Reagan gave one of the mottoes of the current capitalist mass ideological line: Government is not the solution; government is the problem. The success in propagandizing such a large section of the US population with this idea is a big part of our current problem. It is reaching its ultimate stage emblematically in Wisconsin.
The use of "neo-liberal" as the general term for the current ruling class ideology is a subtle way for ultra-leftists to get in a dig at Democrats, who are the Liberals in the post FDR US historical period. The ultra-left or left sectarian or Trotskyite error of emphasizing criticism of Democrats in the Reaganite era turns ultra-leftists into a fifth column for the rightwing. It decimates the validity of much of the political analysis of much of the progressive Left in the US. They are hung-up and out on anti-Obamaism. They spend more time criticizing Obama than the proto-fascist Republican/Tea Party. At any rate, I just realized this use of "neo-liberal" is in the same vein. They disdain the use of "Reaganism" because they think it directs the primary critique against a Republican. Their line is reaching dangerous levels, as in sowing suspicions about the motives of the Democratic Senators in Wisconsin who are heroically staying away from the Capitol in support of labor.
Neo-liberal is a left intellectual term. Also, in the US its use ignores the fact that the Reaganites , who control a large portion of the mass discourse of the last thirty years ( because the mass media, the monopoly media allows them, pro...motes them; Reagan "teflon" was created by the media, not given by the People, for example) have framed their attack as "anti-liberal". That attack has succeeded as no Democrats have dared called themselves liberal for most of those last thirty years. So, naming the Reaganites "neo-liberals" is absurd in the current mass discourse. They should be termed Reaganites in the US. The Tea Partiers are the latest zealous thrust of Reaganism.
The left organic intellectuals must spend their thinking counterpropagandizing Reaganite propaganda.
Reaganism behind attacks on working families in Wisconsin
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This reads just as ham-handed as attacks on effete, left intellectuals from the right. I've not heard of one democrat being afraid to label him/herself as "liberal," and why attack nuanced approaches to weighing the realities of Obama's rhetoric versus policy decisions? That is the key word -- nuance. Most critiques I've paid attention to that have been skeptical of Obama haven't done so in a way that more or less gives fodder to the right, or that ignores the effects of "Reaganism." Philosophical, liberal thought is much different than what policies borne of seemingly liberal leaders has done for marginalized people economically. To attempt to vilify "far-left intellectuals" for examining these consequences is counterproductive in my humble opinion.
Posted by K F, 03/09/2011 10:10am (14 years ago)
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Neo-liberal is the accepted term for Milton Friedman band of economics worldwide. And in the economic sense of the word it means to liberate markets aka free markets. the term only gets in trouble here for the very reasons you mentioned as it gets entangled with political liberalism in the popular mind.....and you're right maybe it will be of better use to call it by a different name...but it not some ultra-leftist plot that some sections of the Democratic party prescribes to its doctrine, true to a lesser degree then their republican counter-parts but all just the same.
Posted by ben reed , 03/08/2011 8:20pm (14 years ago)
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