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3871 [lbo-talk] weimar shadows -- rank: 1000

On Feb 8, 2010, at 3:07 PM, Michael Pollak wrote: > Your hunch could be right. Would that change the part about their > wages stagnating or declining? The politics of it would be different. They'd be anti-minimum wage, anti-union, anti-regulation, etc., and for the most part irredeemably so, for good material reasons. So tough break for them, but they're not potential allies as a group (sure, some of them may be fine individuals), and attempts to "reach" them would largely b ...

Document Size:	4951
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 8 12:27:25 PST 2010

3872 [lbo-talk] weimar shadows -- rank: 1000

On Feb 7, 2010, at 10:25 AM, Carrol Cox wrote: > It's pretty hazy in my mind now, but what I > remember is his treatment of the flag as a fetish, as in "I pledge > allegiance to the United States and to the flag for which it stands." I don't think there's any other non-authoritarian country that pledges allegiance to a flag. Doug

Document Size:	4922
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 8 11:18:30 PST 2010

3873 [lbo-talk] weimar shadows -- rank: 1000

On Feb 7, 2010, at 9:44 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > For 30 years their wages have stagnated or declined It'd be nice if someone did the research, but I'm not sure the teabaggers are members of the classical working class. I think it's more small biz and low-end self-employed than that.

Document Size:	4708
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 8 11:17:33 PST 2010

3874 [lbo-talk] weimar shadows -- rank: 1000

On Feb 7, 2010, at 8:22 AM, Marv Gandall wrote: > But the teabaggers are an incipient fascist movement I really don't buy that. They're just a somewhat nuttier iteration of old American nonsense. It's like something out of Hofstadter come alive. Doug

Document Size:	4673
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 7 05:35:13 PST 2010

3875 [lbo-talk] weimar shadows -- rank: 1000

On Feb 6, 2010, at 8:50 PM, James Heartfield wrote: > Is that so different from the anti-war protests at the end of Bush's > presidency? > > The mass of people have focussed on what the president identified as > his main goals - the Iraq war for Bush; healthcare and the bailout > for Obama. These, the priorities of the political elite, prove to be > the faultlines of disaffection for the inchoate mass. Completely different. The social base and the political content are almo ...

Document Size:	5299
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 6 21:10:10 PST 2010

3876 [lbo-talk] 36% of Americans have a positive image of socialism -- rank: 1000

On Feb 5, 2010, at 9:37 AM, Sean Andrews wrote: > You almost *HAVE* to say that you support > small businesses to feel okay about yourself It's not just that - it's a longstanding fantasy of the American working class (one I've managed to achieve for myself, more or less, I must confess, making me, gasp, petty bourgeois!) to escape from the working class by becoming self-employed or a small businessperson. The classic book whose authors I forget and can't look up because I'm on a dead ...

Document Size:	5438
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 5 06:53:00 PST 2010

3877 [lbo-talk] 36% of Americans have a positive image of socialism -- rank: 1000

On Feb 5, 2010, at 9:27 AM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote: > Agreed. It's certainly better that more and more people are > associating > socialism with Sweden rather than East Germany. The line between > quasi-social democratic politics of the left-wing of mainstream > liberals and > democratic socialism is simply that that latter advocates structural > change. > This shows there is an audience for such a politics, if only the > left got > its act together and decided to ...

Document Size:	6010
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 5 06:33:25 PST 2010

3878 [lbo-talk] 36% of Americans have a positive image of socialism -- rank: 1000

On Feb 5, 2010, at 7:24 AM, Matthias Wasser wrote: > Socialism and capitalism both get 60% approval ratings from > liberals. I > think a very big portion are taking the Republicans at face value > when they > call the welfare state socialism, and judging accordingly Yup, I think you're right. Whenever Fox calls the pres a socialist, the Dems say, well maybe socialism isn't too bad. Alas, what that means is that throwing buckets of money at Wall Street to restore the status quo ...

Document Size:	5363
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 5 04:36:26 PST 2010

3879 [lbo-talk] 36% of Americans have a positive image of socialism -- rank: 1000

On Feb 5, 2010, at 3:35 AM, Lenin's Tomb wrote: > That's more than I would have expected. It doesn't matter so much > that > people are confused and think they like 'small business' (no one > actually > likes small businesses, because most people have to work for one of > the > suckers, but it's the sort of thing you're supposed to say). So when 95% of Americans say they like small biz they don't really mean it, but when 36% say they like socialism they really do? Doug

Document Size:	5352
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 5 04:08:46 PST 2010

3880 [lbo-talk] 36% of Americans have a positive image of socialism -- rank: 1000

[Of course, 95% love "small business," 86% love "free enterprise," and 61% love capitalism. 49% have warm feelings towards big business.] <http://www.gallup.com/poll/125645/Socialism-Viewed-Positively-Americans.aspx > February 4, 2010 Socialism Viewed Positively by 36% of Americans Majority of Americans positive on capitalism, entrepreneurs, by Frank Newport PRINCETON, NJ -- More than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of "socialism," while ...

Document Size:	5549
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 14:20:00 PST 2010

3881 [lbo-talk] uh-oh! too much regulation!! -- rank: 1000

On Feb 4, 2010, at 4:27 PM, brad bauerly wrote: > Yeah well I knew that it held in the aggregate but how do you > explain the > exceptional places like the red band around Minneapolis/St. Paul, > southern > California, Rustbelt region, and Florida? Conversely, why is North > and > South Dakota Blue on the House of Rep map, along with most of > Colorado, > Utah, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine? There are more too. I > think the > aggregate hides the truth in t ...

Document Size:	6003
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 14:04:33 PST 2010

3882 [lbo-talk] lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1122, Issue 4 -- rank: 1000

On Feb 4, 2010, at 4:46 PM, James Heartfield wrote: > It certainly implies a transformation of the masses in their > outlook. But without the masses, what is it but a lot of smug > platitudes coined to make you feel superior. Well exactly. But there's a reluctance among many, including a few participants in this list, to cop to the first sentence. Doug

Document Size:	5013
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 13:58:34 PST 2010

3883 [lbo-talk] lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1122, Issue 4 -- rank: 1000

The other day, Michael Yates wrote: > Engage the people. Act with them when you can. Write for them and as > one of them, not about them. I've been thinking about this. Michael, you devoted a few hundred words to a critique of how many/most Americans think and act. Then you say we should write as one of them. But you don't make membership in the group seem very attractive. Though this may sound blunt, I ask this with a great deal of admiration for what you do: how are you one of them? ...

Document Size:	5151
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 12:41:26 PST 2010

3884 [lbo-talk] Political geography ( Was: lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1122, Issue 4) -- rank: 1000

On Feb 4, 2010, at 1:08 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > Density was not always equtable with politics. I had a great uncle who > organized sheepherders in Idaho and Montana for the IWW -- and Henry > Wallace's running mate in 1948 was a DP Senator from Idaho. The SP at > one time had good vote counts in Odlahoma. Very true. See Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's excellent Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie for an account of the multiracial rebels of Oklahoma. Doug

Document Size:	5420
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 10:21:53 PST 2010

3885 [lbo-talk] Political geography ( Was: lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1122, Issue 4) -- rank: 1000

On Feb 4, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Chris Doss wrote: > I was thinking of e.g. Catholics who are left on economic issues, > but right on issues of abortion and gay marriage, or libertarians > who are the opposite. Actually, Catholics hold opinions on abortion that are little different from the rest of the U.S. population (and, if I'm remembering right, are about as like to have abortions). Bartels' critique of Tom Frank, based on the National Election Survey, shows that for most white work ...

Document Size:	5640
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 4 09:51:59 PST 2010