The conventional wisdom regarding both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama (according to their respective opponents in the left and right wings of the American neoliberal party with two names) is that they’re “out of touch.” This is a very appealing explanation, especially in the case of Romney with his alien demeanor and cavalier country club financial sense (bet you how much, Mitt?). However, there’s a better explanation. They just aren’t talking to you. The conversation taking place between candidates, pundits, etc. not only during election years, but all the time doesn’t require input from the American public. It fact, it doesn’t even want it. This conversation is about our future, but it isn’t one we’re actually invited to; it’s merely taking place where we can hear it.
When Mitt Romney stood in front of a crowd of his loyal followers at a palatial mansion and suggested that everyone should be able to live “like this,” many rightly pointed out that the very suggestion was absurd. Of course it’s not possible for everyone to have a mansion with a household staff and all the ridiculous luxuries associated with that lifestyle (it’s especially impossible for the members of the household staff). Yet, the people who pointed this out missed the point. Mitt knows full well that not everyone can live his lifestyle (again, especially not the household staff). So what’s the secret that renders this insane attitude comprehensible? Simple – if you think his statement was strange, he wasn’t talking to you. He was talking to people who can live “like this.” He was talking to people who do have the wealth, the connections and the desire to live “like this.” The household staff, for example, are not included when Mitt says “everyone.” Neither are most of us. We aren’t the people in whose interests he wants to run the country, and we don’t have what he needs to get where he wants to go. Consider also his laughable suggestion that young people borrow money from their parents to start a business. “Is he serious?” many asked. Well, yes he was – he just wasn’t talking to you. How can you tell? Easy – because either you don’t have enough money to lend your children to enable them to take his advice, or if you’re young, your parents don’t have enough to lend to you. Or, and this is certainly outside of Mitt’s experience, you do have the necessary capital, but don’t want to be a business owner. If any of these things are true, Mitt wasn’t talking to you. In Mitt land, the solution to your problems is to become a business owner. If your class, your interests or your financial situation prevent you from doing this, Mitt doesn’t think your problems need solving. You are a non person.
Barack Obama may take a slightly different approach, but offers the same result. He’ll talk to us – I understand we’re meant to hope for change, or some such – but his policies, as noted elsewhere, are more or less the same as his predecessor’s. Keep hoping, I guess. The nice boss (Obama) talks to his employees while he exploits them, while the traditional boss (Romney) is content to let the rabble believe he’s talking to them. Meanwhile, the neoliberal policy agenda marches on.
Public political discourse in the US remains confined to a ruling class. This ruling class is more eclectic than it once was, as it includes both the traditional 1%er types and a class of professional politicians, but in most cases debate about policy remains firmly in the narrow neoliberal frame long laid out for us. This is because the people participating in this debate don’t want our input. We are allowed to fool ourselves into believing that we’re included, but the truth is that we’re spectators. We can observe this public discourse through the mass media, but our input is neither welcomed nor necessary. The position of the general public is not unlike that of a household servant. The masters of the house, our employers, are arguing over how best to run their household, including how to treat us. We are in the room, we can see and hear the discussion, but although we may convince ourselves that we’re involved, we are not. Our access to the political process is largely coincidental at this point. We can see it on TV, but attempting to contribute in the traditional way is a bit like yelling at game show contestants. The folks on Wheel of Fortune can’t hear you, and neither can your political class. Not only that, they aren’t even talking to you.
