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Then U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) shakes hands with then-real estate developer and now U.S. President Donald Trump in a reception line in the White House's Blue Room, in Washington D.C. on November 3, 1987.
(Photo: White House Photo Office/PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
What’s to Blame for the American Dictator? It’s Neoliberalism, Stupid
The 50-plus years of neoliberal policies have undercut unions, deregulated industry, enabled wild corporate profits, padded the pockets of politicians, and enabled corruption.
Apr 24, 2025
When a leader has ignored the legislative and judicial branches of government, has made hundreds disappear like under Pinochet, has targeted people based on speech, and rules by executive order, there is no other way to describe them but as a dictator.
Who, then, is to blame for the American dictator’s rise? It’s neoliberalism, stupid.
The 50-plus years of neoliberal policies have undercut unions, deregulated industry, enabled wild corporate profits, padded the pockets of politicians, and enabled the revolving door whereby elected figures could become lobbyists after leaving office.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
Other neoliberal policies that have harmed the American people are free trade and the outsourcing of jobs. Complementing job loss from overseas, the unregulated development of industrial robots and AI has swallowed even more employment. The U.S. political leadership gave minimal attention to planning what would be next for the unemployed and underemployed that resulted from their job gutting policies.
Ever true to hyper-capitalist policies, the “market forces” were allowed to play out. So, service industry jobs became the default for many, although this industry, too, has seen the increase in “efficiency,” or using AI and machines rather than people. For those employed in the service industry, with its minimal benefits and lower salary, it’s a far cry from manufacturing and white-collar jobs that they would have likely had if not for the neoliberal agenda.
This has led to extreme economic and social precarity.
A corollary to neoliberal industrial policies was media deregulation, particularly the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which led to “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and a media ecosystem that allowed for the creation of Fox News and MSNBC.
For the less educated, it became more challenging to discern fact from fiction. People listened to outrageous media personalities who were often flat-out lying and began miming them in pointing to and decrying shadows on the wall. Rising demagogues made use of these scapegoat shadows, defining them as immigrants and those who oppose the Palestinian genocide.
Exacerbating decades of decline and a decade of xenophobic populism, inflation rose after the Covid-19 pandemic and was often misattributed to former U.S. President Joe Biden. The American people chose the alternative to Biden’s vice president even though President Donald Trump had ignited an insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021, and embraced (with a wink) the extremist-right Project 2025 plan before the 2024 election.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
In just three months, the dictator has set to work destroying American democratic institutions and civil rights protections. And for this mammoth calamity, we have decades of neoliberal deregulation to thank.
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Peter F. Crowley
As a prolific author from the Boston area, Peter F. Crowley writes in various forms, including short fiction, op-eds, poetry, and academic essays. His writing can be found in Pif Magazine, New Verse News, Counterpunch, Middle East Monitor, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both), and The Opiate. He is the author of the poetry books Those Who Hold Up the Earth and Empire’s End, and the short fiction collection That Night and Other Stories.
authoritarianismcorporate powerdonald trumpfairness doctrineinflationmediaoutsourcingunionsneoliberalism
When a leader has ignored the legislative and judicial branches of government, has made hundreds disappear like under Pinochet, has targeted people based on speech, and rules by executive order, there is no other way to describe them but as a dictator.
Who, then, is to blame for the American dictator’s rise? It’s neoliberalism, stupid.
The 50-plus years of neoliberal policies have undercut unions, deregulated industry, enabled wild corporate profits, padded the pockets of politicians, and enabled the revolving door whereby elected figures could become lobbyists after leaving office.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
Other neoliberal policies that have harmed the American people are free trade and the outsourcing of jobs. Complementing job loss from overseas, the unregulated development of industrial robots and AI has swallowed even more employment. The U.S. political leadership gave minimal attention to planning what would be next for the unemployed and underemployed that resulted from their job gutting policies.
Ever true to hyper-capitalist policies, the “market forces” were allowed to play out. So, service industry jobs became the default for many, although this industry, too, has seen the increase in “efficiency,” or using AI and machines rather than people. For those employed in the service industry, with its minimal benefits and lower salary, it’s a far cry from manufacturing and white-collar jobs that they would have likely had if not for the neoliberal agenda.
This has led to extreme economic and social precarity.
A corollary to neoliberal industrial policies was media deregulation, particularly the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which led to “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and a media ecosystem that allowed for the creation of Fox News and MSNBC.
For the less educated, it became more challenging to discern fact from fiction. People listened to outrageous media personalities who were often flat-out lying and began miming them in pointing to and decrying shadows on the wall. Rising demagogues made use of these scapegoat shadows, defining them as immigrants and those who oppose the Palestinian genocide.
Exacerbating decades of decline and a decade of xenophobic populism, inflation rose after the Covid-19 pandemic and was often misattributed to former U.S. President Joe Biden. The American people chose the alternative to Biden’s vice president even though President Donald Trump had ignited an insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021, and embraced (with a wink) the extremist-right Project 2025 plan before the 2024 election.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
In just three months, the dictator has set to work destroying American democratic institutions and civil rights protections. And for this mammoth calamity, we have decades of neoliberal deregulation to thank.
From Your Site Articles
Peter F. Crowley
As a prolific author from the Boston area, Peter F. Crowley writes in various forms, including short fiction, op-eds, poetry, and academic essays. His writing can be found in Pif Magazine, New Verse News, Counterpunch, Middle East Monitor, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both), and The Opiate. He is the author of the poetry books Those Who Hold Up the Earth and Empire’s End, and the short fiction collection That Night and Other Stories.
When a leader has ignored the legislative and judicial branches of government, has made hundreds disappear like under Pinochet, has targeted people based on speech, and rules by executive order, there is no other way to describe them but as a dictator.
Who, then, is to blame for the American dictator’s rise? It’s neoliberalism, stupid.
The 50-plus years of neoliberal policies have undercut unions, deregulated industry, enabled wild corporate profits, padded the pockets of politicians, and enabled the revolving door whereby elected figures could become lobbyists after leaving office.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
Other neoliberal policies that have harmed the American people are free trade and the outsourcing of jobs. Complementing job loss from overseas, the unregulated development of industrial robots and AI has swallowed even more employment. The U.S. political leadership gave minimal attention to planning what would be next for the unemployed and underemployed that resulted from their job gutting policies.
Ever true to hyper-capitalist policies, the “market forces” were allowed to play out. So, service industry jobs became the default for many, although this industry, too, has seen the increase in “efficiency,” or using AI and machines rather than people. For those employed in the service industry, with its minimal benefits and lower salary, it’s a far cry from manufacturing and white-collar jobs that they would have likely had if not for the neoliberal agenda.
This has led to extreme economic and social precarity.
A corollary to neoliberal industrial policies was media deregulation, particularly the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which led to “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and a media ecosystem that allowed for the creation of Fox News and MSNBC.
For the less educated, it became more challenging to discern fact from fiction. People listened to outrageous media personalities who were often flat-out lying and began miming them in pointing to and decrying shadows on the wall. Rising demagogues made use of these scapegoat shadows, defining them as immigrants and those who oppose the Palestinian genocide.
Exacerbating decades of decline and a decade of xenophobic populism, inflation rose after the Covid-19 pandemic and was often misattributed to former U.S. President Joe Biden. The American people chose the alternative to Biden’s vice president even though President Donald Trump had ignited an insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021, and embraced (with a wink) the extremist-right Project 2025 plan before the 2024 election.
On the American dictator’s first day in office, he began dismantling democracy by creating an executive order to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
In just three months, the dictator has set to work destroying American democratic institutions and civil rights protections. And for this mammoth calamity, we have decades of neoliberal deregulation to thank.
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.