----- Original Message ----- From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 9:05 PM Subject: Re: Walzer on the Left
> Nathan's right when it comes to the poll data.
I don't question the data--just the proper interpretation. I'd be overjoyed if 80% of Americans were closet socialists.
> U-M students tend to be better off than the general population,
Yep. But it's supposed to be one of the nation's most liberal campuses.
> and maybe your HS was too--where'd you go to HS, Luke?
Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which isn't renowned for its affluence. Like many rural locales, there are plenty of conservative dems but few liberals and even fewer leftists.
> Moreover this is a robust, long term result. Free and
> Cantril have a classic study from the '60s on the the political beliefs of
> AMericans, showing that they respond to fairly conservative rhetoric in
the
> abstract, and support progressive or liberal policies in the concrete.
I'm sure it's true in some sense, but I doubt it's the most important one. There was no public outcry over the "reform" of AFDC.
> Ferguson and Rogers did a similar, less rigorous study in the 80s that
> replicated these results (Right Turn). Practically speaking the problem is
> that the political beliefs on the concrete level don't find organized
> support in, for example, the Democratic Party,
Why not?
-- Luke
> and so are not translated
> into policy initiatives.
>
> jks
>
>
>
>
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