High Unemployment and Political Extremism -- Neil H. Buchanan, Findlaw

[Bozita]

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/buchanan/20100408.html

High Unemployment and Political Extremism: How Much Worse Might Political Conditions Become if the Job Market Remains Depressed?
By NEIL H. BUCHANAN
Thursday, April 8, 2010


In recent weeks, there has been understandable concern about the rise of politically-motivated violence in the United States. There have been numerous reports of threatening phone calls to members of Congress, as well as some worrisome actions, including bricks being thrown through the windows of the offices of some Democrats who voted for the health care bill. Nonpartisan media still refer to these events as "isolated instances of violence," even though it is difficult not to see this as a growing problem that can be traced back to the general election campaign of 2008.

Isolated or not, however, the threat of political violence has recently led to some arrests, including those resulting from a successful FBI operation that brought in nine members of a militia group in Michigan that had planned a series of acts of domestic terrorism. Also, earlier this week, a man's repeated phone calls to Senator Patty Murray's office in Seattle led to his arrest for threatening to kill the Senator.

These incidents understandably garner news coverage, because it seems at least possible that they are the leading edge of a wave of violence that might be in the offing. With talk radio and Fox News making a practice of stirring up anger among an increasingly agitated (though still quite small) group of citizens, and with Republican leaders trying to blame Democrats for supposedly fanning the very flames of extremism that are bringing fury upon the Democrats, law enforcement officials (and nonviolent Americans more generally) would be irresponsible not to suspect that such anger might lead to more violent outbursts.

Although it certainly is important to confront and eliminate imminent threats of violence, there is another important aspect of growing political extremism that is getting much less attention. In the midst of our most severe economic crisis – both in depth and in length –since the Great Depression, we are not just facing the prospect of politically-motivated physical violence. We also find ourselves on the most fertile ground since the 1930's for the rapid growth of political extremism.

According to standard economic analysis, unemployment carries with it a number of distinct harms. Among those harms is the hard-to-define concept of "social unrest." Although economists have generally downplayed social unrest as a harm of unemployment, it is clear that today's social and political atmosphere is alive with the possibility of wrenching political change, including radical changes in the nature of our constitutional democracy. These dangers make it all the more important for policymakers to redouble their efforts to reduce unemployment – and to do so as quickly as possible.

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[Doctor_J]

1. Call me old and crotchety, but I'm OK with that

I am sort of sick of being on the receiving end of all of the hate, violence, and political blowback. I agree with Malloy that it's going to come to a head. This waiting around for the next outrage from hate radio or Fox, each of which is more outrageous than the one before, is tiring and frustrating. I say let's go ahead and have it out, and let the winners take the nation.

[truedelphi]

2. As far as the winners taking the nation -

This civil war would end up being co-opted by the Powers that Be, so we would end up with a lot of lives lost, and in the end, the same ol' same ol' would be in power.