The failures of social and economic liberalism

Love me, love me, love me. I'm a liberal!

Phil Ochs

American liberal ideology has two major components: Economic liberalism and social liberalism.

Economic liberalism is a laissez-faire form of capitalism. The idea is that powerful market actors grow the economy most effectively, and this growth of the "economic pie" means more pie for everyone. The major players get bigger slices, but everyone else should still benefit.

The problem is that the big players got ALL of the pie, and everyone else got nothing. People rightfully see this as unfair. This isn’t a failure of neoliberalism; it’s by design. It means that the big players operated with near 100% efficiency. Congratulations, I guess. Like the dog who caught a car, what are you going to do now that all of the money is in one corner of the room? You’ve managed to shut down every single redistribution system.

Plutocratic economic systems have failed every time in recorded history without exception. Furthermore, it perpetuates itself because the same elites can distort democracy itself. All timelines here lead to serfdom and eventual revolution. I would prefer that it not be a violent revolution this time.

Furthermore, it perpetuates itself because the same elites can distort democracy itself. All timelines here lead to serfdom and eventual revolution.

American liberalism tries to resolve the externalities of economic liberalism through social policy. Social liberalist policy focuses on redistribution of wealth through social programs, but this does not work. The last decade abandoned any pretense of redistribution in favor of policies making cheap goods easily available. Some reasons why this strategy fails:

1. People do not care if they can buy a case of rubber dog poop for $1 from China when they are worried about paying the mortgage. Kind of like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, household edition.
2. People with a lot of wealth also have the means to fight tax increases, so we just end up with a lot of debt, so that people who don’t even know their net worth to the nearest $100 million can prosper.
3. Powerful actors will stick their finger in that pie also. Let me illustrate with an example:

Some company, which I did not authorize to use my data in any way, nor did I even know they were in possession of it, failed to protect my data. They were hacked and my property was stolen. You would expect a court to intervene and make us whole, but that isn’t what happens under neoliberalism. Some ambulance chaser starts a class-action lawsuit and wins. The attorneys receive millions from the settlement for legal fees, and the people harmed receive 6 months of free credit monitoring. The credit monitoring company gets a piece of my money without actually providing any service. I base that on the fact that the Lifelock CEO's own identity was stolen multiple times.

At the end of the day, a company profited from my personal property without my permission, and the people helping us just robbed us again instead. I am somehow bound by this agreement and can never sue them. When you allow your donor class to violate the general public, you can’t expect a lot of sympathy. Democracy will continue to destabilize further so long as economic inequality remains unhandled.

We cannot allow companies to violate the general public like this. When a healthcare CEO gets shot while I cannot support such action, the causes of why it happened are perfectly clear.

I'm going to say something very controversial.

The DNC is a failed party and the August convention is proof. The entire message and platform shared by the DNC was "Beat Trump!". Party leadership managed to admonish their members for not fighting hard enough, but never announced what they intended to do for members. This is not a party with a platform. This is a cargo cult with nuclear weapons, and it's dangerous. It is literally destabilizing our democracy. The party is completely feckless because progressive policies are incompatible with economic liberalism and there is nothing that will change this.

We cannot allow organizational players in our democracy to harm their political opponents. We are on the same side and must treat each other with respect and dignity.

Abundance Agenda: The Prosperity Gospel of neoliberalism repackaged and sold to the public under a different name. Affordability Agenda: The Prosperity Gospel of neoliberalism repackaged and sold to the public under a different name.

It has the same problems as neoliberalism. It tries to solve the problem of powerful market actors fleecing the public by using the treasury to pay another set of grifters to rip us off again. The same powerful actors resist any tax increases to pay for it. All the money eventually ends up in one corner of the room and when the economy stops working they beg for bailouts. The cycle will repeat until eventual revolution. Abundance and Affordability Agenda timelines end in ruin.

As much as I want to put this in a box with all caps, I'll resist. Wealth redistribution does not work because the people that you must distribute from also have the means to resist it. More perniciously, it robs individuals of their agency to do the things that they would like to do. Any economic agenda must involve a plan that ensures full-time working individuals get a slice of the American dream.

No thanks. I'll choose freedom and let others choose to wallow in chains begging for scraps from the rich.

The GOP were always economically liberal and were at least honest about it until recently. The latest lines are around populist economics but the proof is in the pudding. It's a new line of crooks attempting to unseat the old ones using the people as collateral. If anything they have hampered efforts to enact programs like the CHIPS act which could have been helpful.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

--The Who

The difference this time is that the public will be taking control of this situation and the parties are out. It's time for the Independent voter to rise. Leviathan is here!

Aaron McGruder illustrates this best in his cartoon series, "The Boondocks". The show has an ongoing "meme" about white people plugging their ears and pretending that unpleasant situations aren't happening right in front of them. I should note that by "white people", he's referring more specifically to affluent liberals. Whether it's reflected from his own cultural perspective, or is intended to subvert studio exec radars is unclear, but it's brilliant work in any case.

I get an impression that this meme permeates DNC culture. I see support for terrible legislation with good taglines about helping the poor. Programs often have poor oversight and the public gets little return on their investment. It's the same culture that throws money at charities and feels good about itself without any understanding of their mission. We can do a lot better.

Liberalism as envisioned by the DNC has run its course. We must disband the organization before liberalism destroys us as it is doing to Europe at this very moment. The DNC is a political zombie with no direction or leadership. We permit it within our political system at our peril. The lack of a functional news system makes this especially hazardous, and when most news is propaganda the result could be doom. We are at a nexus in our democracy and have a unique opportunity to purge this cancer.

The Leviathan must act.

I recommend getting rid of labels like "progressive" and "conservative" entirely, because people are much more interesting than stereotypes. Labels let other people assign traits to you that may or may not reflect your position. I reject all such labels except the ones I assign to myself.

Progressive policy has felt more like a grift than substance up to this point. Business interests and cultural issues don't have to be in conflict. Small businesses want beautiful and safe communities too. I like my neighborhood and I think it's beautiful, but I still see things that we could improve. Maybe I'll help out with some local project after we're done fixing American Democracy.

Speaking of Democracy it's important that we respect the rights of our neighbors as much as we respect our own. Let's take a quick example:

In a correct Democracy, the mayor of Seattle should approve it, and the mayor of New Orleans should reject it. The people in both cities are correct. The politicians acted correctly in respecting the wishes of their public. If I really wanted the statue in New Orleans, I have my work cut out for me convincing the people but it is their decision at the end of the day and I will respect it.

Small economic investments in control and for the benefit of the public can make a huge difference here. The public will invest far more efficiently than the state can if we let them. Let's consider an experimental project with modular housing parts. I imagine a modular system where you build house parts in a factory and snap them together on-site.

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity can test it and help refine the technology. With some additional work, you can measure and prove it. This kind of technology can speed housing development and make it more affordable.

This is where I think the future of progressive politics goes. At the end of the day, somebody has to do the actual work and we want to ensure it's done well. If you think that writing a check to some organization is going to change things, you are part of the problem. Become part of the solution instead.