neoliberalism Archives - Revolutionary Misfit

The Lure of Neoliberalism

June 16, 2017 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I just finished reading Naomi Klein’s newest book: No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need.

The book does a great job of identifying Trump for what he really is, despite his riding to victory on a wave of populist petulance. Trump is a neoliberal, pure and simple. And a very dangerous one. One who’s even less bashful and more bold than others when it comes to using the “shock doctrine” to push forward policies that favor the rich at the expense of people and planet.

Why does society keep inflicting damage to itself by handing over power to the Trumps of this world? What is behind the lure of neoliberalism? That’s the $100,000 question that this post will pry at an answer to.

My last post was an attempt to debunk the populist-inspired “globalist” conspiracies and reveal the real problem we all face: neoliberalism. I went through a very brief synopsis of how we arrived at this juncture, with societal power reduced to a proverbial sack of potatoes. The rich keep getting richer, and more powerful, while the rest of us seem content to sit back with the popcorn to watch the reality show.

Naomi’s book is a call to get up off the couch and do something about this! She’s right and I applaud her for the effort.

But why? Why do we let these guys get away with it?

Could it be that the idea that happiness and fulfillment can be best achieved via great wealth is one that’s ingrained in our societal psyche? We revere the wealthy. We aspire to their vaulted status. We buy Trump’s books and even pay our hard-earned cash to attend the disgraced Trump University. The message of both is that we can be like him…we too can have our wildest dreams fulfilled if we just focus on winning at the expense of whoever is on the other side of the transaction.

Trump is the most “transactional” president we’ve ever had. Granted, he’s running into some problems with that approach. Being president is not the same as completing a real estate deal. That’s because the “transactions” have more far-reaching consequences.

Nevertheless, Trump is seen as the guy who always comes out on top…and we want to be that guy too…right?

The problem is “we” can’t…at least not all of us. And that’s what neoliberalism does at its core. It rewards the few who are able to come out on top at the expense of the vast majority of the rest of us…and of the planet.

Neoliberal leaders talk about a level playing field (they call it “equal opportunity”), while doing everything they can behind the scenes to tilt it in their direction. If you’re willing to step back and look at the big picture you can see the truth in that statement.

If “trickle down” has worked so well, then why do the top 1% control more income and wealth than the bottom 90%?

It’s really not that hard to see what’s been happening for the past 40 some years. Wages of the middle class have stagnated. Income and wealth flowing to the top 1% have skyrocketed. And at the same time our planet has gradually overheated to the point where we are all about to get cooked!

In our country we hold fast to the capitalist-infused idea of the “American dream.” That anyone can make it and make it big in America. That even I can become Donald Trump, while ignoring the fact that even Trump was only able to “become Trump” with considerable help of inherited wealth and neoliberal-inspired pro-corporate financial laws and regulations.

Perhaps it would be better to call the “dream” a fantasy. Because it’s pure fantasy to believe that 300,000,000 wannabe Trumps, all vying for as much American pie as they can squeeze into their pie-holes, while ignoring the poor suckers who are starving, will ever “make America great again.” It (they) won’t. That mode of thinking gave us Trump and that should be proof enough of its inadequacy as a viable solution to the societal problems we face.

And if that’s not enough it also gave us global warming…

In fact, how much “proof” do we really need that this ideology does not work and will in the end create a nightmarish reality that I don’t believe any of us truly want to wake up in.

The lure of neoliberalism is strong. The marketing of brands like Trump have made it so.

But that doesn’t make it good for us.

The Globalist Conspiracy versus Neoliberalism

June 11, 2017 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

I’ve recently noticed a trend in my Facebook feed among conservative friends who desperately try to defend Trump against the onslaught of negative news surrounding his campaign and administration. It’s all a “globalist conspiracy” and Trump is apparently the hero they think will put an end to it.

They even mention specific families or groups who are behind this vast “left-wing” conspiracy. Those of the Rothschild family, the Trilateral commission, and the Illuminati, are usually pointed to as proof.

Well, I don’t believe in conspiracies. They tend to have at their heart a world view that’s often religiously tinged. In fact, these conspiracies are generally driven by the same sort of fanaticism they claim is lurking behind the evils they lament.

However, there is a “thing” that is behind the troubles we are experiencing these days. That thing is what many call neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is not a conspiracy theory, it’s a term used by intellectuals like Noam Chomsky to describe an ideology that has given rise to a systemic problem. The problem at its heart is one in which more and more power (government and economic) is concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest individuals and corporations, while being taken from society at large.

That might at first blush sound very much like the globalist conspiracy that I’m debunking. Here’s the difference. I am not seeking to blame anyone in particular for this. It seems that the right-wing conservatives who lifted Trump to power constantly want to cast blame…on immigrants, or muslims, and lately, these so-called “globalists.” However, the problem is not any particular group…the problem lies with an ideological and systemic change that took place about 40 years ago.

In the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II, society gained power. In the U.S. that happened, for instance, under Roosevelt and the policies of his “New Deal.” That ushered in a period of prosperity. Then the 60’s came around and certain groups who’d been largely left behind, or exploited, began to rise up and cry foul. This frightened those at the top of the economic pyramid. This power struggle continued until the election of two important world leaders, Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain. Those two are in large part responsible for setting in motion a new political philosophy of privatization as the path to prosperity. This trend has continued unabated until now. It accelerated greatly during the democratic administration of Bill Clinton, as well as the republican administration of George Bush. And to be honest, the administration of Barack Obama did very little to reverse the trend. And neither will Donald Trump.

Donald Trump rose to power using populist rhetoric. However, since actually taking hold of the reigns of power in Washington, he has moved in a decisively neoliberal direction. First by appointing very wealthy corporatists to his cabinet. Second by seeking to funnel more taxpayer funds to corporate seats of power, like the military-industrial complex and big oil, and away from programs that benefit society as a whole, especially the more vulnerable aspects of it.

And therein lies an ideological bent that has helped perpetuate neoliberalism. The idea that government is the problem and that the solution is more individual power and less societal power. What’s amazing is that people who are hurt by that ideology will seemingly fight to the death to defend it. They claim that government action that benefits society is socialistic. That the government is supposed to protect the ideals of capitalism and free enterprise, nothing more, and nothing less. However, the ideals of capitalism and free enterprise have at their heart more concentrated power in the hands of an economic elite…i.e., their so-called “globalists.”

This is not a globalist conspiracy problem, it’s an ideological one that has infiltrated our collective psyche and our government and has given rise to a systemic catastrophe. One in which the top 1% of society now controls more wealth than the bottom 90%.

Taking power away from society and giving it to the likes of Donald Trump and his corporatist friends is not the answer. Donald Trump will not take action against a fictitious “globalist conspiracy.” He will use the notion of such a conspiracy to cement his control over its adherents, while doing the same thing neoliberals have been doing successively for 4 decades now…increasing the power of the few at the direct expense of the many.

The answer is not to reduce society to a “sack of potatoes”, but to enhance its power, its voice in government and its share of the largess of our great nation and of the world.

Donald Trump is just not the guy to make that happen…

believe me.

Bernie Sanders is Number One on National Security

January 5, 2016 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

My last post explained my passionate support of Bernie Sanders to become the 45th President of the U.S.

Bernie’s not just right on the issues, he’s knows what “the issues” really are…

He knows that out of control income and wealth inequality are ripping society to shreds and eviscerating the middle class…the great engine of growth and prosperity for all Americans.

He knows that a corrupt, money-driven political system, is at the core of rising inequality, as the system becomes increasingly rigged for the richest Americans.

He knows that global warming is on the verge of becoming an inescapable threat to our planet and all life that inhabits it.

He also knows that all of the above are inextricably intertwined with the threat to our national security.

National security gets a lot of press these days and for good reason. Terrorism appears to be on the rise despite the trillions and trillions of dollars we’ve spent to combat it since 9-11.

The typical response to the problem of national security is the neoliberal one.

“Neoliberal”…a term you might have read me railing against and thought to yourself, wait a minute, I thought the Revolutionary Misfit WAS a liberal…

Well, for starters, I don’t like to be labeled “liberal.”

In my opinion, there’s not much difference between a neoliberal and an establishment liberal…or an establishment conservative for that matter.

I’m a progressive.

I am a Sanders-Warren-style progressive who’d like to see some real and desperately needed change come to the country…and to the world.

What is neoliberalism?

Well, if you Google it, you get this:

Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, its advocates [namely Ronald Reagan of the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher of the U.K.] supported extensive economic liberalization policies such as privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free trade, and reductions in government spending in order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy.

What has really gotten us into the tremendous mess that the Middle East has become?

I would opine that neoliberalism and its first-cousin, neoconservatism, are at the heart of the problem.

Why have we insisted on meddling in Middle Eastern affairs…

from the overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mosaddegh, in 1953, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9-11, to Obama’s recent drone attacks and Syrian strategy (or lack thereof, depending on political perspective)?

Aren’t there “economic” and private sector implications…in addition to the resulting military-industrial complex boom?

Of course there are!

We’re in it for the oil, pure and simple. Because oil has long been the fuel of choice for the private sector economic engine.

And, remember, according to neoliberalism, there’s nothing more important than the private sector economy.

So, how does all this make Sanders, the guy who everyone in the establishment wants you to believe is weak on national security, become, in my opinion, numero uno on national security?

Well, according to practically all credible scientists in the world today, burning all that black gold has some grave consequences for people and planet…

it’s overheating us.

Oh sure, there are guys like Jim Inhofe and Donald Trump, neoliberal neocons in their own right, who say it’s all a hoax…

Well, quite simply, they’re just nuts.

If we choose to believe scientific fact about the threat of global warming, then it’s easier to embrace the idea of less dependence on oil as the fuel of choice. And less dependence on oil means less need for meddling in the Middle East. And the less meddling we engage in over there, the less reasons we give those people to hate us…pure and simple.

Not to mention the fact that less dependence on oil and more dependence on clean and renewable energy sources that don’t overheat our planet may still provide us with the outside chance of SAVING OUR PLANET…

I got news for the economically myopic neoliberal…without an inhabitable planet, guess what…there is NO ECONOMY!

Furthermore, scientists have said that one of the inevitable consequences of global warming will be mass displacement of populations, as sea levels rise and food sources become more scarce.

That gives rise to nationalistic tensions of the same sorts that Donald Trump is fanning right now in the U.S…calling for a massive wall on the southern border, mass deportation of “illegals”, and a ban on Muslims even being allowed to enter the country.

Those tensions can turn violent.

Recently I saw where an Al-Qaeda affiliated group is actually using Trump’s incendiary comments in a recruiting video.

Population displacement due to global warming plays right into the hands of demagogues like Trump, who attempt to gain power by leveraging fear…and fear can easily turn into violence.

Now, how does all this tie in with inequality and a corrupt political system?

Well, outside of financial, medical and big pharma, there are few greater sources of lobbyists and Super PAC donors exerting an undue influence in the halls of Congress than those of the energy and defense industries.

Don’t you think laws get passed, or fail to pass, for purposes of protecting those two very special interests?

Well, if you don’t, I got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Bernie wants to upset all that. He wants the government of the country to pass laws that benefit real and hardworking people trying to get a leg up…and that help clean up our planet…rather than for “special interests” that have a vested interest in keeping us mired in the muck of the Middle East.

I just don’t believe the tired old neoliberal-neoconservative ideas of spending unlimited amounts of money on bombs, bullets and boots on the ground is in the best interest of national security…

Hey, where has it gotten us so far?

I believe getting rid of our dependence on oil as the economic fuel of choice, combatting global warming and its disastrous effects, and keeping our noses on problems at home, as opposed to constantly meddling in the affairs of others abroad, are in our best national security interests.

However, that will not happen unless we take back control of our government from those that operate exclusively from the neoliberal-neoconservative point of view.

For these reasons, I believe progressively-minded Bernie Sanders is number one on national security.

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