Excerpt: The term [failed state] is also used in the sense of a state that has been rendered ineffective (i.e., has nominal military/police control over its territory only in the sense of having no armed opposition groups directly challenging state authority; in short, the "no news is good news" approach) and is not able to enforce its laws uniformly because of high crime rates, extreme political corruption, an extensive informal market, impenetrable bureaucracy, judicial ineffectiveness, military interference in politics, cultural situations in which traditional leaders wield more power than the state over a certain area but do not compete with the state, or a number of other factors.
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Given this definition and the facts before us, a Constitution that is not being enforced, an electoral system that has been effectively corrupted, the prosecution of unpopular wars, the dominance of the black economy (drugs and secret securities markets), the intrusion of the military into the civil sphere, the wholesale privatization of government activities in pursuit of private profit, the controlling influence of lobbyist, the selective use of police and prosecutorial authority to promote private interests, does not the US qualify as a failed state?
Does this situation not legitimize calls by US citizens for international intervention in our
Capital strikes are only meaningful when they are seen as analogous to the General Strike, in that the action must be coordinated, persistent and uniformly applied in the society.
If the owners of capital persist in withholding investment, enabled by a government under their control, the only weapon left in the hands of the people is a general strike.
A measure of how successful the managerial class has been in its
program of thought control is the immediate association people have
with the word "strike" with the deliberate withholding of labor by
unions. A far more influential and powerful form of strike is a
"Capital Strike." What
we are experiencing now, and are likely to suffer greatly from in the
near future as a result of investment capital failing to get its way
in Congress, is best seen as a capital strike -- a fit of irritation
that sees owners responding to a frustration of their aims by taking
their ball and going home. Governments fall, nations fall into famine
and civil war, societies decline into barbarism as a result of
capital strikes, whereas, labor strikes are puny efforts by
comparison that rarely have much influence on people's lives.
Capital strikes are only meaningful when they are seen as analogous
to the General Strike, in that the action must be coordinated, persistent and uniformly
applied in the society. If the owners of capital persist in
withholding investment, enabled by a government under their control,
the only weapon left in the hands of the people is a general strike.
We need to start talking to each other about when and how we will
stop the wheels of commerce in order to assert our rights as citizens.
and the facts before us, a Constitution that is not being enforced, an electoral system that has been effectively corrupted, the prosecution of unpopular wars, the dominance of the black economy (drugs and secret securities markets), the intrusion of the military into the civil sphere, the wholesale privatization of government activities in pursuit of private profit, the controlling influence of lobbyist, the selective use of police and prosecutorial authority to promote private interests, does not the US qualify as a failed state?
