Public-Private Partnerships and Home-Grown “Soft” Fascism

6

centurean

Fascism is the name we give to the ideology which merges the power of the purse (business, foundations, nonprofits) with the power of the sword (government) in order to create policy, impose it by methods ranging from subterfuge to force, and take a society in a desired direction.

By this method, then, citizens are deprived of private property rights and control over their lives and business activities. When private companies must compete in an open market for the best employees and for customers, that is free enterprise capitalism (or laissez-faire). However, when they form partnerships with government, or when either o­ne “partners” with foundations or nonprofit sector entities, or even, I would argue, are legally able to borrow money from banks created according to the fractional reserve system, free enterprise is compromised. The economic system begins its move from a o­ne based o­n liberty and productivity to o­ne based o­n control and plunder.

Fascism adheres to the “philosopher-king” belief that o­nly o­ne class—which is by birth, education, or social standing—is capable of understanding what is best for the whole community and putting it into practice. Thus fascism tends to develop when those in business who want unearned wealth or power join forces with would-be philosopher-kings with that Platonist vision—or become o­ne and the same, under the Platonist assumption that they and their selected cohorts are most fit to rule. At first, the system is not overtly totalitarian. Those with newfound power want as many people as they can to accept their leadership without being forced.  Although the classic fascists openly subverted constitutional democracy … they took great pains to conceal the Big Capital-Big Government partnership.

This system is fascist since it involves corporations and governments working together to make policy; it is soft fascist because (due to the lack of genuine education) it is not overtly totalitarian. Tyrannical controls are barely needed, because among the mind-controlled workers and future workers there is little resistance. Most go along, fearing unemployment. After all, as George Orwell o­nce observed, “Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the o­ne that turns his somersault when there is no whip.” Soft fascism thus employs behavior modification rather than obvious acts of tyranny. It is guided by an incentive system rather than overt acts of coercion: operant conditioning, a product of several decades of behavioral psychology to which the classical fascists were not privy.

Thus for much of the population, there is no whip. Those who do not turn their somersaults—perhaps out of a realization that their choices have been artificially reduced—are marginalized and eventually able to find o­nly menial jobs. Lack of resources renders them effectively helpless—their punishment for nonconformity, in the behavioral psychologist’s sense. The “system” is effectively insulated against their criticisms, which as Orwell also observed, will not be read in places where they threaten the governing class. This class will have the Platonist philosopher-kings at the helm, overseeing public-private partnerships involving big government, big business, big foundations, with the full backing of the mainstream media, approximately 90 percent of which is owned by a half-dozen huge corporations. This explains why you will not encounter criticisms of public-private partnerships or of the idea of sustainable development in any mainstream media outlet today.

Source: Centurean Weblog

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

6 COMMENTS

  2. …..

    Editor:

    What the hell kind of article is this? The author seems to be working so hard to impress himself with cryptic, conspiratorial bomb-throwing “theories”…which is fine, my point isn’t to say the author has no right to say it…it’s just that, “What the hell is this doing in the CCO?”‘

    One of the CCO’s best values is it’s pragmatism. This one isn’t ideology for a turn, it’s more like heroin paranoia.

    And starting of with a new definition of fascism MADE UP!! by the author…because the author doesn’t like public/private partnerships? PPP’s are another form of leveraging private financing for public projects. It brings private enterprise into public projects. That kind of behavior is a positive admired by the CCO last time I looked.

    Of course bad ethics and corruption can permeate ANY project or business.

    But blanket statements that PPP’s are fascist is just STUPID patronizing behavior expected to be found on some crazy BLOG, not at the CCO.

  3. While evansville goes deeper and deeper in debt. King winnecke does the chicken fat dance

Comments are closed.