How to Understand Politics

The end of prehistory and the beginning of history (Karl Marx) proper to the human being (the human being is the zoon politikon as Aristotle said) will occur to the extent that the daily bread of the people is assured without depending on the confidence of the investors of large companies that their investments will be profitable. The basic security of all is achieved on the economic level by capturing surpluses and transferring them (in various ways and forms) to social spending; and on the moral level by insisting that every institution and every person has in principle the duty and mission to contribute to the common good. Today's ungovernable, unjust, and unsustainable capitalism does not suit anyone. It is even more so for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of no one. Overcoming it is a massive educational task. Overcoming injustice and overcoming irrationality cannot simply be a struggle against the beneficiaries of injustice and irrationality -- because they do not exist. It has to be primarily a struggle against ignorance and indifference.