>Although he's a Republican partisan, though a cleverer and more
>gentlemanly one than many of his co-religionists, he acknowledged that
>people's problem is with government power regardless of the party
>wielding it. The GOP seems to be about the business of reducing this power
>so they attract the passionate loyalty of some and the strategic loyalty
>of many more ("strategic", because the non-zealot who votes Republican is
>trying to look out for her/his self-interest by placing the folks who
>will, they think, reign in government which is inherently dangerous and
>intrusive. As Chuck0 says, this line of thought, carried to at least one
>of its logical conclusions, should take some folks to the anarchist
>position. But of course, this rarely happens here.
I listened to PJ, too. I think he was saying that people know corporate power makes their lives miserable but the difference is that government power is backed by guns.
Frankly, it struck me as wishful thinking. That's what PJ and his more thoughtful compatriots would like to think about why people vote against their interests. The anti-gov thing doesn't strike me as the issue. People don't really experience the gov as a gun to their head and when they do, the poorer?, they're not voting against the gov by voting for the republicans. Most people don't see the government as the military. The government is politicians and bureaucracies. The police and the military aren't really the government, to most folks. So, when they see government power, they're not seeing it as power backed by guns. It's power, the power of a clique. Most people don't imagine the state using the means of violence against _them_ because most people think of themselves as law-abiding citizens and those to whom the means of violence are directed as deserving of their fate.
The more likely explanation is the one put for by Tom Frank, I think. There was a time when people believed in the New Deal, etc. That changed, not because government programs failed, but because there was a concerted campaign to emphasize any failure at all, to associate government programs with socialism, etc. And, on the cultural front, conservatives have successfully painted themselves as folksy folks in touch with the people, people you could have a beer with, and liberals as elitists who sit around art museum drinking expresso (sic) -- which is a close paraphrase to what one conservative on another list says constantly. He also think that government sould stop thieving his money and that people should be like him: save 30% of their income and retire after 20 years. I add that this jackass managed to save 30% of his income every year while being taxed to death so he's been making a pretty chunk of change. And yet he imagines he's an ordinary person! How can that happen! (Oh, he has an e-mail address from wmconnect.com (walmart's ISP /online community @@ He's a real man of the people with that abilty to save 30% of his income every year and retire in his 40ies!)
The ground work for Frank's thesis is laid out fairly nicely in _Hidden Injuries of Class_.
Kelley
"We're in a fucking stagmire."
--Little Carmine, 'The Sopranos'