The Left's "Silver Lining"

[Nathan Newman]

But here's the problem- yes, some (and only some) rightwingers will say a
few words against the deprivation of civil liberties of a few folks, but
they will applaud and hundreds of thousands of workers are denied their
social right to a job or decent living.  One mark of Cockburn and other left
libertarians is that they prize their civil liberties alliances with the far
right more than their alliances with liberals on defending labor or other
economic rights.  That is the fatalist flaw of the left-right alliance folks
like Cockburn.

Nathan Newman
nathan at newman.org
http://www.nathannewman.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: The Left's "Silver Lining"

Look, the context is opposition to the invasion of civil liberties. While
anti-Nader liberals temporize and Democrats from Lieberman to Barney Frank
support the war, some Rightists have spoken up about the administration's
corporate statism.  Good on them.

Here's the context: "Ralph Nader delivered a powerful speech against the
war and the various green parties have all issued decent statements. The
ACLU has shown understanding of the necessity for broad coalitions of left
and right to defend the Constitution. It has brought together left civil
libertarians with such icons of the far right as Paul Weyrich, Grover
Norquist, Phyllis Schlafly, Bob Barr and the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, recruiting all these names to the terms of its opposition to
the Patriot Act."  --CGE

On Tue, 4 Dec 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:


> C. G. Estabrook wrote (citing Counterpunch):
>
> >They go on to suggest an interesting list of allies in opposition to the
> >war on terrorism
>
> These include: "Paul Weyrich, Grover Norquist, Phyllis Schlafly, Bob
> Barr and the Competitive Enterprise Institute." Interesting indeed.
> So Roosevelt's New Deal was cribbed from Mussolini, presumably making
> it bad, but all the evil that Weyrich & Co. embody can be overlooked?
>
> Crackpot unrealism or crackpot realism - an inspiring choice!
>
> Doug
>