Meet the Hidden Architect Behind America's Racist Economics
Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean
May 30, 2018
Ask people to name the key minds that have shaped America’s burst of radical right-wing attacks on working conditions, consumer rights and public services, and they will typically mention figures like free market-champion Milton Friedman, libertarian guru Ayn Rand, and laissez-faire economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
James McGill Buchanan is a name you will rarely hear unless you’ve taken several classes in economics. And if the Tennessee-born Nobel laureate were alive today, it would suit him just fine that most well-informed journalists, liberal politicians, and even many economics students have little understanding of his work.
The reason? Duke historian Nancy MacLean contends that his philosophy is so stark that even young libertarian acolytes are only introduced to it after they have accepted the relatively sunny perspective of Ayn Rand. (Yes, you read that correctly). If Americans really knew what Buchanan thought and promoted, and how destructively his vision is manifesting under their noses, it would dawn on them how close the country is to a transformation most would not even want to imagine, much less accept.
That is a dangerous blind spot, MacLean argues in a meticulously researched book, Democracy in Chains, a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. While Americans grapple with Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency, we may be missing the key to changes that are taking place far beyond the level of mere politics. Once these changes are locked into place, there may be no going back.
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https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america
❤️pants
= new reply since forum marked as read
Two things...
The memorial whatever is in Florida so that's a big, not going!
But, it's in Florida! 
What have they been doing all this time. Plus, has it really been on our behalf at all.
White privilege and the illusion of privilege that almost all men believe that they have, based in misogyny and regardless of race, is insidious and much more damaging than I ever believed.
Because all of it is based in power and control.
Versus this...
Thanks for your reply, Ysabel. ❤️
It is indeed riveting AND terrifying. Nancy MacLean does an amazing job explaining how she sourced it all back to James Buchanan. It's a good bet that Chump has never read it, but the people advising him (the fascists) surely have.
After the book became widely known, and won some national awards, several far-right economists and think-tankers tried to deny that Buchanan had much to do with the ultra-conservative movement. Horseshit! Every liberal needs to read MacLean's book, or at least be familiar with her investigations and findings.
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