Response to crisis as perpetuation of order

Many would think that 2009 is a year that has perhaps seen the summit and downfall of greed as supreme virtue. No longer is Gordon Gecko hailed a hero.

However the ethics, lifestyles and habits of greed persist – they needed only a good facelift. As the crisis continues to unfold, it becomes ever more clear that the centers of supreme accumulation of the world (and they are in the United States) must drape their ultimate objective (blind profit) in the propaganda of a greater good. This is a first step towards a more proper balance of social well-being and it may have good consequences, independently of the honesty or lack thereof with which it is put forth. Pretense, in so far as it leads to efficacy, is the first step towards genuine being. In pretending to be virtuous and “responsible”, these agents ultimately might become so.

However, we should understand that this shift is occurring precisely at a moment of expediency. Government has had to step in to reinforce the structure of capital, fundamentally so as to perpetuate and safeguard its order. And to do this, some concessions have had to be paid to reality in so far as they are necessary to allow for accumulative extraction (in the coffers of a few corporations) while legitimizing the investment of the wealth of the public to sustain their privilege. This means corporate jets have to go while on the payroll of Uncle Sam.

But the point is precisely to understand that this may remain purely cosmetic so long as the show of moderation and prudence remains short (and the show is intended to be as short as possible!). And this means we should still understand that the elements of the old configuration of the economy and state—which were organized in such a way so as to trigger their own collapse, are presently still vying for priority over public interests.

For true change would take time. And time is precisely what is scarce in a society that is structured to be at peace only when in the fray of tremendous consumption. But how can a recession of a few meager years do enough to reconfigure relations between public and private if government has been controlled, or in the very least—highly suggestible by the private pursuit of accumulation for decades. Generations upon generations have been brought up under the guile of a prosperity whose true costs have been swept beneath the rug. And in a sense this is inevitable for a social order (cf. The Bacchae, Euripedes). We must not succumb to the extreme naivete that would have all of nature virtuous and pure—for it is not that, rather it is indifferent, without pity or justice. But this does not mean that there can be a better balance in how we allocate our energies as individuals, as a society and as states. There can and should be – otherwise we will continue to suffer the shocks of reality. And the real always wins.