By Charlie Smith
Charleston

US Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has proven himself to be the stereotypical “Christian Republican” who professes to the world that he is practicing the teachings of Christ in his policy-making, when in fact he is merely parroting the most unChrist-like teachings of Milton Friedman. Note to Senator DeMint: There is absolutely no way to reconcile the teachings of Christ with the teachings of Milton Friedman…especially on the subject of greed. Government exists to serve the needs of human beings first…not those of big business first.

Sen. Demint’s almost “Branch Davidian” reverence to Friedman’s unregulated, free-market, “Chicago School” economic philosophy demonstrates his total lack of knowledge of the history of its disastrous applications in the modern world. Since 1970 “Chicago School” economic policy has destroyed both the people and the economies of Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Poland to name just a few. Total economic devastation was forced upon these resource rich, but economically downtrodden people by Friedman’s “Chicago Boys” at a time when their economies were totally vulnerable to unbridled American corporate greed. Every asset held in trust for these people by their governments that could be “privatized” was sold off to the highest bidder in return for a few high-interest shekels from the IMF and the World Bank. Anyone who opposed these policies ran the risk of being tortured, murdered, “disappeared” or any combination thereof. Neither the people nor the economies of these countries have ever fully recovered; but American Corporations, the IMF and the World Bank have continued to “acquire” whatever they wanted and move on to the next victim. Afghanistan and Iraq are being sucked dry as we speak. Apparently we learned nothing from Germany after World War I.

It should concern South Carolinians that Sen. DeMint, like President Bush before him, suggests that the solution to our own nation’s economic collapse can be found in the failed policies of Friedman’s “Pinochet Model”. The theory is that those in power should allow, take advantage of, or facilitate some disastrous economic or physical “shock”…a shock powerful enough to strike fear in the population of a country and blind its ability to envision a “way out”…something along the lines of the shock we felt after September 11th. Then the “Chicago Boys” march in with all the answers…the same answers they have always had for every problem that has ever come down the pike…cut taxes, lay-off half the workforce, privatized every public industry, sell off all the public utilities, eliminate health care and social security and let the market take care of everything…without regulation and more importantly without resistance.  Anyone who actually believes this model works should have a chat with Salvador Allende.

What irony it is that the American people now find that THEY are at their most economically vulnerable since the 1930’s and that their own economy is now the target of the same Friedmanites they once exported to Latin America in the 1970’s. Oddly, we continue to elect Friedmanites like DeMint and SC Governor Mark Sandford and are shocked to discover that they cannot resist destroying and devouring the weak and vulnerable…even when the flesh they devour is attached to the voters who elected them.

Milton Friedman finally died in 2006 and his most powerful devotees, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Rice have now been tossed out of office. With any luck DeMint and Sanford will soon be gone from office too and we can take another step toward burying Friedmanism with Friedman. Of major concern now is that Larry Summers and Bob Rubin have wormed their way into the Obama administration. They were up to their necks in Friedman’s “Shock Doctrine” activities even as they worked within the Clinton Administration. They should not be a part of the Obama administration and their actions should be closely monitored.

Capitalism in and of itself is not a bad thing, but capitalism without regulation is a breeding ground for greed…something that is denounced hundreds of times in the same Bible so often quoted by “Christian Republicans” like DeMint. Our public officials, including DeMint and Sanford, and all Americans must understand that in times of economic recession the basic needs of human beings ABSOLUTELY MUST take priority over tax cuts and business incentives. If you don’t believe that, then when you’ve finished talking to Salvador Allende maybe you need to have a chat with Jesus too.