Here’s the basic, conceptual difference between classic “liberalism” and “neoliberalism.” The original liberals just wanted the government to leave them alone and let them do their thing. Neoliberals, on the other hand, believe the state has to take action to organize a free market economy. They recognized that it was a political problem and that “the state must be re-engineered to support the free market on an ongoing basis.” That re-engineering gained traction in the 1980s with Reagan and Thatcher.
This article tells the story of the ascendence of neoliberalism as the post-WWII struggle between the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek… Prior to WWII “even the most rightwing economist thought of the market as a means to a limited end, to the efficient allocation of scarce resources… [but they accepted that] the ultimate ends of society and of life were established in the non-economic sphere.”
In 1936, Friedrich Hayek was “an obscure Austrian technocrat… an academic without a portfolio and with no obvious future.” But he had an idea. For Hayek, “the market didn’t just facilitate trade in goods and services; it revealed truth… He thought he was solving the problem of modernity: the problem of objective knowledge… Hayek’s was a total worldview: a way of structuring all reality on the model of economic competition… Hayek built into neoliberalism the assumption that the market provides all necessary protection against the one real political danger: totalitarianism. To prevent this, the state need only keep the market free.”
“It isn’t only that the free market produces a tiny cadre of winners and an enormous army of losers – and the losers, looking for revenge, have turned to Brexit and Trump. There was, from the beginning, an inevitable relationship between the utopian ideal of the free market and the dystopian present in which we find ourselves; between the market as unique discloser of value and guardian of liberty, and our current descent into post-truth and illiberalism.” Read the article to see how the author supports this claim. And don’t call me a “liberal”!!
(All quotes from the article linked in the first comment, "Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world," by Stephen Metcalf.)
Protest
Friday, September 8, 2017
Monday, September 4, 2017
What does "Neoliberal" mean?
"Neoliberal" is a very confusing term. It suggests a historical continuity with the term "liberal." But we have lots of liberals right now, so they aren't just historical curiosities. And it's a good thing to be unless you're a Repugnican, in which case you really don't get a say in what's good or bad until you suck it up and do your job by dealing with Tantrum Donny and getting him the fuck out of the Oval Office. Mostly liberals are different than people called neoliberals, which most everybody considers a bad thing to be, though for very different reasons. So, what's up? This is very broad brush, but here goes:
"Neoliberal" does not equal "Liberal" as we now use the term. Back in the days before capitalism (18th and 19th centuries) some proto-capitalists thought it would be a good idea to grab all the means of production for themselves, turn all the peasants who had been producing stuff on their land (or land they had rights to) into landless workers for their factories so they could make a bunch of stuff to sell and not have to share so much of the profit. In order to do this they had to deal with the monarchy, which controlled everything and generated income by levying taxes the proto-capitalists didn't want to pay (sound familiar?). So, these early capitalists were the oppositional bad boys, the rebels who were fighting for progress against entrenched conservatives in order to liberate society/themselves from the oppressive control of the monarchy. From a certain owning class male perspective it kinda made sense. They were called Liberals, as opposed to the conservatives who supported the monarchy and the way it had always been done.
So, fast forward to the 20th and 21st centuries, now the capitalists have become the conservatives and capitalism has become the way it's "always" been done. But they’ve still got these pesky governments who want them to contribute and these workers who want some degree of control over their productive work lives. So, like the guy who keeps getting into relationships with women who are his nagging mother, the former bad boy capitalist liberal fancies himself, in sustained paroxysms of narcissistic nostalgia, the once and future bad boy capitalist neoliberal still battling the forces of oppression (mommy, monarchy, democracy). This new bad boy capitalist rebel is the neoliberal. [Gender note: The original liberals were all guys (as far as I know) - today’s neoliberal are only predominantly male. Just so you know I know.]
Meanwhile, those of us who want something else besides unbridled laissez faire capitalism (wherever we are on the spectrum from reform to revolution) get called liberals, cuz we’re also fighting against the forces of oppressive conservatism. Only we think those forces are made up of entrenched capitalists and the conservative values that keep them in power. Everybody wants to be a rebel.
Personally, I hate being called a liberal for the historical reasons noted above. I used to fancy myself a radical, but now I mostly prefer "progressive," even though it has its own problems. I would like a term that says: Advocate for economic, political, and cultural social justice. I would like a label that says: Yes, economic health in balance with environmental and human health. I would like a label that says I simultaneously value evidence-based decision making, human caring and compassion, and the realm of the spirit. And this term should unequivocally denote full celebration of human difference and a just and equitable place at the table for everyone.
"Neoliberal" does not equal "Liberal" as we now use the term. Back in the days before capitalism (18th and 19th centuries) some proto-capitalists thought it would be a good idea to grab all the means of production for themselves, turn all the peasants who had been producing stuff on their land (or land they had rights to) into landless workers for their factories so they could make a bunch of stuff to sell and not have to share so much of the profit. In order to do this they had to deal with the monarchy, which controlled everything and generated income by levying taxes the proto-capitalists didn't want to pay (sound familiar?). So, these early capitalists were the oppositional bad boys, the rebels who were fighting for progress against entrenched conservatives in order to liberate society/themselves from the oppressive control of the monarchy. From a certain owning class male perspective it kinda made sense. They were called Liberals, as opposed to the conservatives who supported the monarchy and the way it had always been done.
So, fast forward to the 20th and 21st centuries, now the capitalists have become the conservatives and capitalism has become the way it's "always" been done. But they’ve still got these pesky governments who want them to contribute and these workers who want some degree of control over their productive work lives. So, like the guy who keeps getting into relationships with women who are his nagging mother, the former bad boy capitalist liberal fancies himself, in sustained paroxysms of narcissistic nostalgia, the once and future bad boy capitalist neoliberal still battling the forces of oppression (mommy, monarchy, democracy). This new bad boy capitalist rebel is the neoliberal. [Gender note: The original liberals were all guys (as far as I know) - today’s neoliberal are only predominantly male. Just so you know I know.]
Meanwhile, those of us who want something else besides unbridled laissez faire capitalism (wherever we are on the spectrum from reform to revolution) get called liberals, cuz we’re also fighting against the forces of oppressive conservatism. Only we think those forces are made up of entrenched capitalists and the conservative values that keep them in power. Everybody wants to be a rebel.
Personally, I hate being called a liberal for the historical reasons noted above. I used to fancy myself a radical, but now I mostly prefer "progressive," even though it has its own problems. I would like a term that says: Advocate for economic, political, and cultural social justice. I would like a label that says: Yes, economic health in balance with environmental and human health. I would like a label that says I simultaneously value evidence-based decision making, human caring and compassion, and the realm of the spirit. And this term should unequivocally denote full celebration of human difference and a just and equitable place at the table for everyone.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Hate in America: An Updating List
From Slate.com - Hate in America: An Updating List
Since the election of [#45], news outlets and social media accounts have swelled with reports of swastikas at schools, racist taunts, and other hate-fueled attacks and acts of intimidation. The Southern Poverty Law Center.. has... cataloged 867 such incidents in the first three weeks [of the new administration]... Slate’s goal, in the feed below, is to present individual incidents of racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-immigrant sentiment as we see them reported. We will update this feed frequently...#45 Day by Day
This is a site that tracks each day's Groper-in-Chief events and provides links to stories from credible news sources.
What The Fuck Just Happened Today? Logging the daily shock and awe
What The Fuck Just Happened Today? Logging the daily shock and awe
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Congressional Commitees
List of current United States House of Representatives committees
List of current United States Senate committees
Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump
Get Plugged In To Take Back Democracy: Four Emerging Projects
Several good initiatives have emerged in the electoral politics arena that are focused on substantially the same thing:
- Flippable
- Swing Left
- Sister District Project
- Indivisible
Town Hall Meetings: Just Say NO! To the Republican Agenda
Find a Town Hall Meeting near you. Hold our Congressional leaders' feet to the fire.
Go to Town Hall Meetings, nationwide
Go to Town Hall Meetings, nationwide
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