With tax cuts, expanded opportunities for investment in low-wage economies and for speculation in financial markets and almost unlimited opportunities for luxury consumption, the top 1 per cent of income earners in the developed countries captured an ever-increasing share of income. The financial crisis of 2007 – 08 marked a turning point in public awareness, particularly in the rich countries, about the extent of inequality that had evolved in the decades of accelerated globalization. The measures taken to avoid economic meltdown after the financial crisis hardly had an impact on the privileged position of the beneficiaries of globalization. The sharp rise in inequality and the destruction of old sites of stable industrial employment that had accompanied globalization and the financialization of capitalism, led to widespread popular resentment, and this provided a fertile terrain for the rise of disillusionment and right populist politics. The 1% of the 1% are the gatekeepers of American politics.
Decision-makers on Wall Street with extreme individualism and a sense of entitlement chose not to apply critical thinking, but to intentionally take advantage of people, which led to the meltdown of the economy in 2008. Many in the middle class saw their comfortable retirement, their home equity, and their dreams destroyed. With rising financial integration, world economic growth has lessened in the last three years. The threat to individual freedom and opportunities to pursue one’s goals today comes not from political oppression, but from economic failure. Because of growing disillusionment and anger students and workers voted for leaders outside the mainstream party candidates during the 2016 presidential primary elections – the consequence of being left behind by soaring inequality and the failure of government to deliver. Donald Trump – figured out how to harness their disillusionment and growing anger – is superior to the others in exploiting the narcissism of small differences to recruit the Republican base.
Leading up to the 2016 election, many were becoming aware that workers were growing restless with the increasing inequality between the wealthy and the rest of society. This included pundits like Steve Bannon who were looking for a platform to spread their ideas. Bannon came as a customer – looking for a place to bring his conspiracy-tinged ideas, and messages for right-wing Americans disillusioned with mainstream politicians. When he left, his economic nationalism message remained. A new church needs people willing to serve as officials of the corporation (church). Donald Trump appointed economic elite as stakeholders with the appropriate belief systems and practices – assembling the wealthiest cabinet in history. These stakeholders included Wilbur Ross and Steve Mnuchin, profiteers of the great foreclosure machine who know what it takes to effectively deliver ongoing massive upward redistribution of wealth. They understand how the neoliberal system works to create working-class indebtedness.
The root meaning of “church” is not that of a building, but is defined by people. One reason people raise questions within a church is to address issues of concern. One of today’s issues is the disillusionment with a ‘system’ that creates increasing economic inequality for most. The term postmodernism appears to have currency for many browsers and customers in the neoliberal church. Postmodernism is defined as the reaction to assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. The postmodernism in political science is the observation people resist realistic concepts of power which is repressive. Foucault claims individuals engage in daily practices and routines of self-discipline that subjugate themselves in order to maintain a claim on their own identity and happiness. Remember the greatest fault of postmodernism is that it lacks an agenda for social change. Kierkegaard observes, “Everyone one wants progress, no one wants change.”
The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. In the moment, cognitive dissonance can cause discomfort, stress, and anxiety. And the degree of these effects often depends on how much disparity there is between the conflicting beliefs, how much the beliefs mean to that person, as well as with how well the person copes with self-contradiction. This cognitive dissonance can be seen particularly in economists – scholars, politicians, media commentators. Paul Murawski notes: Neoliberal theories are unable to explain the financial crisis, there is a gap between the accepted theory and reality. Instead of recognizing that a paradigmatic change is necessary in mainstream economics, the economic profession stubbornly sticks to their mathematical models. On the other hand, more and more people understand this ideology supporting individualism – less government and regulations – can no longer be falsified by anything as trifling as data from the “real” economy.
Cognitive dissonance causes the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from the brain’s inability to handle two conflicting realities, so it creates an alternative one that often defies reality. It appears in virtually all evaluations and decisions and is the central mechanism by which we experience new differences in the world. Many middle-class white folks have become disillusioned and angry about wages stagnating and good jobs disappearing over the past two decades. The neoliberals knew from the beginning that the theory tax cuts for the rich along with deregulation would provide good jobs for the rest of society is a lie. The result of the cognitive dissonance this creates is a picture of the world that’s deceptive in the extreme. It is necessary to come to terms with the fact cognitive dissonance is a feature of humans that predisposes us to self-delusion, bias and blindness to our errors and biases.
While all men and women suffer from disillusionment, few know that their state of disillusionment is the result of the breakdown of an illusion they themselves had manufactured. Disillusion is never possible without fantasy – and the destructive strength of the disillusionment can never exceed the strength and energy that was used to create the fantasy in the first place. The adverse effect is that man places values on his illusions, and over values what is not true, or no longer exists. In order to clear these errors of thinking, man must release the emotion that keeps him tied to this false reality. The removal of illusion or fantasy involves understanding that expectations are not failed, but false. With this recognition comes an opportunity for change. Tea party adherents understand expectations that the Republican elite would deliver have not failed, but were false. Recognizing this, they seek change in the Republican Party. Donald Trump remains relevant because he knows how to tap into these forces.
When we’re involved with a narcissist, cognitive dissonance is a psychological state that keeps many clinging to a narcissistic person like Trump, who has succeeded in creating two camps. The narcissist is his own creator. Hence his grandiosity. Moreover, the narcissist is a man for all seasons, forever adaptable, constantly imitating and emulating, a human sponge, a perfect mirror, a non-entity that is, at the same time, all entities combined. To the narcissist, every day is a new beginning, a hunt, a new cycle of idealization or devaluation, a newly invented self. There is more to it than the profound effect he has had on the Republican party, but also the long-lasting damage he has inflicted. Like carriers of a virus, narcissistic leaders “infect” the very cultures of their organizations, leading to dramatically lower levels of collaboration and integrity at all levels – even after they are gone.
Nietzsche argues “concepts are metaphors which do not correspond to reality.” Although all concepts are metaphors invented by humans (created to facilitate ease of communication), Nietzsche observes, humans forget this fact after inventing them, and come to believe they are ‘true’ although they do not correspond to reality. Nietzsche believed, one should be conscious of the illusory nature of what is considered truth, thus opening up the possibility of the creation of new values. It is necessary to create the social environment or milieu to support good governance to control cognitive dissonance and the consequent balancing of perception that leads to misperception. Nietzsche argued that one of the most powerful forces in society was “ressentiment [French for resentment].” According to their use, ressentiment is a sense of hostility directed toward an object that one identifies as the cause of one’s frustration, that is, an assignment of blame for one’s frustration. The resentment that grows in the weak turns eventually to be evil, deceitful and hateful.
Truth, much like knowledge, is bound to power and similarly operates amidst the individuals and institutions that generate and sustain it. The economic elite do not hesitate to present their ideology as interpretation of truth. The “truth” the market reveals is never in actuality some eternal, given fact. The market is never a neutral arbiter of truth, so the “truth” it reveals about government practice has always required interpretation. Nietzsche argued that truth is impossible – there can only be perspective and interpretation – an opinion driven by a person’s interests. The removal of illusion or fantasy involves understanding that expectations are not failed, but false. The political legacies of neoliberalism, which involved the commodification of politics and social services, have led to widespread popular cynicism towards established political elites, rendering societies much more susceptible to the demagogic politics of the populist right.
Rent-seeking is the act of growing one’s existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, and potential national decline. The most important rent-seeking behaviours include the underwriting of the campaigns of legislators, bribery, lobbying, and political violence. In societies with democratic political systems, lobbying, bribery and campaign contributions represent the primary methods used to influence the government or affect policy outcomes. Beware of the rising tide of the 1% of the 1% in America. Basically 1% (30,000+) of Americans donate money to support elections. Of this thirty thousand plus, in first decade of 20th century 1% of this group (.01% of population) averaged 17% of donations; by 2012 the amount increased to 28.1%.1
In today’s hyper-connected world, there is an overwhelming amount of information available: some of it is true, some of it is false, some are opinions, and some is deliberately misleading. While the internet has increased access to useful, factual information, it also enables business models that allow disinformation driving disillusion driving increasingly disengaged from the political process. The business model upon which many internet companies, social media in particular, rest, is one that thrives on anger and outrage. These reactions keep people engaged and create attention that can be used to place ads and other pieces of information to generate revenue – allowing disinformation to be disseminated on a profitable scale. This coincides with the rise of politics of disinformation and populism. Disinformation – exacerbates the gap between attitudes in society – cannot be left unchallenged. Protecting the election system from the 1% of the 1% is key to countering disinformation and disillusionment of today’s politics.
1https://sunlightfoundation.com/2013/06/24/1pct_of_the_1pct/