Paul B. Farrell — Pope Francis leading the new American (Socialist) Revolution

Yes, Pope Francis is encouraging civil disobedience, leading a rebellion. Listen closely, Francis knows he’s inciting political rebellion, an uprising of the masses against the world’s superrich capitalists. And yet, right-wing conservatives remain in denial, tuning out the pope’s message, hoping he’ll just go away like the “Occupy Wall Street” movement did.

Never. America’s narcissistic addiction to presidential politics is dumbing down our collective brain. Warning: Forget Bernie vs. Hillary. Forget the circus-clown-car distractions created by Trump vs. the GOP’s Fab 15. Pope Francis is only real political leader that matters this year. Forget the rest. Here’s why:

Pope Francis is not just leading a “Second American Revolution,” he is rallying people across the Earth, middle class as well as poor, inciting billions to rise up in a global economic revolution, one that could suddenly sweep the planet, like the 1789 French storming the Bastille.

Unfortunately, conservative capitalists — Big Oil, Koch billionaires, our GOP Congress and all fossil-fuel climate-science deniers — are blind to the fact their ideology is on the wrong side of history, that by fighting a no-win battle they are committing suicide, self-destructing their own ideology.

The fact is: The era of capitalism is rapidly dying, a victim of its own success, sabotaged by greed and a loss of a moral code. In 1776 Adam Smith’s capitalism became America’s core economic principle. We enshrined his ideal of capitalism in our constitutional freedoms. We prospered. America became the greatest economic superpower in world history.

But along the way, America forgot Smith’s original foundation was in morals, values, doing what’s right for the common good. Instead we drifted into Ayn Rand’s narcissistic “mutant capitalism,” as Vanguard’s founder Jack Bogle called the distortion of Adam Smith’s principles in his classic, “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism.” The battle is lost.…

When one assumes that economics is science, hence value free, then policy becomes based on efficiencies.  Neoliberalism is the equation of political liberalism with economic liberalism, which reduces policy to value-free efficiencies wrapped in narratives to sell it politically.

As the term "capitalism" implies, capital is prioritized over labor. So policy aims at capital formation and efficiency of capital.

Then the task becomes removing frictions, including values. The result is predictable —amorality that doesn’t distinguish between morality and immorality, ethical and unethical. What is legal is permitted, and what is legal is determined by those controlling the system.

But not for much longer, as Pope Francis’ revolution accelerates, as his relentless socialist message of sacred rights for all people makes clear. Why? Our mutating capitalist elite have triggered a massive backlash, a “profound human crisis, the denial of the primacy of the human person. The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money.”

The solution?

1. Socialism: Everyone has a sacred right to land, lodging and labor
2. Humans, not capitalist profits, must be at the center of global economics
3. Billions worldwide, cannot wait much longer for action
4. Revolutions begin with angry citizens, not politicians or philanthropists
5. Warning: Socialism is now a moral obligation, a commandment to obey

MarketWatch
Pope Francis leading the new American (Socialist) Revolution
Paul B. Farrell

See also

Digressions&Impressions
On the Significance of the Revival of Christian Philosophy
Eric Schliesser