Capitalism: A Love Story
	Directed by Michael Moore
	Released on October 2, 2009
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	Find it at GEMM
OV21365 cover [high resolution scan]

W hen I was young I was a socialist because I was naïve enough to believe that other people could make the right decisions for you. I soon realized that being a socialist bought you nothing, because it blocked you from voting in any meaningful primary, so I became a Republican (only on paper) for the sole purpose of voting against the most onerous of the potential candidates (which the Republicans have had a lock on since I can remember). Of course, I’ve been a political atheist for years now: I don’t believe in a omnipotent, benevolent force in government. As a Christian, my political activity is constrained to prayer, insofar as I pray that whatever self-delusional fool is elected president has some sense knocked into them while they’re in office. Somewhere in the second term of George the Second, I stopped praying for sense and simply started praying that he would take more hunting trips with Dick Cheney. So, with this little intro in mind, it’s no wonder that I enjoyed Capitalism immensely. The movie also starts off with an Iggy Pop song (American Caesar’s version of “Louie Louie), which is pretty cool as intros go. Yes, Capitalism is political propaganda. As someone who likes Barack Obama, even I had to blush at the ridiculous lovefest that constitutes the close of the film. And I personally believe that the middle class in the United States is an artificially sustained class comprised of petty criminals who emulate on a small scale (underreporting income, indulging in little-o ostentation) the large-scale corruption and hedonism of the upper class. But Michael Moore goes after the worst villains, calls them out and, despite the occasionally ham-handed analogy, makes a compelling case that the US is really being run by the unconscionably wealthy. Moore remains hopeful that a hard rain will fall, made from the sweat and tears of the underprivileged and un-unionized, which is no less naïve than my early socialist party dreams. Watching Capitalism, I’m forced to admit that the wisdom I received in return for my naivety looks a lot more like complacency, and that needs to change.

CREDITS

MICHAEL MOORE -- director, actor
Assorted capitalists -- who if there is a hell with all to themselves have one

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