What has largely filled the void politically in the post-progressive era West are salesmen/entertainment leaders (Clinton, Blair, Sarkozy, Obama, even Bush in his own faux folksy way). In the future I wonder if it will be more like Gilman lays out. Whenever the specter of corporation plus state (or state as corporation or vice versa) comes out then the “f” word immediately enters the discussion (fascism). But again fascism was about social engineering–remember it was a modern phenomenon. Using the state qua corporation to enforce some social utopia–typically through the imposition of mass violence against all dissenters. These guys are not into social engineering. More likely than a liberal fascist future is Poulos’ Pink Police State.
Anyway, enjoy, this is a brilliant discussion.
3 comments
Sounds like the Wm. Gibson novel “Neuromancer,” where the characters deal with multi-national corporations instead of governments.
Jaybird
August 27th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
One wonders what countries would be like if they could exile anyone they didn’t feel like keeping around. One wonders what they’d be like if they had to compete for people X skilled or better.
How can Ronald Reagan possibly be excluded from this list?
What has largely filled the void politically in the post-progressive era West are salesmen/entertainment leaders (Clinton, Blair, Sarkozy, Obama, even Bush in his own faux folksy way).