The Moral Injury of Late Capitalism: Juneteenth Edition

Federalism Was Born 200 Years Ago Today

Author’s Note: On this Juneteenth, I am reposting from my series, “The Moral Injury of Late Capitalism,” in which I survey the myriad ways that the values of 21st Century corporate capitalism (short term profit at any cost) have warped our society.

Please understand that I do not - even for a moment - suggest that the burdens of corporate capitalism are in any way equivalent to the burdens suffered by the enslaved people whose emancipation we celebrate today.

Rather, I argue that the same economic interests that created chattel slavery are successfully challenging the core, legal principle of federalism and creating a Neo-Confederacy that disregards fundamental human and civil rights to the benefit of corporate profit.

As Ursula K. LeGuin says, corporate power over our lives seems inescapable.

So did the divine right of kings.