Peggy Noonan's alarm over socialism's surge reveals her flawed analysis: she blames the consciousness of the wounded instead of capitalism, which thrives on historical injustices like dispossession and slavery. As the capitalist structure crumbles under its contradictions—where collective production is shackled by private ownership—Noonan dismisses the urgency of socialism, painting it as a radical force aimed at destruction. Yet, socialism is rising not from whimsical ideology but out of necessity, as younger generations face economic precarity and disillusionment. The question isn’t whether capitalism is natural or just; it’s who truly controls the wealth and future built by the collective.
The Billionaire Is a Receipt: America’s Stolen Ledger of Wealth
The Wall Street Journal tells a fairy tale in which billionaires create wealth while workers, enslaved people, Indigenous nations, Black farmers, public institutions, and the Global South disappear from the ledger. This excavation restores the buried history beneath American fortunes: conquest, slavery, land theft, union-breaking, financial extraction, digital surveillance, and unequal exchange. The real divide is not between innovators and envious socialists, but between the masses who collectively produce social wealth and the minority whose property claims grant them command over it. The answer is organization—from the shop floor to the wider struggle for collective control over humanity’s abundance.