Richard Heasman
The Death Of The Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
The Death of the Liberal Class takes a highly critical view of American society and its social demise.
“This magical thinking, this idea that human and personal progress is somehow inevitable, leads to political passivity. … It has turned whole nations, such as the United States, into self-consuming machines of death.”
The Death of the Liberal Class captures Chris Hedges most fascinating skills of observation. The Liberal Class, argues Hedges, acts as a definitive fail safe between the power elite and the citizens below. The Liberal Class represents the morality and social zeitgeist, enacting a level of public conscience through intellect and social position. Unfortunately, this fail safe has been slowly dissected by the immense corporate power house that dominates society today. The Liberal Class has now become a bought tool, used to attack radical movements and individuals who argue for social change. Because of this, the Liberal Class has lost any form of validity, mocked by both those who control them and those who now fight against them.
“Unfettered capitalism is a revolutionary force that consumes greater and greater numbers of human lives until it finally consumes itself.”
The rise of Corporate Power over society is viewed by Hedges as highly detrimental to the upkeep of a democratic society. Hedges discusses the end of the liberal arts in America before World War One; stating the end came when state funded theatre was privatised and productions criticising big business and government was essentially banned. The Liberal Class was conclusively forced into working for factions they were meant to be critically analyzing, undermining a crucial aspect of democracy. Liberalism, argues Hedges, has become profoundly bankrupted.
Author Chris Hedges
Hedges highlights five pillars of the failed Liberal establishment: the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party. These institutions have folded under pressure applied by Corporations. The Press has become a tool used to promote politics and consumer driven culture that fundamentally profits the corporate machine. Liberal Religious Institutions have stopped supporting radicals who argued for social development and change; regardless of ideology, as they did before World War One.
Labor Unions have succumbed to the temptations of career politics, accepting large salaries and bonuses provided by the corporate elite. Universities have become mechanized institutions designed to create managers and employees for the corporate machine and no longer engaging in the pursuit of critical engagement. Because of these failures, the Liberal Elite has become irrelevant to society, obsessed with false crusades such as political correctness. They are no longer of any use, not even to the Corporate Elite they once served.
Chris Hedges The Death of the Liberal Class is a superb piece of jeremiad literature, engaging in issues that are increasingly relevant in today’s society. This work has inspired short film Obey, which encapsulates the fundamental ideals Hedges argues, including the path society will take and how a successful revolution will work.