Privilege versus equality. "The central issue in the conflict between the government and doctors in Saskatchewan is not health insurance, but democracy," noted the Globe and Mail after the strike began. "The experts, no matter what their specialty, must always ultimately be subordinate to the laity."
America's authoritarianism (tags)
Donald Trump declared himself the winner, although the votes are far from being counted. His contempt for democracy knows no bounds. Anyone who previously thought that the USA was clearly different from Hungary or Poland was mistaken. Americans voted for a liar, racist and macho who thinks little of democracy.
Right-wing Populism: A Wave of Nostalgia (tags)
For decades, western societies were marked by pluralization, individualization, and liberalization. Why are attitudes and pressures of society against these trends becoming dominant? Right-wing populism is anti-liberal.
Right-wing Populism: Can More Madness Cure the Madness? (tags)
Neoliberal policy was always mad. But an even greater madness now appears with rightwing populism. Politics is mad because it writes off large parts of the population. Economic Darwinism has nested and established itself as market ideology in the brains of people.
Fletcher Rallies Progressive Crowd to Fight the Right (tags)
The leaflet advertising author and former labor educator Bill Fletcher's talk September 13 in Balboa Park promised a considerably more optimistic speech than the one he actually gave. Stunned by the mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. by radical-Right opponents of President Obama's supposedly "socialist" agenda, Fletcher gave a strongly worded warning to his Leftist audience that unless the American Left organizes now, not only to fight the Right but to appeal to the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans, the movement he called "Right-wing populism" — talk radio, Fox news, the "teabag" protests and the thug-like disruption of Congressmembers' town-hall meetings on health reform — will sweep the country and consign all progressive movements and any part of distributive justice and a social-welfare state to oblivion.
VillageVoice.com: Al Gore, Corporate Pawn (tags)
VillageVoice.com online exclusive: This Is Not Populism by James Ridgeway Al Gore, Corporate Pawn