Clipmarks | zizzy's 'ideology' clips

Movement Conservatism: The G.O.P. - Selling Social Policy as a Commodity

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:51:31 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: indifference to learning from experience and adjusting accordingly is a central characteristic of movement conservatism.
Examples: Resistance to forming a 9/11 commission (Bush administration)
Resistance to learning what went wrong during Hurricane Katrina ( John McCain);
The term Flip-Flopping, (one can never form a new opinion or idea based upon new experience or information;

Clip Source: www.sourcewatch.org

Movement Conservatism is a self-serving and socially malevolent cabal of mega-corporations, right-wing think tanks in Washington, their archconservative foundation benefactors, and an intricate nationwide network of linkages in the communications media, religion, higher education, and law. It has been called the "conservative labyrinth," and common to all its elements is a theology of "free markets," an ideology coming to full bloom

the G.O.P. seeks to impose it at every turn

In the abstract, and historically, "free markets" are hugely appealing.

Free markets" today are a fantasy

contemporary markets are wholly dominated by corporate, not proprietary enterprise, and characterized by its features

administered prices, branded goods and services

the subjugation, by ubiquitous advertising, of consumer sovereignty

Corporate domination of "free markets" has destroyed the ability of markets to make socially optimum allocations

none of this seems to penetrate the minds of Movement Conservatives

Quotes on Economy

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:16:31 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Our civilization is locked in the grip of an ideology - corporatism. An ideology that denies and undermines the legitimacy of individuals as the citizen in a democracy. The particular imbalance of this ideology leads to a worship of self-interest and a denial of the public good. The practical effects on the individual are passivity and conformism in the areas that matter, and non-conformism in the areas that don't
-- John Ralston Saul

The acceptance of corporatism causes us to deny and undermine the legitimacy of the individual as citizen in a democracy. The result of such a denial is a growing imbalance which leads to our adoration of self-interest and our denial of the public good.
-- John Ralston Saul

Clip Source: www.cultureofpeace.org

The purpose of economic theory is to make those who are comfortable FEEL comfortable.
-- Lord Balogh

"This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society -- one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security."
-- Michael Lerner

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate
-- Bertrand Russell

What is economics? A science invented by the upper class in order to acquire the fruits of the labor of the underclass
-- August Strindberg

Think Again: Drugs [Part 5c: Legalization - article end]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:13:31 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

Legalization Will Never Happen

The global war on drugs persists in part because so many people fail to distinguish between the harms of drug abuse and the harms of prohibition. Legalization forces that distinction to the forefront. The opium problem in Afghanistan is primarily a prohibition problem, not a drug problem. The same is true of the narcoviolence and corruption that has afflicted Latin America and the Caribbean for almost three decades—and that now threatens Africa. Governments can arrest and kill drug lord after drug lord, but the ultimate solution is a structural one, not a prosecutorial one. Few people doubt any longer that the war on drugs is lost, but courage and vision are needed to transcend the ignorance, fear, and vested interests that sustain it.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 5b: Legalization]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:12:12 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

Legalization Will Never Happen

Never say never. Wholesale legalization may be a long way off—but partial legalization is not. If any drug stands a chance of being legalized, it’s cannabis. Hundreds of millions of people have used it, the vast majority without suffering any harm or going on to use “harder” drugs.

in Europe, support for the criminalization of cannabis is waning. In the United States, where roughly 40 percent of the country’s 1.8 million annual drug arrests are for cannabis possession, typically of tiny amounts, 40 percent of Americans say that the drug should be taxed, controlled, and regulated like alcohol. Encouraged by Bolivian President Evo Morales, support is also growing in Latin America and Europe for removing coca from international antidrug conventions, given the absence of any credible health reason for keeping it there.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 5a: Legalization]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:03:57 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

Legalization Is the Best Approach

It might be. Global drug prohibition is clearly a costly disaster. The United Nations has estimated the value of the global market in illicit drugs at $400 billion, or 6 percent of global trade. The extraordinary profits available to those willing to assume the risks enrich criminals, terrorists, violent political insurgents, and corrupt politicians and governments

legalization would strip addiction down to what it really is: a health issue

Some say legalization is immoral. That’s nonsense, unless one believes there is some principled basis for discriminating against people based solely on what they put into their bodies, absent harm to others

No, the greatest downside to legalization may well be the fact that the legal markets would fall into the hands of the powerful alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies. Still, legalization is a far more pragmatic option than living with the corruption, violence, and organized crime of the current system

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 4b: Reducing Production]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:52:45 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“Afghan Opium Production Must Be Curbed”

And outside Afghanistan? Higher heroin prices typically translate into higher crime rates by addicts. They also invite cheaper but more dangerous means of consumption, such as switching from smoking to injecting heroin, which results in higher HIV and hepatitis C rates. All things considered, wiping out opium in Afghanistan would yield far fewer benefits than is commonly assumed.

So what’s the solution? Some recommend buying up all the opium in Afghanistan, which would cost a lot less than is now being spent trying to eradicate it. But, given that farmers somewhere will produce opium so long as the demand for heroin persists, maybe the world is better off, all things considered, with 90 percent of it coming from just one country. And if that heresy becomes the new gospel, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for pursuing a new policy in Afghanistan that reconciles the interests of the United States, NATO, and millions of Afghan citizens.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 4a: Reducing Production]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:51:13 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“Afghan Opium Production Must Be Curbed”

Be careful what you wish for. It’s easy to believe that eliminating record-high opium production in Afghanistan—which today accounts for roughly 90 percent of global supply, up from 50 percent 10 years ago—would solve everything from heroin abuse in Europe and Asia to the resurgence of the Taliban.

But assume for a moment that the United States, NATO, and Hamid Karzai’s government were somehow able to cut opium production in Afghanistan. Who would benefit? Only the Taliban, warlords, and other black-market entrepreneurs whose stockpiles of opium would skyrocket in value.

many Afghans would return to their farms the following year to plant another illegal harvest, utilizing guerrilla farming methods to escape intensified eradication efforts. Except now, they’d soon be competing with poor farmers elsewhere in Central Asia, Latin America, or even Africa. This is, after all, a global commodities market.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 3b: World Drug Policy]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:47:50 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“U.S. Drug Policy Is the World’s Drug Policy”

But now, for the first time, U.S. hegemony in drug control is being challenged. The European Union is demanding rigorous assessment of drug control strategies. Exhausted by decades of service to the U.S.-led war on drugs, Latin Americans are far less inclined to collaborate closely with U.S. drug enforcement efforts. Finally waking up to the deadly threat of HIV/AIDS, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and even Malaysia and Iran are increasingly accepting of syringe-exchange and other harm-reduction programs. In 2005, the ayatollah in charge of Iran’s Ministry of Justice issued a fatwa declaring methadone maintenance and syringe-exchange programs compatible with sharia (Islamic) law. One only wishes his American counterpart were comparably enlightened.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 3a: World Drug Policy]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:37:47 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“U.S. Drug Policy Is the World’s Drug Policy”

Sad, but true. Looking to the United States as a role model for drug control is like looking to apartheid-era South Africa for how to deal with race. The United States ranks first in the world in per capita incarceration––with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but almost 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. The number of people locked up for U.S. drug-law violations has increased from roughly 50,000 in 1980 to almost 500,000 today; that’s more than the number of people Western Europe locks up for everything. Even more deadly is U.S. resistance to syringe-exchange programs to reduce HIV/AIDS both at home and abroad. Who knows how many people might not have contracted HIV if the United States had implemented at home, and supported abroad, the sorts of syringe-exchange and other harm-reduction programs that have kept HIV/AIDS rates so low in Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. Perhaps millions.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 2: Reducing Supply]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:28:13 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“Reducing the Supply of Drugs Is the Answer”

Not if history is any guide. Reducing supply makes as much sense as reducing demand; after all, if no one were planting cannabis, coca, and opium, there wouldn’t be any heroin, cocaine, or marijuana to sell or consume. But the carrot and stick of crop eradication and substitution have been tried and failed, with rare exceptions, for half a century. These methods may succeed in targeted locales, but they usually simply shift production from one region to another: Opium production moves from Pakistan to Afghanistan; coca from Peru to Colombia; and cannabis from Mexico to the United States, while overall global production remains relatively constant or even increases.

The global markets in cannabis, coca, and opium products operate essentially the same way that other global commodity markets do: If one source is compromised due to bad weather, rising production costs, or political difficulties, another emerges.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 1b: Global War]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:23:53 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“The Global War on Drugs Can Be Won”

No, it can’t.

Politicians still talk of eliminating drugs from the Earth as though their use is a plague on humanity. But drug control is not like disease control, for the simple reason that there’s no popular demand for smallpox or polio. Cannabis and opium have been grown throughout much of the world for millennia. The same is true for coca in Latin America. Methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs can be produced anywhere. Demand for particular illicit drugs waxes and wanes, depending not just on availability but also fads, fashion, culture, and competition from alternative means of stimulation and distraction. The relative harshness of drug laws and the intensity of enforcement matter surprisingly little, except in totalitarian states. After all, rates of illegal drug use in the United States are the same as, or higher than, Europe, despite America’s much more punitive policies.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology

Think Again: Drugs [Part 1a: Global War]

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:18:47 GMT

clipped by: zizzy

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

“The Global War on Drugs Can Be Won”

No, it can’t. A “drug-free world,” which the United Nations describes as a realistic goal, is no more attainable than an “alcohol-free world”—and no one has talked about that with a straight face since the repeal of Prohibition in the United States in 1933. Yet futile rhetoric about winning a “war on drugs” persists, despite mountains of evidence documenting its moral and ideological bankruptcy.

High in demand: Prohibition does little to stem the desire for drugs.

It’s always dangerous when rhetoric drives policy—and especially so when “war on drugs” rhetoric leads the public to accept collateral casualties that would never be permissible in civilian law enforcement, much less public health.

Tags: war on drugs, public policy, ideology