BREXIT AND THE
ULTRA-RIGHT STRATEGY
Introduction
It appears that both Parliament and media are failing to see
that a few ultra-rich ultra-right interests are seeking to undo institutions
carefully developed over many decades to balance and protect the interests of
all. Led by a right wing minority under the influence of brainwashed economists
and the wealth of some, mainly American, businesses, Parliament is
sleepwalking towards permitting the unbridled exploitation of both people and
nature by these rapacious rich.
Whilst in need of considerable reform, parliamentary
democracy, the international order developed after WW2 and the European Union
are all institutions worth guarding and developing as part of our evolving
civilisation. They should be protected and developed, not emasculated for the
benefit of a handful of exploitative interests.
Where the threatening thinking came from.
There is a long history to free-market, no/low government
politics. Here is one thread from more recent history. In 1947 the 48 year old
right-wing free-market economist Friedrich von Hayek established, with
like-minded economists, The Mont Pélérin Society. The Society
sought to oppose socialism, in particular: the Keynesian use of government
spending to moderate fluctuations in the economic cycle; the regulation by
government of any activity; and the welfare state.[1]
[2] Ironically it was a Keynesian, Paul
Samuelson, who said, “I don't care who writes a nation's laws - or crafts its
advanced treaties - if I can write its economics textbooks.”[3]
The ultra-right have acted comprehensively on this advice to fund economic
education over decades and establish extreme right unregulated money based
economics as the norm.
Where the motivation and the money is coming from.
The USA has been a divided nation, from its founding days,
through its terrible civil war and until today.[4]
In, perhaps, the greatest of its many divides, the Confederate states resented
the outlawing of slavery, first by the British and then by the Unionists. The
criminalisation of the Confederate’s prime source of wealth, slavery, has led
to powerful resentment that has thrived over the generations. The values held
by the southern states shocked even those Nazis who were kept as PoWs during
WW2[5].
For the last century those same Confederate states have been and still are
blessed with a new source of wealth, oil. Now, in the eyes of fossil fuel
businesses in the Confederate states, considerable wealth building
opportunities of fossil fuels are again being threatened, this time by
environmental regulations of the US Federal Government, by those of the
European Union and the considerable global efforts of the United Nations. So,
for a second time, external agencies are limiting Confederate state business
opportunities. As the Middle East shows us only too vividly, long held historical
resentment such as that in some US states, creates powerful motivation.
To fight the Federal Government, the European Union and the
United Nations, ultra-right organisations are spending considerable sums.
Ultra-right donors such as the Koch Brothers[6]
and the Coors are funding directly and through networks of sub-donors, US political campaigns to establish
Republican power, such as the Tea Party, and international operations such as
The Heritage Foundation[7]
(https://www.heritage.org/),
the Legatum Institute and the Cato Institute. They also fund many academic institutions,
especially those providing education in economics, both in the USA[8]
[9]
[10]
and internationally, with the aim of establishing ultra-right economics as the
norm. So governments will be advised by economists with an ultra-right
education, and Keynesian economics, which did so much to stabilise the USA
after the depression and Europe after WW2, will be forgotten. A more
sophisticated organisation for bringing about change would be hard to imagine.
(See Prof. Nancy MacLean’s book ‘Democracy in Chains’ for a
comprehensive and superbly documented view.)
The Russian dimension
After the collapse of the Soviet Union I worked on small UK
government contracts in Russia. Our strategic purpose was simply to build
bridges between our nations and promote stability whilst Russia found its new
path during a difficult transition. At the same time the Heritage Foundation
was working there.[11]
Our miniscule efforts, cut short by Claire Short, were dwarfed by this
determined US private activity, which was not too shy to use a gun to the head
to get its way. This is no exaggeration. It happened to me more than once. So
now Russia has an oligarchy heavily influenced, if not de facto
controlled, by American business interests, and not the moderate welfare state
that seemed to be the natural progression of Russian affairs and that seemed to
me to be the wish of so many Russian people. Hence the appearance of Russia in
so many recent controversial roles such as cyber interference in elections and
the Brexit referendum. We cannot avoid asking ourselves every time some
activity is attributed to Russia whether or not it is the hidden hand of
ultra-right America.
The European Problem
The European Union is a bastion of the values that the
ultra-right abhor. The EU has considerable global influence. To crack Europe,
how better than to persuade the ever vacillating perfidious Albion, with whom
the US has a ‘special relationship’, to leave?
Ultra-right thinking is well established in the UK. The
Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) was formed in 1955.[12]
Its credibility leapt when Thatcher met Hayek there in 1975[13]
and some of its agenda implemented. However, note that Thatcher was also a
driving force behind the Single Market. The good fortune, for the ultra-rich,
of the economic collapse of 2008 followed by the unavoidable support with
considerable sums of money from governments (i.e. the people) enabled the UK
Tory government to exercise financial restraint, austerity, which punished most
people. So, many people, having been punished by the effects of austerity and
answering a government sponsored question in a referendum, very reasonably,
would vote against the government.
I don’t know how much ‘austerity’ was applied by Chancellor
George Osborne in preparation for the referendum but the logic flows so neatly
that my suspicions will take a lot of allaying. Were Cameron and Osborne mere
plants of the American ultras? Follow the money.
There is no need to rehearse the very complex debate over
Brexit here, except to say the Referendum result, whilst informative, is
questionable and certainly is no mandate. Prime
Minister May may be serving her ultra-right wing but is serving neither the
once One Nation Tory party (which, after a lifetime, I no longer support), nor the people.
If the UK leaves the EU, both the UK and the EU will be
considerably weakened both financially and politically. That is the aim of the
ultra-right.
The EU is very clear that ultra-right money is being spent
on efforts to overturn its existence and is taking measures to prevent abuses[14].
If Britain leaves the EU we can be assured that:
-
The US ultra-right
governments will ignore the UK except when needed[15].
That need will be dramatically reduced once Brexit is achieved. France, with
its equally deep historical connections with the USA, will become the US’
primary European ally. The deep South of America has a deep mistrust of Britain
and a long historical relationship with France.
-
As a country, the UK will
be severely diminished, becoming ever less significant in international
affairs.
-
The EU will be considerably
weakened, losing the power to protect us and its other Members against extremes
of the USA’s unstable diplomacy.
-
The ultra-right will have
Europe in a pincer, with Russia to the East and the UK, now a US lackey, to the
West. Steadily, we will be led to an ultra-right totalitarianism that will
grossly diminish our once high standards of living, both economic and moral.
-
The key institutions that
have kept a relative peace since WW2 will be under ever heavier threat.
-
The rich will get richer
and the poor poorer until severe civil unrest gives rise to yet further
economic disruption and a further lowering of living standards, beyond that
already predicted by current estimates of post-Brexit economic performance.
We are now looking for leadership from our politicians, not
tribalism. Care for the people and the nation, the party being secondary. I do
hope by now you can see that for the above reason and the many others,
especially economics and Northern Ireland, Brexit is a profound error. The
referendum is interesting, but by no means a mandate. It will clearly be a
disaster. I beg you to do all you can to Stop Brexit.
With thanks for reading and kind regards,
[3] "Foreword" by Paul Samuelson in "The
Principles of Economics Course" edited by ed. Phillips Saunders and
William B. Walstad, 1990 via http://www.azquotes.com/quote/694266
Yes... feeling under attack - once tje emergency powers kick in its all over for our police state. The RU US world view is defensive against China spurred by private greed in full view climate catastrophe.
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