{"id":4576,"date":"2024-11-12T22:29:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T22:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/josephrauch.com\/therauchreview\/?p=4576"},"modified":"2025-07-16T20:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T20:59:07","slug":"how-define-neoliberalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/josephrauch.com\/therauchreview\/articles\/how-define-neoliberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Define Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Centrism"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you\u2019re reading The Rauch Review, you\u2019ll often see me and my contributors use the words liberalism, neoliberalism and centrism, as well as their conjugations (liberal, centrist, etc). You may also see \u201cgradualism\u201d and its conjugations. If you\u2019re a self-described liberal or conservative living in the U.S., you likely ascribe different definitions to these words.<\/p>\n

To leftists<\/a> such as myself, however, these political labels are synonymous. Based on context, I choose varied verbiage from this selection, but my intended meaning is always the same.<\/p>\n

When I have this conversation with my Democratic Party-voting friends, family members and colleagues, confusion and surprise are usually their initial reactions. Sometimes they become offended. \u2018How can you say those things are the same?\u2019 \u2018I\u2019m a liberal, not a neoliberal or a centrist.\u2019 \u2018I\u2019m on the left, not in the center.\u2019<\/p>\n

As I explain in my friendly open letter to our liberal readers<\/a>, my intention is not to be pejorative or condescending. We simply disagree on definitions. By linking to explanatory articles such as this one, I aim to expose a politically diverse readership to enlightening ideas that are normally discussed only in far left circles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It All Comes Down to the Same Vote and Party Support<\/h2>\n

In terms of opinions, self-described liberals are not a monolith. Some want our government to send weapons to Israel; others don\u2019t. Within liberal communities, there are debates on major policy issues, including immigration and censorship.<\/p>\n

When it comes to voting habits, however, liberals have been near monolithic for decades. I have never met a self-described liberal who votes for a party other than the Democrats. The vast majority of liberals I speak to agree with my definition that to be a liberal means to vote for the Democratic Party, regardless of enthusiasm for the candidate.<\/p>\n

These liberals often believe they are on the left side of the political spectrum, because they believe the Democratic Party is a left party. As I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve figured out by now, I disagree.<\/p>\n

Combating Propaganda and Defining the American Political Center<\/h2>\n

During the past three or so decades, one of the most effective and destructive pieces of propaganda in American life is that the Democratic Party represents the left. This propaganda, disseminated by centrist media outlets, has several goals:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Convince average people that there is no political center, that there is only left (the Democratic Party) and right (the Republican Party)<\/li>\n
  2. Deny the existence of other political parties that claim to represent the left<\/li>\n
  3. For people who are aware of these left political parties: convince them that the Democratic Party is the only legitimate and effective representative of the left<\/li>\n
  4. Prevent the general public from discovering and advocating for truly left\/populist policies, a goal that was almost 100% successful until Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 presidential run<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Expanding on point #1, black and white thinking is both a cognitive distortion<\/a> and symptom of being propagandized. \u2018Us vs. them\u2019 is a complementary propaganda tactic employed to pit large populations of average people against each other. If you believe the Democratic Party is the left, why would you look leftward? If you believe middle and working-class Republican voters are the greatest existential threat to your quality of life and that only the \u201cleft\u201d party can fight back, why would you ever withhold your vote from the Democratic Party?<\/p>\n

    Throughout history, binary thinking has been fuel for discrimination and erasure. When people believe only straight and gay exist, they erase the bisexual identity. When people believe a person can only be one race or another, they erase the biracial identity. Politics may be different from these identities, but the tactic of identity erasure is the same.<\/p>\n

    A Policy-Based Perspective on the True Center and True Left<\/h3>\n

    The Democratic Party is our centrist party. This framing is actually generous. Many on the left believe that both the Democratic Party and Republican Party are right parties, with the Republicans simply being further to the right on some policies.<\/p>\n

    The Green Party<\/a>, one of our actual left parties, has an official platform that expresses left policies<\/a>. We have listed a few of them below. The Democratic Party does not support any of these policies<\/a>. A few progressive Democratic Party politicians claim to support some of these policies, but these partisans don\u2019t have any plan to achieve the necessary legislation or political pressure.<\/p>\n