[lbo-talk] Thoughts on the Tea Party (and why the Left is Dead)

[michael perelman]

SA'a whole post was outstanding.  This part in particular caught the 
spirit of my initial point.  In the 1930s, there was already a 
relatively strong Communists party organization.  What I tried to 
describe in the Confiscation of American Prosperity was how well the 
right organized, Cato, Heritage, Pacific Legal Foundation, while too 
much of the progressive movement took their lead from the Democrats, who 
were scurrying rightward to collect more $$$.

I know that Carrol disagrees with me on this, but although the 60s was a 
time where young people could be confident about their future, the draft 
helped to mobilize the campuses.

SA wrote:
>
> In the 30's, the worse the economy got, the more discredited pure 
> capitalism became. In the 70's, the worse the economy got the more 
> pure capitalism grew in prestige. In the late 90's, the better the 
> economy got the more prestigious neoliberalism grew - for rich 
> countries. (It was easy for Seattle protesters to conclude that the 
> system wasn't working for developing countries - especially after an 
> endless series of economic crises and depressions - Mexico, Thailand, 
> Korea, Russia, etc.)
>
> To the extent that economic crises spur rebellion, it's certainly not 
> because people get more miserable and therefore rebel. It's because 
> people become more contemptuous of the ideology they had been fed for 
> so long.
>

-- 

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com