This election cycle has thrown confused America into bold relief like never before. The cool face of Neoliberalism is being vigorously challenged, but most still don’t know what the problem is all about. Obama’s suave eight years will give way to something pretty much the same- Hillary’s agenda, or something quite different- a vicious dog on the snarling Right or the barking alarm of the prescient Left. The time of Populist outrage has arrived.
If Obama himself could not articulate and address the politics of rage against the utter macho venality of the American political experiment aggravated by the singular problem of Big Carbon and global warming/ climate change, then a polarized electorate will try to do so. But the interesting point is the near utter refusal by almost all politicians to precisely acknowledge the problem.
Big Carbon- the global and systemic dependency on fossil fuel, is lumbering and gorging like a Wooly Mammoth with no tomorrow. The Beast must die, and be replaced by a Green future. This is an inevitability; what remains to be seen is how long it takes for this to become a matter of public policy endorsed by the electorate. The subject must become an urgent and informed discussion on the national and regional levels and result in a united will to implement creative solutions. We need to drastically and collectively change our lifestyle.
What’s important to understand is that Neoliberalism is powered by Big Carbon; Neoliberalism is Corporatist State economics, i.e. an Oligarchy, or if you prefer, an Oilagarchy. It is the very opposite of what E.F. Schumacher advocates in “Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered”. Neoliberalism is political economy run by corporations dedicated to Big Carbon. This trend gathered speed in the ’80’s under Reagan and then Bush, who started the movement to bust unions, gathered force and direction under Clinton with the repeal of Glass-Steagall (deregulation of speculative banking) and the passage of NAFTA (kick the small shopkeeper and farmer in the face), grew like a monstrous weed with Shrubby Bush’s military/ corporate invasion of Iraq and has continued with Obama’s Republican-Light politics of national surveillance, Drone Wars, TRP, etc. Hillary has repeatedly stated that she will continue this Neoliberal legacy if elected.
The great problem in addressing Big Carbon, Big Brother and Big Fist- Neoliberalism in short, is that it is a massive lumbering Animal not ready to die; it is the Big Elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about.
