Porter Rockwell
Gold Member
- Dec 14, 2018
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- Banned
- #81
Lets add more confusion to the situation-
Liberal and Conservative.
The founders were classical liberals- the conservative sided with the King of Britain-
Fast forward to the early 1960's to the advent of neoliberals
ne·o·lib·er·al
/ˌnēōˈlibərəl/
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adjective
adjective: neo-liberal
relating to or denoting a modified form of liberalism tending to favor free-market capitalism.
What is Neoliberalism?
The main points of neo-liberalism include:
Looks conservative talking points to me- how can that be? Conservatives hate liberals.
- THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating "free" enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers' rights that had been won over many years of struggle. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is good for us, they say "an unregulated market is the best way to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit everyone." It's like Reagan's "supply-side" and "trickle-down" economics -- but somehow the wealth didn't trickle down very much.
- CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply -- again in the name of reducing government's role. Of course, they don't oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business.
- DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminsh profits, including protecting the environmentand safety on the job.
- PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name of greater efficiency, which is often needed, privatization has mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and making the public pay even more for its needs.
- ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or "COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as "lazy."
Goldwater, the Conservative candidate
The Goldwater Takedown
Barry Goldwater on conservatism
I've remarked many times on these threads that the conservatives of today sound more like Bill Clinton than they do Ronald Reagan - and that's true on most issues. I am refusing to wear anybody's label.