S1 E8 The Sickness is the System with Richard Wolff

Welcome back to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast.

It has been pointed out on this podcast by more than a few people, that our Constitution is as much an economic or class document, as it was a political one. For starters, our colonial era Constitution was designed to protect the interests of the slavocracy, to favor the individual accumulation of wealth and property over the collective well-being of society. In short, the framers created a political system to protect their interests.  We see the economic impacts of that system all around us. We can study the economic and social impacts this system has had on labor in America, on our natural resources and environment, our infrastructure, our foreign policy, and our communities. In America, money is to politics as wealth is to influence. The framers were well aware of that, and it is no wonder why they had a disdain for democracy.

Richard Wolff's name has come up more than a few times in this podcast. His ideas have caught the attention of a lot of people. I thought it would be insightful to talk with professor Wolff about the relationship between democracy and capitalism because his message, more than most, suggests there may be a better and more democratic future for humanity. Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, NYC. He is also the founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show,  Economic Update.

If the Sickness is the System, we have some serious problems.  Are we all still living and working under a modern form of slavery? Do we ourselves need to be emancipated?  If so, how would we do that, and what kind of society would we create?

More and more people are listening to Richard Wolff's message. His vision of democracy in the workplace is based on an extensive understanding of economics as seen through the lens of capitalism, marxism, and socialism, and he is here today to talk about his extraordinary new book, The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself.