Dark Money
P. Schultz
Jane
Mayer’s latest book, Dark Money: The
Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, is
of course an exposé. And while I love such books, it must be said that its
usefulness is limited and it is, ultimately, unable to do what Mayer would like
it to do – disempower or defeat the billionaires whom she says have funded what
she calls “the radical right.”
Exposes
work with such phenomena as, say, child slavery, impure food and drugs, or
environmental pollution. To expose such phenomena is to defeat or to pave the
way for the defeat of them. Why? Because there is no justification for such
practices.
Exposes
don’t work, are insufficient with regard to the phenomena Mayer is addressing
in Dark Money because those she is
exposing are convinced – and have convinced others – of the justice of their
politics. As Aristotle pointed out, a very long time ago, oligarchs appeal to
justice to legitimate their claim to rule. And their appeals are not simply
baseless or merely a cover for their self-interest, although they serve in that
capacity. The claims of the wealthy few that they deserve to rule are, of
course, controversial, that is to say, partial or incomplete. But so too are
the claims of the democrats to rule. Ala’ Aristotle, all claims to rule, either
by the one, the few, or the many, are and remain controversial precisely
because they are all partial or incomplete.
So, to
expose some people as oligarchs who are seeking to rule will not accomplish
much, will not lead to their defeat in the political arena, as should be clear
by now in the U.S. And showing, as Mayer does extensively, that they use
deceit, deception, or secrecy to achieve their goals does not delegitimize
their activities. To undermine our oligarchs, our billionaires of the radical
right, as Mayer has it, requires showing how oligarchy is unjust, how oligarchs
practice injustice rather than justice.
This is
where Mayer comes up short, which is why her expose’ becomes repetitive rather
than enlightening. Again and again, Mayer exposes the doings of the her billionaires
of the radical right, as if people did not know that our political order today
was screwing them over. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind
is blowing and we don’t actually need an expose’ to know that we, the many, are
being screwed over by our government. What we need is a politics that revolves
around questions of justice, not around questions of increasing the nation’s
wealth and power. For the pursuit of wealth and power, as the most important
political goals, legitimates oligarchy and the rule of oligarchs, while marginalizing
the pursuit of justice, especially where the many are concerned. A politics of justice, not a politics of
wealth and power or a politics of greatness, is what is most needed now.