George Bush and the revival of Marxism 101

Sandy Levinson

Today's Washingto Post includes a story with the telling title "Bush Says US Pullout Would Let Iraq Radicals Use Oil as Weapon." It includes the following paragraph:

There is, no doubt, much to this argument. One can scarcely be happy with the prospect of the world's oil supply being increasingly controlled by Iran and groups basically loyal to Iran (or simply zealously anti-Western). That being said, one would think that the Administration might be at least as concerned about the extent to which the US economy, because of incredible fiscal irresponsibility on the part of the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress, is increasingly in thrall to those foreign states that have, for whatever reason, chosen to subsidize our national profligacy by buying American debt. The number one example, of course, is China, which could presumably trigger a collapse of the US economy by selling off the dollar and putting it into, say, Euros. Presumably they don't do that in part because it would harm their own economy (and, of course, they are hindered by being such a strong holder of dollars that could not, in fact, be sold overnight). But, then, Iran has no incentive to bring down the Western economy, only to profit as much as possible from selling oil to it.

One does wonder, of course, what sorts of deals are being made behind the scenes to keep China happy. Might this help to explain US reluctance to do anything really of substance in Darfur, a major source of oil for China? Who knows? But Bush's admission that the US is in fact vulnerable to those who control the means of production and/or the finance capital necessary to maintain a capitalist system (do I hear a revival of Marxism in the wings?) has all sorts of implications for envisioning the likely future of an America that has been subjected to the rule of mendacious incompetents like those who have been in power the past six years. What would a cogent economic policy look like in the age of globalization? I take it that visions of autonomy--whether sketched by Pat Buchanan or Ralph Nader--are increasingly untenable. So what does make sense? I assure you I mean this as a genuine question. Are we likely to hear a serious discussion of this in the runup to 2008 from any mainstream Republicans or Democrats?