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By Jim Heffernan
Neoliberalism is a name for the general policy of cutting taxes, cutting regulation, and cutting benefits that has infected us for the last 50 years. It has transferred a lot of wealth to the upper 1% and has made life for my grandchildren a lot worse than it was for me.
George Monbiot is one of my favorite authors and also a columnist for British Newspaper, “The Guardian”. He manages to convey deep thoughts in simple, direct language.
There’s a lot to think about in this short book.
His parable about capitalism starting in the 15th Century was illuminating. The uninhabited island of Madera became the world’s largest source of sugar back then, thanks to slave labor and the heavily wooded island. The wood ran out and it could have been capitalism’s first “boom, bust, quit” cycle.
I was thoroughly charmed by his writing on the Restoration story, here’s an excerpt from page 142 that I think exactly shows what is behind our current dilemma:
“If a story is to make narrative sense to us, it needs a structure. There are a number of basic plots that we find intuitively satisfying: narrative structures that have been used repeatedly, because they resonate with our attempts to find meaning. In politics there is a basic plot that is used again and again, because of its tremendous narrative power. We call it “the Restoration Story.” It goes as follows:
Disorder afflicts the land, caused by powerful and nefarious forces working against the interests of humanity. But the hero or heroes will rise up and revolt against this disorder, do battle with those powerful forces and, against all odds, emerge victorious to restore harmony to the land.
This is a familiar narrative structure. It’s the plot we follow in the New Testament, in the Harry Potter books, in the Lord of the Rings books, in the Narnia books. It’s also the story that has accompanied almost every political and religious transformation across millennia. We could go so far as to say that, without a powerful new restoration story, political and religious transformation would not be possible.
After laissez-faire economics triggered the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes devised a new economics. But he did more than that. He told a new restoration story. It went like this.
Disorder afflicts the land, caused by the powerful and nefarious forces of the economic elite, who have captured the world’s wealth. But the hero of the story, the enabling state, supported by working and middle-class people, will contest this disorder. It will fight those powerful forces by redistributing wealth and, through spending public money on public goods and services, will generate income and jobs, restoring harmony to the land.
Like all good restoration stories, this one resonated across the political spectrum. Democrats and Republicans, Labour and Conservatives, left and right all became, in broad terms, Keynesian. It was only when Keynesianism ran into trouble in the 1970s that the neoliberals were able to come forward with their own restoration story, which by then had been honed and polished for three decades.
Remember what Milton Friedman said: “When the time came, we were ready…and we could step straight in.” It went as follows:
Disorder afflicts the land, caused by the powerful and nefarious forces of an overbearing and overeaching state, whose collectivizing tendencies have crushed freedom, individualism and opportunity. But the hero of the story, the freedom-seeking entrepreneur, will fight those powerful forces. He will roll back the paralyzing restrictions of the state and, through creating wealth and opportunity that will trickle down to all, restore harmony to the land.
This story also resonated across the political spectrum. Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Labour all became, in broad terms, neoliberal. Keynesianism and neoliberalism were, more or less, opposite stories. Nonetheless, they used an identical narrative structure.”
Maybe I’m a little prejudiced in this subject. I’ve worked hard in my life and I like where I’ve ended up. I naively expected my children and grandchildren to enjoy the same opportunities as me. I was so wrong.
I look back and I can see the decline that began around 1980 with the triumph of Reagan and negative politics. Maybe I’m not seeing it clearly, but I think I am.
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com
204 pages, (50 pages notes and index)
Published June 2024; Available at Cloud and Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita; Tillamook Public Library (soon)
