How is it that a minority party can impose its will on the country, while the Democrats were relatively slow to move, even in the midst of the Great Depression? How is it that the Republicans can take the anger that welled up against capital and turn it against labor?
The rentiers (Krugman):
ReplyDeleteOwn the media, and have
Fiscal control of the political process.
That should do it.
--ml
in looking for candidates, i'd start with the '50 little hoovers' of state gov'ts, and similar credit restrictions in smaller institutions & households; combined with what paul krugman just recently said, that "the creditor-oriented mindset permeates the whole world of men in suits sitting around tables talking policy."
ReplyDeleteGramsci would not have been shocked.
ReplyDeleteMy guess: Because radioactivity and pesticides are tasteless, invisible and kill you over a number of years (so the link with your demise can't be made).
ReplyDeletein Seattle for instance, in April, the average person in Seattle breathed in 10 hot particles a day.
The Martenson Report
Part 2 of Arnie Gundersen Interview: Protecting Yourself If The Situation Worsens
Friday, June 3, 2011, 3:55 pm, by Adam
http://www.chrismartenson.com/martensonreport/part-2-arnie-gundersen-interview-protecting-yourself-if-situation-worsens
The Republicans have been actively dismantling the K12 educational system since 1975. There were "social studies" classes but the righties don't like the word "social". There were "government" classes, but the righties don't like government. There were actual history classes, but the righties deny history. Its pretty easy to lie to ignorant people. The "left" is still focused on the universities, while the majority of the voters don't attend the universities and wouldn't attend if were free.
ReplyDeleteIn any case it would be a mistake to associate the 'Left' with Democrats and the 'Right' with Republicans. Neoliberalism has been a goal of both major parties.
ReplyDeleteThe demise of the Democrats could very well be associated with the failure of the general public to see a difference.
Thank you for all your comments. In the Confiscation of American Prosperity, I tried to describe the decades long struggle to dismantling the New Deal and turn the clock back to the 19th century. That battle was extraordinarily successful up until the time I wrote the book, which appeared in October 2007. Since then, the successful escalation of the battle took me by surprise. You are correct that the press, and ill-informed public, powerful think tanks, and electoral finance have all played a role. Even the constant capitulation of the Democrats is nothing new.
ReplyDeleteIn a proper representative republic, electoral finance is much less of a problem. When the House of Representatives once composed of members representing much smaller groups of people (much fewer people per representative) we had the nation as Madison and others had envisioned it. Each representative was still quite "KNOWABLE" and "known" by the people being represented and held accountable by them. But then the number of voters doubled due to women's suffrage and has then tripled again since 1920 due to population growth.
ReplyDeleteA little history lesson