1 week Ago
, Nov. 23 Charlie Angus’ analysis of the 1980s “greed is good” neo-con ideology provides essential context for understanding how figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have masterfully positioned themselves as populist champions of the working class while advancing policies that primarily benefit the ultra-wealthy. Clearly the greatest political deception of our time is unfolding before us: billionaires recasting themselves as populist revolutionaries.
Current history reveals a perverse inversion of traditional class warfare. Instead of the underprivileged rising against wealth and power, today’s so-called “revolutionaries” are billionaires, cleverly portraying teachers, social workers, and minimum-wage earners as the “elite.” This would be laughable if it weren’t so effective — and so painful.
Conservative strategist David Frum, who made his name as a countercultural critic of the progressive equalitarian 1960s human rights revolution, once revealed the neo conservative playbook states that equality should never be the goal of conservatives. Actually, this philosophy of inequality, rooted in Milton Friedman’s trickle-down free market economics, has devastated American manufacturing while enriching global corporations. Now, the very Republican ideologues who gutted the middle-class campaign as saviours, promising to fix the problems they created.
The script has flipped — the wealthiest among us now pose as freedom fighters battling an imagined “elite” of teachers, social workers, and minimum-wage earners. Consequently, what’s so upsetting to those paying attention is how the “have-mores” have convinced the “have-nots” that the enemy isn’t billionaires hoarding wealth but anyone advocating for a fairer system. This so-called populist revolution elevates reality TV celebrities, social media influencers, and billionaire demagogues to positions of power, sidelining educated and credentialed experts from making critical life-and-death decisions.
It’s the MAGA playbook in action, where ignorance is strength, and the result is deeper social injustice. But that’s the system people voted for, swayed by voices like Jordan Peterson’s, who frame social justice warriors as woke and the greatest threat to society. Imagine that: social justice, rebranded as a menace to society.
Not being greedy is a vice. As Canadians approach crucial elections, we must learn from the American experience. When Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre position themselves as voices of the common people, we must ask whose interests they truly serve.
The stakes are too high to fall for this neo-con scam once again..
