1/ Neoliberalism Has Always Been a Threat to Democracy jacobinmag.com/2021/06/neolib… Neoliberalism has survived by altering the very foundations of our democratic institutions and organizations.
2/ Understand that neoliberals’ age-old fear of the tyranny of the propertyless majority and the possibility that their democratic ambitions might impinge on economic liberty.
James Buchanan explained this neatly in his famous coauthored book, Democracy in Deficit.
James Buchanan explained this neatly in his famous coauthored book, Democracy in Deficit.
3/ Buchanan's focus was not on free competition, proper market operations, or even on criticizing state intervention. It was on “the political institutions through which economic policy must be implemented.”
4/ Neoliberalism constrains democratic politics by altering the balance of power among its supporters and opponents with the ultimate aim of constricting available space for politics and policy.
(I hope this is starting to sound familiar)
(I hope this is starting to sound familiar)
5/ Businesses with vested interests in neoliberalism’s perpetuity have used the structural advantage afforded them to push back against reformist attempts, ranging from taxation, industrial policy, and social measures to environmental and labor protections.
6/ Neoliberalism has survived by keeping anti-neoliberal political forces from gaining a foothold. Our political institutions have been designed so as to block any credible political opposition. This has included increasing the power of the executive to circumvent more..->
7/ -- >representative legislatures, the institutionalization of nonelected veto players able to overrule majority decisions, and more. The most successful of these tactics have been those affecting patterns of political representation, such as gerrymandering.
(Say what, Texas?)
(Say what, Texas?)
8/ This was the case in Chile, where these moves kept the Left without representation for twenty years, while pushing the more moderate Left into a long-term alliance with centrist forces that watered down their otherwise reformist stances.
(It can't happen here?)
(It can't happen here?)
more coming... Neoliberalism Has Always Been a Threat to Democracy jacobinmag.com/2021/06/neolib…
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