[lbo-talk] Colbert, Dafur, and Dems

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Wed May 3 11:51:42 PDT 2006


On Wed, 3 May 2006, Doug Henwood wrote:


> A very substantial portion of white voters supports Rep economic policies.
> Riding my current hobbyhorse, it's a reflection of American Protestantism,
> which quite likes the market because 1) humans are essentially bad, and
> need stern discipline, not an indulgent welfare state and, relatedly, 2)
> the market is a wonderful mechanism of reward and punishment. So, for
> white Protestants at least, there's no necessary contradiction between the
> "cultural" and the economic issues.

The most populist conceivable economic platform today would be single payer health care. You don't think that could be a vote winner?

I totally agree that most people understand economic issues culturally. But that goes both ways -- alternative economics that are better are the best argument for an alternative worldview being better.

Michael



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