What exactly is 'Neo-liberalism' and what does it have to do with our movement?
I've used the term before when describing Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, etc. (bad liberals...). I just figured that they were liberals with a fascist agenda.
I recently looked up the term 'neo-liberal' on Wikipedia to learn more about its origin, and I was shocked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-liberal
"Neoliberalism advocates policies such as individual liberty, free markets, and free trade."
What?! So, essentially, they're labeling those of us involved with the Ron Paul movement as-- 'neo-liberals?'
I think we need to correct this NOW. The GOP has just been considerably damaged right now, and if we're going to be able to offer our ideas onto the new platform, we can't risk having them tainted by this categorization. AND, if there are some young liberals out there with a slight bent to Ron Paul, we can't afford to allow them to be discouraged from the freedom philosophy by being labeled 'Neo-liberals' by their fellow liberals. The word itself lends to negative connotations (primarily because of the neocons).
Anyone agree? Am I making too much of this? Did anyone else think that neo-liberals were statists? I'm bewildered.
There is a great deal of
There is a great deal of difference between what we now know as "liberalism", "conservatism" and what was once called Classical Liberalism which more in line with the Jeffersonian Ideal, the Austrian Economic view and Constitutionalism. The closest thing to Classical Liberalism in this country would be the Old Right Conservatism of Barry Goldwater, Robert Taft and of course Ron Paul.
http://www.1776solution.blogspot.com
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater
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Lib/Conser
social/political climates change, they always do. In relation to the CURRENT social/political climate:
Liberal means change.
Conservative means maintain the status quo.
That's It.
You may be a Lib one day, and a Conservo the next due to changes around you... but people dishonestly (or ignorantly) cling to their labels. Neither Lib nor Con are inherently bad... it's what they want to change or preserve where discernment comes in.
Neo-Liberals / Latin America
Throughout Latin American countries.... the term is derogatory.
It is used to symbolize the Trade Policies of the NWO and World Bank.
It represents to the common people what they are fighting AGAINST...
it symbolizes U.S. corporate interests that use financial leverage and WTO / World Bank "loans" to hold their governments hostage;
to install their own people into office;
to impose "austerity measures" upon their economies;
to assert control over their natural resources;
to establish factories on their lands enslaving workers and siphoning the fruit of their labor.
I think it's funny
Neo means new, right? So, new conservatives are fascists, while new liberals are Constitutionalists! They want everyone so confused by the labels that they don't know which way to turn.
I don't think it's
I don't think it's conspiracy; it's just stupidity. A lot of people in the libertarian movement have been, at least until recently, scared to death to confront liberals/progressives because they prefer the academics and the pseudo-intellectuals to conservatives. They love the term "classical liberal", dating back to the Jeffersonian era, despite the fact that it is clearly obsolete today. They--or people like them--came up with this term "neoliberal".
If you scroll to the bottom of the Wiki page, you'll see a link to "classical liberalism".
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Basically Neo-libs are like Neo-cons
They both break their promises to their party base to strengthen the NWO as best as they can.
They twist everything to suit the NWO and pretend to be more towards 'the center' when confronted.
That center is a One World Government.
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Glen Beck -- An Exposed Enemy:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/90198
Glenn Beck Supports NAFTA and taking your job:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/86643
And how do you know this?
Is it just a gut-feeling... or is this what you've been told?
Regardless, I agree with you, my gut-feeling was that 'neo-liberal' was a pejorative, negative term.
But I just have a problem with most 'collectivist' terms in general.. I'm just curious, if a self-proclaimed neo-liberal wanted to run on a Ron Paul platform, should we trust him/her?
Neoliberals aren't bad democrats
Around the world, liberals are advocates of economic liberalism (minimal government and free market capitalism). Only in the United States the word liberal has been associated with socialism.
Neoliberal is a derogatory term created by socialists to criticize what they believe to be the "new" liberals, i.e., advocates of a radical form of economic liberalism which appeared with the fall of the Soviet Union. They lump together Chicago school economists like Milton Friedman, central bank chairmen, Austrian school economists like Hayek and essentially use the word neoliberal as a substitute for "capitalist pig". Their notion is that neoliberalism stands for all the evils of capitalism, especially the exploitation of workers.
The term neoliberalism should not be used in a serious discussion. It does not represent an economic school (no economist calls himself a member of the "neoliberal" school), and doesn't even have a consistent definition (for instance, the Chicago school is for government intervention via central banks, something that Austrians are against).
People like Greenspan give credence to socialists who want to use this word. The media loves to ask Greenspan about capitalism, as if the chairman of a central bank could give a good opinion about what a free market is. Greenspan is often described as "libertarian", which is also ridiculous. The bottom line is that people like Greenspan talk about the virtues of small government and a free market, but at the same time intervene and destroy the economy. The socialists use Greenspan's words to claim that small government doesn't work.
I thought neo-liberal was a british word
I think liberal is libertarian in the UK and libertarian is democrat.
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"We will never give up. We will never give in." - Dr. Ron Paul
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"We will never give up. We will never give in." - Dr. Ron Paul
I agree
I have seen the same entry in Wikipedia before as well. I share your concern. I think I have the answer.
Neo-liberals claim to support "free trade" economic policies, but Ron Paul taught us that as long as there is a WTO running the show then we don't have free trade. We have Centrally managed trade under the WTO. It's the same thing with markets. You can't have a truly "free market" economy if you have a Federal Reserve (central bank) determining what the interest rates are. That is centrally managed trade, which is anything but free.
So, we have to begin to correct the distortions in definitions. People are blaming free market capitalism for our current banking crisis, but, we all know that we haven't had free market capitalism since 1913. We must call Centrally managed markets and trade what they really are: Communism!.
Neo-liberal economists support the Federal Reserve and WTO I think. We have to differentiate free market capitalism and free trade from their centrally managed ideas. That's my view.