09-10-2021, 01:56 PM
(09-10-2021, 07:59 AM)David Horn Wrote:(09-09-2021, 05:34 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Smart America as you describe it does not exist. left/Democrats cannot be happy with neoliberalism, and are not. Neo-liberalism is exclusively a Republican program at this point. The Left is the opposite of laissez-faire, trickle-down economics. Affluent white Democrats are more radical at this point than Democrats of color. Real America does not exist as you describe it, either. Trump and his followers are as neo-liberal as could be; their policies are neo-liberalism on steroids. Read the 2016 Republican platform and see. The only difference from those merely deluded by neo-liberal Republican "freedom" slogans is that the Trump Republicans are also more-prejudiced. To tear down the administrative state as the Trumpists want-- and carried out in such places as the EPA and the Dept. of Education, is giving big business all the freedom it wants to exploit us and ruin our lives and our planet. And social conservatism/prejudice is at this point intimately connected with neo-liberalism, and has been all along. That is why the policy and slogan of cutting welfare and smaller government appeals to both of these supposedly-different factions. Opposition to welfare is the dog-whistle for prejudiced people to vote for less government, which is allowing business to have fewer taxes and regulations. That's also why Republicans rule the White South these days.
I'm going to disagree with you on this. Neoliberalism is a two-prong offensive:
It's not realy a party-centric thing. It's more capitalism centric. The entire point is shielding weath and power from popular backlash that could, and should, upset their little apple cart. Republicans have moved on to autoritarianism as their "final solution". Democrats are just now pulling up their big boy and big girl pants. It's sad that it had to go this far.
- Total libertarianism for business, including low to nonexistent taxes and regulation, and
- Liberal social positions, iincluding high support to diversity and other non-economic agendas.
... continuing, Eric wrote Wrote:Prejudice" is a convenient term I use which includes white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, Christian Right, anti-immigrant and so on; and often this includes conspiracy theory and anti-vax these days. It's opposition to women's rights, ethnic rights, gay and transgender rights, rights for young people, immigrant rights, nationalist opposition to foreign trade, foreigners and alliances, support for Christian restrictions on other religions and on science, denial of climate change/rights of Nature, denial of science, etc. And since these groups they oppose get protection from the government, the prejudiced are neo-liberals who are against social government (and against democracy). A primary doctrine of neo-liberalism is self-reliance and the belief people should take care of themselves on their own and that only the strong survive (social Darwinism). This connects with neo-Nazis too, and with Christian emphasis on "building character."
The Left is social democracy and respect for diversity. The Right-wing is neo-liberalism and prejudice.
We are all 4T at this point. We can't go back.
I agree with all of this except the final thought. Yes, the left is for social democracy and diversity, but the RW (mostly Republicans) are really all-in on prejudice and power. Philosophy on that side be damned. They literally couldn't care less as long as they get to be in charge and be superior to "them". Of course, we're part of "them" so no quarter can be and certainly none given. Biden's decision to push the envolop on vaccination will be their new rallying cry, as they stand n the unemployment line. Question: will refusal to comply be considered a reason to receive benefits? I'll bet it will in places like Florida and Texas.
Regrettably you are right. People who see "their" world slipping away from them often resort to rearguard measures harsher than those of the past. Prejudice whose sole cause is primitive fear and power that one intends to apply without conscience make great evil possible. People with such power and privilege that no longer serves any viable purpose other than to confirm selfish desires can back the worst in reactionary causes and the severest brutality. In the 1930's that expressed itself as fascism and Nazism in Europe. Except that it never got quite the same crushing power to do horrible things on a large scale, that was the KKK in the 1920's... and 1960's.
Such people are not reliable allies of any other than their opportunistic flunkies who take things to extreme risks and extreme disgrace and ruin. Such people often end up hurting those that they intend to protect.
America has been freakishly lax in convincing many people, mostly on the Right, to perceive even the minimal duty to get inoculated so that they can protect everything that matters: their lives, their health, their family members, their co-workers and customers, and their pets -- let alone the ability of the American economy to operate as close to being a market economy as is morally acceptable and to keep budget deficits from spiraling out of control. The time for laxity in demanding that people get inoculated is over. Heck, if I had a pet dog I would get inoculated just to keep the pooch from getting sick and dying of COVID-19. That's before I even mention organ damage, diabetes, sexual dysfunction, cognitive loss, and -- who knows -- cancer and birth defects? (Not proven yet, but I wouldn't rule them out).
Only two imaginable excuses remain for not getting the inoculation: a medical condition or a religious objection (maybe someone can tell me what that is) to getting inoculated. COVID-19 absolutely, positively must die in America if we are to have real freedom.
Freedom has value only if it serves a desirable end. Getting to drive the wrong way on a freeway is not freedom.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.