General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why have Democrats embraced neoliberalism, anyway? [View all]alarimer
(16,245 posts)And to some extent, it worked. But it left millions behind in the process. And, for all Trump's alleged populism, he is not governing as one. If that budget passes (it won't, not as it stands now) we are in for even more austerity and pain. The problem with that budget is that whatever passes instead will STILL contain too much austerity, too many program cuts, too much of an increase in the military budget and too much pain.
Noami Klein is correct here; too much Davos, too many Ivy-League out-of-touch functionaries in the Democratic Party. It is the party of the managerial classes and out of touch with much of the working class. The good thing is that the Davos crowd appears to be losing influence globally because the free market cannot possibly solve all our economic and social problems.
The Nation recently (May, 2017) had an article on neoliberalism and what it would take to kill it.
https://www.thenation.com/article/what-will-kill-neoliberalism/
(quote) Left populism, if organized, could end the neoliberal order: As espoused by leaders like Pramila Jayapal and Keith Ellison, left populism demands public control as well as redistribution; it is pro-regulation, pro-state, and anti-privatization. These values are inherently at odds with the small-government, anti-regulatory tenets of neoliberalism. If an aggressive left-populist agenda is successfully implemented, neoliberalism would be defeated. The barrier to implementation is the lefts inability to be consistent and organized. (End of quote)
I don't think anyone here will argue in favor of MORE deregulation or privatization of government services. Maybe what we are heading towards is a kind of post-capitalistic society in which there is some sort of guaranteed basic income and a less market-based approach to everything, in the long-term anyway. The Democrats will do themselves no favors if they continue to cling to outmoded ideas. But there are people who are on the right track within the Democratic Party. Rep. Jayapal is one, mentioned in the paragraph above.