June 2017 - Revolutionary Misfit

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.

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.

The Lure of Neoliberalism

The Globalist Conspiracy versus Neoliberalism

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