[R-G] Neo-con abdication and the U.S. crisis

[Anthony Fenton]

Neo-con abdication and the U.S. crisis
October 01, 2008
Anthony Cuschieri
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 1, 2008)
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/443242

The financial turmoil taking place in the U.S. should teach Stephen  
Harper and all neo-cons, including some Liberals, a lesson on the  
dangers of deregulation, out-sourcing and privatization, the sacred  
cows of the economic blue-print of the "new" Conservative Party of  
Canada. It is a danger that arises when governments abdicate their  
responsibility to protect their citizens.

It is part of the political/economic agenda of conservative  
governments across the world, and of the Republican party of the U.S.,  
to substantially reduce the role of government in the economic, social  
and financial activities of the nation. This economic/political dogma  
betrays a mind-set rooted in the 19th-century political/economic  
paradigm, expressed in the infamous slogan, "laissez-faire."

The believers of this dogma, that purports to guarantee prosperity and  
stability if government "interference" is eliminated, still exist  
today among Conservative economists, the Canadian Council of Chief  
Executives and others. These people use their persuasive skills, their  
financial and political power and lobbying clout to pressure  
governments to abdicate their social responsibilities and leave  
everything to the "self regulating" market forces. These forces  
presumably operate like a benign power, eventually bringing harmony  
and settlement, following times of economic turmoil, through the  
balancing of demand and supply.

But therein lies the myth.

The economic skinheads who pontificate about the inviolability of  
market forces refuse, or fail, to realize that these same forces are  
not "natural," independent or neutral but, on the contrary, are in  
reality manipulated and influenced by the greed of real men and women.  
They are speculators, irresponsible investors and financiers, ruthless  
CEOs and shareholders who, legally, enforce their right to  
maximization of profit regardless of concerns and consequences.

The concept of independent and free-market forces is a myth, but a  
lucrative one to those who peddle it like a dogma, the neo-cons. We  
can see the fallacy of this myth in the current price of gas at the  
pump. Since market forces are governed, manipulated and determined by  
the whims of a sector of society, government "interference" in  
economic activity would mean regulating, supervising, checking and  
controlling the unscrupulous influence of that sector.

In a genuine democracy, regardless of the political colouring of the  
electorate, a government is elected to protect and enhance the common  
good and to protect society from violence and other harmful threats. A  
government has a sacred trust to, among other things, protect the  
people and the country from terrorism and from other lethal threats.

But equally sacred is a government's obligation to protect its  
citizens against the violence and lethal threats from the economic and  
financial sectors and from those who provide essential services. This  
sacred responsibility and duty demand that a government exercise a  
strong supervisory and regulatory role in the provision of essential  
services and over those services that remain in the private domain but  
impact on the well-being of society.

It is precisely the lack of credible and accountable supervisory and  
regulatory powers and the abdication of the government's sacred  
obligations that have brought the near catastrophe to the United  
States under the Bush administration. The irony of all this is that  
the Bush administration had to interfere in economic and financial  
activities in a manner that is difficult to justify: bailing out the  
rich following grave mismanagement and corruption.

Stephen Harper and his neo-cons should learn the truth -- that  
deregulation, out-sourcing and privatization of essential services  
undermine a government's fundamental and sacred responsibility to  
oversee, supervise and regulate the activity of those agencies,  
institutions and corporations that impact seriously on the welfare of  
the society.

It is often said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat  
its mistakes. People of Ontario should have learned this lesson with  
the tragedy at Walkerton when the supervisory role of government  
inspectors was reduced as part of the Conservative agenda to free  
government of its sacred obligations toward society; it was then  
called "Common Sense."

Almost 60 years ago, Albert Einstein wrote prophetic words:

"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in  
my opinion, the real source of the evil.

"We see before us a huge community of producers, the members of which  
are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their  
collective labour -- not by force, but on the whole in faithful  
compliance with legally established rules."

Anthony Cuschieri lives in Stoney Creek.