The consequences of a default on the U.S. debt would be catastrophic, but a majority of U.S. voters apparently prefer it.
This preference has a utopian quality. It expresses the people’s will to smash the state, to break free from the paternalistic hold of a totalitarian government. But, it is also a very dangerous desire.
The majority of U.S. voters prefer economic collapse because they’ve been convinced by elite propaganda that this will create more economic opportunities for them in the future, but this probably isn’t the case. It is more likely to create a short-term economic disaster that would disproportionately affect the middle and working classes and possibly lead to violent social and political fallout (e.g. hate crimes, political assassination, etc.).
The desire for failure on the part of middle and working class workers in the U.S. is fueled by their resentment for racialized minorities, who they believe benefit disproportionately from social welfare programs. It is also fueled by a misguided belief in meritocracy, that the white middle and working classes still “count” in the U.S. from the point of view of the corporate elites and that through hard work and persistence they can achieve greater economic and social rewards. One need only glance at the trends in U.S. wages and wealth inequality since 1968 to see that this is just not the case. Although it is unclear whether default will benefit anybody, it will almost definitely not benefit the poor or working classes in the short or medium term and will much more likely benefit the current elites who still hold the keys to military power, natural resources, and securities in the long term. To agitate in favor of default would be to sell one’s birthright for a mess of pottage.
Such a desire might also be appealing from an anarcho-Marxist, i.e. revolutionary point of view, however deceptively. Nowadays, well-intentioned leftists seem to mistake catastrophe for revolution, something that Marx, for one, never had in mind. Instead, in the short term, leftists should support raising the debt ceiling, but only in support of a state working towards a more just, egalitarian, and democratic political arrangement. As leftists we need to have hope that at least some members of the power elite posses the desire to see this change take place. Otherwise, we are in for many more years of suffering by the people who deserve it least, the poor and working classes, and the continued flourishing of a corporate elite whose greed and callousness seem to expand day by day.
Tags: anarchism, debt ceiling, debt limit, Marxism, the poor, the power elite, the working class, U.S. politics
