Entitlement

In this new found outrage over the deficit a recurring theme is "reforming entitlements". This means Soc Sec and Medicare , which are for everyone ( not only low income) and medicaid ( for low income). This was done one purpose, the get greater buy in by the American public. The present socio-political landscape is exactly why FDR designed them this way. Somehow this econo mic crisis, caused mostly by the reckless behavior of financial gamblers at an elite level, has caused resentment of anyone "getting" a benefit that the person complaining is not eligible for or, does not receive. People talk about others getting benefits and the creation of a "culture of entitlement" that is coincidentgly bad for a nations morals and expensive. I have been in all strata of American life and I would say the" culture of entitlement" reached its fullest expression in the behavior of the "haves" more than of the underclass. When Left Feminism drew attention to the privileges a white male gets, instead of doing some soul searching many men said,"wait, she says I'm supposed to have everything. Where is it? I want my White Privilege!"They know it was better when that position was backed up by law as well as culture, though that might be in opposition to their consciously held beliefs. My significant other says what people accuse you of they are probably doing. The denials of the Tea Baggers about racial motivation notwithstanding, the loss of the possibility of going back to the "good ole days when..."which a Black President represents is part of why the increase in hatred of Obama compared to Clinton. The real sense of entitlement is from the White, Judeo/Christian (even they had to open up to Catholics and Jews) cultural ruling class that feels the loss intensely, leading to claims of victimhood. Victimhood is a great motivator to violence

regulation, Republicans and reality

The Republicans have decided that the reason they are hanging on to billions of dollars and not hiring is regulation. "Government regulation" is a easy villain, amorphous, yet omnipresent. Like 'Liberal" most Americans, decent folks all, automatically think "government bureaucrats" are obsessed with "taking away our freedoms" We need to answer this head on. Most of the underlying laws that establish authority to regulate were, and are, based on real life deaths, poisonings, toxic events etc that were bad enough a law got past. Rule writing can lead to gibberish in trying to cover every possible contingency. Could be improved? Yes. Eliminated, like the latest batch of Republican presidential aspirants want? Cuyahoga on fire, Lake Erie on fire, the whole Upper Mid west on fire because it had ALL been clearcut with the scrap heaped in huge fuel piles. We tried letting business voluntarily deciding to use the commons as a waste heap in the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. We got Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga rivers burning.

Britain and the Right Left divide laid clear , again..

The London riots offer a clear window into one aspect of the Great Divide; does understanding the motivations of rioters encourages them and that the rioters are all just criminals. I would not want to advertise that my city has 10,000 criminals just waiting for, what?, to destroy. If there is no underlying truth beneath the riots then your city has thousands of "super-predators" teenagers who destroy with no provocation. I listen to a British Dept Mayor Kit Malthouse say we should think of all the kids who go to school and behave. This kind of thinking flows effortlessly into a concept some are born bad, or less than human. This attitude allowed Britain to rule millions of people in Asia and Africa brutally yet consider them selves the crown of creation, the highest, best thing that (post Spencer) ever evolved. We see this today.

Conservatism of a previous generation.

Although I am not a doctrinaire conservative of any sort, I grew up with a Conservative,politically active ( at least when young) and , most important to my column, intellectual family. I went door to door for Goldwater ( albeit in a stroller) who can beat that? My Mother, Rest in Peace, sent one of the letters urging Ron Reagan to run for California governor. Nell carter ( Anne's mom) was her best friend for a time. I know something about conservatism. What the Tea baggers and Republican leaders have preached for 20 years is not Conservatism. It is a radical Right-wing movement with nationalist, theocratic, authoritarianism and possibly worst, anti-intellectualism. This is both reverting to an earlier, more reactionary and overtly racist era where the conservatives were often Democrats. William F. Buckley created a new yet old brand of intellectual conservatism based on Burke, Friedman and Hayek as well as Thomas Aquinas and the Intellectual Catholicism he begat, cumulating in C.S. Lewis and G.K.Chesterton. Buckley marginalized the Birchers and shamed the racists. This was the Conservatism I grew up on. It has many good ideas, is a consistent and rigorous political theory. I see nothing like this in todays conservatism. The hatred for science, distrust in expertise, blatant nationalism, and the weird slightly unhinged anger that makes normal political distourse a deal with the Devil were not part of National Review conservatism.These people, the Tea Baggers and the cynical plutocrats who leach off their energy are Rightist Radicals. If you believe this is what our decadent country needs, so be it. But don't call it by what it is not; Conservatism

Obstructionism and our one for two party system.

Even if their actions cause you total disgust the congressional Rethugs have really shown how a party who loses an election should act. After the 2008 election people were writing off the Republican party. They rallied and decided to essentially stop the functioning of the Government in order to show how dysfunctional government is. The Democrats often hide their reactionary leanings in a "responsible adult" kind of posturing. This has to stop. When the Republics win control of either the Senate or the Presidency or both the Democrats need to block everything. Unfortunately we all know that when it is time to be vindictive, hatful, shortsighted and vicious the Dems will fold and compromise. Would it help to dissolve the democratic party? There would still be non- Republican citizens but maybe we could run in Primaries. As it is we have the worst of all possible systems for dealing with the crisis at hand. Obstruct or get out? a slogan for a new day

true weakness and the democratic party

Thank you for Mr Berman's excellent article on Jim Messina. Among Democratic party consultants and smart guys and gals the Republican lite strategy has been the CW for "serious" Democratic party leaders and pundits for 35 years. This strategy does not work. Why the stubborn adherence to this losing tactic? One explanation is that the charges of elitism towards the Dem leadership are true; they believe that this is a very conservative country and progressive ideas must be snuck in. This does not jibe with reality. Any poll that asks about opinions on specific policy options and then asks about identification with "liberal" or "conservative" will find a disconnect. The number of people claiming to be "conservative" is always higher than the number taking consistent right wing positions. If this was an overwhelming conservative nation would all our presidential campaigns come close to 50/50? What is true is that our self- mythology has a conservative bias. The seamless Right -wing disinformation machine exists to use these myths to redirect us from reality. In the 1990's we were warned that Clinton raising taxes and the minimum wage would lead to economic ruin. I remember a boom that even reached the working class. That we can't even convince a huge majority that it was unregulated capitalism that crashed our economy, not Fannie Mae and Obama shows either a total lack of interest or mind numbing cowardice. If our elected Democratic legislators are scared of Atwater's disciples we truly have a negative voice, people stealing our name and votes to do what we see as evil. Americans think elected Democrats are weak. Our be-knghted consultants say it is because our candidates are not right wing enough. This is not true. Our abhorrence of standing up for a set of Principles, to fight like these principle meant something. THAT is weak and the American voter sees this. A bunch of ( derogatory word for genitalia). We elected a president who sold us out. Why can he get away with this? This is the question we must ask ourselves as we try to ride this wave of U.S, fascism that calls itself conservatism, 21st century style. Tom Cuddy 1124 Walton ln Austin Tx 78721

The America John Boehner wants.

The motto of the Tea Bag movement is "take back America". John Boehner say the America he grew up in is vanishing. So? Many lives were lost fighting to get rid of the America of Boehners childhood. This was an herrenvolk democracy, on in which a elite of race, class and money gets to vote and the lessors should trust them to do what is best. Women, Minorities, Unionists and anyone who didn't benefit from the post Civil War, pre-WWII era. The Palmer raids were not the actions of a true Republic. Cointelpro used against citizens is not what "the land of the free". The US invented the first modern representative country but since the US has absorb hubris we would not learn from other countries, other attempts at getting the balance of a democratic government. The cries to take back America are so deeply racist that those who take that position scream when they are accused of racism. They insist that only when we elect a Black President that the steadily growing government is "too big" and the country is going to hell. We on the left could have told them that years ago, but"they" wouldn't listen. To the Teabag Nation; where were you when millions protested prior to the illegal and stupid invasion of Iraq? Cursing the anti-America protestors, were ya? To late to the party to be credible.