The roots of neoliberal fascism in America, and what we can do about it

We could write an entire article on the shit storm that has hit at the federal level, reel off on the reactionary measures local and state governments are imposing in response to the massive numbers of people living, suffering, hurting, and dying on our streets, and still be mad as hell. 

Suffice it to say, 2025 America has implemented the long-planned and inevitable work plan of neoliberal governance in the United States of America. 

America’s “Banana Republic” pilot projects—which used the profits of commercial enterprise and the ruling class to exploit and colonize South and Central America—are now complete. Trump is the personification of “Reagan’s Revolution” and its mantra that anything the government does for the public good without a profit margin for corporate interests is socialism. Clinton’s “Contract with America” privatized welfare and cut off 300,000 disabled people from benefits. HOPE VI demolished or sold off over 500,000 units of public housing and replaced them with vouchers for the private housing market, where people only have four to six months to find a landlord who will accept the voucher before being forced to turn them back in. Bush’s compassionate conservatism solidified the mantra that tax breaks for the rich are economic stimulus and investing in social benefits is evil. Obama’s TARP mortgage company bailouts pushed that concept to its heights: People lost their homes while banks and investors got bailouts, all in the name of saving our economy. And these are just a few examples. 

In hindsight, it’s a progression that makes perfect sense, and each step on the path of the neoliberal agenda generated big-time opposition. And yet the train kept rolling.

If we can learn anything from the past 40 years of neoliberal policy, including the growing number of people living in our streets— this shift to profit over people is killing us all. 

We need a dramatic shift from the singular, isolated “I” (the unhoused, elderly, tenants, immigrants, trans, etc.) to the plurality of a collective “We” (humans, people, us, everyone). We sure as hell acknowledge that some of us are much more targeted, attacked, and hurt, but we also must emphasize that this is not their shit to fight on their own. We build power when we collectively identify and call out racism, ableism, sexism, and all forms of oppression. It’s not up to individuals to fight oppression by themselves and we can’t change the systems that are oppressing so many people by focusing on one issue in isolation from the others. If we continue to do our organizing on a single issue, we’re not going to change the overall system of oppression. 

In this intense environment, the “tried and true” systems of “effective” community organizing, litigation, and legislative strategies need to evolve. In every flyer, t-shirt, and protest sign we make, in every demand, press release, and training we issue, we need to be sure we are identifying and defending all people that are getting fucked through the rise of neoliberal fascism. Local organizing can and should reflect the day-to-day priorities of the work we are doing, but there is a dire need to shift our strategies to build further solidarity and collective power. 

There is a reason we got stuck in the quicksand of single-issue organizing: The nonprofit corporate structure created during the War on Poverty in the 1960s in order to “help” people—a structure so many groups rely upon now—was not created to build power. Our money is their control button, and keeps us beholden to the foundations and government funders who make the rules. 

Our communities can no longer afford to let foundation funding priorities drive our organizing priorities. We need to seriously examine our strategies and tactics, keep what works, and be fearless to challenge the constantly changing foundation funding priorities and nonprofit regulations, as well as the prevailing systems of representation to mitigate the horrible damage that is absolutely going to impact so many people today. We need to employ tactics that can get us off the same-old and into a new approach of fighting back for the long haul.

If we look at this framework under a new lens, we see a whole bunch of shit we can’t do. But there is still a lot we can do. 

We can be as inclusive as we want. We can do documented outreach in our communities to guide our campaigns, litigation, and legislative work. We can have gatherings that are creative, inclusive, and just a freaking blast to attend. 

Homelessness is an amazing overview of the work of all systems of oppression and the prevailing policy of profits over people. We are a true mixed bag of people that got hit first and hardest through the 40-year transition toward fascist neoliberalism. We know first-hand that ending homelessness is not possible if we are only focused on our currently unhoused neighbors and friends. 

We will not get free quality education by only caring about unhoused students, and there will be no universal access to all forms of health care because wheelchair ramps got put on many curbs. These are incredibly important issues, as are protecting trans rights and abortion access, as well as fighting the continued colonization of native land for oil profits. But our ability to highlight, honor, and acknowledge—on an ongoing, deliberate basis—the interconnected spiritual relationship to each other is where our thoughts and deeds can expand.

We can broaden our ability to truly build power and deepen our understanding of systems of oppression from a universal perspective. We can make a bunch of new friends as we connect with communities that are fighting oppression in the same fearless spirit of love, coupled with a very direct “Fuck You” to those who believe fascism makes America great again. The time is now, we have nothing to lose but our chains.