Buchanan, sole voice against free trade?

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Wed Mar 3 13:51:11 PST 1999


Henry:
>> Well, you don't expect Buchanan to be serious about what you call his
>> 'isolationism,' do you? Which American politician today, liberal or
>>conservative
>> or whatever, would ever seriously implement 'isolationist
>> policies'? They only talk the talk. The only thing we'll get out of
>>Buchanan or
>> his likes is lots of racist hot air.
>True. Still, talk is better than no talk. For that matter, the
>difference between
>Clinton and Buchanan is minor from the Asian perspective. The difference
>is mostly
>in rehetorics.

The problem is that Buchanan talking the talk won't do anything for Asians.


>The entrance of Buchanan in the presidential race makes it more interesting.

He already did so before.

You also wrote on PEN-L:
>The extreme right attacking the new right is a delightful sight to behold.

You know, I've noticed that there is a tendency on the part of some male marxists in America to associate militancy with enjoyment of right-wing spectacles. I don't begrudge you your brand of pleasure, but you know that Spectacles of the Right (be they Buchanan's or LaRouche's) won't do anything to stop the 'race to the bottom,' much less to start the delinking.


>The different between non-Americans and Americans is that the former never
>bought
>into the myth that America is a demcractic, progressive, free or just
>society. So
>when Chomsky punctures the myth from time to time, only Americans are
>surprised.
>Such revelation generally elicites nothing more than a yawn from
>non-Americans.
>I am not anti-American per se and there is much about Americans I admire,
>but I
>just find American self-reighteousness tiresome.

Not uncommmon sentiments (which in fact more Americans than non-Americans seem to feel), but taking delight in seeing a Buchanan or a LaRouche outrage 'American self-righteousness' isn't the same as standing up for Asians or the Third World in general. The only thing it does is to make you an ironic consumer of mediatized politics.

Yoshie



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