The Partisan
By Michael Tomasky
from New York Review of Books
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman
Norton, 296 pp., $25.95
Difficult as it is to remember now, there was a time in the United States, as recently as fifteen or so years ago, when we were not engaged in constant political warfare. In those days Senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in a war, would not have been visually equated with Saddam Hussein in a television ad, something the Republicans did to him in 2002. The release of a declaration by, for example, the National Academy of Sciences was for the most part acknowledged as legitimate, and not attacked as a product of so-called liberal bias as its 2005 report on global warming was.[1]
We can regret, as it is customary to do, the loss of civility in political discourse (although such laments tend to assume a golden era that wasn't quite as civil in reality as it is in the memories of those who mourn its passing). But the nakedness of the modern right's drive for political power and of the Bush administration's politicization of so many aspects of governance and civic life has, paradoxically, given us one thing to be grateful for. Liberals and Democrats now understand much more plainly the nature of the fight they're in. Some recognized this early on: many of those who worked on the Clinton administration's health care plan recognized back in 1994, as Paul Starr, one veteran of that effort, puts it, that the Republicans would not compromise on the plan under any circumstances because "if it succeeded, it might renew New Deal beliefs in the efficacy of government, whereas a defeat of the health plan could set liberalism back for years."[2]
Others realized what was happening only much later, after the impeachment of Clinton, the foreshortened election in Florida, and the administration's post–September 11 policies, including its brutal violations of civil liberties and its invasion and occupation of Iraq. Why it took such people so long to recognize reality is an interesting question; but now, in plenty of time for next year's presidential election, Democrats and liberals seem more prepared than usual to put up a fight.
(Continued here.)
from New York Review of Books
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman
Norton, 296 pp., $25.95
Difficult as it is to remember now, there was a time in the United States, as recently as fifteen or so years ago, when we were not engaged in constant political warfare. In those days Senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in a war, would not have been visually equated with Saddam Hussein in a television ad, something the Republicans did to him in 2002. The release of a declaration by, for example, the National Academy of Sciences was for the most part acknowledged as legitimate, and not attacked as a product of so-called liberal bias as its 2005 report on global warming was.[1]
We can regret, as it is customary to do, the loss of civility in political discourse (although such laments tend to assume a golden era that wasn't quite as civil in reality as it is in the memories of those who mourn its passing). But the nakedness of the modern right's drive for political power and of the Bush administration's politicization of so many aspects of governance and civic life has, paradoxically, given us one thing to be grateful for. Liberals and Democrats now understand much more plainly the nature of the fight they're in. Some recognized this early on: many of those who worked on the Clinton administration's health care plan recognized back in 1994, as Paul Starr, one veteran of that effort, puts it, that the Republicans would not compromise on the plan under any circumstances because "if it succeeded, it might renew New Deal beliefs in the efficacy of government, whereas a defeat of the health plan could set liberalism back for years."[2]
Others realized what was happening only much later, after the impeachment of Clinton, the foreshortened election in Florida, and the administration's post–September 11 policies, including its brutal violations of civil liberties and its invasion and occupation of Iraq. Why it took such people so long to recognize reality is an interesting question; but now, in plenty of time for next year's presidential election, Democrats and liberals seem more prepared than usual to put up a fight.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home