Monday 25 December 2017

Make America Sane Again as I increasingly despair for the UK

I am always reluctant to criticise other countries especially given the state of the UK, but if I were an American I would be deeply concerned about several actions taken recently by the 45 that do not bode well for America's future. There are three areas of real concern, the recent tax reforms, the drive for deregulation and the packing of the judiciary with politically motivated personnel. These actions may well have troubling long-term consequences.

The 45's tax reforms are totally ideological and have nothing to do with either good management or the public interest. Neoliberals have a deep and abiding hatred of the state and seem blind to the fact that a modern economy needs a healthy and interventionist state. All empirical evidence shows us that education, health, welfare etc, cannot, and must not, be left to the greed and exploitation of the private sector. It is the height of financial irresponsibility to heap even more burdens on a deficit that already defies the imagination. In a modern economy education is essential to the health and wealth of the nation, as are public works, welfare and health provision. All such activities need public funding through taxation and this cannot be avoided. Thus, tax cuts on the scale the 45 has delivered are both anti-social and deeply dangerous and cannot, under any stretch of the imagination, benefit 'the people'. They will benefit some people, the minority who already have, those, who in the Blessed Margaret's terms are 'one of us'. The rest of us can go do whatever we want, as long as we do not threaten the filth's monopoly on power and privilege.

I would have thought that by now the case against deregulation was unanswerable. Humans are social animals and by definition regulatory beings. Deregulation was the cause of the 2008 financial crash and proved beyond doubt that financiers of all kinds cannot be trusted, that they are dishonest, venal and corrupt. The fundamental individualism that free marketeers promote, particularly in the American context, is not only ideologically bankrupt, but dangerous. There is no such thing as an individual in the context that free market neoliberal enthusiasts portray, they not only do not exist, but cannot exist, and the principal inspiration behind this version of human nature is Ayn Rand, the main source for the ideological poison that motivates both the Republican and Tory parties. Ayn Rand's philosophy is quite insane, indeed it is not accurate to call it a philosophy, and explains the cruelty and nastiness of right-wing ideologues that becomes translated into public policy. As a result, the free market concept of freedom is wrong because they do not understand the nature of the human being. Freedom does not come with tax cuts and a bonfire of regulations, quite the opposite, such policies transfer all power and wealth into ever fewer hands, leaving the majority in dependency and forms of slavery, and, as I will never tire of warning you, is the real agenda of both the Republicans and the Tories, although in such matters the Tories are even more callous and cruel than their American brethren. I wish Americans would lose their fear and hatred of Marx, because on this, the quite deliberate concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, as on many other things, he was right. In addition, I remind you that Adam Smith warned of exactly the same thing one hundred years before Marx and that it is simply wrong to argue that Adam Smith said that the state should not intervene in economic matters. His arguments for free trade must not be extrapolated to encompass all economic activity. Thus, I submit that both Marx and Smith warn us against the path that the Republicans in America and the Tories in the UK are taking us down.

It was St Thomas Aquinas who told us that an unjust law is no law at all. The people who control both the US and the UK have no concept of justice and view real justice as a barrier to their goals. Justice is a constraint, and as we all know, these people will not tolerate constraints on their activities. Thus, the 45's motivation for packing the judiciary with free marketeers is exactly the same as the Tories desperation to exit the EU and the constraints of the European Court and Human Rights provisions. When you get people like that controlling the legal system and importantly for Americans, interpreting the Constitution, then you can look forward to a whole barrage of legalities that are deeply unjust and partial. Both the US and the UK will get progressively more unequal and unjust in the short to medium term future, but there is more hope for a form of redress in the US than in this class based politically ignorant midden. I am writing this on Christmas Day, is that sad, or is it not? But I am being fortified by Harvey's Bristol Cream and various delicacies. I wish you all well for the festive season but fear that the new year will be politically very dynamic and turbulent for both our unfortunate nations. As for the rest of the world, please learn from our mistakes and show more intelligence. You have been warned

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

No comments:

Post a Comment