And now for what I think is a very even-handed critique of liberals (the author says "new progressives" but they are synonymous).

Progressivism is a hard sell under such an incompetent government. And I don't just mean Bush. I mean the entire gigantic wasteful out of control monster that the progressives of the early 20th century saddled us with (think FDR, Wilson, etc). Yeah, they did some good things, too, but the legacy lives on in the form of government orders of magnitude bigger than it needs to be, and a system that populates its elected offices with bugfuck lackwits.

The sorry excuses for biological material here in the California State government couldn't run a SimCity simulation properly to save their lives even with every cheat code turned on. You want them planning the whole economy? I would *personally* lead the rebel army that took them down if that ever happened.

Progressives simply represent a direction no one wants to go, so the media figures who claim to be progressive aren't really.

Besides, "liberal" and "progressive" are two different beasts entirely. They are NOT synonymous.

That's because George Bush Sr. made liberal into a bad word-- and Michael Dukakis didn't stop him.

You're right that it's a hard sell under the current level of incompetence. My experience with government before Reagan was very different from my experiences after Reagan. I was actually pretty happy dealing with government bureaus in the '70s. Afterward, it has been hell.

IMO, what went wrong is not what FDR put in place: it was the politicians who followed. Just to be sure that government was totally fucked, Reagan and the two Bush's cut taxes without an equal cut in expenditures. (Now I realize Reagan made an effort: somewhat.) I know it made their constituency happy, but cutting taxes without cutting expenditures isn't really a tax cut. Like a subprime loan, it's a guarantee that taxes future taxes must cover current expenditures.  

Underpayment and disdain for government from the 1980s on has lead to something else: alienation and demoralization of civil servants. Nobody joins the civil service to make a difference anymore. If the government employee now has any reason for employment, the pay being a joke, it is because they are incompetent, on the take, or both.

and try to get his point this time.

Second, read the definition of "liar", as Zin was expressing his OPINION, right or wrong (and I happen agree with him)...not lying.

Third, throw out the lump of coal Santa brought you for Christmas.  Sheesh.

response to my opinions. but thanks for noticing...

-- Modified on 12/30/2007 11:20:23 AM