Neoliberalism is all about maximizing individual freedom and freeing individuals from all manner of constraints.
So why, then, do authoritarian regimes like neoliberalism so much? China, Russia, and now the illiberal Left in Canada, the UK and the US are all really into neoliberalism. Why?
Neoliberalism convinces us that every problem is a result of our individual failings. COVID spread because individuals didn’t “mask up” (what a horrid expression) actively enough. An unemployed former miner in West Virginia is poor because he failed to learn how to code. Russia is a mess because individuals engage in corruption. What an easy argument for any authoritarian regime to use to excuse its failings. It’s not me, it’s you! You are imperfect. Absolutely nothing is wrong with our political system. The economy is amazing. If you can’t see that and turn it to your advantage, it’s because you are a loser.
Humans are, indeed, imperfect. We all know extremely well exactly where our imperfections lie. This argument works because it speaks to our intimate understanding of how massively imperfect we are. We feel a pang of guilt and immediately let the authoritarian regime off the hook. Yes, it’s me, I must have caused this somehow. What’s not to like if you are a politician eager to establish authoritarian rule? You can do absolutely anything you want to the people and they’ll just blame themselves for not having superhuman capabilities.
Clarissa's Blog 
Oh, yay. Your city was destroyed by an earthquake. Clearly it was because you didn’t repent in time.
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“Your city was destroyed by an earthquake”
Pretty dumb to build a city in a place that earthquakes happen! What losers!
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“The *real* reason you can’t afford a house is you didn’t finish college, and you had kids instead of a career. Dumbass.”
(the worst part is I was raised in this culture and it’s my own internal dialogue that says it)
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“my own internal dialogue that says it”
You need to tell that bitch to shut the fuck up. Sometimes a person’s own internal dialogue is right and needs to be listened to and sometimes it needs to be tied up and shoved down the basement stairs…. though if you’re in Florida there’s no basement… so tied up and thrown into a pond to think things over.
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Don’t need a basement when you have a big fireplace … 🙂
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Haven’t got those in Florida either 😉
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As Byung-Chul Han says, the goal is to make us all carry our own concentration camp inside of ourselves.
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Well yeah. One of the most singularly useful things I was taught as a catechumen (we had a couple of great catechists!), these many long years ago, was *we are not our thoughts*. For most of us, very few of our thoughts are actually ours. They come from all sorts of other sources: public opinion, advertising, stuff we read, our parents, our friends, and even just… bodiless critters that buzz around us like mosquitoes. It takes a lot of practice and meditation and prayer to even be able to tell, reliably, which thoughts are ours and which ones aren’t. The key is, once you understand it, some of them are darned easy to pin down: that’s not me, that’s just the set of middle-class aspirations my mother handed me. I’ve got other priorities. It’s still there, and it’s still quite irritating at times, but I don’t have to take it seriously. It’s not mine: I can examine it critically and decide whether it’s worth incorporating or not.
So, you know, I don’t have to kick it down the stairs, but I may occasionally roll my eyes and say “OK Boomer”… that’s an attitude for an economy that doesn’t exist anymore.
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How much do you know about Noboa?
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Latin America doesn’t do well with US-style democracy. It just doesn’t. The region moves between being an utter mess and a criminal free-for-all, or putting serious limitations on what we see as democracy. There are no other option in Latin America. It is what it is. The US has spent decades, has poured enormous quantities of money, and has interfered in most annoying ways to create US-style democracies in the region. And it doesn’t work. Maybe it’s time to accept reality and stop messing with these people.
Noboa would be unacceptable to US voters. So would Bukele. But in Latin America, they are the best options on offer.
Cultural differences are very real and very strong. The entire Latin America already hates us for interfering. Yes, they are likely to drop into dictatorship mode if we don’t interfere. But it should be up to them.
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It’s not like they had US style democracies anyway. They might as well also do something about criminals.
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Exactly. These policies seem to be working in Latin America. Voters are happy. Why should we mess with these people and tell them they are wrong?
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happy voters…
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I feel sad that I can’t imagine our president getting this kind of response from any group of people without it being staged.
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As an American of Cuban descent, I agree. Many Latin Americans are willing to live with fascism or any other totalitarian regime if it means peace and quiet and getting results. Anglo-Americans are horrified, but if one lives in chaos, a strongman who creates peace and quiet is beloved. Which is why I say that the wrong Europeans colonized Latin America.
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Latin America needs to be left alone to figure out its own shit. And if Latin Americans go wrong, it will be on them to face the consequences. A century of trying to “help” them, and all we’ve got to show for it is their passionate resentment.
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