Are You Experienced?
It's a learning process
What is the role of the nation-state, to transnational corporate capitalism?
We are witnessing an attempt to restructure the United States federal government to fit one philosophy, and the interest of one portion of Capital.
Social class is conceptual—that is, it appears to manifest through social relations, but how we explain collectives of people vis-à-vis the various forms of observable social power are theoretical models, and not social class itself. Though theorizing about social class has historically been a reserve of the privileged.
Part of the problem, therefore, arising from social class relations is whom among us (historically, and in the present) has been afforded the time and opportunity to theorize about society, at all? How does being located among the privileged (by sex, race, gender, sexuality, income, education, wealth, etc.) affect one’s ability to perceive social class relations?
Those who lacked the time, formal education, or opportunity to voice their theories of social class were considered by the most egalitarian of philosophers to be condemned to suffer from the theories of others. Would that the poor have had these meager chances, they could have become literate in the works of the Great Theorists, but they have not, and thus become hegemonic actors. Willing adherents to social forces they never problematized, because they never had the language to problematize it.
This is why my friend, Marie, an Italian-American, catholic dyke truck driver from South Boston loves Trump. She’s racist by upbringing, and despises poor migrants, who by her estimation, she’s only exposed to when they have served her food or given her Uber rides. She doesn’t consider them to be the problem—it’s the ones living off her tax dollars that she’s been cultivated to hate.
She knows that during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, there was in a tributary flow of undocumented Irish immigrants through South Boston. That was different.
Marie loves that Trump and Musk are exposing fraud (though there has been no evidence introduced of fraud) and cutting “government handouts.” She has no recognition of how state support systems have been integral to her learning how to ply her trade, or that her work environment had become less safe, or how associated economic policies will likely result in her losing work she would have otherwise had, in the coming months and years.
Experience tells her that working a job is the measure of character, and the state does nothing for her—she’s responsible for her own housing, food, and expenses.
Experts in their fields are people who discovered a facility with the fundamental requirements of their occupations, or who have concentrated experience. I have penchants for abstract thought and language, add to it a social class consciousness awakened while an undergraduate, and I chose a career as a sociologist.
It was not a direct path, nor is it to be found on the list of Dream Careers for Teens—my professional colleagues and I discovered this occupation later in life.
Few, if any, high schools offer a curriculum in sociology. While some high school social sciences will cover economics, none do political economy. Due to social class interests, critical approaches to power in society are not welcome.
It is not a coincidence that I had to go to a small, private, elite liberal arts college to meet my first Marxist educator who was employed as a Marxist educator. It was the school’s way of better preparing the 1%, I suppose.
Marxists make for the best capitalists because they harbor no illusions about capitalism making society better.
There are many different ways to learn. Time spent with thousands of undergrads and other students leaves me with no doubt there are experiential learners: people who learn most strongly by doing. They have a particular approach to living that can give it away. They are less inclined to input in a still position—physical engagement is central to their information uptake. They do not rely on abstract thought, instead preferring to act and perhaps not perceiving risks stemming from those actions, or disattending those ideas. They might be more likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD.
How did Evel Knievel learn to jump a motorcycle? More importantly, how did he learn to land after jumping?
Prior to taking office the first time, it was apparent to myself and others who have taught those with learning disabilities that Donald Trump displays adaptation patterns. Not least of which is her1 desire to hide her school grades, but also her disdain for reading—her strong preference for images over words, for video over still photos. The more that information comes to her through action the better she “gets” it.
Trump exhibits a preference for experiential learning, which will result in what appears to be poor planning and bungled execution, when unexpected (to her) variables come into play, simply because there was no forethought that included variables. No “what if?” asked. Trump would have gladly dismantled state apparatuses the first time around, but she lacked the experience so therefore she was ignorant of what needed to be done.
Project 2025 is founded in political philosophies that have been slightly modified over the years, and what was released in 2024 is essentially what the John Birch Society and economic Libertarians had been pushing since the 1980’s. In other words, the plan was all laid out for Trump in 2017, but she was incapable of acting upon it because she had never experienced being President before and she did not know how things worked in the federal government, or through the Executive Branch.
Now that she knows what actions to take, she’s assigned Elon Musk to do much of it—to take the heat, of course. Musk, however, is also ignorant of how the federal government works, and I would lay dollars to donuts that he is incapable of perceiving the nation-state as a mediating institution, due to his lifelong social class location.
The state takes the heat for Capital. Once there is no longer state mediation of social class conflicts, the target becomes clearer. When the state no longer supports her Marie may figure out who has actually been taking advantage of her.
Please join me and millions of other Americans in not buying anything tomorrow, February 28. The only thing these motherfuckers care about and pay attention to is money. Together, we are our only self-defense, and we are counting on you.
#BankruptElon
Unless and until Trump rescinds the Executive Order that declared sex to be determined “at conception” her proper pronouns are she/her.