Paul Krugman: Centrism Is for Suckers

[kpete]

Friday, August 04, 2006
Paul Krugman: Centrism Is for Suckers


--The New York Times, August 4, 2006

..............................

Put it this way: If the Democrats gain only five rather than six Senate seats this November, Senator James Inhofe, who says that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” will remain in his current position as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. And if that happens, the Sierra Club may well bear some of the responsibility.

The point is that those who cling to the belief that politics can be conducted in terms of people rather than parties — a group that also includes would-be centrist Democrats like Joe Lieberman and many members of the punditocracy — are kidding themselves.

The fact is that in 1994, the year when radical Republicans took control both of Congress and of their own party, things fell apart, and the center did not hold. Now we’re living in an age of one-letter politics, in which a politician’s partisan affiliation is almost always far more important than his or her personal beliefs. And those who refuse to recognize this reality end up being useful idiots for those, like President Bush, who have been consistently ruthless in their partisanship.

more at:
http://rozius.blogspot.com/2006/08/paul-krugman-centrism-is-for-suckers.html

[The2ndWheel]

1. Yeah, that's what happens

when organizations/institutions/political parties have such power. You're identified with that entity, and only that entity. We're all part of this or that group, and we have to be, because that's the only way you can have a voice these days. There are fewer groups to belong to, because the most efficient number is 1. The closer you get to that number, the less personal identity you have.

[Beetwasher]

2. Right On!

"Now we’re living in an age of one-letter politics, in which a politician’s partisan affiliation is almost always far more important than his or her personal beliefs. And those who refuse to recognize this reality end up being useful idiots for those, like President Bush, who have been consistently ruthless in their partisanship."

Useful idiots, indeed. Hey Joe! You listening? This is why you're going down on Tuesday, you useful idiot.

[Fovea]

3. You cannot bring a copy of Robert's Rules of Order

to a knife fight. Unless, of course, you also bring a gun.

I think that the only thing that can hold the Democrats back is the so called centrists.
If Joe Lieberman is the center, there is no center, only right.

[xchrom]

4. i'ld like to refer you to this thread

making the same point.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2756876

what has happened in centrist style politics -- is that parties -- most especially left leaning parties -- are reaching for the lowest common denominator.

a party must give people something to believe in -- something vigorous. lively. electric.

[Toots]

5. He seems to contradict himself

"The point is that those who cling to the belief that politics can be conducted in terms of people rather than parties — a group that also includes would-be centrist Democrats like Joe Lieberman and many members of the punditocracy — are kidding themselves"

It sounds like he is saying you must vote Party line and then saying Lieberman is kidding himself for asking for support. :crazy: That is what the DLC has been screaming for quite some time now. How we must vote for the Party even if we don't like the person so vote for Lieberman. Probably it is just me and the way I screw things up because I have always liked what Krugman writes, but I believe in voting for what you believe and the person best able to Represent those beliefs. I would never vote for a person just because they had a D after their name, such as Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman. I vote for what I believe, what is my ideology. That is why I am registered as an Independent I guess.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Not at all. Lieberman consistantly votes against the party's

interests. As do many of the DLC (Damned Lousy Corporatists). When they object to somebody challenging Lieberman it's because it is a challenge to one of their own, not because it is a challenge to the party.

That said, in the primary it's a free-for-all. In the general election the only choice a dem can make is voting for the dem, even if it is Lieberman or Miller - we cannot control the agenda unless we have the majority.

On Edit:
For proof of the DLC intentions, how many of them say to support Cynthia McKinney just because she is a dem? They support their own, not the party.

[Blackhatjack]

6. What is really going on? theft, corruption, suppression -not conservatism

Real conservatives believe in "small government", balanced budgets, and freedom from government intrusion on their lives.

Compare Bush and the neocons. We have "big government" expanding exponentially, running up outrageously huge deficits, intruding into every aspect of American's lives.

You might as well say more accurately that our government has been taken over by organized crime.

Conservatives have been out of power and basically dead for a long time, except in wearing the name only.

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. True. Real conservatives feel steamrollered by the neocon agenda

They rant more in their publications against the neocons than we do in ours.

[porphyrian]

8. How vocal will these patsies be about seeking the "undecided moderate"...

...vote as our party's tactic this election, after its employment handed the last three elections to the republicans?