> ...Rudy promises to retailiate with the deregulation move. He
> will, of course, and the better sorts will applaud him, and quite a few of
> the less-than-better sorts too. The public taste for authoritarianism, at
> least in Rudy's New York, is a scary thing.
Yes, the "taste" does clearly exist, and it is clearly scary. The other day there was a letter to the Pantagraph (local newspaper) signed by an official of ASCFME complaining because prisoners at Dwight (women's prison) were allowed Sunday picnics with their families. Caused the poor guard's too much trouble. Most of the prisoners there (of course) are from the Chicago or East St. Louis areas, i.e. live between 100 and 200 miles from their familes. I'm sure many of the local public will eat this up.
BUT: I think this "taste" is better seen as an effect than a cause, though it is both. Then the question becomes one of linking that taste to the features of current capitalism in the U.S. that generate it. I know, capitalism generates it, but that isn't useful. What features of capitalism *now* are most closely linked to this taste?
Carrol