[Politics]
A Cranky Comment
Andrew Sullivan quotes John Derbyshire today, as Derbyshire, in his unhinged manner, fears the end of his little plutocratic heyday. "The windsocks" says he, "are now pointing in the direction of more socialism." That's bad enough, but Sullivan, generally more careful with his language, piles on. In his retort, he trashes Bush, whom he calls a practitioner of "Christianist socialism."
Is everyone on the right this stupid? Do they genuinely not know what socialism is? Has rhetoric completely eaten their brains? We are so far from socialism that even the suggestion that the poor not die in the streets and the elderly not gnaw on old dog food becomes radical doctrine. A social safety is not socialism. Your plutocracy is safe even with the existence of social security.
It's talk like that that inclines me to think we're due for a REAL revolution. My muse, Emma Goldman (note the newly-added pic to the right), once scared the pants off the rich by suggesting that the poor just start seizing wealth. She held it as a moral position. It's a democracy, after all--why should the rich feast off the bones (and labor) of the poor? We might reasonably ask why the rich--by which we mean Halliburton and other Bush sponsors--should today feast off our tax money. It's not exactly socialism, folks. And Andy Sullivan oughta know better.
Ask for work. If they do not give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, take bread.
2 comments:
great post...
on a like note - this morning on the drive in i was thinking about the stink Big Telecom is making over free (or low cost), city-provided wi-fi services. they're attempting to push through legislation that would outlaw the practice and force consumers to purchase internet services through the usual providers - basically, government sponsored monopoly (well, if you can consider Big Telecom to be one like-minded entity).
this really pisses me off. coporations howl for a free market with no regulation, then, when someone comes up with something really beneficial (or that has the whiff of socialism), they howl for *more* government regulation to protect their bottom line.
the internet should be a right, like public education. stifling the free flow of ideas and information is not democratic.
That's the dirty little truth (hard to call it a secret). The GOP has no interest in "free" markets or "small" government. What they want is markets that protect their cronies and support gigantism, and government that shells out to corporate sponsors rather than for a social safety net.
Your point can be extended to so many other industries, too. You sound like a wild-eyed conspiracist when you discuss it, but the facts aren't really easy to dispute. It's hidden right in plain sight.
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