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Probing a Political Paradox: Why the Discredited Right Still Sets the Agenda and Dominates the Debate
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Arianna Right Is Wrong, John McCain, Republican Party, Republican Primary, Republicans, Right Is Wrong,
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It's a paradox: the political center has clearly shifted; what used to be considered "left wing" positions have now become part of the mainstream, and the views of the Right are now at odds with the majority of the American public -- and with reality.
Yet, despite this seismic shift -- grossly underreported by the media -- the Right remains as powerful as ever when it comes to setting the national agenda and dominating the national debate.
Think about it: on Iraq and the exercise of American power, on economic fairness, on corporate responsibility, on the environment and climate change, on the universal right to healthcare, the progressive policies and positions long championed by the left have moved from union halls and MoveOn emails to the sidewalks, backyards, and kitchen tables of Main Street, USA.
Nevertheless, the traditional media -- and most politicians -- continue to insist on looking at every issue through a right vs left frame, then assume the answer is found by splitting the difference.
I've spent much of the last year trying to pinpoint the reasons for this startling disconnect in my new book, Right is Wrong, which is being released today (April 29).
And I concluded that there are three main areas to look at, not only to help us understand how we got in the mess we're in, but also to help us get out: the media, the role of fear in our politics, and the failure of political leadership.
These three factors have combined to allow the lunatic fringe that has taken over the Right to hijack our country, our democracy, and our Constitution. So that 28 percent of the population that continues to support George W. Bush no matter how many bodies pile up in Iraq, how many jobs disappear overseas, how many For Sale signs go up on their block, or how high gas prices get, continues to dominate our politics.
Let's take them one by one, starting with the media which remains hopelessly addicted to the false belief that in order to be fair and balanced every story needs to be given the "on the one hand... and on the other" treatment. But not every story has two sides -- and the truth is often to be found not in the middle but solidly on one side or the other.
The earth is not flat. Global warming is a fact. Evolution is a fact -- sorry Mike Huckabee. And not even Republicans still believe in the unfettered, free market. Look how they rushed to Big Government to save their beloved Bear Sterns.
Nor are there two sides to the proposition that Iraq is our generation's greatest foreign policy disaster. It is. Period. Full stop. Yet the same media that enabled the administration to sell us the multi-trillion dollar war are -- nearly six years later -- still pushing the Right's line that "the surge is working." Green Zone bombardments be damned.
Indeed, we are in the sixth year of an unnecessary and immoral war that has cost tens of thousands of lives, globally discredited the United States and has left us all less safe than the day Shock and Awe began. But the media are still debating the war's "progress," and describing the state of Iraq as "a mixed bag" -- which is a little bit like going to the doctor and having him tell you that you have a brain tumor but your acne has cleared, and you considering the diagnosis "a mixed bag."
What is behind the media's lapdog devotion to the messages and framing of the Right? It's a combination of self-loathing and abject fear. The media wear their dread like a cheap aftershave. The broadcast networks and the cable news channels live in mortal fear of a dip in the ratings, and newspapers are constantly checking their pulse -- convinced by their deteriorating profits and market share that the end is near. So they continue to offer the views of the newly marooned Right more than equal time.
Fear -- specifically the right wing's masterful manipulation of it -- has also come to dominate our politics.
In 2004 we had the whole sordid "al Qaeda really wants John Kerry to win" routine. And it's only April, but John McCain has already told us that al Qaeda will increase its violent attacks to try and defeat him, and that Hamas wants Obama to win. This is not only laughable but downright loathsome -- and there should be zero tolerance for such distortions in American politics.
Besides, why wouldn't al Qaeda want McCain to win? He's running to give a third term to George Bush, whose disastrous policies have been the terrorists' best recruitment tool.
McCain's "more of the same" platform should disqualify him from being allowed to use sharp scissors, let alone be president of the United States. But the mainstream media still treat him with kid gloves and continue to take his foreign policy positions -- however confused -- seriously.
You can be sure the Right will play the fear card again in 2008 because that's all that's left in its deck. And that's why it's incredibly important that Democrats take back national security as an issue from the Republicans, and why Hillary Clinton's latest attempts to out-bellicose McCain are so destructive.
The dynamic between the dithering Democrats and the reality-be-damned Republican Right calls to mind that great line from Yeats: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity."
The third factor in the continuing power of the loony Right is the abject, across the board failure of our political leadership to adjust to the fact that the game of "right versus left" has been rendered obsolete by the emergence of a new and vital center. But political movements and political shifts do not fully succeed without bold political leadership -- and if we ever needed that kind of leadership, it is now.
Democratic leaders need to re-define the center of American politics. Right is no longer the opposite of left. It is the opposite of wrong. And what used to be the left needs to redefine itself as something more than just an opposition force -- but rather as an active, positive, mainstream current that includes independents, Republicans aghast at what has happened to their party, and many new voters who are tired of empty partisanship.
Over this past year, it has seemed that America is ready to define a new center and to turn a new page and close the book on this tragic chapter of our history. The nomination of John McCain, however, could obstruct this transition. McCain is the Trojan Horse the Right desperately needed to put a faux maverick, faux independent, faux straight-talker imprint on the same ruinous policies that have taken us down this dark road.
Though the era of the Right has exhausted its historic course, collapsing in moral, political and economic bankruptcy, the transformation and co-opting of McCain from a maverick into the Second Coming of George W. Bush shows the durability of the Right and the lingering danger it poses. There is nothing automatic about its disappearance from the stage. Not unless we, together, give it -- and McCain -- a mighty push into the wings and right out the stage door.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Hey... We're on a roll, let us keep this train wreck going. Vote Senator John McCain 4 President.
"It's a paradox: the political center has clearly shifted" Sorry, no, it has not. It is simply Bush's horror has make us a bit more vocal. But the Men Who Hold High Places (and the title on the Media, as well as our lives) are still in control. And I do not believe even Barack Obama is immune to Them.
Right/Left, Dempublica
"Do you really think that is air you are breathing?" - Morphesus to Neo in the virtual dojo.
That why we must protect or even go underground with NPR because people like Gingrich will keep trying to kill it.
Why wasn't Newt Gingrich put in jail for accepting bribes anyway.
1 DAY HE GETS BOOK DEAL AND $1 MILLION DOLLARS THE NEXT HE TRYS TO DESTORY PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS!!!!
WHO WOULD BENIFIT FROM HUNDREDS OF FULLY OPERATIOANAL PUBLIC T. V .STATIONS BEING SOLD???
MURDOUCH NEWT GETRICHES PUBLISHER!!!!!!
Yeah, I agree. It should be protected or even go underground. Or, it should be funded by some rich liberal like Huffington or Gore who make a livelyhood by praying on the ignorance of this world.
Hey, they should chip in to fund PBS as well...noo
"The underground is not place just to hide now, it is a way to move." - Paul Kantner.
Liberal, straight-thinking people have over the years been carefully manipulated by the media to feel sorry for the right, portraying themselves as victims of political discrimination, knowing of course that liberals are sensitive to the sensitivities of others.
In this climate of toleration of fools there had to more than just the liberal view. We can't be like THEM, liberals thought! And the floodgates opened. The right wing view of things was given credence where two decades ago they would have been laughed off the stage and viewed as extreme. You can thank the mega-corporations like Fox News and certain disinforma
You can't call shit shit anymore. That's the problem. You have to give shit its say. Today, it's on an equal par with good-sense thinking. The right wingers have turned the tables, using liberal sensitivities to debase liberalism. The fact is, and we have to admit this, conservative thinking is not on a moral par with liberal thinking. It is mean, base. anti-progressive and corporatist.
Well, i think it's time we flushed, I say!
We can do it, America if we really want to. Turn off your TV's, keep your internet and stay tuned to the HuffPo and the few reputable news organizations that are extant. We can take this country back! If we don't they'll keep it!! Forever!! I think that's their intention.
Liberals debase liberalism themselves. You don't need any help from us. You are the most self-important group of ignorant fools to whom I have ever had the displeasure of responding.
As a matter-of-fact, I'm disappointed in myself that I actually expect rational, well considered arguments from liberals.
Despite your hatred for this country, I witnessed a 260 lb Egyptian man weep yesterday as he celebrated the receipt of his U.S. Citizenship. "This is the greatest country on Earth" he said with tears in his eyes. This is a person who KNOWS what it is like living all around the world. His one goal for the past 12 years was to attain his Citizenship. By the way, he is a conservative and can't understand why someone born here with all the advantages would EVER be as ungrateful as liberals are.
If something is done in our name with our tax dollars, that will hurt our childrens future and harm innocent people in another country ,and is against our and international law and against that of most religious teachings as far as morality is concerned ,we are supposed to stand by, say nothing, recite the pledge and be grateful. I'm going to call a Taxi to the Dark Side for you. I'm a proud American but we are digging our own graves right now. Grow a pair and start asking some questions. Don't just open your mouth wide when they start spooning out the crap!
Exactly. The right wing in its entirety is by-and-large a (large) lunatic fringe composed of manipulative fascists on the one hand, and ignorant fascists on the other, that collectively are literally destroying the world and killing our future. There must be no quarter given to these crypto-Nazis.
Ariana, let a simple trailer-parker tell you sophisticated intellectuals why you can't usher them off the stage. Here's the reason: (one word), "There is nothing automatic about its disappearance from the stage. Not unless we, together, give it -- and McCain -- a mighty push into the wings and right out the stage door." The problem is the word "together.
Democrats are, inherently, a "mass" "together" and that's fine, but it's hard to move a mass. While you are at the conference table being politically correct, the Republicans are living up to their name, "Re-public" and they designate and delegate individuals to move quickly. Or, "how much room does it take to turn a battleship around?" Hillary and Obama spent months correcting each other publicly, and listened to every pundit, while John McCain just went ahead and stood up aginst his own party---and subsequently, looked like a fearless leader. Your own Harry S. acted alone, dropped the bomb killing thousands but saving millions.
I have to get back to my trailer, leaving you with this: I didn't call you names, I didn't denigrate you, nor flog you with expletives---but presented simple thoughts---sorta like a paper clip. I don't have a degree in political science; I barely made it out of high school, but I make sense. If you want to usher John off stage, do it. Don't muster the troops---they're too busy calling me names.
...and to the underlying democratic principles upon which this republic was founded.
If a legitimate political system has any hope of enduring - in a manner that truly benefits 'the people' - the media must be strongly regulated in at least one sense of the word: it must not be partisan. period. in fact, it must actually be as unpartisan as humanly possible.
Carefully crafted, clearly worded, loophole-free legislative statute compelling media impartiality is required to accomplish this objective.
Violate it once and the perpetrator should be publically repremanded and even more-stringently regulated. violate it twice and the perpetrator should not only be penalized financially - and severely enough so that the amount collected represents a genuine deterent against future transgressions - but also temporarily shut down for an appropriate period of time. violate it a third time and and the perpetrator's property and capital should be confiscated and the enterprise permanently banished from broadcasting over the public's airwaves and also prohibited from using any other channels of distribution that belong to the people. and legal authorities must ensure that this new law is rigorously enforced.
This is not a matter of free speech. under the present system, it is a matter of public manipulation and exploitation by the media for private gain, at the expense of that public. when the media intentionally misleads the public, it performs no useful service to that public. in fact, quite the opposite is true. it does a grave disservice to this country, to its people and to the underlying democratic principles upon which this republic
That's it!!! Just like a liberal!!! Who gets to decide what is "partisan"? You?
You will NEVER regulate the media. This is not Kabul, Germany in 1933, Cuba, Venezuela, the USSR or any other dictatorship. This the USA. If you don't like it, exercise your 14th amendment right to leave. For good. Please!
The 28% that still support Bush/Cheney policies is mainly made up of Republican Federal and State employees, military people and those who benefit directly or indirectly from the business of war, Wall Street speculators and the money holders of this Nation, the "Christian Evangelicals", the Jewish Americans, the older Military Americans and the illiterate of this country. Ultimately, The "right wing owned media" which controls all communications and sets the rules of the game. The outcome is this basket of rotten eggs we have gotten on our hands. The prospects of another Republican administration are high, given the fact they are skillful at deceit and have packed the Supreme Court with a full staff of corrupt and unscrupulous gestapo like Democracy hackers. You all took too long to react. The nightmare is just beginning to unfold....
Don't blame Bush on "Jewish Americans.
I don't know a single fellow Jew that supports the administration, the war or Republicans in general.
Jews are a really smart people.
I don't think the possibility of another Republican Administration is high. I think it's the lowest it's since before Reagan. That aside Arianna is correct in say that they still set the agenda. Mainly it because they appear to peoples dark emotions, their anger, their fear and their prejudices. I believe that every country needs a multiple party system but America would be much better off without the Republican Party. They are narrow minded, greedy, out of touch with reality, paranoid, and generally unthinking AND they have always, always, been on the wrong side of history. They were against entering WWII (Roosevelt just about had to beat them into it) they were against intergration, again blacks having equal rights, mysoginistic, and now, anti-gay. They flat out refuse to accept lifes realitys and instead, create their own and try to force everyone to live in it. The only reason they are given any credance is because the media is both owned by them and terrified of them.
Unfortunately, the reason they still dominate is because they know how to manipulate their base... and their base is a huge group of voters who don't keep up with the news or don't really care, or just can't get a handle on the facts.... they can manipulate these people to vote the way they want... and call the rest of us elitists..
They also dominate the airways with talk radio... Air America just didn't get it....most liberals don't like this kind of pandering and tend to like NPR which is boring to the uneducated
The right has figured out a formula for votes.... they pander to the uninformed majority and it works...
the left needs to figure out how to educate the majority ......then get them to vote intelligen
great post,you hit it right on.
It is the form of fanaticism you find in sports that has permeated into the political arena. If voters for a moment would care to separate themselves from political parties and mindless adoration of people they are never ever going to become friend with, all this nonsense would end. People don't realize all these candidates are simply applying for a job. They should be viewed as prospective candidates who must prove their capabilities. All the adoration and servitude rendered to these people nauseates me. It's like everyone gets swept in a wave of emotional recklessness that allows no logical processes to take place. There is no hope.
Maybe the reason they still have power is because they were elected to a four year term that ends in January of next year. Have you ever thought about that?
Or perhaps they stay in power because they have an attorney general in Mukasey who will not enforce Congressional subpoenas or say whether waterboarding is or is not torture. The system at the moment is rigged.
I wouldn't hold my breath for the left to educate anyone. Reading your comments as well as the others on this page convince me that most of the writers of these comments have no idea what they are talking about.
I used to be a Democrat but no more. With leadership such as Dick Durbin, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi you lost me a long time ago. The Democratic Party couldn't put a worse public face to the American people than these three. If you want to take back the government you need to replace these three individuals to have any chance.
I am amazed how many people on the left are against American business and entrepeneurship. These corporations are owned by American citizens by way of mutual funds and pension funds. Why the hostility? Why would Barack Obama want to raise capital gains taxes when they would only hurt regular people? I have listened to him in a few interviews and he has no idea what he is talking about on this subject. In addition the left never seems to care about the man or woman who takes the risk to open and start a new business. Where is the concern there and the government's help in reducing regulations and unnecessary paperwork to make sure these people have a chance at success. The left is strangely silent
Don't think for a minute that there aren't a lot of people out here like me. In November we will be heard.
any small to medium sized business owner who thinks the modern GOP is on their side "have no idea what they are talking about. " haven't the GOP been great for business?
the talk radio republican party representatives are the laziest and dumbest in the history of the country and their corporate staffs do what is good for our biggest corps, not the small and medium. the biggest fault of the dems is that they havent had the energy to filibuster everything the goddamned talk radio republicans have pushed for their corporate masters.
business doesn't create jobs it creates products and services and if yours suck, or you're not big enough to get the GOP legislated advantages, tax breaks and regulation exemptions, don't whine about dems when you can whine about the most corrupt, anti American, anti small business, anti environmental anti-troop anti-intelligent anti-worker administration in our history who have no interest in democracy and require a supermajority to pass anything.
or maybe your product really is too poisonous to be on the market.
I have never met a liberal who is smarter than I am. Fact is, I've rarely met anyone smarter than I am. I'm conservative too.
I'm sure you've met thousands of them, you just didn't realize it.
How did an article about right wing dominance of discourse devolve into religious nonsense? Or does this prove her point?
After the 2004 election, the "most trusted man in America" for most of my lifetime, Walter Cronkite, declared that we had lost our democracy because we no longer had the critical reasoning capacity to choose wisely between a man who was clearly overqualified to be President and a transparent nitwit. Since then, most of the rest of the world has written America off to Darwin. Countries with people this willfully stupid simply do not survive. Sorry.
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2
I don't know what that gibberish has to do with anything that has happened in the past 2000 years, but I do know that Arriana has made a series of cogent points about our society. We cannot afford four or eight more years of Bush-like or Bush-lite idiocy.
rikki might consider looking in the New Testament for some guidance to modern life. Fortunately, an Obama victory in November will benefit him just as much as it wil the rest of us. It must happen.
I t won't happen. Obama is a weak candidate that will lose in a landslide to McCain. Thank God you liberals are so ignorant.
That has nothing to do with politics or with a left-wing, right-wing thing since the terms, "right" and "left" as we know them now was coined in 1792 at a governmental conference in France. Basically, the liberals were seated at the left wing of the table, while the conservatives were on the right. That is where left-wing, right-wing comes from. Not to mention, that is taken out of context and what it means is that a wise man will do right, while a fool's heart leads him to do evil.
So when the good men are down in Paragua training Militias to stop Socialism in South America that is good! Oh yeah they are PROTECTING the good people of South America from Terrorist but not protecting them from Banana Companys who hire killers to stop Unions from organizing.
So then, the reference IS relevant! Thank you for proving the point.
Since the modern reference of Left and Right refers to the seating position in relation to the Speaker in the Estates General of the first French Republic your Biblical reference is irrelevant.
It is also inaccurate, the Biblical reference of "heart" is actually to male genatalia on which all oaths were sworn, as they were in Roman times and still are in Islam. As in; testicle, testify, testimony, testimonial,etc.
Try another one.
Very impressive!
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
"Woe unto the rich, woe unto the rich, for I say unto you, they have their reward!"
"Be thou not as the hypocrites, who love to pray on the street corners and in the synagogues, that they may be seen by men, for I say unto you, they have their reward!"
Any questions, rikki?
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
What you have quoted is in the bible. However, it does NOT mean that no one should be successful in life, that no one should strive to be the best at what they do, and that they should live poor the rest of their lives. What Christ was talking about was people who worshipped money and did not worship God. And those that were wealthy and did not give to God. There are MANY wealthy Christians that give to God, and the poor. There are many wealthy Christians thats serve their communities. Their are money wealthy that give to the poor. But you won't mention these Christians because it is more fun to generalize and bash.
The quote from Ecclesiastes proves once again why ancient books of superstition which have been translated and copied many times have no practical value and have no place in determining public policy.
Turn around and your right becomes your left. The words right and left are narrow labels that describe almost nothing.
I'll agree that the left STANDS for nothing.
The national debt, as percentage of GDP, set records under Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush broke those records. The idea that the Republicans are fiscal conservatives--or even remotely restrained--is nonsense.
We also spend 16% of GDP on healthcare. The next highest among the 24 most industrialized nations--10% in Great Britain. We are also the only developed nation that doesn't cover everyone.
The Republicans have maintained a fiction of conservatism and responsibility for decades, but what part of 'Christian' makes it okay to lie, as the Bush campaign did about McCain in 2000? If you swear before God to uphold the constitution, how do you do what Bush has done?
Good for you, Arriana, for calling them on it.
The dems believe in social welfare, while the reps believe in corporate welfare, that comes
at a much higher price. Under Reagan we went ahead with the MX Missile and the B1
bomber, both of which were North American Rockwell programs, and happened to be
the largest greaser of political palms in the defense industry. After spending billions on
the MX, we destroyed them under an arms control treaty, because they were a
destabilizing first strike weapon. The B1-B bomber is still not fully operational.
So it is a chooice between those who like to END LIFE with weapons or those who want to SUPPORT LIFE with a helping hand!
WOW HARD DECISION HUH?
Ask the terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq if they think that the B-1 is fully operational.
Idiot.
The 28% that still support Bush/Cheney policies is mainly made up of Republican Federal and State employees, military people and those who benefit directly or indirectly from the business of war, Wall Street speculators and the money holders of this Nation, the "Christian Evangelicals", the Jewish Americans, the older Military Americans and the illiterate of this country. Ultimately, The "right wing owned media" which controls all communications and sets the rules of the game. The outcome is this basket of rotten eggs we have gotten on our hands. The prospects of another Republican administration are high, given the fact they are skillful at deceit and have packed the Supreme Court with a full staff of corrupt and unscrupulous gestapo like Democracy hackers. You all took too long to react. The nightmare is just beginning to unfold....
The military people benefit from war? Have you ever been in the military? Have you ever been to war? Have you ever known someone who has?
Junior, you are a complete ignoramous.
I think you are missing a few things. First of all no one is denied medical care if they show up at an emergency room. Health insurance is not that expensive. Many people that are not insured CHOOSE not to buy health insurance. Many more are illegal and shouldn't be getting government help. Why don't you ask the Canadiens and the Danes how they like their health insurance. I know several people from both countries and they say it is terrible. You have to wait 6 months to see any kind of a specialist. Why do you think so many Canadiens are coming to the U.S. for health care? So health insurance doesn't mean much if you can't use it. I remember when was young and "invincible". I saw no need for health insurance. I chose to buy other things such as expensive cars, audio equipment, etc. People still make those same irresponsible decisions. Here's a news flash. The GOVERNMENT CAN'T TAKE CARE OF YOU. If you are single and can't afford health insurance then you need to rearrange your priorities. If you are married or single and have children and can't afford health insurance then you shouldn't have had kids. You do have the right to health insurance. You just don't have the right to get it for free.
emergency rooms turn away people all the time. Where do you live? Illegals pay taxes and get none of them back.
Why should the holder of a pot of public money make a profit?
No one asks for free care just a non-profit plan supported by a public pool of money.
"Health insurance is not that expensive" ???
Either you live on another planet, you're wealthier than I am, or you're not paying for your insurance yourself!
I like your post, Arriana, and I wish you'd use The Huff Post to turn the tables on the corporate media. Every week you could have a headline about someone in the MSM who's spent more time covering Rev. Wright than the economy or the war. Put them under a microscope.
That would be an excellent idea.
I guess I am one of those on the discredited Right that is out of touch with the rest of the country. I just can’t understand why so many people want to shove an economic system down our throats that has failed every where it has been tried. The truth is that the free market is the best economic system in the world and when ever we move away from it we do so at the cost of prosperity.
I also think that it is liberals who are out of touch with reality. They are continually building a government for a world that does not exist. If that is not being out of touch with reality what is?
Don't worry you're not alone. Ol' Reagan didn't win by landslides by chance.
That's true.
Reagan won by manipulating the hostages in Iran, and by lying and smearing against Mondale.
A "free market" does not exist in America, it has never existed, and it will never exist. Excessive government control can be bad, but what about excessive and predatory corporatism? The truth is, BrighterStar, that so many people are now advocating greater government regulation because the current system has spit in their faces and has left them behind.
And liberals being unrealistic? That is truly a joke. Was it not the Republican Party that got it into their heads that somehow we would free the Middle East from the oppression of "Islamofascism" by destroying any vestige of civilization left there and cause a sectarian conflict to erupt there. Was it not the Republican Party, and more specifically the Bush Cabal, that tried to negotiate a peace settlement in Palestine without actually consulting their legitimately government representatives? Was it not the Republican Party that advocated the free market, massive outsourcing, and predatory finance at the expense of long-term stability? The answer is yes. Neoconservatives have been throttling the ideals of America every step of the way, on all three fronts: social, political, economic.
Liberals are both the realists and the idealists. The conservatives in the GOP are a philosophically spent force. Liberals want to get us out of Iraq and get the economy back on track (for real). Yet, we also want to improve our world because seven years of Dubya have left us in a very tenuous state.
Was it not democrats who got the US involved in every major conflict these past 100 years besides the two gulf wars?
Again, how anybody can view the removal of the Hussein dynasty (he had sons...rem
The last time major tariffs were implimented (Hoover) a depression occurred. Business should have very little restrictions on how they deal with outside nations.
To be an idealist and a realist at the same time is impossible. You either believe that if we just take more money from people that poverty will somehow go away and that everyone in the world can get along or you don't.
You are right a truely free market does not exist in the US. But, for the most part, the more free the market is the better. As far as our current economic situation goes it is not all that bad. We are in a recession but we still have a standard of living better than any country in the world past or present. As I come home from work, put my feet up and drink a beer while watching my big screen TV, I don't know why people think things are so bad.
So your take on Enron is that it was good while it lasted, and your take on Worldcom and all the rest of the insider stock market manipulation is - well, buyers should beware and your take on the shameful, blatant and widespread frauds that resulted in the derivatives market and securitized mortgage market bubbles and the resultant movement of capital to commodities driving world food prices out of sight and your take on the fact that, as a direct consequence of "free market" policies in operation we are staring into the abyss of the worst depression since the 1930's is . . . what?
Yes indeedy - letting the "free market" run everything - eliminating virtually all regulation from top to bottom - has certainly been good . . . for the prosperity of about 1% of the world's population. Are you one of that 1%? Are you even part of the Charles Gibson "middle class" - making $200K+ per year?
If so, what in the hell are you doing blogging on Huffingtonpost?
But if you are not one of the 1% - - If you get up in the morning and go to *work,* regardless of what that work entails, if you ever have to balance your own checkbook or plan to make certain that the necessary money will be available for whatever or if you are *not* completely independent of the necessities of the commercial world and well fixed financially for life - -
what in the
He may not be part of that 1%, but anyone could be if they really had ambition. You can't bring up a few incidents and think that a free market is no good. Of course there will be scandals, whether it is within govt or the private business sector.
The difference between the government and the companies you mentioned is that the companies are out of business. And that is a good thing. The market takes care of problems, government never needs to.
So every other civilized country in the world lives in cradle-to-grave bliss with no worries about health care, a month's vacation a year in spite of higher taxes, massive public transporation, better planning, architecture and environment, etc. yet you want to want to continue as a country which allows its interstate bridges to fall down, doesn't cover half of its people with health care while spending MORE, allows its enviornment and food supply to be poisoned, requires people to work 2-3 jobs for dirt wages with no vacations, ad nauseum? You are more than just out of touch, you are delusional.
You must not get out much. High unemployment, low standard of living, forced to use substandard government services.
If it's cradle to grave bliss then why are we still getting immigrants from those countries? Why would anyone choose to move here if it's as bad as you make it sound? Why is it that these people come here for health care if there's is so good? People need to get an education, become responsible and stop blaming the government for all of their problems.
I hope you were out protesting the corporate welfare bailout of Bear Stearns.
There is no true free market. The government is always involved. A true free market ends in Feudalism as the rich take control of everything, including government.
Go try to buy certain plants that are a viable product...
There are a number of reasons, one of the key ones is the bastardization of language, particularly
by the right wing in order to convey their deceptions. I've includes a link to George Orwell's essay
"Politics, and the English Language." Which used to be part of any reputable education.
http://www
I think it strongly reinforces your point.
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