Am I the only person who is thoroughly sick of the neoliberals and right-wingers carping on about the evils of the welfare state? It was, after all, they who invented it. As an unapologetic member of the “left”, I agree wholeheartedly with much of the standard populist critique of welfare. It is psychologically destructive to individuals, families and ultimately society as a whole. It’s effects are corrosive and often multi-generational. It is mostly counter-productive in terms of its stated goals. Far from eliminating need, it actually entrenches it. It represents a colossal waste of human potential. And it is increasingly becoming a form of institutionalised cruelty, as the “tough love” policies of both major political parties ramp up.

Which is why like any good socialist I advocate government wage subsidies and direct employment programs! People need blummin’ jobs, not welfare. Welfare as we currently know it is the direct result of neoliberal ideology. (Note: I am not talking about the old age pension and similar programs. Yes, those were created by left/liberal people. But those aren’t the kind of welfare the right is complaining about in any case. I’m talking about welfare that has its origins in trying to deal with entrenched unemployment.)

The neolibs mandated the deliberate creation and maintenance of a sizeable pool of unemployed in order to “control inflation” (by which they meant, control wage demands and increase their profit share). The success of this inhumane policy is reflected in the ever increasing percentage of the economy that is siphoned into profits. Since the neoliberal era began in the early 80′s, wages have all but stagnated in relative terms, while profits have sky-rocketed and the corrosive income gap has widened ever further.

The creation of this pool of unfortunates, whose role is to suffer and act as a warning to those who would challenge capital (and provide a scapegoat for those who need someone to feel superior to), was the deliberate and intended result of neoliberal policies. The modern welfare state proceeds directly and inevitably from this policy decision. “The left” had nothing to do with it; entombing people in entrenched welfare is a betrayal of everything the old left ever stood for.

The problem is that a generation of “lefties” have grown up defining themselves in the terms of the right. Few self-identified left wingers today have any knowledge of the economics that used to define their politics; in their minds, to be “left wing” is simply to have a humanitarian concern for the victims of neoliberal policies. Like the friend who tends the wounds of an abused spouse without ever intervening in the abuse, we have become enablers of those who stand against our beliefs. This will not change until we become aware of this dynamic, and take steps to end it.

Please bear this in mind the next time you are confronted with a right wing nutter spraying forth on the evils of the unemployed and benefit scroungers. Without neoliberalism, there wouldn’t’ be any. They own this mess.

Chris Dickinson is a member of the Greens (WA). The opinions expressed in these posts are entirely his own.

One of the candidates for president strolled onto the stage at a massive megachurch in suburban Orange County Saturday night and started joking easily with the Rev. Rick Warren, maybe the most popular evangelical leader in America — but just plain “Pastor Rick” to the candidate. He talked about his certainty that “Jesus Christ died for my sins, and I am redeemed through him,” said Americans should be soldiers in the fight against evil and defined marriage as between a man and a woman — “and God is in the mix.” This particular Christian candidate was so on his game that after a segment on domestic policy ended, Warren told him — his mic still live as the TV feed cut to commercial — “Home run.”

Oh, and John McCain was there, too.

Rick Warren‘s been one of the most prominent megachurch Pastors arguing that Evangelicals can vote for Democrats.

Partly Obama’s appearance is electoral calculation – the Democrats have been talking about how to walk the faith talk since some (misleading) exit polls in November 2004. But I have no doubt he’s sincere. So much for separation of Church and State. In another piece in Salon, Michael Lind argues for agnosticism on social conservatism as the way to go to build an enduring Democratic majority. He’s probably thinking what Obama’s thinking. But it doesn’t work like that. If you want people to vote their economic interests, you need to marginalise “social issues” not highlight them. And, anyway, there isn’t – to be truthful – an awful lot in Obama’s platform – certified and written by Ivy League economists – that’s all that different from Clinton’s Rubinomics, except for the anti-free trade rhetoric, and a dash of supply side Reich style “human capital theory”. You’d be waiting a long time indeed – til Judgement Day, perhaps – for a Democratic candidate to start spruiking the true social democratic faith. Or even the New Deal.

Sarah Posner in yet another Salon article looks at Obama’s “religious outreach”.

Elsewhere: Road to Surfdom. And SocProf on “theocracy you can believe in”.