The big, and I mean BIG, news here in Flint and Michigan in general is the bankruptcy filing of auto parts supplier Delphi Corporation. For those not familiar, Delphi used to be known as AC Delco and was actually part of long time Flint-area industrial giant General Motors. GM "spun off" AC Delco in 1999 and the resulting independent company was renamed Delphi. As tends to be the case in These Postmodern Times, little evidence remains of Delphi's previous history including on their official corporate website where I struggle to find any mention of the company's pre-1999 history as AC Delco, Division of General Motors. Referents are wiped out and all traces of history are effaced in the Brave New World of Late Capitalism in America.

Much more frightening are the effects and possible effects of the Delphi bankruptcy. Pay and benefits for rank and file blue collar workers will likely be cut and factory closings may occur. There could also be a ripple effect on General Motors and other companies in the automotive and related businesses. This appears to be but another chapter in the decline of Classic Industrial America, as thousands of well paying jobs have disappeared from places like Flint, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and other Rust Belt capitals.

Some may say that this is just in the nature of things, that industries come and go and things evolve, and they may have a point. Others may contend that the unionized blue collar workers at companies like GM and Delphi were paid too much and given too generous benefits...and there may be some truth to that as well. Nevertheless, I can't help but see all this as just more Capitalist Power, Greed and Corruptible Seed as Bob Dylan would put it. Somehow I do not think that the Fat Cats At The Top of companies like Delphi will be suffering nearly as much as the proletarians.

I had an interesting exchange with a colleague at work about all this and we both came to the conclusion (that I myself have long basically known anyway) that all these fiascos are merely symptoms of a more general problem. And the answers require broader social and political change to bring about greater economic equality and justice. We need a national health care plan so that people are not at the mercy of whatever company they may be (for the nonce) employed by. The social safety net in general needs to be re-strengthened, counter to the recent trend of weakening it.

People need to become more involved in politics, starting with getting to the polls on election day. There continues to be an appallingly high percentage of non-voters, whose voices are not heard and who could be helping to elect better candidates to office.

And it can't end with JUST voting...more people are going to have to think outside the two-party box and vote for candidates who are not Democrats or Republicans. These two parties have dominated United States politics for decades now, and they have become extremely corrupted by power and wealth. While there may be some honorable people in both major parties, as institutions the Repubs and Demos no longer represent anyone but the very richest individuals and corporations.

I would personally suggest the Green Party of the United States, the party that I am a member of. The Greens are a grass roots party of the people, devoted to real democracy and to the good of all. The Ten Key Values of the Greens include "community based economics" which means that business MUST be TRULY socially responsible and put human and ecological needs before profits. Also, businesses should be democratically run along the lines of the food cooperatives that one sees in such cities as Ann Arbor, Michigan. The workers should collectively run things instead of being dictated to by an owner and/or executives.

There are other alternative parties to the Big Two, such as the various Socialist and Communist factions. I agree with much of the analysis of these groups but have doubts that anything labeled as "socialist" or "communist" could ever have much chance in a country that for years basically defined itself as the enemy or opposite of those two concepts.

The Libertarians have some attractive positions, such as ending government policing of such personal lifestyle choices as drug use and sex. But I fear that they would take their "freedom above all" philosophy too far in the case of corporate and wealthy people's freedom to rob, exploit, and take advantage of those less fortunate.

I feel that the Greens have the program that best balances personal freedom with social responsibility.

More on Green Politics to come...