Great Analysis from Asymmetric
July 7, 2008 4 Comments
I’ve said before that had the Democrats nominated John McCain or somebody with McCain’s exact policies, they’d be winning in a walk. The simple fact is that most Americans want a Democrat to be president, but don’t want Democratic policies. Most Americans think Democrats are better on the economy “just because.” They don’t want wealth redistribution, worse and/or more expensive health care, or less trade.
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Hello, Progressive Conservative.
As the old saw goes, Americans are ideologically conservative and programmatically liberal.
As I’ve said so many times before, I really don’t believe that the Republican revolution was completely attributable to the ideologies of the conservatives, but the big news is in the rejection of the Democrat’s ideology.
The odd thing is that, from looking at Carter (to the right of Bush I & Clinton) and Clinton (not much different from Bush I or Ford), the Democrats continue to insist that they run on a platform far to the left of what could possibly win.
On another note…
From a conversation earlier in the week, I was talking about how the Zompist nailed it dead-on with:
The left, as opposed to liberalism per se, has happily extended the civil rights model, and found oppressed groups in the elderly, in children, Native Americans, illegal aliens, the handicapped, consumers, bisexuals, the transgendered, sex workers, people with fragrance allergies, people without good looks, people with various diseases, nudists, fetishists, various ethnic groups, various non-Western nations, linguistic or religious minorities, believers in alternative medicine, pagans, atheists, pets, and farm animals. You could probably map out how far to the left someone is by finding out which of these groups they consider to be oppressed.
I went on to describe progressivism as a movement with its intent on returning power to the people, and liberalism as a movement focused on issues of justice (and notably, involving groups rather than individual justice), whereas the modern left is concerned solely with victimhood.
I would like to know what you think of the use of these as tentative defining points.
I went on to describe progressivism as a movement with its intent on returning power to the people, and liberalism as a movement focused on issues of justice (and notably, involving groups rather than individual justice), whereas the modern left is concerned solely with victimhood.
Perhaps ‘victimhood’ is too strong a term, but I see your point. To repeat my comments in the other post, liberalism’s tragic flaw is that it is based on an underestimation of human potential. For many liberals they see success stories among certain groups as the exception, not the rule. They desire to see the government help those in need, which is an admirable goal, but because they do under-estimate the ability to rise above one’s plight, they create programs that are geared towards maintenance instead of progress.
I think that “Most Americans think Democrats are better on the economy ” because the current leadership has hosed us so badly. My Grandfather is a dyed in the wool, “what ever they say” Republican and I vividly remember him gleefully telling me that the “business men would sort this out” when the power shifted away from the Democrats.
Well, it hasn’t turned out so well with the businessmen in charge. It’s not all the Republicans fault, naturally. The Democrats are just as craven. It’s all chicken s**t politics now and how much pork they can squeeze through the system. They promise the world to their voting base and hose the rest of us as they bring home as much federal money, OUR money, as they can.
I keep thinking of a scene from the movie “Dave”. Dave’s friend was asked to help manage the federal budget. After reading through some of it he quipped, “If I ran my business like this, I’d be out of business.”
So true. And it looks like regardless of who wins this time around, we will be cutting back on staff and closing on the weekends.
That’s why I’m voting, “Throw The Bums Out!” in November!
Oh, if there were only a box labeled “None of the above.”
-Turkish Prawn
TP,
A long time ago I read a fictional story where the sitting president called a joint session of congress and then had the national guard lock the doors. He pulled out a big wad of cash and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this money represents our budget for the next year. The American people aren’t going to give you anymore. Now how do you want to spend it?” Then they spent the next three days on C-SPAN going over the budget line by line and he would challenge lawmakers to explain their add-a-lines. it was much like that part in ‘Dave’ where he finds the money for the first lady’s project.
You’re right that congress does a really bad job of managing our money. But at the core the election has to be about the best of intentions, otherwise, why bother? When we can over-look our cynical tendencies, I believe we have to realize that liberal economic policy is deeply flawed.