Neoliberals are hostile to labor unions and every other institution that would allow the vast majority of the population to have some effect on how we are ruled. And they have been so successful that only the super-rich can save us, as the title of a Ralph Nader novel a few years back had it. A couple of recent examples of journalism are about movements of the super-rich:
- Sheelah Kolhatkar writes, in the New Yorker, about Patriotic Millionaires.
- Theodore Schleifer writes, in Vox, about Resource Generation.
I suspect most of the super-rich, however, are vicious, reactionary fools. Apparently, Benjamin Page, Jason Seawright, and Matthew Lacombe provide evidence in their recent book, Billionaires and Stealth Politics. I've read and commented on their previous working paper.
In the United States and elsewhere, we had a progressive movement reacting to the terrible effects and excesses of the "roaring twenties" of a century ago. Of course, there was a fascist movement, too, that resulted in global war.
In the United States, prominent celebrities such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh supported fascism. The super-rich did not step back. The business plot was an attempt by millionaires to stage a coup against Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They tried to get Major General Smedly Butler to act as a figurehead. I know of him for saying, war is a racket. I do not know if this falls in the politics of the super-rich, but I only recently learned about the Christian Front, a fascist organization inspired by the radio demagogue Father Coughlin. In 1940, their office in New York City was raided by the FBI for trying to overthrow the government. Seventeen members was arrested, but their prosecution was unsuccessful. (Caveat: I have not read the books and literature linked to in this paragraph.)
I think we need a better material basis than the well wishes and work of the super-rich to bring about hopeful change.
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