Before the far right threatened democracy, neoliberalism stripped it down
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Under these conditions, a resurgent left is only viable if it can also tap into these feelings of powerlessness and economic grievance created by neoliberalism by offering an alternative that targets the real sources of economic inequality and empowers people to exert popular control over their economic conditions.
Witnessing the crowds that Bernie Sanders and Alexandia Ocasio-Cortez have drawn in their “Fighting Oligarchy Tour”—even in deeply conservative U.S. states—demonstrates that there is a large untapped audience for progressive economic policy. Importantly, Bernie and AOC also explicitly identify an enemy, the source of people’s feeling of powerlessness and economic dislocation: the oligarchy, ultra-wealthy plutocrats who unfairly bend the system to their will.
This has the potential to tap into those inchoate feelings of injustice and unfairness. Social democratic parties like the NDP have become allergic to conflict and adversarial rhetoric, often to their detriment. If you cannot identify whom or what is responsible for the deterioration of my quality of life and how will you challenge it, why would I lend you my support?
Before the far right threatened democracy, neoliberalism stripped it down - CCPA
Fears of the erosion of democracy pervade the headlines. The rise of authoritarian populists around the world, with Donald Trump being the most emblematic, has mobilized centrist pundits and politicians to claim, and rally around, the flag of democracy as a mobilizing tool.
CCPA - (www.policyalternatives.ca)