{"id":1592,"date":"2009-10-16T22:28:30","date_gmt":"2009-10-17T02:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iomaire.com\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2009-10-16T22:28:33","modified_gmt":"2009-10-17T02:28:33","slug":"market-liberals-vs-conservatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/2009\/10\/16\/market-liberals-vs-conservatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Liberals vs. Conservatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chet Bowers writes that the Republican Party is not conservative. Rather, it is better characterized as promoting market liberalism. Liberalism, too, promotes the same thing. Is it any wonder that many progressives vote, usually Democratic, with a sigh of resignation, for the lesser of two evils? I’ve taken a list of characteristics of market liberals and genuine conservatives, as defined by Bowers, from an essay by Rolf Jucker, entitled EcoJustice Education: Communal Learning Beyond Capitalism<\/em>. It can be found on the EcoJustice Education<\/a> website. Because of the limits of my blog template, I had to list the characteristics of the Market Liberal first, followed by the characteristics of the Conservative. To fully grasp what Bowers is writing about, contrast each one in order – the first characteristic of a Market Liberal compared with the first characteristic of a Conservative. Continue through the list. Or read the essay from which this excerpt is taken. The number of characteristics is the same for each. Keep in mind that, to Bowers, a Market Liberal encompasses just about everyone today. Sure, some progressives try to mix and match by agreeing with characteristics from the Market Liberal and Conservative categories, but Bowers says that this is not possible – you cannot place yourself in both categories and continue to have a coherent political philosophy – precisely the confusion that so many progressives find themselves in. Market Liberals, on the other hand, reject just about every single characteristic of a Conservative. Interesting, eh? Interesting, too, that many progressives (Market Liberals) think that Wendell Berry, who would agree with Bowers’ definition of a Conservative, is a neo-Luddite. One advantage of progressives adopting Bowers’ definition of a Conservative would be that such an action, if widespread, would highlight the fact that Market Liberals are self-centered regressives who have enlisted religious extremists to further their agenda. The truth hurts, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Characteristics of a Market Liberal<\/h4>\n

Everything goes, irrespective of consequences for others, nature and future generations<\/p>\n

Economic growth is non-negotiable<\/p>\n

Expansion; the more the better<\/p>\n

GDP as a measure of success<\/p>\n

Living in the moment, 3 months profit time; apres nous la deluge<\/em><\/p>\n

God has given us the Earth to exploit it<\/p>\n

Consumption is always good<\/p>\n

Speed, mass<\/p>\n

Monoculture (of products, media, mind)<\/p>\n

Transnational corporations, mergers, the bigger the better<\/p>\n

Global dominance<\/p>\n

World trade<\/p>\n

Supermarkets<\/p>\n

Industrialized production<\/p>\n

Industrialized agriculture<\/p>\n

Private motor car the norm<\/p>\n

Fossil-fuel dependent energy supply<\/p>\n

Decisions about life-style, resource use, technological, economic, political and ecological direction of society taken far removed from affected people: UN, US, G8, EU, TNCs, Human Rights Court, etc.<\/p>\n

American way of life as global ideal<\/p>\n

High-tech, high energy, high mass<\/p>\n

Liberalized market economy as master discourse<\/p>\n

The winner takes all<\/p>\n

Private property<\/p>\n

Limitless freedom of the strong<\/p>\n

Power equals freedom<\/p>\n

Technology determines way of life<\/p>\n

Ecological overshoot of the planet’s ability to sustain humankind<\/p>\n

Characteristics of a Conservative<\/h4>\n

Nothing goes, except if it is compatible with ecojustice criteria<\/p>\n

Zero material growth; growth in terms of quality and fulfillment<\/p>\n

Respecting limits, less is more, sufficiency<\/p>\n

Holistic set of sustainability criteria to determine success<\/p>\n

Living with respect to a seven generation time frame, planning for the future, precautionary principle<\/p>\n

We are stewards who keep the Earth in good health for future generations<\/p>\n

Consumption for satisfying basic human needs for food, shelter and clothing is good, but any other consumption is only okay if in line with sustainability principles<\/p>\n

Slowness, quality<\/p>\n

Diversity (of culture, languages, models of social organization)<\/p>\n

Small is beautiful, human scale<\/p>\n

Local democracy<\/p>\n

Local and regional trade<\/p>\n

Specialized local shops<\/p>\n

High quality craftsmanship<\/p>\n

Work-intensive, local organic agriculture<\/p>\n

Well functioning public transport system the norm, private motor car the rare exception<\/p>\n

Localized, diversified renewable energy production by users<\/p>\n

Self-determination, self-management and mutual aid in all areas<\/p>\n

Sustainable indigenous and\/or subsistence communities as yardstick<\/p>\n

Low-tech, low energy, high quality<\/p>\n

Society and economy dependent on subsystems of life-support system planet Earth<\/p>\n

Equity as sharing: there is no right to inequitable resource use by some<\/p>\n

Ecosystem services belong to the Commons: redefining property as stewardship<\/p>\n

Freedom within the limits of sustainability principles; not infringing freedom of others, nature and future generations<\/p>\n

Freedom from illegitimate power<\/p>\n

Ethical principles of sustainable societies determine way of life; technology serves those principles or it is not used<\/p>\n

Ecological footprint within the planet’s carrying capacity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chet Bowers writes that the Republican Party is not conservative. Rather, it is better characterized as promoting market liberalism. Liberalism, too, promotes the same thing. Is it any wonder that many progressives vote, usually Democratic, with a sigh of resignation, …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1593,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/1593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iomaire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}