This is a quick quiz to help you determine whether the politicians you support are ardent neoliberals, interested in defending corporate plutocracy and probably in crushing your rights.
Rather than answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ immediately it might be better to do a little research, preferably in sources which do not generally support the person you are answering the questions about – this way you may get information you are not aware of. Remember that the neoliberal conspiracy means that you are likely to have false, favourable, or excusing information, for any really prominent neoliberal figures.
The more ‘yes’s a person scores in answer to these questions, the more they are probably a neoliberal.
It is unlikely that any politician nowadays will score zero, such is the power of neoliberal ideology, but it is best to know how much you are being conspired against.
However the great thing about neoliberalism, is that strong neoliberals will probably be consistent on most of these points, so it may be worth checking up on reality again, if they have an area in which they appear to score low.
*********************
Do they talk a lot about the free market?
Are they in favour of tax cuts which primarily favour the already wealthy?
Are they in favour of tax cuts which benefit big business?
Are they in favour of, or quietly vote for, taxpayer bailouts for favoured corporations?
Are they in favour of cutting back government services and help for ordinary people?
Do they seem to continue government services for wealthy people and corporations, even if they try to hide this?
Do they generally prefer to ignore business corruption? A usual excuse is that doing something would be harmful for business confidence in a tough time.
Do they seem to care if their party, or corporate elite supporters, are corrupt in their business or fund raising?
Does their own fund raising break regulations, or does the money raised go into the pockets of the organisational elite?
Are they involved with fraudulent charities, whose funds support them? Are they convicted of running a fraudulent charity, or did they solve the issue out of court?
Do politicians on this side, use their contacts to increase the profitability of their personal business, or do favourable departmental deals with their friends and supporters?
Is this systematic, or a few corrupt people?
Do they fail to support independent anti-governmental corruption organisations?
Do they support unlimited corporate political donations and lobbying? This is usually supported as free speech, but its really the right of the wealthy to buy being heard, and ordinary people to be ignored.
Do they try to reinforce the idea that corporations are persons with the rights of persons?
Do they oppose minimum wages?
Are they happy for ordinary people to suffer, die or be injured to help ‘the economy’ or ‘the market’?
Do they repeal health and safety rules, lessen the responsibilities of employers towards workers, or lower payouts for worker injury?
Do they avoid providing easily accessible statistics and accounts of workplace injury and death?
Do they support cutbacks in funding for public education (of all, or any, types)?
Do they support increased funding for private education, but not with any demand for lower fees, or accountability?
Does most of the funding for private schools go to already wealthy private schools, or to the schools of those religions who support them?
Do they oppose any science that goes against their apparent interests or which warns against activities conducted by favoured corporations?
Do they allege that the scientists who disagree with them are organised and politically hostile to them, or to democracy in general?
Do they prefer to get their information from corporately supported private think tanks, than from publically funded and reviewed scientists?
Do they deny climate change, or say climate change is not urgent, or suggest it will cool again sometime in the future if we do nothing?
Do they pretend that wildfires have nothing to do with increased heating or drying out of forests or grasslands?
Do they pretend that the breakdown of land ice is irrelevant or something which will happen in the distant future?
Do they support fossil fuel companies, give taxpayer money to fossil fuel companies, or regulate energy in favour of fossil fuel companies?
Do they encourage the mining of fossil fuels in food production areas?
Do they attempt to over-regulate renewable energy, while claiming they hate business regulation?
Do they support the repeal, or relaxation, of environmental and anti-pollution regulations, so that business can ‘productively’ damage the ecology for profit?
Are they more likely to ignore pollution dumping when it affects poor areas and people?
Do they allow genetic modification of crops, and approve or encourage insecticides that are possibly harmful to humans?
Do they support the large corporation when it claims its genetically modified crops are sterile and that organic farmers whose crops contain such gene modifications have stolen their property?
Do they oppose restraints on corporate fishing?
Do they give taxpayer funding to corporate environmental organisations which end up doing very little, or which encourage pollution?
Do they support increased military spending?
Does most of that increased military spending go to the corporate sector, such as armaments manufacturers?
Do they support massive arms deals with repressive States in the rest of the world?
Do they get involved in wars, or use troops, to support corporate interests?
Do they side with authoritarian religions, who support business?
Do they side with, or claim to like, authoritarian leaders and States?
Do they encourage fracturing of the population, claiming that everyone who opposes them is evil? Especially do they do this on days of national unity?
Do they engage in culture wars, especially while destroying the basis of the culture they claim to defend?
Do they make minorities evil?
Do they seem happy to use the armed might of the State to repress protests?
Do they increase penalties for protesting against them, or their favoured activities?
Do they support people who shoot into crowds they don’t like, whether with live or other ammunition?
Do they ignore the violent arrest of people they disagree with, while getting annoyed at the violent arrest of people they agree with?
Do they demonise Media which does not always support them?
Are their media supporters, people who shout a lot and try and get people angry with those who disagree with them?
Do they listen to people who disagree with them, or disparage them completely?
Are they routinely supported by people in the Murdoch Empire?
Is their main policy area describable by saying ‘if wealthy people get wealthier, everyone will benefit’?
As a Bonus Extra:
Do they pretend that they did not support George W. Bush’s Iraq war, and that their opponents were the main people in favour of it?
Tags: neoliberalism
Climate, technology and chaos Blog 
Leave a comment