A Real Socialist on the Teabaggers

Noam Chomsky, interviewed last October. He makes the comparison with the end of Weimar. But I think it's not there: we are past the end of Weimar and into the authoritarian interregnum. Now, I suppose, we are fighting over which set of authoritarians are less destructive.

Health Care: The DFHs Are Still Right

The House Progressive Caucus and the Firedoglake editors are both taking heat for advocating that the Senate health care bill be passed and simultaneously modified through reconciliation. The amount of venom directed at Jane Hamsher, in particular, is astonishing. And yet: the DFHs (dirty-effing-hippies) at Firedoglake have been right down the line for years now. The Senate bill is toxic, and if the House passes it without promises from the Senate and hopes for reconciliation later, they'll probably be stiffed.

Support the House Progressive Caucus: pass Senate Health care bill and changes through reconciliation. Sign the Firedoglake petition.

Corporate Free Speech: Unshackling the Trolls

That's what the Roberts Court has done in their decision in Citizens United. Every election, now, the airwaves and wires will be covered with corporate political spam. More of it, though that's hard to imagine.

Tune in 2012 for the new hit song: "Who Let the Trolls Out?"

Croak of the Day: Michael Bérubé

Scott Brown’s election this past Tuesday offers the Democratic Party a new hope. [...] ***

It's satire, folks.

US Poltical Parties: the Outcome

Pulling out my crystal ball, I will try to make some modest predictions. It seems to me that both current major parties will survive, in dramatically altered forms. Electoral reforms, instant runoff or range voting, are likely to become more and more widespread, and make possible the emergence of at least one new national party. This new party, if it comes into being, is probably going to display characteristics we are already seeing in the emergent coalitions between marginalized US groups: it will probably be vaguely libertarian left. The Republicans, in the new electoral regime, will become the party of the South, and of business-oriented authoritarianism generally. The Democrats may rebuild their coalition, becoming a moderate conservative party, weak on the coasts, but stronger in moderate central states.

Perhaps...

Croak! Earlier posts on this subject: The Democratic Party, The Republican Party.

The Republican Party: Analysis

The Republicans face a very different problem. Internally, they are dominated by a strong coalition of business interests, nationalists, militarists, and religious radicals. Their public face is generally congruent with their internal coalition, so they have no problem of voter confidence. Instead, the Republicans have a problem of popularity: they only have strong voter support in the South, and then only among the white-dominated group registered voters. Outside of the South, they can only win elections in conservative backwaters, by whipping up fear, or when frustrated Democrats hand them a victory out of spite, inaction, or incompetence, as in the recent Massachusetts election. It is also difficult for me to see how the Republicans can last as a national party. Sooner or later a strong opposition will emerge; either a reformed Democratic Party, or an entirely new national party.

The Democratic Party: Analysis

Why would it be that a relatively minor loss—one Senate seat—would plunge the Democratic Party into chaos?

It appears that the Democratic Party has for a long time, existed as a coalition between liberal and conservative wings (or, if you like, progressive and corporatist wings.) Since Reagan, policy on major issues--war and peace, banking, and so on--has been dominated by the conservatives, while less pressing issues (science, environmental policy, and so on) and public relations have been dominated by the liberals. In the Congress, the Senate Democratic caucus has been dominated by the conservatives while multiple House Democratic caucuses exist, with the House Democrats predominantly but not entirely liberal. The public face of the Democratic Party has been liberal, since the public is to the left of the conservatives. (See, for instance, The Progressive Majority.)

Now, however, a major issue--health care--has come to the fore. The Democrats have split right and left, and the public has become aware that the conservatives (who do not have the support of the majority of Democrats) have been making decisions on major issues which affect their lives. The Senate Democrats, after much agony, managed to agree on a business-friendly plan, while the House passed a plan somewhat to the left of that. Now the Senate leaders are afraid they will be unable to deliver their plan to their corporate sponsors, while the House leaders, looking at their loss in Massachusetts, know that if they pass the Senate plan unmodified they will be voted out.

It is difficult for me to see how the Democrats can rebuild their coalition. Its right wing and its president have betrayed it, and the party leadership will have a difficult time persuading most Democrats (who, remember, are well left of the conservatives) that the party represents them.