Liu continued: ***Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man has been hailed as an optimistic work, constituting the most important contribution to substantive philosophy of history since the works of Marx. But it seems clear that Fukuyma is merely the quarterback of the cutural hegemony team. The fall of Communism is an undeniable fact, but it is not an undeniable basis for theory, unless one subscribes to the rationale of trial by ordeal and the theory of might is right. Twentieth century Communism failed for varied and complex reasons, but it is hard to argue that defective moral compass to be the leading cause. The fall of global Communism in fact removes the fog on the mirror of truth that had obscure the ugly face of market fundamentalism. Fukuyama in fact echoes Coolidge's famous pronouncement of economic theory: "When people are out of work, unemployment will result." Like Marx, Fukuyama argues that human beings are biologically driven to establish moral values, and have unique capabilities for reasoning their way over the long run to spontaneous order. But social order ebbs and flows in long cycles as societies adjust to constantly changing technological and economic environments. Yet Fukuyama's list of moral issues is rather curious. In his WSJ article: What Divides America (November 15, 2000), Fukuyama continues with his cultural hegemonic theme: "But what are Americans sharply divided over? It's clear that they are not divided over foreign policy, management of the economy, crime, welfare or other traditional issues that used to separate left and right. Both candidates tried to grab hold of the electorate through tried and true political appeals that had worked in earlier elections. But the real issues in American politics have become cultural ones that can only indirectly be addressed through politics and public policy." Fukuyama then proceed to identified the cultural battle as sexual politics: "... failed to grasp fully the change that has taken place, which is, as political scientist James Kurth has explained, the feminization of American politics. It is not just that women vote in greater numbers than they did, but that they constitute the key vote that has swung toward the Democrats in contemporary elections. Foreign policy, strong national defense and tax cuts were key parts of the traditional Republican formula that brought Ronald Reagan to power. But these issues are also pre-eminently male ones, and have consistently failed to gain much traction among women. Mr. Clinton woke up to the feminization of American politics and the cultural issues this spawned much sooner than the Republicans, and rode it to two election victories. Of the Republican candidates running last spring, Mr. Bush had the most appeal among women because of his knowledge of, and concern for, social policy issues. He managed, in the end, to do better among married women than Mr. Gore. How politicians play this issue is very complex, because women are not a homogeneous voting block and have very different interests on a variety of issues. But on the whole, this shift spells trouble for conservatives more than for liberals. The single most important social change to have taken place in the United States over the past 40 years concerns sex and the social role of women, and it is from this single source that virtually all of the "culture wars" stem. They'd better start thinking fast, since the cultural issues are the only ones still capable of stimulating voter passion." Now sexual politics has been around for a long time and it is bizarre to identify it as the new goal post in the cultural war, while huge numbers of people aroung the world are dying daily from hunger, disease, malnutrition, war, pollution, and what have you, most of which caused by some wanting more than others. In the order of moral concerns, sexual politics does not rank among the top. The fundamental aspect of US foreign policy after the Cold War is that the US, viewing itself with the equivalence of the all-inclusive Roman Empire at the height of its power - an invincible singular global superpower with no effective opposition, no longer feels the need for a foreign policy. This is in keeping with the view of the end of history. Historically, China, at various times during the height of its culture, such as during the Han, Tang and Qing dynasties, also enjoyed such hegemonic advantage in the then konw world, and had no need for a foreign ministry or policy. US foreign policy has become merely a sub-unit of domestic policy. Its neglect by the election has little, if any, to do with it being a male issue. The world is at a critical crossroad, and wise leadership in the world's sole remaining superpower is very important. Large issues of survival are at stake for human civilization, issues of societal vision, of social justice, of a just peace, of environmental symbiosis, of the balance between community and individual freedom... the list goes on. The powerful have a special responsibility because they possess the means to solve these critical problems for the good of all. Complacency about the end of history will only lead us into an abyss of destruction. As to moralism, the goal of stimulating voter passion is a poor moral compass, to say the least. Fukuyama appears to be hosting gentile tea parties for concerned middle class American ladies who would be psychologically fulfilled going home with party favors of perfume bottles filled with empty moralism. It is nothing but snake oil philosohpy. Henry C.K. Liu Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org -- Mine Aysen Doyran PhD Student Department of Political Science SUNY at Albany Nelson A. Rockefeller College 135 Western Ave.; Milne 102 Albany, NY 12222 ____________NetZero Free Internet Access and Email_________ Download Now http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html Request a CDROM 1-800-333-3633 ___________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
