George Bush's No Child Left Behind Education Policy: War, Ambivalence, and Mimicry - Online

The present times are characterized by an authoritarian conservative climate of fear and control (Giroux 2004a, 2004b, 2004c). Daily the media report new restrictions, bans and rumors of bans, in what seems a celebration of control and discipline. In Australia social welfare funding continues to be cut and industrial relations "reforms" threaten to further erode workers rights, wages, and conditions, while the only response to terrorism given legal credibility is one that seems to take away the very liberal-democratic fundamentals, which it is claimed the terrorists wish to destroy (Marr 2005, 30). These are conservative neoliberal times in which rightwing economic fundamentalism is allied with right-wing religious fundamentalism (Giroux 2006a). "Evil" is seen everywhere by fundamentalist religious folk, while neoliberal economic fundamentalists seek to impose the "discipline" of the "free" market upon the entire human experience (McMurty 1999). Thus the mainstream media, equally devoted to improving investor returns as much as public access to (certain) information, finds itself on a "winner" — and the daily end of the world thesis continues (Giroux 2006a).