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Thinking about what the election results mean for After Capitalism (plz, no current politics … important, but not here). A few years back I set the timeframe for After Capitalism at 20-30 years. Part of me thought, don’t be so timid. The other part of me recalled my own frequent warning that transformation scenarios avoid “bunnies and rainbows” and keep plausibility in mind. What sealed the 20-30 year timeframe is the deeper I got into the research, the more questions it raised. Lots of questions. Big questions. So many things need to happen for such a monumental shift. My greatest fear was, and still is, that capitalism collapses too soon – before we are ready. It may sound counterintuitive but I think 20-30 years is actually a pretty optimal timing. There is A LOT of work to do!
The election. After Capitalism is all about creating forward-looking guiding images of positive or preferred futures that we might aspire to. The key ere are “forward-looking.” The problem with both US political party visions is they are backward-looking. The Republic MAGA vision is very clearly bring back the good old days — although the timeframe is not clear. The Democratic vision of “middle-capitalism” is also about bringing back the past. To be blunt, the middle-class is gone. This vision does not go as far back into the past, but it’s still backward-looking. They both fit with futurist Sohail Inayatullah’s concept of used futures.
My hope that the After Capitalism work can stimulate some discussion of forward-looking visions. Some good news there is I will soon be sharing some tangible info about the book … release is coming soon. Andy Hines
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