Since it began a little over a year ago, the perspective of this blog has changed. In the beginning, it was motivated by a very belated, sudden realization of how bad the Republican Party had become. Before I first realized it, this had already been the case for a number of years. It was like I had been asleep, thinking the Republicans were still a political party which independent, fair-minded people could and should consider voting for. Even if I didn’t agree with many of his policies, Ronald Reagan deserved my respect as a citizen and a patriot. George W. Bush, on the other hand, and the entire Republican Party today, are not citizens, but political operatives guided by an agenda which has proven to be extremely marketable, but which their own voters would not support if they truly understood it. This is still my conclusion and a very important part of what I do in this blog. What has changed, however, is that I no longer believe that the Democratic Party can be counted on to defend us against that agenda.
Republican propaganda is based on a simple notion: “government” is bad. Their use of the word “government” is intentionally vague, but I think it fair to say that what is being attacked is the modern welfare state: the notion that the state should “assume primary responsibility for the welfare of citizens” (American Heritage Dictionary). The major achievements of the welfare state include such things as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, but it also includes unemployment insurance, public education, firemen, policemen, disaster relief, protection for the environment, public works, assistance to certain key industries and, of course, direct assistance to the destitute, which is only a very tiny fraction of what the government does. Republican propaganda puts forth a plethora of theories, which my Republican friends espouse, supporting the notion that the people would be better off with greatly reduced government. Underlying it all is the idea that the welfare state is wasteful and that it transfers money from those who work towards those who don’t. Anger over this is what drives their voters to the polls.
Like the Republicans, the Democrats are political operatives, but they do not meet the anti-government passion with pro-government passion. It’s like the modern corporation which buys a traditional product label hoping to retain the customers of the old product while appealing to new customers unfamiliar with it. The Democratic Party of Clinton and Obama makes use of the Democratic label of the Progressives, FDR and LBJ, but it doesn’t seem to believe the old product is marketable. Indeed, it frequently reaches across the aisle to integrate Republican propaganda into its messaging. Someone has told them that “reaching across the aisle” contrasts nicely with the anger driving the Republican voters and is therefore, itself, very marketable.
In his autobiographical book on his years in the Clinton administration, Robert Reich tells how Clinton used political marketing experts to decide whether to sign welfare reform and to support an increase in the minimum wage. Similarly, we see Obama waffling around issues such as approving the Keystone XL pipeline until it becomes clear which position will be the easiest to sell. For passionate liberals, the Keystone XL pipeline debate is whether we should be exploiting the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels in the history of the world. For Obama, it is about distancing himself from any discussion of global warming, without losing the support of his base.
If you want to read a powerful, and passionate defense of liberalism and the welfare state, I recommend Jimmy Carter’s indictment of the George W. Bush administration: Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (2006). When he was elected in 1976, I considered Jimmy Carter to be only moderately liberal, but the contrast between the passion of Carter and the embarrassment of Clinton/Obama is remarkable.
So, today my blogs tend to be of two types. In the first type, I explain why no one in their right mind would ever vote for a Republican. But in the second type, I leave that completely aside, because many people who are passionate Republicans suddenly start passionately agreeing with me when I say that both parties have betrayed the American people. The future lies in a movement of the people which will reform the political system.
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