between domestic and foreign policy -- all these are eliminated when a police power is established. A police power simply considers all humans and the relations they enter into as "things" placed into categories to be disposed of accordingly. "Blacks: criminals;" "youth: delinquents;" "middle class: good;" "working class: troublemakers;" "extremists, Muslims, Iranians, Cubans, Venezuelans: terrorists;" "Chinese: spies, enemies;" "Russians: ditto," and so on. 

Repeating these characterizations is what we call the Cinderella Complex. Some say that what is happening in the U.S. is extremism, or fascism, or authoritarianism, or populism, or Armageddon. Armageddon, according to the New Testament of the Christian Bible, is the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgment. All of it signifies a refusal to discuss the ensemble of human relations and what they reveal.

The basic Cinderella story is of a prince, with a glass slipper, who goes in search of the right foot to fit it. Whatever name is attached to some event or developments, they are somehow linked together and then those making the claim (the slipper) go looking for facts to support it while those claiming otherwise look for facts to refute it. Interestingly, nobody is supposed to question the basic presumption that everyone wants to either be the prince, or marry the prince.

The arguments do not clarify the vantage point or throw light on the situation we are in. Their validity is decided by how many "likes" they get on Facebook, or absence of "likes." Whether particular vantage points are good or bad, the vantage point expressed is always from the point of view of the prince and those arguing cannot see beyond that.

People's thinking on Trump and on what is taking place in the United States is all over the map. It is not unusual to hear people say they are convinced that the world is coming to an end. Some agree with this or that analysis but instead of corroborating the analysis, they corroborate what is going on in their own head, such as the belief that the election was stolen from Trump or that Trump is a really bad man and that Biden may not be so bad, or will be just as bad, or good, and the like.

These personality politics can drive people crazy. People become afraid when they think about things based on personal feelings and apprehensions. They become victims of disinformation, which is not to make you believe in this or that but to deprive people of acquiring a world outlook which serves them and helps them work out what can be done to change the situation in their favour. Those who participate in acquiring a modern outlook cannot be driven crazy or become scared. They become capable of analyzing the objective world, sorting out the contradictions and engaging in actions with analysis to change the situation in favour of themselves, the working class, all of humanity and the general interests of society.

January 2021. Protest actions by those involved in the movement for rights and against police impunity continue in Portland (above) and other cities.

The objective world changes spontaneously, but more importantly for humans at this juncture of history, the existing objective contradictions in relations of production can be resolved through conscious organized actions to change the world, all of which demands constant analysis, organized actions and yet more analysis and actions. This opens great possibilities to humanize the social and natural world.

For a person with a modern outlook, the disinformation exists as noise like a distant ambulance siren. Its effect is no more than annoying sound waves which reach the brain and almost immediately disappear.

We also note that  Martin Luther King Day was observed this year on January 18. Many TV and radio stations played his speech from 1967, condemning the war against Viet Nam and his last speech delivered a day before his assassination in April 1968. Reflecting the strength of the anti-war movement of that time, the speeches called for a radical rupture with the U.S. socio, economic and political system, including calling for an end to militarism, racism and poverty. His life and work, like that of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Fannie Lou Hammer and many others, continue to inspire millions of people in the U.S.

(Photos: B. Winslow)

This article was published in

Volume 51 Number 3 - January 20, 2021

Article Link:
Preserving the Security of the Constitutional Order
in the United States: TML Editorial

    

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