Deregulation is a transfer of power from the trodden to the treading. It is unsurprising that all conservative parties claim to hate big government.
Interpretation
Deregulation shifts power from the oppressed to the powerful, often benefiting the latter under the guise of reducing government size.
In this quote, George Monbiot highlights how deregulation, which is often advocated by conservative parties as a means to reduce government intervention, can actually lead to an increase in power for those who are already dominant in society. This transfer of power suggests that while the rhetoric may focus on curtailing governmental oversight, the reality may result in greater inequality and concentration of power among the elite, leaving those who are already marginalized further disadvantaged.
In practice
In a debate about government policies, this quote can serve to illustrate the potential dangers of deregulation.
The notions that nature exists to serve us; that its value consists of the instrumental benefits we can extract; that this value can be measured in cash terms; and that what can't be measured does not matter, have proved lethal to the rest of life on Earth.
I believe that anyone who wants to stand in a national election should receive a course of psychotherapy. Completing the course should be a qualification for office. This wouldn't change the behaviour of psychopaths, but it might prevent some people who exercise power from imposing their own deep wounds on others.
I became an environmentalist because I love the living world, but I spend much of my life thinking about electricity, industrial processes and civil engineering.
Places that have become agricultural deserts, trashed by giant corporations, could be reforested, drawing carbon dioxide from the air on a vast scale. The ecosystems of land and sea could recover, not just in pockets but across great tracts of the planet.
Never underestimate the power of intrinsic values. They inspire every struggle for a better world.
Why is it so easy to save the banks - but so hard to save the biosphere?
Iraq may have been a preview of that, but it's still redeemable if we get out fast. In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world.
When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the American flag.
There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.
The new rule in American politics is that no one can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote.
From horrific incidents of police brutality and complicity in indiscriminate attacks by triads on citizens to arbitrary mass arrests and the banning of demonstrations, the government has employed nearly every weapon in its war chest to intimidate Hong Kongers into silence and to suppress their popular struggle for democracy and freedom.
Voting is the foundation stone for political action.
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