Economist: Is America Turning Left?

[LuckyTheDog]

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=9621579

FOR George Bush, the presidency is becoming a tragic tale of unintended consequences. In foreign policy, the man who sought to transform Iraq, the Middle East and America's reputation has indeed had revolutionary effects, though not the ones he was aiming for. Now something similar seems to be happening in domestic politics. The most conservative president in recent history, a man who sought to turn his victories of 2000 and 2004 into a Republican hegemony, may well end up driving the Western world's most impressive political machine off a cliff.

<snip>

The easy scapegoat is Mr Bush himself. During his presidency, the words Katrina, Rumsfeld, Abramoff, Guantánamo and Libby have become shorthand for incompetence, cronyism or extremism. Indeed, the failings of Mr Bush's coterie are oddly reassuring for some conservatives: once he has gone, they can regroup, as they did after his father was ousted in 1992.

Yet this President Bush is not a good scapegoat. Rather than betraying the right, he has given it virtually everything it craved, from humongous tax cuts to conservative judges. Many of the worst errors were championed by conservative constituencies. Some of the arrogance in foreign policy stems from the armchair warriors of neoconservatism; the ill-fated attempt to “save” the life of the severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo was driven by the Christian right. Even Mr Bush's apparently oxymoronic trust in “big-government conservatism” is shared in practice by most Republicans in Congress.

[jgraz]

1. America's always been liberal

But liberal + ignorant + lazy = conservative.

[TahitiNut]

14. I agree. The snow jobs and cons to exploit sloth and ignorance have been plentiful.

The vast majority really do favor equity and fairness. They had to be told that things were UNFAIR and INEQUITABLE to get them to oppose those policies.

[FredStembottom]

2. If The Economist thinks America is turning kinda-sorta Left.....

...then we must be going waaaaaaay Left.

Further down in the article is this laffer:

>>>>In terms of foreign policy, America's allies, especially in Europe, would also be unwise to start celebrating, for two reasons. First, some of the changes that would stem from a more Democratic America would be unwelcome. The Democrats are moving to the left not just on health care, but also on trade; and a more protectionist America would soon make the world's poor regret Mr Bush's passing. Similarly, many Europeans may yearn for a less interventionist America; but an isolationist superpower could be much more frightening.<<<<<

Yes sir, the "world's poor" are sure gonna miss their indentured servitude as globalization collapses! (The girl-poor will especially miss their second jobs of forced prostitution)

Of course the Economist bet it all on the weird-science of Globalization!
:rofl: :nopity: :rofl: :nopity: :rofl: :nopity: :rofl: :nopity: :rofl: :nopity:

[bryant69]

4. Why do you say that?

What is your opinion of the economist? How often have you read it?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[FredStembottom]

9. Mostly years of their commentaries and .....

... and reports on NPR's Marketplace. Seemed to be the cheer-leading section for globalization.

[bryant69]

10. They are in favor of Globalization

I'll give you that. So am I. So was Bill Clinton and Al Gore. You can be a liberal and in favor of Globalization (now I do favor Fair Trade policies, but economic isolationism is a dead end).

Their commentary on world affairs, though, generally is pretty left wing - they have certainly been very critical of the Bush Regime.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[BlooInBloo]

3. A conversation about that article from a few days ago....

... for any who are interested...

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/08/the-economist-i.html#more

[EVDebs]

5. Read Kevin Phillip's Wealth and Democracy. For capitalism's sake a left turn is needed NOW !

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kevin_Phillips/Wealth_Democracy.html

'You can have great wealth or a democracy, but you cannot have both'-- Louis Brandeis

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. A somewhat telling commentary --

" America, even if it shifts to the left, will still be a conservative force on the international stage. Mrs Clinton might be portrayed as a communist on talk radio in Kansas, but set her alongside France's Nicolas Sarkozy ... or any other supposed European conservative, and on virtually every significant issue Mrs Clinton is the more right-wing. ... As for foreign policy, the main Democratic candidates ... has ruled out attacking Iran..."

How far have we drifted if a so-called progressive candidate is farther right than European rightist leaders?

[peacetalksforall]

7. Left is where America is at. Who knows the name of this morass

that we are in presently. Right is usually an OK word. Now, I hate to ruin a good word by selecting it to describe where we're at now and still heading - 'morassly' right.

[warren pease]

8. Must be; there were three cars ahead of me in the left turn lane yesterday...

But seriously, folks, America is a wholly owned subsidiary of global corporations, who buy their own governments and own their own propaganda system. Further, Americans don't know their own history, which compels them to repeat it fairly regularly.

It is nearly impossible to achieve a progressive culture in a corporate state, with corporate messages blaring from newspaper headlines, radio and TV news -- and that even extends to TV programming, where the cops are always well-intentioned, lawyers always have a conscience, torture is for the good of the country (ala "24") and big business always has an altruistic side.

We absolutely swim in horseshit; we revel in it; we don't want to hear how this country's history is one, long, unbroken streak of extermination, genocide, mass murder, gunboat diplomacy, economically motivated invasions, fomenting insurrections against populist movements, using the military to fight proxy wars on behalf of corporate America, and now the twin whammies of military occupation and "global free trade." Translated, that means "give us your raw materials for nothing to pay off the interest on your IMF loans or we'll be forced to bomb the living shit out of you."

Until we face up to our own history, and the role we've played in the history of the world since around 1800, we're incapable of becoming truly progressive. And until we wean ourselves from corporate control, and turn off the 24/7 cacophony of corporate blather we get from all mass media sources, we'll never even come close to being free, independent people.

When we enjoy the personal liberties taken for granted in, say, the Scandinavian countries, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, The Netherlands and so on, we can't possibly claim to be the "land of the free." And until we stand up to and remove these tin-plated governmental tyrants, whose heads would be on pikes at the city gates in saner times, and start de-certifying corporations who fail to live up to their corporate charters (and very few actually do), we can hardly claim to be the land of the brave either.


wp

[ellie]

11. Thank you

I wish I could nominate posts.

[warren pease]

13. Well, thank *you*...

You're free to steal it and create an OP out of it, if you like. I'm not going to be around much today, so I don't want to start a thread and then disappear.

And thanks for the compliment. Other than one really nonsensical sentence toward the end, it's really not bad.


Best,

wp

[porphyrian]

12. More accurately, America has been turned off on the right. - n/t