We have seen the enemy, and he is us. Oliver Hazard Perry, of course, had first used the line “we have met the enemy, and he is ours” during the War of 1812 after a shocking and wonderful defeat of the British Navy by the shores of Lake Erie. The other has become more famous, if only due its more satiric and nihilistic viewpoint at home in recent generations. The enemy, in the modern formulation, is rampaging capitalism destroying the environment (the parody phrase born from a cartoon celebrating instead the original Earth Day in 1970).
But what happens if - or when, according to Marxists - capitalism no longer rampages? This question appears at first glance something new, akin to also believing the phrase “end-stage capitalism” has for the first time effortlessly reached widespread use especially among today’s younger crowds. For these, it had been effortlessly accepted because the narrative does more easily fit the times.
The boom in name only.
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