This book aims to further an understanding of present day America by exploring counter-hegemony to the rule of capital and offering guidelines for strategizing change proceeding from the dialectic of What Is and What Ought to Be. The author analyzes neoliberal global order and its political expressions through discussions of the dominance of finance capital in the late twentieth century, the triumph of ideology, the closing of avenues to reform, the problem of the captive state, and a sociological analysis of rule by ¿divide and conquer.¿ The book concludes with a look at the history of movement politics in culture, arts, economics, and politics. It resounds with a hope that challenges to hegemony can use many paths to change, of which the electoral path is but one of many fronts, in the long-term struggle for radical reform.

Dale L. Johnson is a retired sociologist living in Costa Rica and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Rutgers University, USA. This book was inspired by his view of the deteriorating situation in the United States and his roots as a 1960s student activist and young critical sociologist. He is the author of seven books and numerous articles in journals.

1. Money and the World it Creates

7 Astounding Facts on Polarization of Wealth and Poverty The Dominant Class Economy, Society, Culture, and Polity: The Four Principal Means of Plutocratic Rule

Ch. 2. The Political Economy of Financialization and Its Consequences

Crisis Financial Instruments, not Jobs, Schools, or Clean Energy The Norm of Economic Stagnation Income/Wealth Distribution and Stagnation

Ch. 3. Degenerative Development and Class Transformation

The Working Class Today

The Under Class of Immiserated Peoples The Formation of the Middle Class

The Intermediate Class and its Fractions
Internationalization, Accumulation, and Class Accumulation and the State

Ch. 4. Ideology as the Root of Plutocratic Rule

Subverting Consciousness
The Culture of Fear
Cultural Myth and Fear
Fear and Scapegoating
Fear. Endless Fear
The Subtle Side of Fear
Capitalism and Morality
Confronting Fear

Ch. 5. The Ruling Class Rules by Subordinating Government to the Sway of Money

Plutocracy
The State of National Insecurity
The Lesser Evil Limitations to the Subjugation of the State to Plutocracy

Ch. 6. Rule by Divide and Conquer

Ideology and Class Relations. Allies and Enemies of Real Change
Plutocrats and Their Servants Get Off on Subordinating Women
Global Women¿s Strike International Demands
Stratification of the Working Class
Immigrant Labor and Scapegoating
The Interconnections of Racism, Sexism, Scapegoating, and Other Evils in the Reproduction of the System

Ch. 7. The Ultimate Means of the Rule of Capital: Repression, Terror, and War

Imperial Ambition and War
On the Infamous Satan Hussein
A Super Rogue State Clear as Mud Libya, One Nationalist Down, a Nation Destroyed, ISIS Up Death Squads Fascism, Ameri¿an Style

Ch. 8. Globalization of Capital and its Ideologically Framed Policies

86 Skimming Recent History

Neoliberalism and Globalization More on Global Reach: The U.S. Federal Reserve, Finance Capital and Global Speculation The European Union. The Modern Odyssey of Greece The Ukrainian Travesty Free Trade Has a High Price Socialism for the 21st Century Viva Cuba! Class Relations and Globalization, Latin America Goose-stepping Toward Hegemony Transition to Democracy of the 1990s and Breaking Out in the 2000s Latin America, Local Oligarchs and U.S. Intervention Challenges to Development and Achieving a Just Society

Ch. 9. A Summary of Strategic Considerations

116 Consciousness: The Dialectic of What is and What Ought

to Be Class Forces to Work Toward a Counter-Hegemony The Working Class and Unions The Under Class and Minorities: Protest and Rebellion Ambiguous Role of the Middle Class Division Among Capitalists Youth and Social Change

Ch. 10. Confronting What Is to Achieve Counter-Hegemony

131 Fear, War, and Official Terrorism CIA: Central Intelligence Assassins Curbing Terror and War War Crimes, Historical Parallels Degenerative Development and the Environment Combating Racism: Criminalization of Poverty and the Reform of the Criminal Justice System Nationalization of Banks and Worker/Public Control of Bankrupt Firms Class Organization to Extend Social Programs Universal Health care as a Central Demand Quality Education at all Levels and Free Higher Education

Ch. 11. Some Tactical Considerations

146 Demand the Impossible Obstruction/Disruption as Tactical Advantage Prioritizing Demands The Limits of Reform Electoral Politics Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaigns