The Truth About Liberalism, Capitalism & the Fight Against the DAPL

The protests of the pipeline in North Dakota may appear on the surface as an immediate and local problem of land rights. It actually reflects a broader critique of the limits of commodification and the proper function of the state. On one hand, if we believe that government’s sole duty is to uphold capitalism, to protect private property and ensure the fulfillment of contracts it would follow that installation of the pipeline continues unimpeded, and those obstructing that are criminals. On the other hand, we may believe the state should be protecting something else, should be standing for something else: the sanctity of the water, the well-being of the tribe, or the continuation of plant and animal life. We may believe that the government should shut down the pipeline, to stop polluting rivers and natural ecosystems. The problem your confronting is a problem in contradictory perceptions of what is valuable and how value is determined.

The link between capitalism, the government and the idea of freedom has a rich history, far too much to express in the boundaries of this medium. Still from liberalism’s origin the link between the rights of the individual and those of free trade were explicit. International law was a global liberal project, one that supported the interests of European governments in the colonization of communities, countries and continents in the name of capitalism. Through all of modern history liberal elites have championed industry as the answer to social ills, believing that industry would “put the interests of humanity” above the “narrow policies of governments.”

Belief in this idea has endured economic catastrophe, constant international warfare, and environmental destruction. Its easy to believe this fallacious argument when our bureaucracies are so bloated yet ineffective. Its easy to resonate more deeply with businesses or products when their presence is so much more apparent. However behind our perpetual consumption festers political passivity and covert removal of commonality and control, over both our ideas and resources.

The problem that most people face is an anachronism, rooted in a logic that only applies to a particular moment in economic history. When the laws that today stand were first created not only was society inconceivably antiquated in both information and industrial capacity, but the role of government in social determination differed drastically. At the time many of our laws and customs emerged many states were empires spanning the globe, and their job was to the advancement of their state; to expand their influence and control. For empires and democratic governments alike their purpose was not to expand productive capacity but to protect and maintain control over their borders.

Liberals saw their efforts directly addressing societies needs and making life easier for the individual. For them land was the foundation from which to build enterprise and it appeared that there was enough land for all. Money appeared to be an impartial actor facilitating equal exchanges of goods, resources and land. At that time there was no need to address ecological impact, and social stratification and inequality were ahistorical phenomenon that appeared as temporary necessities on the way to abundance for all. It didn’t hurt that the influential class of the time was relatively homogenous and most legislation created would generally be to that classes benefit.

The voices of the disenfranchised were ignored, left to time and gradual progress, or too far removed from their world to warrant recognition. The words savage, barbarism, and uncivilized will forever carry the scars of western expansion and imperial exploitation; discourses created to disenfranchise lands and peoples for benefit of business and the state. Whether Africa, India or the Indigenous of the Americas; all “proper” states exterted imperial force in one form or another, legitimating their forceful dispossession of countless lands on the invalidity of people’s claims due to their lack of conformation to a singular conception of law and society.

In this way alternative ways of understanding the world; of understanding how to determine the value of lands, resources and goods were stamped out of history in the name of a social progress creating a reality that’s a mere shadow of what classical liberalism professed. The argument of the natives fighting for their land in North Dakota, and the supporting cries of millions across the US and the world, speak to a prominent belief in an alternative view of value. A view more rightly characterized as that which is invaluable; that there are aspects of life and this planet which are without price. They believe that certain things are there to the benefit of all and that generating revenue is not the only way to determine right action. A belief that caring for the land and one another is both invaluable and productive, and that maybe increasing GDP doesn’t necessarily increase societies well-being and shouldn’t determine the course of history.

Were the laws of today built too long ago to be relevant to our current predicament? Do we still think that enforcing private property is the singular concern of the government? If not, how do we conceive of a new role? What are its goals? What are its duties? Who and what does it protect? In any case it is clear that liberalism carries a lot of history in its name; a history of exploitation and violence concealed from the crowd. For many, the reasons for self-identifying as ‘liberal’ are immediately contradicted by the historical reality of the term.

Then again maybe you think that as long as you can pay for it, there shouldn’t be limits to your desires. The question is whether you would prefer to be an individual amongst billions grabbing what you can and keeping others away hoping that fate is on your side, or be apart of a community with shared goals using your combined efforts to create a world where everyone has a future. If you believe the former, i request that you inquire into the history that supports your present to see if things need to change to arrive at the future you envision.