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On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 8:05 AM, Arthur Maisel <arthurmaisel at gmail.com>wrote:
> "Old farts" and "predictable like bowel movements" is sort of a mixed
> metaphor, I think. But for what it's worth, *predictable* is healthier than
> constipation, no? and also the diarrhea that afflicts the abovementioned
> blogospheric commentaries.
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 7:31 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Chuck: " We are living in dark times with no end in sight."
> >
> > [WS:] I would say that we are deep deep down in a tunnel and the only
> > light that we see is that of an incoming locomotive. Obama is the least
> of
> > my worries - he is well within the expectations of a center-right
> > politician. It can be much worse.
> >
> > What worries me is the general attitude of the American public. The
> center
> > of political activity shifted way to the right and the traditional left
> has
> > all but disappeared. What used to be democratic socialists now became
> > libertarians or center-right, and rest of the left moved way to the
> > anarchist of lit-crit fringes. The tenor of public discourse is
> decidedly
> > right wing populist or pro-business libertarian. I know that from
> perusing
> > comments posted to news articles. Comments to outlets like NYT, WP, LAT,
> > or Bloomberg overwhelmingly tend to be libertarian or center-right,
> whereas
> > comments to other outlets are predominantly right wing populism and
> rabidly
> > racist. That is the the state of the American mind for you - a big
> > wasteland.
> >
> > In that political climate, the fact that the guy who was elected by a
> > rather narrow margin on popular vote does not live up to his liberal
> > campaign promises is the least of my worries. The Bushes broke their
> > campaign premises too, making an even bigger U turn than Obama did ("no
> new
> > taxes" "no nation building"). That kind of behavior comes with the
> > territory and it is pretty naive to expect anything else, given the
> nature
> > of the American political system. What worries me is what ordinary
> people
> > in this country think. It is really scary. I can deal with right wing
> > populism in the hinterland, it has always been there, but the
> pro-business
> > libertarianism of people who think of themselves as "liberals" is scary.
> > It offers no hope for anything else than what we have seen in the past
> > decade or so.
> >
> > I am not sure how things look outside the US of A - it is difficult to
> see
> > through the filter of the English language media - but Europe looks very
> > similar to the US. The only bright spot I have seen was in a place that
> > many would have difficulty finding it on the map - Uzbekistan where I was
> > at a conference a few weeks ago. There the unions appeared to be the
> > dominant voice in the so-called civil society, the government committed
> to
> > socialist policies (employment development, gender equality,
> environmental
> > protection), the "markets" firmly under government control, and
> > libertarianism unheard of. And the people tend to be very friendly - not
> > the nasty obnoxious arrogant in-your-face variety you see in the US - or
> at
> > least in the US public sphere.
> >
> > America is economically, politically, and intellectually bankrupt - all
> > that it has left is brute military force and bribery. And the Potemkin
> > village image created by the army of marketing hacks. But the whole
> thing
> > is slowly falling apart and the downhill movement produces some really
> > nasty attitudes in the population. It always has - historically, the
> only
> > outcome of political and economic decline is right wing reaction, if not
> > outright fascism. This is a far greater concern than Obama, or for that
> > matter any POTUS, not fulfilling his campaign promises. I wish it was
> only
> > this.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Wojtek
> >
> > "An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."
> > ___________________________________
> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> >
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."