Welfare Is The New Bourgeois

Karl Marx used the term bourgeois to isolate and deride the capitalist class (those other than the proletariat). Bourgeois originally meant city folk – people other than farmers; people who employed trade and capital to earn their livings. To Marx, the bourgeois were parasites who used their privilege to subjugate the working class. As Marxism spread, bourgeoisie came to mean anything related to the establishment enemy. As with all things political, the bourgeois meme was a tool for control and assumption of power. Now that the US is largely Marxist, the new bourgeois is the Welfare State – welfare is the new normal.

Of course calling the US largely Marxist is a bold statement, but consider this: 14% of the US receives food stamps. With about 40 million people on food stamps, welfare has become a middle class entitlement. Nearly all elderly US citizens receive socialized medicine and a monthly stipend. Overall, the federal government commands about a quarter of all economic activity and regulates even more. Marx would be proud.

Marx was a philosopher, while Lennon and Stalin were conquerors and oppressors. Marx probably believed in the evils of capital, but his followers used the bourgeois pejorative as a way to attack the establishment. Bourgeoisie came to describe anything that stood in the way of a socialist revolution. Even those who labored for capitalists were the bourgeois. Any traditional value of religion, work ethic, savings, investment, or practical education was bourgeoisie. The socialist revolution meant tearing down the establishment, and bourgeois was the shibboleth of the intellectual Marxist activist.

The effect of the bourgeois purge can be clear – food stamp dependence is no longer a social stigma. However, the infusion of Marxism is often subtle. A plurality of Americans wear jeans regularly – a uniform of the working class that 100 years ago nobody would wear about town. American youth often emulate the underclass – dressing like thugs or pimps. These slaves to fashion probably do not know what they are doing, but their grandparents instinctively emulated the rich and sophisticated. Today’s heroes and opinion makers are entertainers, not businessmen. Reality TV worships the most prurient and least productive elements. Globally, the more Marxist the nation, the higher the rate of unemployment, welfare dependency, and child illegitimacy. The Marxist attack on the bourgeois has turned society on its head.

The key to the defeat of Marxism is to recognize that it has replaced bourgeois values as the new normal. Just as Marxists isolated bourgeoisie values and institutions, even seemingly innocuous institutions like celebrity worship and Ed Hardy tee shirts need to be understood as elements in a war for the US’s soul. The big fights against Marxism, like repealing Obamacare, must be won. Still Hollywood and academia fight the war for Marxism by tearing down small and innocuous elements of the bourgeois. The road to recovery involves fighting the little things, too.