An interesting game is afoot. On November 1st, if news reports are to be believed, various categories of Federal welfare, such as SNAP benefits, are due to be suspended as a result of the government shutdown.
What will happen next? If the past is any guide, we should expect a rapid breakdown of order wherever there are high concentrations of food-aid recipients, particularly in dense urban neighborhoods.
The Democrats, who have repeatedly voted down continuing resolutions to fund the government and end the shutdown, are well aware of the pain they are inflicting. The House Minority Whip, Katherine Clark (D, MA), recently said in an interview that “Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously, but it is one of the few leverage times we have…”
What, then, is the game here? Food shortages, probably more than any other type of crisis, have been at the heart of civil wars and revolutions throughout all of recorded history. Are we looking at a gambit by the political opposition to create what Carl Schmitt called a “state of exception” – to reverse a solidifying party disadvantage by creating a chaotic situation in which everything is in play?
Readers of a certain age may recall something called the “Cloward-Piven strategy”, proposed in 1966 by the academics and activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. The idea was to destabilize society, using “the weight of the poor”, by overloading the welfare state to beyond its breaking point, thereby setting the stage for a radical restructuring of government under threat of widespread revolt.
The Cloward-Piven plan was to arrive at this crisis by increasing the number of people receiving welfare. But since money is finite, the same result can, in principle, be achieved by blocking the flow of funds. For years the focus has been on the former tactic, in particular by flinging open the borders to allow in millions of people requiring food, housing, healthcare, education, and other services. But now that the floodgates of illegal immigration have been closed, is the other side of the equation the only remaining option? Are Democrats counting on the pain about to be inflicted to strengthen the power of their Bioleninist coalition, and perhaps to induce an overreaction on the part of the Administration?
We shall see.
One Comment
How stunned would the Democrats be if as a result of riots, Trump declares martial law and arrests them all? There is always something worse.