looks like neoliberalism is rearing its ugly head

(this was written while I was thinking about the bill in Wisconsin that strips away collective bargaining rights)

neo-liberalism is fundamentally anti-democratic. at this point, it is extremely anti-environmental. in many instances, it has bought and co-opted the force of government, or it has developed its own mercenary forces.

Wisconsin is not a neo-liberal state. Far from it. but when I see bills, like the one in question, being forced into law, I only see another example of this anti-democratic idea in action. they have used the pretense of a financial crisis, as in many other states right now, to push through legislation that is meant to strengthen big business, and the pockets of a few.

furthermore, the republicans took out all fiscal points out of the bill in order for it to be passed like it has, that’s the only way they could have pulled that off, by taking out the fiscal points. So they have essentially lied in order to push this bill through, because all along they were saying that this was due to the economic crisis, and the state needed to save money, and when the time came to pass it, it was no longer about fiscal policy.

it should seem fairly obvious what is going on. they've been waiting for a time to pass these policies which aim to strengthen big business, and now they see an opportune moment. For those interested in checking out this idea further, I would recommend a really good book called The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein. She writes about historical and modern examples of free market policies being forced through a time of "shock" such as economic, natural, or man-made disasters.

These are really the only time that measures like this can be passed, seeing as to how they are not very popular. Hence neoliberalism being anti-democratic. What workers want to see their rights taken away? Not many as far as I know. Who would like to see a fundamental human right, such as water, privatized? the rich, maybe. but the majority of the world is not rich.

I will clarify that while I dislike neo-liberalism, I do see upsides to ideas like libertarianism, republicanism, and anarchism (anarchism being my favorite out of these three, as utopian as it may be). Neo-liberalism to me sounds like the worst parts of republicanism and libertarianism, and then amplified. corporations would pretty much own the world, blah blah blah.

I better get ready for work.

-LJL