I think Alex McKeon’s recommendation to drop Prof. Bessner is misguided. A heterodox outlook requires consideration of competing views, and engaging with Prof. Bessner’s arguments helps reveal their deficiencies.
It’s no great concession to acknowledge that capitalism has many flaws, and Prof. Bessner is good at cherry-picking them. As he says, however, he is led to that by the conditions and goals of what he considers a desirable polity: one that gives primacy to goals of economic equality and a more modest role in world affairs, turning away from the competitive sorting through markets that gives capitalism its dynamism, but that is also somewhat responsible for certain flaws.
The question in political economy, however, is always “Compared to what?” Bessner’s apparent advantage is due to his evasion of two issues. First, he does not answer questions about historical circumstances—he replied to Glenn’s point about the USSR’s malignant designs by claiming that it never had the ability to carry them out. As Mr. McKeon observes, however, those designs were obvious and they were frustrated largely due to the US’s primacy in outcompeting the USSR in the cold war. But that evasion allows Prof. Bessner to glide through statements that call into question the value of “development,” without facing e.g., the incredible accomplishment of a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty worldwide between 1980 and 2015.
Second, he rationalizes away the historic failures of Marxist political economy, including the relative conditions in western Europe and the Soviet bloc as of 1989. His response to Glenn’s query about where in the world his proposed polity is succeeding is an embarrassed laugh.
Prof. Bessner is an amiable foil, and not everyone is familiar with the Marxist perspective Prof. Bessner provides. I don’t doubt, however, that Glenn’s listeners are more than able to pick it apart for themselves. And, as was said by John Stuart Mill, “If you know only your own side of an argument, you don’t even know that.”
I think Alex McKeon’s recommendation to drop Prof. Bessner is misguided. A heterodox outlook requires consideration of competing views, and engaging with Prof. Bessner’s arguments helps reveal their deficiencies.
It’s no great concession to acknowledge that capitalism has many flaws, and Prof. Bessner is good at cherry-picking them. As he says, however, he is led to that by the conditions and goals of what he considers a desirable polity: one that gives primacy to goals of economic equality and a more modest role in world affairs, turning away from the competitive sorting through markets that gives capitalism its dynamism, but that is also somewhat responsible for certain flaws.
The question in political economy, however, is always “Compared to what?” Bessner’s apparent advantage is due to his evasion of two issues. First, he does not answer questions about historical circumstances—he replied to Glenn’s point about the USSR’s malignant designs by claiming that it never had the ability to carry them out. As Mr. McKeon observes, however, those designs were obvious and they were frustrated largely due to the US’s primacy in outcompeting the USSR in the cold war. But that evasion allows Prof. Bessner to glide through statements that call into question the value of “development,” without facing e.g., the incredible accomplishment of a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty worldwide between 1980 and 2015.
Second, he rationalizes away the historic failures of Marxist political economy, including the relative conditions in western Europe and the Soviet bloc as of 1989. His response to Glenn’s query about where in the world his proposed polity is succeeding is an embarrassed laugh.
Prof. Bessner is an amiable foil, and not everyone is familiar with the Marxist perspective Prof. Bessner provides. I don’t doubt, however, that Glenn’s listeners are more than able to pick it apart for themselves. And, as was said by John Stuart Mill, “If you know only your own side of an argument, you don’t even know that.”