People talk about neoliberalism like it’s still 1985 and neoliberalism is this sort of an unchangeable monolith. But it’s not. It changes, it moves. It is honest in the sense that it demands from us the same changeability that it manifests.
The first stage of neoliberalism was the reduction of the state institutions that guaranteed (or attempted to do so) the welfare of the citizens.
The second stage was putting in place of those institutions mechanisms of state control that ensured ideological compliance.
By the end of the second stage, the state transformed itself from an entity that sought legitimacy through the consent of the subjects into an entity that silenced the subjects and expressed consent on their behalf.
The institutions of the state are now stronger than ever but their function is no longer to help out citizens in difficult times. It is, instead, to shut up the citizens when they want to speak out about the difficult times.
I will leave everybody to figure out for themselves if removing these currently existing institutions of the state helps or thwarts neoliberalism. I’ll remind you, though, that neoliberalism is not about destroying the state. It’s about making it do something completely different than before.
Clarissa's Blog 
“I will leave everybody to figure out for themselves if removing these currently existing institutions of the state helps or thwarts neoliberalism. I’ll remind you, though, that neoliberalism is not about destroying the state. It’s about making it do something completely different than before.”
I can’t figure it out. I’m not smart enough I guess, which is a prohibitively embarrassing thing to admit anywhere except an anonymous internet forum.
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The state which Musk experienced in 1985 was mostly concerned with repressing the vast majority of the citizens, which probably explains why he favors reducing the role of the state as much as possible.
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OT: but apparently one of the things USAID was doing was spending millions of dollars on Politico subscriptions. Imagine.
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I just found out!! For a long time, I’ve been telling people to stop quoting Politico at me because it’s a propaganda tool. I’ve been completely vindicated.
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IKR? Literally for years, “How can you not tell? They are all saying the same thing at the same time with the same words and phrases. How do you not understand that this is propaganda, and they are all reading off the same prompter sheet?”
Never expected to get the receipts on it.
Data Republican and others on Xitter are having a field day:
https://x.com/akafaceUS/status/1887226299284136044
Chelsea Clinton. I’ve been trying to explain this one to people for ages, and get that blank propaganda-bot look. Like, yo, nonprofit jobs for failsons and other not-politician-material offspring of pols: those aren’t *jobs*, they’re payoffs. Using money that should’ve been going to, say, maintaining bridges and updating electrical infrastructure.
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–and yeah, apparently without USAID moolah, Politico *can’t even pay its employees* it’s that thoroughly a CIA front.
I am so looking forward to seeing what *other* media outlets suddenly go bankrupt because we’re no longer using a taxpayer-funded CIA slush fund to run them as Democrat campaign machines.
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