[lbo-talk] “It provokes screams from the left”

[Carrol Cox]

On 7/27/2011 10:16 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Jul 27, 2011, at 10:46 PM, SA wrote:
>
>> Right, that's Klein's explanation. And as the post said, maybe it will work. But the subtitle of the post was "a puzzle in the study of American politics." There's a reason for that: the claim you're making is that the voters might actually reward a politician for openly attacking their most important material interests in a way that they will notice and strongly object to because it will demonstrate the politician's "reasonableness." You try to play this off as if it's so obvious that questioning it is Byzantine speculation. I'm saying it's a puzzle.
>
> As they say in the public opinion game, we can't tell people what to think but we can tell them what to think about. They've been told that *some* degree of cuts are as inevitable as the sunrise. Do we do it Cantor-style, forcing seniors to double out of pocket spending for Medicare, or do we do it Dem style, jacking it up somewhat less. The option of expanding Medicare is just not spoken of. It's hegemony, man.
>
> Doug

This is very good. And it explains also the rationality of theslogan: Be 
realistic, Demand the Impossible.

You cannot build a popular movement by making "reasonable" demands.

Carrol

Off to Philadelphia in the morning. Back late Monday.