> PR is fairly important, and RR was a pretty important
> historical figure. He transformed the image of American
> conservatism from something marginal, cranky, and
> backward-looking into something revolutionary and
> optimistic. He managed to appropriate a lot of ideas long
> associated with the left and make the left in turn look
> cowardly and backward-looking.
Was he wrong? I've been reading a lot of the American New Left stuff recently and the main trend seems to be very Maoist. They basically said to hell with American blue collar workers who are all just "bought off" reactionary Archie Bunkers. Throw in the focus on peasants and you have a backward-looking, cranky and marginal philosophy that existed to the left of liberals in the US. I can't think of anything optimistic about thinking how American blue collar workers are all dumb, redneck, fundamentalist, racist, ignorant reactionaries. Does that sound like a school of thought the 60%+ of American blue collar workers is looking to sign up for? Meanwhile American unionization rates were plummeting under an AFL-CIO run by Lane Kirkland, just as they had been since the 1950's.
When looking for the roots of Reagan, I think it's probably correct to keep looking back in time. The late 1940's and 1950's were an all-out assault on the victories labor had won in the 1930's, and it's obvious who won that battle, labor basically conceded to go into a long retreat which is still happening. I would say it's even correct to look at the early 1940's economy and no strike clauses, as well as the 1930s and look at the New Deal Democrats as well as union leadership then, even in the CIO and ask what concessions they made then that would come back to destroy what they created.
Now we have soi disant progressives telling people to vote for John Kerry. If John Kerry is of and for the working people of the US, why will so many blue collar workers be voting against him? I trust their judgement more than these intellectuals. If there is no alternative, you might as well let Bush win.
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