It reminded me of Alan Wolfe's argument that Sweden's welfare state was ushered into being with a rhetoric redefining what it meant to be a citizen - a grand narrative explaining the history of the country, struggles and why the welfare state was a fulfillment of that historical trajectory.
It would probably do well for people to start circulating Obama's 2004
convention speech where his rhetoric embodies that kind of narrative.
>From the surveys, it looks like there's a lot of resentment that Obama
didn't fulfill young people's fantasy of who they thought they were
electing. It would be interesting if it got taken up as a way to
express that resentment and give them a convenient way to force Obama
to address the concerns. he will, very likely, thumb his nose at the
whole thing, which would definitely spark more resentment.
> On 10/12/2011 7:01 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
>> BTW, does anyone know what the "We are the 53% refers to? It's a
>> tumbler site with people countering the 99% with their own claims
>> about how they worked their ass off and are doing OK, and if not,
>> then
>> they don't whine about it.
>
> The "53%" refers to the percentage of households who pay federal
> income
> tax (assuming the figure is correct, and it sounds right). The Right
> is
> obsessed with the fact that so many people pay zero federal income
> tax,
> even though most of those people pay lots of other federal, state and
> local taxes. It was dreamed up by Erick Erikson of RedState.com.
>
>> I'm curious about how dynamics like this may have played out during
>> the Depression. Anyone know?
>
> Yes, it was exactly the same. If you're interested, check out
> Katherine
> Newman's book "Who Cares? Public Ambivalence and Government Activism
> from the New Deal to the Second Gilded Age," which has lots of
> material,
> including letters to the president from ordinary citizens that sound
> exactly like these 53% people.
>
> SA
>
>
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)