Delilah Friedler: Capitalism Is America’s Religion. The Virus Makes That Clear.

By Dilip -
No matter what they preach in the churches of Texas, there is one authority higher than that of Jesus in this country: capitalism
Despite experts urging that quarantine measures may need to continue for months to quell the spread of coronavirus, President Trump has said he wants the United States to be “opened up and just raring to go” by Easter, in less than three weeks. Why Easter? “I think it’ll be a beautiful time,” he told reporters on Tuesday, even as the Pope was instructing bishops to help Catholics celebrate Easter from home. “Wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches full?” said Trump. 

Let’s be real: Despite his recently adopted pro-life views, our twice-divorced, oft-philandering president has never been religious. What he really wants is to end the lockdown quickly in order to save “the economy.” Politicians keep suggesting we forgo public health advice and get back to work for the sake of this “economy” thing; the ironic hashtag #DieForTheDow trended on Twitter after the 69-year-old lieutenant governor of Texas suggested he’d risk dying from the virus to keep the stock market chugging. (But would he be resurrected on Easter?)


No matter what they preach in the churches of Texas, there is one authority higher than that of Jesus in this country: capitalism. In 1921, Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin called capitalism “a purely cultic religion” that grew as “a parasite of Christianity,” until it replaced the church as the focus of Western life. Charity and selflessness are still the transcendent principles guiding people’s decisions; it’s just that they’re invoked to serve the market instead of other people....
https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/03/capitalism-is-americas-religion-the-virus-makes-that-clear/

 see also

Patrick Cockburn: The US is losing its superpower status and it might not recover // Patrick Wyman: How Do You Know If You’re Living Through the Death of an Empire? // Tom Scocca: This Isn’t Trump’s Katrina. It’s Slow-Motion 9/11

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