To understand the world of politics and change it for the better, it’s paramount that people begin to study political theory and the ways in which it has manifest throughout history up into the present day. By bringing light to the origins of political and philosophical thought, the present day becomes all the more explainable because one is now able to see the logical progression of such manifestations.
With this urge to better understand the root of many of the common political ideologies present in the world, The Last American Vagabond has decided to team up with Keith Preston in a new podcast series in which the who, what, where, when and how of different political theories will be explored.
INTRODUCTION
For those unaware, Keith Preston was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. He received a B.A. in Religious Studies and an M.A. in History from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, with additional graduate study in Sociology and Criminology. Keith is a former instructor of Sociology at John Tyler Community College. He is a former regional delegate for the Industrial Workers of the World and a former member of the National Committee of the Workers Solidarity Alliance, the U.S. section of the International Workers Association. He is the founder and director of American Revolutionary Vanguard and the chief editor of AttacktheSystem.com. Keith has been a contributor to LewRockwell.com, Antiwar.com, Anti-State.com, Taki’s Magazine, and AlternativeRight.com. He was awarded the 2008 Chris R. Tame Memorial Prize by the United Kingdom’s Libertarian Alliance for his essay, “Free Enterprise: The Antidote to Corporate Plutocracy.” Keith has been a featured speaker at conferences of the National Policy Institute and the H. L. Mencken Club. He has been interviewed on numerous internet podcast and radio programs and appeared as a guest analyst on Russia Today and BBC Persian. He is also host of the ongoing “Attack the System” online podcast series.
PART 2: NEOLIBERALISM
In part 2, Keith and Tim take a deeper look into what is commonly known as neoliberalism, which is an ideological spinoff from classical liberalism that tends to champion free markets and open borders as the best economic models for the world. In their doctrine, neoliberals claim that laissez-faire free markets will bring maximum prosperity to the world, but the reality seems to be quite different. When we study their actions over the last 4o+ years, we notice that neoliberals are very much in favor of state intervention for the benefit of the dominant ruling class, while the concerns of everyone else are completely forgotten. The obvious contradiction here is that the use of state intervention to benefit the elite class is inherently against free market principles; therefore, it can’t even be considered of free market origin.
When looking at the past neoliberal administrations and the policies they have implemented, what we often see is privatization of key assets in society, austerity measures the result to cuts in social programs and abolition of workers rights, international free trade agreements that benefit big businesses, deregulation of laws the hold corporations in check like pollution standards, and exploitation of foreign countries by the more dominant western societies. When adding all these policies together, what starts to emerge is an enormous wealth gap between the elite class and everyone else, mostly because the dominant class has free reign over most of the key markets and assets around the world, while at the same time utilizing cheap labor and defunding social safety nets. In reality, neoliberalism is the economic engine of the current manifestation of globalism, while neo-conservatism could be considered the military side of globalism.
It’s becoming abundantly clear that society needs to eradicate the cancer of neoliberalism from the world, especially when considering that the worlds eight richest people have as much wealth as the bottom half. This is a trend that is only getting worse. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the current path is simply unsustainable and will lead to massive social unrest if not properly dealt with, and rightfully so.
To break away from such a toxic system that has its tentacles all over the world, it’s paramount that people begin to learn how this system is created; specifically the who, what, where, when, and why behind the neoliberal ideology. Once people begin to identify the core of the ideology and how it all works, then they can begin the necessary process of uprooting it and ultimately replacing it with something much better. The goal of this podcast is simply to aid in the process of understanding the problem, because here at The Last American Vagabond, we know that a better world is truly attainable if we continue to seek out the truth and build from that enhanced understanding.
Check out the previous episode on Cultural Marxism: http://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/politics/unraveling-political-theory-cultural-marxism/