Will Neoliberalism Bring Back the Nation-state?

This is a typical neoliberal sleight of hand. We are told that it’s our fault that these neoliberal policies are inflicted on us. If we didn’t expect the nation-state to provide welfare, the narrative goes, that would somehow strengthen the nation-state. We are too spoiled, too flawed, too demanding. If we were more neoliberal (more self-reliant, individualistic, healthier, always young) and less in need of a nation-state, that would bring back the nation-state. The nation-state is supposed to come back as soon as we stop needing it.

I guess that’s why we are seeing these crowds of migrants crossing the border consist of old people, folks in wheelchairs, and mothers with droves of small children. Miles of footage of migrant crowds, and not a young, healthy male in sight. We should give up our disability and old age protections, and immediately all these infirm elderly migrants will immediately skedaddle back home.

Ramaswamy’s position is an extension of “let’s defund the police to reduce crime.” Policing is the number one welfare guarantee of the nation-state. Strangely, defunding police didn’t produce the desired result. But why should we learn anything from that experiment and stop to ponder different models of statehood? No, let’s do more of the same and expect a different result.

Instead of telling us that we deserve mass migration because we are too flawed, politicians could propose to eliminate the adjudication of illegal immigrant cases on the territory of the US. But, once again, nobody is even hinting that this is possible.