Neoliberals want to destroy American history by destroying our monuments that tell the story of our past.  These monuments have little to do with venerating slavery.  On the contrary, they speak to us about people who were alive when we changed from a slave nation to a free one.  That was a costly decision.  And although Americans continue to suffer from the legacy of slavery, destroying the past isn’t in our better interests.

I realize that some people want to cast our economic problems as being against certain groups.  Identity politics frames our political troubles in that way.  But it should be obvious to all of us that many Americans in many groups suffer in this terrible economy that reduces opportunities for most Americans.  I would like our political leaders to address the economy’s problems instead of destroying our Civil War monuments that commemorate our courageous past.  Both sides fought for what they wanted and slavery lost.  The Civil War led to a lot of suffering and then much later to days of greater social equity and greater economic opportunities.  If you want to learn more about neoliberalism and how we got to our political and economic present-day, read Political Catsup with Economy Fries, available at Amazon.com.

Randy E. Barnett (b.1952), in his book Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, wrote that to early Americans, natural rights were liberty rights.  He wrote that “natural rights are the set of concepts that define the moral space within which persons must be free to make their own choices and live their own lives if they are to pursue happiness while living in society with others.”

He identified six basic natural rights: the right to worship according to conscience, the right to speech, the right to emigrate, the right to self-defense and property ownership, the right to alter or abolish an unjust government and the right to assemble.

All Americans have these rights despite intolerance demonstrated in the press.  These rights are based upon moral principles that founded our country.  They are American rights.  As natural rights, these ideas offer freedom and liberty to any nation that embraces them.  To read more about American history and the sequence of political ideologies that have influenced American politics, get a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries: Liberalism, Pragmatism, Opportunism, available at Amazon.com.

Do you find this to be a better world?  Is it better with a more centralized economy where corporations and government try and fail to control outcomes?  Is it a better world where a job can be obtained only by meeting the requirements of an algorithm (40% of applicants are excluded right now)?  Is it better to have fewer health care options (as the ACA whittles away at your disposable income through increased taxes for decreased care)?  Is it better to try to get a job online (where you may never know why you can’t get hired)?  Is it better to pay double for anything you need like a house or a prescription or an education, or a car even though inflation is listed as below 3%?  Is it better with almost no interest on your savings and high interest on your debt?  After longterm war in the Middle East is it better now to watch the federal government shop for a new war in North Korea or Moscow?  Is this better?

If you see neoliberalism as a failed experiment that harms your interests, but you don’t understand how we find ourselves living this way, buy a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries: Liberalism, Pragmatism, Opportunism at Amazon.com., and learn about the three political ideologies that have influenced our U.S. history.