We have been treated this morning to the news in all of our press that eight people now own the same wealth as the poorest fifty percent of people on earth. How did this happen? In this blog, I have expressed repeated concern about the dominant economic theory of the last 37 years, the free market neoliberal model and its attendant political ideology of a very right wing libertarian and deregulated minimal state protecting the neoliberal economic elite. This ideology is normally called conservative, but, as I hope I’ve made clear earlier, that description is very misleading as it is a revolutionary ideology that seeks to destroy, rather than conserve, a society’s institutions and culture, and remodel them in its own image. It is also quite explicitly undemocratic. Again, I have told you that contrary to popular opinion, the modern free market model of neoliberalism does not spring from the writings of Adam Smith and other classical economists, though its supporters have attempted to legitimise their activities by corrupting and bastardising Smith’s writings in order to establish some form of credibility, and indeed, I must credit them with having succeeded. However, neoliberalism has its genesis, not in classical economic theory, but in a philosophy known as Objectivism, the origin of Thatcher’s claim that there is no such thing as society.
Political and economic structures develop in a society from ideas and theories about how a political and economic system should work and what it should look like. They are developed and structured by human beings who have political and economic goals and are therefore social artefacts that reflect the ideas and theories of the people who have the power and ability to erect, maintain, and promote such structures. It was therefore correct for Marx to tell us that the dominant ideas within any society are a reflection of the ideas of the dominant opinion formers and of the people who hold power within that society and that the existing political and economic systems are a reflection of the dominant ideas. I would describe that as self-evident
Objectivism comes from the writings of the Russian-American writer Ayn Rand and is a belief system that argues that the only right and proper behaviour for people is naked self-interest; that describes the poor and disadvantaged as ‘parasites’ and ‘refuse’ and is remarkably similar to the language used by the Nazis who referred to sections of society that they considered of no value as ‘useless eaters’. Objectivism argues that people must be completely selfish, and that this is both right and good, but more importantly it is moral. Rand tells us that altruism is evil, that is the term she uses, and that any concern for anyone else, including members of your own family, is both evil and stupid. Already this description should be familiar to anyone living in modern Britain who reads the right-wing press and the tabloids, and listens to the spokespeople for government who regularly refer to the poor and disadvantaged as ‘scroungers’ and ‘skivers’. Such abusive terms for people spring from the Objectivist approach that argues that we cannot be held responsible, either for or to, anyone else, even our own family, and that the weak of society do not deserve any love. Objectivism also argues that there should be no role for government in the economy; for example, there should be no taxation and government should not provide social security, health, education, even roads. All such services must be provided privately and paid for at point of use as they cannot be provided by a government who has no income as it is unable to levy any form of tax. As a result, if you have no money, or not enough, then you will be unable to access such facilities, and anyway, if you have no money because you are weak, then you don’t deserve such facilities.
It is impossible in a blog that must be brief enough to hold your attention to adequately describe this odious and quite insane ideology but I trust you will trust me enough to accept this brief outline of the philosophy that holds our ruling elites in thrall. It is also difficult for intelligent people to believe that there is a belief system that actually advocates such things, or that it can become popular and influential and I will happily expand on it for anyone who asks me to, but will leave you with a real example of what happens to the mindset of those who adopt this filth. Remember, free market thinking only values things that have a price attached and they only think in these terms. On 12th May 1996 on the American television show 60 Minutes, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright, was asked by the presenter Lesley Stahl how she responded to the fact that, as a result of United Nations sanctions against the state of Iraq half a million Iraqi children had died. Stahl asked her “We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?” To which Albright responded: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.” There is no intelligent comment to be made about such a statement; it is completely self-explanatory to anyone with a scintilla of decency and humanity. It sums up Objectivism and the neoliberal free market mindset. This is the philosophy of Thatcher, the Tories, the Republicans and Donald Trump and all of the great and good assembling at Davos this week. This is the philosophy behind all of the policy-making in the pigsty and Congress, the philosophy that will kill Obamacare. You have been warned
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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