Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America
By Lynn Parramore
May 30, 2018
Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean
Ask people to name the key minds that have shaped America’s burst of radical right-wing attacks on working conditions, consumer rights and public services, and they will typically mention figures like free market-champion Milton Friedman, libertarian guru Ayn Rand, and laissez-faire economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
James McGill Buchanan is a name you will rarely hear unless you’ve taken several classes in economics. And if the Tennessee-born Nobel laureate were alive today, it would suit him just fine that most well-informed journalists, liberal politicians, and even many economics students have little understanding of his work.
The reason? Duke historian Nancy MacLean contends that his philosophy is so stark that even young libertarian acolytes are only introduced to it after they have accepted the relatively sunny perspective of Ayn Rand. (Yes, you read that correctly). If Americans really knew what Buchanan thought and promoted, and how destructively his vision is manifesting under their noses, it would dawn on them how close the country is to a transformation most would not even want to imagine, much less accept.
That is a dangerous blind spot, MacLean argues in a meticulously researched book, Democracy in Chains, a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. While Americans grapple with Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency, we may be missing the key to changes that are taking place far beyond the level of mere politics. Once these changes are locked into place, there may be no going back.
An Unlocked Door in Virginia
MacLean’s book reads like an intellectual detective story. In 2010, she moved to North Carolina, where a Tea Party-dominated Republican Party got control of both houses of the state legislature and began pushing through a radical program to suppress voter rights, decimate public services, and slash taxes on the wealthy that shocked a state long a beacon of southern moderation. Up to this point, the figure of James Buchanan flickered in her peripheral vision, but as she began to study his work closely, the events in North Carolina and also Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker was leading assaults on collective bargaining rights, shifted her focus.
Could it be that this relatively obscure economist’s distinctive thought was being put forcefully into action in real time?
MacLean could not gain access to Buchanan’s papers to test her hypothesis until after his death in January 2013. That year, just as the government was being shut down by Ted Cruz & Co., she traveled to George Mason University in Virginia, where the economist’s papers lay willy-nilly across the offices of a building now abandoned by the Koch-funded faculty to a new, fancier center in Arlington.
MacLean was stunned. The archive of the man who had sought to stay under the radar had been left totally unsorted and unguarded. The historian plunged in, and she read through boxes and drawers full of papers that included personal correspondence between Buchanan and billionaire industrialist Charles Koch. That’s when she had an amazing realization: here was the intellectual linchpin of a stealth revolution currently in progress.
……………………………………………….
A World of Slaves
Most Americans haven’t seen what’s coming.
MacLean notes that when the Kochs’ control of the GOP kicked into high gear after the financial crisis of 2007-08, many were so stunned by the “shock-and-awe” tactics of shutting down government, destroying labor unions, and rolling back services that meet citizens’ basic necessities that few realized that many leading the charge had been trained in economics at Virginia institutions, especially George Mason University. Wasn’t it just a new, particularly vicious wave of partisan politics?
It wasn’t. MacLean convincingly illustrates that it was something far more disturbing.
MacLean is not the only scholar to sound the alarm that the country is experiencing a hostile takeover that is well on its way to radically, and perhaps permanently, altering the society. Peter Temin, former head of the MIT economics department, INET grantee, and author of The Vanishing Middle Class, as well as economist Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon and author of The One Percent Solution, have provided eye-opening analyses of where America is headed and why. MacLean adds another dimension to this dystopian big picture, acquainting us with what has been overlooked in the capitalist right wing’s playbook.
She observes, for example, that many liberals have missed the point of strategies like privatization. Efforts to “reform” public education and Social Security are not just about a preference for the private sector over the public sector, she argues. You can wrap your head around those, even if you don’t agree. Instead, MacLean contends, the goal of these strategies is to radically alter power relations, weakening pro-public forces and enhancing the lobbying power and commitment of the corporations that take over public services and resources, thus advancing the plans to dismantle democracy and make way for a return to oligarchy. The majority will be held captive so that the wealthy can finally be free to do as they please, no matter how destructive.
MacLean argues that despite the rhetoric of Virginia school acolytes, shrinking big government is not really the point. The oligarchs require a government with tremendous new powers so that they can bypass the will of the people. This, as MacLean points out, requires greatly expanding police powers “to control the resultant popular anger.” The spreading use of pre-emption by GOP-controlled state legislatures to suppress local progressive victories such as living wage ordinances is another example of the right’s aggressive use of state power.
“Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy Maclean, was hammered by conservative writers who don’t want their thinking exposed. Here is a good overview for anyone interested in looking under the hood. https://t.co/WaVJlDZSyd
— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) August 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/1035311355102945285
UH HUH
https://twitter.com/NR_Garrett/status/1035185035580723201
h…hey…ABC Live is streaming a tribute concert for Aretha Franklin here…
https://abcnews.go.com/Live
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1035259883778723840
They know this. They KNOW what their father did for them.
Black Excellence Is Not Crazy: Viral Video Shows Richard Williams Creating Black Superheroes
Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Today 12:54pm
A good Daddy!
National Enquirer Had Decades of Trump Dirt. He Wanted to Buy It All.
By Jim Rutenberg and Maggie Haberman
Aug. 30, 2018
Federal investigators have provided ample evidence that President Trump was involved in deals to pay two women to keep them from speaking publicly before the 2016 election about affairs that they said they had with him.
But it turns out that Mr. Trump wanted to go even further.
He and his lawyer at the time, Michael D. Cohen, devised a plan to buy up all the dirt on Mr. Trump that the National Enquirer and its parent company had collected on him, dating back to the 1980s, according to several of Mr. Trump’s associates.
The existence of the plan, which was never finalized, has not been reported before. But it was strongly hinted at in a recording that Mr. Cohen’s lawyer released last month of a conversation about payoffs that Mr. Cohen had with Mr. Trump.
Bow down, Bytches.
…………………………
Fam. Aretha did a wardrobe change for Day Two of the viewing?!?!
I stan a LEGEND. https://t.co/6TsbjvFx3w
— April (@ReignOfApril) August 30, 2018
👑 Re: pic.twitter.com/CwH5WC1JXq
— Dudette (@Dudette9t9) August 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1034989150368407552
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/1035241996078772225
Da Phuq?
Lawsuit: Oregon construction worker fired for refusing to attend Bible study
Updated Aug 29, 8:21 PM; Posted Aug 29, 7:26 PM
By Aimee Green agreen@oregonian.com
The Oregonian/OregonLive
A 34-year-old man has filed an $800,000 lawsuit against a Albany construction company, claiming the owner fired him after he refused to attend weekly Bible study.
Ryan Coleman’s lawsuit states that he discovered only after he was hired as a painter for Dahled Up Construction that the job entailed more than just fixing up homes. According to Coleman and his lawsuit, owner Joel Dahl told him all employees were required to partake in regular Bible study sessions led by a Christian pastor during the work day, while on the clock.
Coleman told Dahl that the requirement was illegal, but Dahl wouldn’t budge, according to the lawsuit. In order to keep his job, Coleman obliged for nearly six months but ultimately told Dahl he couldn’t go, the suit says.
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/08/lawsuit_oregon_construction_wo.html
Because religious freedom and what not! ALSO TOO!
Even in Death, John McCain Is Petty AF
Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Today 12:11pm
Even in Death, John McCain Is Petty AF
Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Today 12:11pm
As a former prosecutor, I know that when defendants make incriminating admissions on tape, they often argue the tape was fudged. They invariably lose because people trust their eyes & ears. The Lester Holt interview with @POTUS has been online since May 2017. Watch it.
https://t.co/o2zJdXUCBt
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 30, 2018
From Charles Blow:
https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1035218092027199489
Vermont’s only black female lawmaker withdraws re-election bid after receiving racist threats: https://t.co/z79CseJrru pic.twitter.com/3TmHTVzAqa
— The Root (@TheRoot) August 30, 2018
Note to media: please stop treating @AndrewGillum like he’s a Bernie Sanders clone just because @SenSanders endorsed him while you ignore the fact that Mayor Gillum was a @HillaryClinton delegate who was on her list of possible VP candidates.
— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) August 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1034521477167702016?s=21
https://twitter.com/TheOliverStone/status/1034925807204884480
Word of the Day : August 30, 2018
Buttonhole: verb BUT-un-hohl
Definition: to detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of
https://twitter.com/EricHolder/status/1035178458098348033
Liza, are you watching John McCain Memorial Service in Phoenix? Are you near there?
Hey, SG2. No, I’m not watching it. I want to see President Obama’s eulogy in real time but that’s about it. I’m in Tucson.
https://twitter.com/chbellamy/status/1034205872724107265
It’s not enough time but some justice 🙌🏽
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1035183117441482754?s=21
Say, Roy, don’t drop your soap! (smirk)
Ok,
if this is true..
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
The money never lies….
The money never lies…
Here’s Why The FBI And Mueller Are Investigating “Suspicious” Transactions By Russian Diplomats
The former Russian ambassador received a salary payment twice as large as past years, and bankers blocked a $150,000 withdrawal.
https://twitter.com/nycjim/status/1035103322750033920
This guy is a stooge!
https://twitter.com/chrizap/status/1034943386489257984
Gillum: DeSantis campaigning on ‘The Trump Manual’ https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/gillum-desantis-campaigning-on-the-trump-manual-1309472323527 via @msnbc
Gillum on LarryO Last night
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1035124824312561664
https://twitter.com/davidmackau/status/1035124448389750784
https://twitter.com/PostRoz/status/1034824524607488000
https://twitter.com/RespectableLaw/status/1034906020701786126
https://twitter.com/ahumorlessfem/status/1034925009624395777
https://twitter.com/magmidd/status/1034455985539239942
Ha ha, the photojournalist made the right decision.
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/1034118543426678786
https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1034847329600253952
https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA/status/1034650065904619521
Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄
Good Morning, Rikyrah. Thank you for all your posts and comments.
It’s been a heavy duty week of work projects, and I’m traveling tomorrow out-of-state for a friends funeral this weekend..
Have a great day 3 Chics Family & Friends!