Every other Wednesday evening for the past few years I've been offering commentary on a spritely show on public radio called Marketplace. On alternative Wednesdays David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, has been airing his views.
This past Wednesday, Frum called it quits. He explained to the show's host, Kai Risdal, that he could no longer represent Republican views.
I think that there's a kind of expectation that when you do it that you represent the broad point of view of your half of the political spectrum. And although I consider myself a conservative and a Republican, and I think that the right-hand side of the spectrum has the better answers for the long-term growth of economy -- low taxes, restrained government, less regulation -- it's pretty clear that facing the immediate crisis -- very intense crisis -- I'm just not representing the view of most people who call themselves Republicans and conservatives these days.... And it's a service to the radio audience if they want to hear people explaining effectively why one of the two great parties takes the view that it does -- it needs to have somebody who agrees with that great party.
I respect David's decision but I disagree with his understanding of his job on Marketplace. And I find his decision to leave a sad commentary (no pun intended) on what's happening to public discourse in America.
Why exactly was it necessary for David Frum to "represent" the views of conservative Republicans?
I don't feel any obligation to represent liberal Democrats. Over the years I've argued, for example, in favor of getting rid of the corporate income tax, creating school vouchers inversely related to family incomes, and extending free-trade agreements -- positions not exactly favored by liberal Democrats.
The American public doesn't want or need to hear "representatives" from the so-called right or left. It wants insight into what's best for America.
Yet over and over again -- on the radio, on TV, in print, in the blogosphere, and all over Washington -- political ideology is substituting for thought.
Politicians take oaths and sign pledges. Special-interest groups abide by litmus tests and ideological labels. The media is either assertively liberal or conservative. Pundits are either on the left or the right.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party has become so extreme that it's more and more difficult for anyone to rationally "represent" its views. As Frum put in in a post on his website, FrumForum, "Under the pressure of the current crisis -- intoxicated by anti-Obama feelings and incited by talk radio and Fox -- Republicans have staked out an extreme position on the role of government."
What if conservative Republicans believe the sun revolves around the earth? Would someone in David Frum's position who disagrees feel compelled to stop offering "conservative" commentaries about the celestial bodies? And would a major media outlet then be obliged to find a replacement who agrees with conservative dogma? (This isn't such a far-fetched example when you consider what leading Republicans say about evolution or climate change.)
David's particular break with Republicans has come over what to do about the continuing awful economy. Here's what he told Kai Risdal:
This is not a moment for government to be cutting back. ... Right now we're watching state governments try to balance all of their budgets at the same time in the middle of this crisis. We've seen half a million public sector jobs disappear. Now, if these were good times, I would applaud that. We need to see a thinner public sector -- especially at the state and local level. But we're seeing what happens when you do that as an anti-recession measure and you make the recession worse. And even though we're in a technical recovery, incomes and employment -- all of that remains lagging for people -- I think that we've rediscovered in this crisis something that I think we all knew. Which is, there's a reason why the people of the 1930s built some kind of minimum guarantee -- unemployment insurance, health care coverage and things like that. And it's not because they wanted to be nice. It's because in a crisis when people lose their jobs, if there is no social safety net they loose 100 percent of their purchasing power.
It so happens the vast majority of economists and economic policy experts agree with David on this - even though you wouldn't know it if you watched or listened to broadcast debates between a so-called "liberal" and "conservative" economists.
No wonder Americans are so confused.
David Frum's voice will be sorely missed. Yet I understand his dilemma. At the start of his interview on "Marketplace" explaining his decision to leave the program, he was introduced this way:
David Frum has been a regular commentator for this program for years, offering the voice of the political right against Robert Reich and the views of the political left.
That introduction illustrates the problem.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
I wish David Frum wasn't retreating, but who can blame him? The inmates have taken over the asylum, and those who built the asylum are getting trampled.
I see a more problematic picture with these folks, and it is bigotry. I though President Clinton and Hiliary were under one of the worst attacks, I have ever seen in my lifetime of a President, but these attacks on President Obama have gone to new heights. They want to say it is his policies, but it seems pretty personal to me.
This big lie of transferring of wealth is just amazing. You even have ordinary Republicans who want more done by the wealthy, but their ELECTED leaders are totally saying otherwise, forget the FACT that THE majority of Americans are saying it.
The economic collapse was caused by people buying homes that they couldn't afford. The economic collapse was caused by greedy Wall Street banks. Reality is much more complex than either of those two statements and therefore humans ever mindful of the fear of perplexity chose one. Having chosen one we reinforce it with our media choices all day long. If you think the right wing is ignorant then Fox makes you break out into a sweat. If you think the left are morally-bankrupt, spend-thrifts who lack patriotism then MSNBC gives you tremors.
The thing that gives me shivers is reading that in 2008 right after Lehman's fall that the CEO of General Electric--a maker of things, not a bank--said that it couldn't fund day-to-day operations. Is that Right or Left? Just scary and perplexing.
they "believe" that cutting jobs in a recession will create jobs...it is an article of FAITH
The believe in trickle-down from the Holy Rich so it must be real despite all evidence and falling incomes for everyone else
These and other tenets of their religion lead them to more and more extreme positions in order to "prove" to other how "Conservative" they are and thus in their weird little world , how "saved" they are ,as opposed to the heathens who actually think and evaluate real facts
You can't reason with "FAITH" - and we've seen far too many progressives/liberals make themselves crazy trying to. Attempting to have a rational, common sense "debate" with people who are hopelessly/emotionally or willfully ignorant (and unreasonable) is truly a waste of time, energy and good will.
Maybe so, but that is irrelevant now - now they just sell to 'emerging markets'. They don't need or want American purchasing power - not at the cost of hiring them, making the economy improve on Obama's watch, or at the cost of caring for others.
American purchasing power means so very little compared to hoarding all the money they can beg, borrow, or steal.
American purchasing power means so very little compared to getting a black Democrat out of their white Anglo-Saxon office.
American purchasing power means so very little compared to socially engineering their Ayn Rand selfishness and immoral disregard for the less fortunate.
Despite what the Right (wrong!) says - there really are no incentives (and certainly not more tax cuts) that will "incentivize" wealthy corporations to hire or pay a true living wage. It's either a deliberate LIE or willfull ignorance for the Right to claim that tax cuts for the already absurdly wealthy will go to creating jobs.
After years of voting as a proud Democrat, watching the ineptness, the weakness and the corruption of my party in power the past few years...
Well...I would NEVER vote GOP...
So, I guess habit will have to replace hope...
As you may know, I respect you; however, one constant mistake in your writings is framing the "ConservativeS" vs the "Liberals" debates in terms of wrong and right, and it is not; rather, it is a debate of falsehoods and truths.
The Conservatives tell falsehoods, and the Liberals, truths. I don't care if someone has been living under a rock all their lives, they can still tell that global warming is occurring, and that it is man-made; the under-the-rock dweller knows that a big government is needed in the United States of America, contrary to his/her claims, they must know this. You've gotta be damn crazy to cut back on government spending during a recession, not just conservative!
So, please, adjust your thinking, and especially writing, accordingly. I hated correcting my professors publicly in college, I didn't know if it'd affect my grades positively, or negatively. (Oh wait, in one case I did know one of my C's was unwarranted).
Gee I cant be dishonest anymore it eats at me so I will leave it to the eager liars without conscience.