I have been asked why the crisis in our financial system and ultimately our whole society has been so deep and so difficult to solve despite all of the austerity measures and the sacrifices of the bulk of the population. I have tried to indicate in my blog that it is because of the errors that comprise the fundamentals of the dominant ideology in Britain over the past 30 years. However, I realise that I should explain this more fully.
Free market neoliberal ideology is predicated on the concept of the free individual who is a rational consumer. I shall deal with the rational in another post, but feel I must start with the concept of individualism. Each person is an individual, but an individual who is a social being. So, what does that mean? Every prominent philosopher in history, with a few exceptions, has began their enquiry into the human condition with a theory of human nature. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, David Hume, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Tom :Paine, John Donne, just to name a few, have all started from the basis that the human being is a social being, that human nature is a social nature. This means that the human being cannot be understood as an atomised individual. The human being is a product of society, a being who can only be understood and analysed as a product of their socialisation, whose individuality is a reflection of their environment.
Before a child is born it is subject to external influences, the emotions and feelings of its mother, the sounds and impulses it picks up from the daily life its mother operates within. From the moment of its birth the child is a dependent. No child would survive few hours without the nurture it receives from its parents and the society into which it is born. Before birth and for the rest of its existence, a human being is interdependent and lives in an interactive universe. It is being socialised from the moment of its conception. A human being's thoughts, emotions, impulses and feelings are all the result of external influences until it is mature enough to begin to discriminate on its own behalf. Even then, we learn from our experience which is again an interactive and interdependent experience. As Karl Marx notes, our individuality is individuated within a social context. The concept of the atomised individual is not only a nonsense, it is an impossibility.
As a result, the very genesis of free market economic and political theory is wrong and the whole of free market theory is predicated on a false hypothesis. The whole of the Thatcher experiment was based on the Thatcherite thesis that there is no such thing as society, but this is also wrong as it again denies the nature of the human species. Thatcher said that for a reason, even she could not have been so stupid as to believe that. The reason was that if there is no such thing as society, then society has no responsibilities as it has no existence. Thus, every fault in the world is individual. There can be no social reasons for unemployment, poverty, disease, war or any other social phenomenon because there is no such thing as a social phenomenon. As a result, there can be no social solutions to such problems and society has no responsibility for benefits, rights, pensions, sickness etc. As a result, there should be no social solutions provided, there should be no unemployment benefit, no state pensions, no social security, and any attempts to raise taxation to provide for such things is simply wrong. All of the above should be the responsibility of each individual and must only be provided by a private and personal provision.
The whole of the free market experiment as championed by our Westminster elite is a dehumanised and callous disregard for the human condition and human suffering. It is based on greed and pure selfishness. It seeks only wealth and power. Human suffering and disadvantage is the fault of each individual and is no business of anyone else. If they are suffering it is their own fault and is no-one else's responsibility. If you need help you must pay for it and if you cannot pay, tough. This is the Westminster free market mentality. If you agree with it, then I trust you will not access this blog again, you are not welcome. If you agree with it, but are prepared to question it and think about what you read here with an open mind then you are most welcome. If you agree with it and are prepared to engage in an open and honest debate, you are my friend. If this ideology is not challenged and continues for much longer, then the end of Britain as a civilised society is very close. You have been warned. I will look at the concept of the rational individual soon.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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