07-08-2022, 12:07 PM
Neoliberalism has morphed into something completely illiberal except for its promotion of the economic values of the rising mercantile and manufacturing and extant agrarian elites of 250 years ago. It is as if something called 'neo-Christianity' came into existence and repudiated monotheism and moral responsibility while keeping Jesus as an object of reverence. To go further one might abandon Jesus altogether and get something like the shady world of Aleister Crowley. "Do what thou wilt" is hardly a basis for ethical behavior. To be ethical one must restrain oneself from the worst impulses in life.
Trump ideology is now little more than the idea that "He who has the gold makes the rules"... which is a good ethical position for an investor who might have a cinematic or theatrical production in which some director or stage manager has responsibility for turning a profit for the investor, if at all possible. Needless to say, if I am the investor I do not want my investment going onto a casino table, up a nose, or into a whore's crotch, so to speak. But if it is a matter of the asset owners of a society deciding that everyone else is their thrall in return for the privilege of surviving in a world that those asset owners believe belongs to them and that those asset owners (think of Junkers in Germany, slave-owning planters in the old American South, the gangsters in a kleptocracy like Russia, or tyrants of any kind in any place) , then freedom is only for those corrupt and vile elites. The pre-1945 Junkers of Germany saw someone willing to crush labor unions and to eliminate Jewish competition for prosperity to be found in any way but the Junker way (mostly as small business), and we know where that led.
Taking the responsibility to bring an extraordinary gain to make someone already rich even richer than he would be with an unimaginative investment is something I have shied from. I lack the imagination for doing so, and I have no desire to hurt people in the process. Tis said, any competent person who applies a solid work ethic deserves to live well. property owner or not. Neoliberalism makes all happiness contingent upon ownership or power. Trump is neoliberalism shorn of all pretenses of any promise to make capitalism work for any people other than those already rich. He is the logical conclusion in a vile person devoid of any empathy for anyone in a harsh situation even if not of his own making -- such as birth into a poor family. Add to this, he has introduced the concept of the social pariah in America who may be of the wrong tradition (as I see it all traditions based upon indelible character of creed and ethnicity are equally valid if of relevance only to that group). But this is a fellow who has mocked the handicapped, something that few people still do once they have a double-digit age.
Irresponsible elites have always sunk into cruelty at the first opportunity, and cruelty is the essence of most evil that we have ever known. To be sure, stupidity, greed, selfishness, self-indulgence, dishonesty, and laziness have their roles, but in most cases those bring down someone who begins with significant assets. Cruelty feeds itself among those with power.
Trump ideology is now little more than the idea that "He who has the gold makes the rules"... which is a good ethical position for an investor who might have a cinematic or theatrical production in which some director or stage manager has responsibility for turning a profit for the investor, if at all possible. Needless to say, if I am the investor I do not want my investment going onto a casino table, up a nose, or into a whore's crotch, so to speak. But if it is a matter of the asset owners of a society deciding that everyone else is their thrall in return for the privilege of surviving in a world that those asset owners believe belongs to them and that those asset owners (think of Junkers in Germany, slave-owning planters in the old American South, the gangsters in a kleptocracy like Russia, or tyrants of any kind in any place) , then freedom is only for those corrupt and vile elites. The pre-1945 Junkers of Germany saw someone willing to crush labor unions and to eliminate Jewish competition for prosperity to be found in any way but the Junker way (mostly as small business), and we know where that led.
Taking the responsibility to bring an extraordinary gain to make someone already rich even richer than he would be with an unimaginative investment is something I have shied from. I lack the imagination for doing so, and I have no desire to hurt people in the process. Tis said, any competent person who applies a solid work ethic deserves to live well. property owner or not. Neoliberalism makes all happiness contingent upon ownership or power. Trump is neoliberalism shorn of all pretenses of any promise to make capitalism work for any people other than those already rich. He is the logical conclusion in a vile person devoid of any empathy for anyone in a harsh situation even if not of his own making -- such as birth into a poor family. Add to this, he has introduced the concept of the social pariah in America who may be of the wrong tradition (as I see it all traditions based upon indelible character of creed and ethnicity are equally valid if of relevance only to that group). But this is a fellow who has mocked the handicapped, something that few people still do once they have a double-digit age.
Irresponsible elites have always sunk into cruelty at the first opportunity, and cruelty is the essence of most evil that we have ever known. To be sure, stupidity, greed, selfishness, self-indulgence, dishonesty, and laziness have their roles, but in most cases those bring down someone who begins with significant assets. Cruelty feeds itself among those with power.
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.