In 1992, in the aftermath of the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama argued that the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy represented, “The End of History.” In other words, the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and that the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. Up until the end of the Cold War, the world was split between two major political ideologies: Western Capitalism and Communism. After the Cold War, we entered a unipolar world where Western Capitalism and Democracy reigned supreme.
So is it true? Is U.S. style Democracy, Capitalism, and Neoliberal Economics the ultimate form of human government and economics? Is our work done? Or does humanity as a race have much further progress to go?
What are the results of the victory of Western Liberal Democracy in the thirty years since the end of the Cold War? Or in the forty years of its growth around the globe? There has been an argument that neoliberalism and global marketisation would be a means for poorer countries to increase their wealth and opportunities. Indeed, more people have cellphones, more people have internet access, and global hunger has reportedly gone down since 1980 (depending on how you measure it).
However, the stark reality, is that in four decades of globalism, we’ve also seen a stark increase in economic inequality, wealth disparity, environmental collapse, and ironically enough–the world is closer to a nuclear apocalypse happening than we were during the Cold War. We’re now looking at the greatest wealth inequality in history. The top 10% of richest people now own 75% of the globe’s wealth. (That wealth wasn’t earned. It was stolen).
Some people don’t understand the growth of right wing governments around the world. Around the planet, voters are increasingly distrustful of globalism and liberal democracy, and instead are turning to populism and political strongmen.
A big factor could be the failure of globalism to improve the lives of the working class. Over the last forty years of the growth of globalism, the working class in the U.S., for example, has seen a decline in their standard of living, an increase of drug dependency, mental illness, and suicide. If you look at industries that are predominantly blue collar labor–mining, farming, construction–they’ve all experienced an increased suicide rate of about a third. There’s also a dramatic increase in these people dying of stress related illnesses.
Obviously correlation doesn’t equal causation. One can point to many factors such as the effects of COVID-19, climate change, the growth of opioid addiction in blue collar communities, etc. However, it needs to be noted that globalism and neoliberal economics is not making this situation better, it’s making it worse. Wages have stagnated since the 1970s. It’s no longer possible to purchase “the American dream” with 40 hours of solid work. Instead the working class has reaped the American nightmare, often having to work 60+ hours and still struggle to afford basic necessities like groceries and health care.
There’s been widespread pessimism in the news these days about mankind’s future. Given the fact that our governments don’t seem to be taking the necessary action on climate change, and our economic system has turned into the equivalent of Patrick Bateman on steroids, many people want to vote for a right wing extremist option as the “fuck you” button to a neoliberal economic system that puts profit above our core humanity, and a Western style democracy that impotently sits on the sidelines and lets it.
Yet there is hope. The hour is always darkest before the dawn. The technological capability to solve mankind’s problems is there. We could feed every person on the planet if we organized correctly. We do produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet, the problem is that there is a lack of access, not a lack of quantity. There are also enough houses in the U.S. to house all. It may surprise you to hear that there are 28 vacant homes for every 1 person experiencing homelessness. The problem is that empty homes are being reserved for the highest bidders. The increasing ability to automate labor should also mean more free time for all, rather than less money and opportunities. It’s not that there is “less money” to go around, it’s that the top 10% who stole the planet’s wealth don’t want to share it, and would rather just let us die off than inconvenience them. Or even worse, they use petty cultural war disputes to turn us against each other, so we’re fighting each other instead of the people robbing us of our futures.
What would you say if you found out that $50 trillion has been stolen from the paychecks of working class Americans and transferred to our wealthiest citizens in the last forty years? And yet very little is being said about one of the greatest heists in history. It should also be noted that billionaires increased their wealth by almost 90% during the pandemic, while millions of people fell into poverty.
It’s time to open our minds, our hearts, and call on a Higher Power than ourselves to guide us to the right solution. If we listen to our own egos, we’ll lean toward our insecurities and greed. We’ll be easily manipulated by political strongmen who pull on our fears like the strings of marionettes. But if we lean on something better than ourselves, our better nature, and realize that we live in an abundant world where there is enough for all, we’ll be ready to put people, planet, and principles above profit.
So history is far from over, Francis Fukuyama. We have much, much more work to do. We’re cavepeople with nuclear missiles. It’s time to evolve.
Green Medina 
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