Dear George,
Neoliberalism is a gem of a gem whose potential has yet to be tapped. Resting on a tripod of deregulation, privatization, and the torching of the social safety net, it promises to lift a society to levels of freedom and prosperity undreamed of by Adam Smith when he penned The Wealth of Nations.
When I say its potential is still untapped, I mean that, to date, only impoverished Third World countries have been recipients of its blessings. There is one small problem when it comes to gutting the economy of a poor country and that is poor people. A man who has spent his life in grinding poverty is stringy and tough. He lives, eats and drinks hardship. This is a man who will rebel. Death means nothing to him because he has spent his life dying; torture is to him what a hot stone massage is to a member of the elite.
This is not to say neoliberalism has no value in the Third World. It certainly filled multinational coffers while it flourished. However, its optimal application is will be found in western liberal societies like the United States.
Gutting the economy of a prosperous nation, like the United States, stands a better chance of success because you are dealing with a demographic softened by prosperity. Couple this with the fact that there is no such thing as community in America, and you have a win-win situation.
Neoliberalism in a prosperous country is creates a perfect feedback loop that strengthens the Corporatist State. As social services are gutted and deregulation spreads its pall over the land, what social solidarity remains is gutted and an uptick in crime follows.
The media has known for decades that crime coverage is a revenue stream. The more they focus on it, the more people come to fear for their safety. This prepares the ground for the blossoming of what Zygmunt Bauman calls, “The personal safety state,” that enables the state to become even more oppressive than it already is by promising to provide greater security and safety to a frightened and atomized country, thus administering a coup de grace to what remains of civil society.
Of course, the mechanisms put in place to guarantee personal safety are equally adept at suppressing dissent, thus protecting the state at the same time it purports to protect its citizens.
George, I’ve noticed that the media has backed off a little from its crime coverage. The lurid crime coverage of the seventies and eighties prepared the way for the emergence of the Corporatist State. The public was so frightened it gave nary a second thought to pissing away its freedoms. Ring up Murdoch and tell him you want to see more perp walks, at least once a night. Have him make sure that the perps walked are either black or brown. This will blend in nicely with the terrorist and illegal immigrant bullshit you are peddling.
The more you keep a frightened public locked in their houses at night, glued to the tube watching one of the CSI clones, the easier it will be to consolidate state power. The public must believe it lives in a jungle swarming with off-white animals who will rape their women and slash the tires on their SUVs out of plain meanness. This public will willingly put its head on a chopping block in the belief that safety is to be found only through decapitation.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
7:11:04 AM 
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