The Oligarchic Revolution Unfolds:
James Buchanan’s ideas began to have huge impact, especially in America and in Britain.
In his home country, the economist was deeply involved in efforts to #cut #taxes on the wealthy in 1970s and 1980s and he advised proponents of #Reagan Revolution in their quest to unleash markets and posit government as the “problem” rather than the “solution.”
The Koch-funded Virginia school coached scholars, lawyers, politicians, and business people to apply stark right-wing perspectives on everything from #deficits to #taxes to school #privatization.
In Britain, Buchanan’s work helped to inspire the public sector reforms of Margaret #Thatcher and her political progeny.
MacLean illustrates that in South America, Buchanan was able to first truly set his ideas in motion by helping a bare-knuckles #dictatorship ensure the permanence of much of the radical transformation it inflicted on a country that had been a beacon of social progress. The historian emphasizes that Buchanan’s role in the disastrous #Pinochet government of Chile has been underestimated partly because unlike Milton Friedman, who advertised his activities, Buchanan had the shrewdness to keep his involvement quiet.
With his guidance, the Chilean #military #junta deployed public choice economics in the creation of a new #constitution, which required #balanced #budgets and thereby prevented the government from spending to meet public needs. #Supermajorities would be required for any changes of substance, leaving the public little recourse to challenge programs like the #privatization of social security.
The dictator’s human rights #abuses and #pillage of the country’s resources did not seem to bother Buchanan, MacLean argues, so long as the wealthy got their way.
“#Despotism may be the only organizational alternative to the political structure that we observe,” the economist had written in "The Limits of Liberty".
If you have been wondering about the end result of the Virginia school philosophy, well, the economist helpfully spelled it out...
https://academic.oup.com/book/36885/chapter-abstract/322112740?redirectedFrom=fulltext
♬ 
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in ALL ways (our view of 
How/Who we truly are On The Inside ALWAYS comes out eventually. Choose 2 be sober minded!
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Bruce Carnwell (
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