- My apparently weird thesis is: the neoliberal system ruling directly or indirectly the greater part of the world is producing a disastrous anthropological mutation that is leading to a kind of planetary totalitarianism.
I'm not completely sold, but there are plenty of interesting ideas in there.
- Do you remember the 1960-70 Marxists who said that the Soviet Union was not real communism? It was a kind of degeneration, of course, but where was true communism? Triumphant neoliberalism is liberalism as it reveals itself in history just as Soviet communism (or the even worst Asiatic versions) was communism inside history.
That's one of them. It sure seems to explain the kinds of conversations you get about the Obama administration around a table of liberals.
- the kinds of conversations you get about the Obama administration around a table of liberals.
As someone who makes a point to rarely if ever discuss politics outside of the internet, what does that conversation look like? If you know anything about political theory you know that Obama is the most hard core moderate that this country has seen for many years.
I find that one contingent often defends him as fighting the good fight, while the other argues that the country not only continues to move to the right, but that he is sometimes the one moving it.
For example, if you discuss the wire-tapping that has expanded since he took office, one contingent will blame him for eroding our liberties, while the other will suggest that he must be aware of threats that justify the actions. Same for drone strikes on US citizens. Arguments about how he handled the financial meltdown are similar. One group argues that he only propped up the system that created the mess, while the other argues that he did everything he could, or the most pragmatic thing considering the circumstances.
The idea of mandatory private health insurance is a Republican-born idea, and Obama is a liberal for instituting it. Is it a liberal idea, or is it evidence of what liberalism looks like in action in a capitalist system (i.e. neoliberalism)?