I have posted this as a Twitter thread this morning. I suspect I will not be popular with some for doing so. But that is the whole point of the thread...
Nick Cohen says in the Observer today ‘On the left, the list of taboos you cannot break stretches to the crack of doom. Once again, no one admits they observe them out of fear of online abuse or of malicious colleagues demanding their dismissal.' A thread seems to be required…
What are these taboos that the left cannot acknowledge? Let's start with the big one. It's that we live in a democracy. We don't. First past the post doesn't even vaguely approximate to the democracy that we need. We should say it.
Then it has to be said that Labour are as much opposed to democracy as the Tories. Labour willingly partake in maintaining first past the post and are, alongside the Tories, enemies of democracy as a result.
Whilst we're talking of Labour, their tribalism is also deeply destructive. It is obvious that we need a progressive alliance to defeat the Tories now. But Labour refuse to countenance it. They would clearly rather have a Tory government. That has to be said.
Labour is also profoundly neoliberal. Having abandoned social democracy in the late 70s they have openly embraced neoliberalism - and all the anti-democratic aspects of it from independent central banking onward ever since. That has also made them friends of austerity.
Add to all that the refusal of Labour to recognise the ability of the people of Scotland to ever manage their own affairs and the message delivered is one of basic contempt for the people they're seeking to represent.
What are other taboos? One is that the SNP want independence. As many commentators on my blog note, uncomfortably often, the evidence for that is pretty hard to find right now. The perpetual dithering is what makes it hard to believe, as some in the SNP agree.
And let's also be clear, whilst the SNP remains committed to using the UK pound after independence, whatever it says on that issue indicates it too has a lack of confidence in the people of Scotland to rule themselves. It's not a good sign.
What else is there? Another taboo means that too many greens are not willing to take on the climate delayers. Unless greens are willing to explain just what climate change means and what it is going to cost how are we going to come to terms with it?
There has to honesty too that climate change is going to demand that we will have to live differently - pretending otherwise is just wrong. That also means addressing migration, and so many other issues, but they remain taboo.
That hints at many issues around discrimination that are also taboo, but I am not going there in this thread.
Instead I'll note that maybe the biggest taboo is about mentioning that most of the left is crippled by the neoliberal lie that there isn't enough money to do what is required. They still believe that tax constrains possibilities. So they argue for right wing policies.
The reality is that we can afford anything we can actually do. Money can always be found to do what is possible; spending to do what is possible literally creates the money required to pay for it. And that spend also generates the tax that balances the books, if desired.
In 1940 Lord Keynes explained this was the way to pay for WW2. He was proved to be right. But this has been forgotten. That is what I am afraid of. I am afraid that the biggest taboo is that the state cannot deliver for a country where so much is possible and needs to be done.
So, I am afraid of the neoliberal taboo that ensnares the left now. That myth seeks to deny us any chance of a future. It would be good if more people said this because it's the truth. But it's always scary when breaking the taboo requires that people stand out in the crowd.
As Nick Cohen said ‘On occasion, the most courageous way to fight [oppressive regimes] is simply to admit we are afraid'. I am afraid. But the oppressive regime I fear is not just the Tory government. It's the combined power of neoliberalism that I am afraid of.
The neoliberal mythology of oppression is crippling the necessary process of political change in the UK. It is denying us choice, and even the possibility of choice, all to appease the interests of wealth. Saying that is taboo. But it is what is happening.
If people aren't afraid maybe they've already given in to the power of that myth, and have been numbed into submission by it. That is its purveyors' intention. I just hope that is not true. I hope they are afraid, and sometime will say so. It has to happen. Change depends on it.
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The argument that you can pay for things like wars the Keynesian way feels ugly. And it’s hurtful to those who paid prices in terms of lost lives, limbs and careers. If only we’d realised government can pay for anything available in its own currency, and better taxation makes your currency harder and means more things available seems to be the view.
Might work in peace time but not in war where government compulsion takes place to move resources and in particular people into danger. Fortunately you weren’t around and Keynes wasn’t in charge, so the idea of entirely government driven allocation of resources using money and no coercion wasn’t on.
Keynes was pretty much in charge
And his policy was used
And I have to be candid, even as a Quaker I think WW2 had to be fought
But they key thing was the idea, and it was right
Keynes absolutely was in charge during ww2. They made him a lord.
Most of the keynesian revolution was not necessarily a full implementation of keynesian theory. But policies in the early 40s that were planned and implemented from Keynes’ direct involvement as a civil servant and politician.
Thank you, Richard, this needs to be said. Often.
Hi Richard
If a new movement /party advocated the ending of council tax and local business rates, and instead just had an obligation to provide the said services (with government support) I think it would blow open the debate about the myth of government spending and debt.
I fully agree with the idea of “if we can do it, we can afford it”. A move to wind up those crippling costs to innovators and workers, and to challenge the neo Liberal local council advocates of both Labour and Tory origin, would blow the con trick out of the water. Would you agree on this?
Cheers
I think there is more to it than that
[…] I have already said elsewhere this morning, this is what is not just killing politics in the UK, but quite literally us […]
Richard, your phrase – “So, I am afraid of the neoliberal taboo that ensnares the left now” gets to the root of the problem – there isn’t really a “left” in public prominence. Those that claim to be “centre left”, “moderate”, “liberals” are anything but. The demonisation of Corbyn shows what happens when someone genuinely wishes to be “left”, and seeks to challenge the right wing narrative.
There are no “difficult decisions” to be made over whether to look after the poor, the sick, the disabled. The only decision to be made, is how to accomplish it, and that is not difficult, simply practical.
It would seem that economic education, might be the best route out of our stiuation, and that needs to happen well away from the media.
I go on Amazon to review books using many of the themes I have come into contact with here. I chose to do so because I was horrified at what I saw there – positive reviews on some very ugly ideas/books about Europe, Government, immigration, climate denial and the future of this country that Amazon sells it seems with no moral judgement at all. Honestly I thought – OMG – so this is where bad ideas can take hold! I was mortified (scared).
I do this because when you go to Amazon’s book review section, you can see Neo-liberal mythology everywhere, being sucked up by people like they suck up milkshakes through straws at MacDonalds. I’ve even been on Amazon to argue with reviewers to defend Stephanie Kelton’s book, even one of yours and many, many others that are plainly disparaged – not even reviewed seriously or just dismissed out of hand by tossers who just either do not know what they are talking about or know what they are doing.
During 2020 sometime, Amazon withdrew the comment section (well they do on my log-in anyway) on the reviews.
And recently I have been issued with a warning by Amazon about one or two of my ‘posts’ not conforming to ‘community guidelines’. Usually, if they don’t like what you have written they refuse to publish it and you are asked to re-submit but with no guidance. That has happed to me but I have to say I’m always guided by the reviews already there, and I rewrite and it is submitted and accepted. But this came with a threat to ‘suspend my community privileges’. So, I am going to raise this with them. All I have done is post reviews.
The warning BTW, was typical Big Brother in its approach – I kid you not. It did not tell me what the issue was, what review it was related to or even give me a right to reply or even apologise! It did not tell me who it was who was offended. And here we are in the so–called ‘democracy’ of the online world. And here I was – a paying customer, supposedly sovereign through my debit card, being told off and threatened ominously .
Some might say that , well, you are pretty strident sometimes PSR here, so maybe you are the problem. Well, could be – I’ll accept that. Richard has sometimes (wisely) not published my posts on this blog.
But I’m reviewing things (books usually) not contributing to a blog that I have bought that’s all and trying to put over another view that is all too often ignored. I take my reviews seriously and try to write well to make the points heard. Writing is a discipline and I try to write well on what I read. At the moment I’m in the Top 1000 range of reviewers (I also review films, music and other stuff I’ve bought over the years).
But what I got out of this was a cloying sense of control, of oppression from this email when even now you can read reviews that are basically nothing but the views of fascists, racists and some very misled or malign people indeed seeking to influence others. There are also other people on Amazon share my views and are not happy too – and they get published as well. But they are in the minority.
So yes, I am scared of two things – ignorance and agnotology – or shall we ‘public relations’.
Both will supress action as you say to the benefit of those who like things as they are and whose money will insulate them from the consequences . I chose my battlefield in Amazon’s review section but I might be out manoeuvred and forced to retire.
But it’s not supposed to be like that is it? Markets are (according to Neo-liberals) the great information processors of our time, spreading knowledge to everyone, totally democratic and open, giving everyone a chance so that it can only be our fault if we do not succeed. No asymmetry, no manipulation – just pure.
What a load of bollocks.
I’m terrified BTW.
PSR
I have often thought spaces provided by the néolibéral world view are part of modern day Sovereignty. Of being schooled in conforming to their perceived wisdom, challenging simply provides them with the opportunity to send you back to do your homework again until you get it right.
I suppose this way of controlling people has existed from time immemorial, from praying to the sun god’s for the suns daily return to animal and even human sacrifice to the Bible being translated into English.
Your anger and frustration is obvious at times, keep it up we need it.
‘Agnotology’ – thank you for introducing me to this word. And what a very apt word for these times….
I agree with every point you make Richard and I thank you for them.
I left the LP because it was inevitable that my Palestinian support would end in me being kicked out of a party that I had supported and sometimes been a member from being a teenager. I did fear being labeled as anti-Semitic as most people would.
I support Scottish Independence and wish to see it in my lifetime and to have a Scottish passport as I have no intention of having a British Passport again. I don’t believe another referendum is the route to follow as there are many other ways that could be explored.
The problem is a large part of the “public” don’t really know what neoliberalism is, or if they do, are taken in by right-wing propaganda. Any critique of what is essentially the capitalist system that we are talking about is dismissed as loony left, extremism, reds under the beds scares. So imbalanced is the so-called mainstream political debate now that anybody questioning the direction of society and global crisis is suspect. Maybe some readers of the Guardian, Financial Times, Independent understand what is actually going on but are soon put down by the smug, complacent Conservatives. Therefore anyone wishing to pursue any sort of relevant progressive ideas are loathe to put their heads above the parapet. Fortunately, there are a few commentators such as Richard who really do make an effort to present alternative thinking and discussion that is sorely lacking in Parliament (with some honourable exception like Caroline Lucas and Clive Lewis
My colleagues in the Green New Deal Group….
[…] simpler platform for common political work to achieve a goal? I doubt it. But, will it happen? Read what I wrote yesterday to note why not at present. And be afraid. The Luddites are in charge. We need change very urgently. And they are determined […]
Given that we dont even seem to have anything in politics about the UK Housing Crisis, which in my opinion has the potential to cause civil unrest, why do we expect politicians to address climate change?