[Peace-discuss] Bill Blum asks T-Party questions:
Brussel Morton K.
mkbrussel at comcast.net
Fri Dec 3 12:09:43 CST 2010
I read Chomsky's description (You should say who you are quoting), and it is not wrong, but it does not address the character of the Tea Party, except for the last sentence of the piece. Blum asks pertinent questions. Of course the Democratic party doesn't like the Tea Party and who it has endorsed (no Democrats, but backed several Repubs, but that does not mean that if there is some mild concordance between their criticisms and Blum's, these are ill founded. Moreover, it is the so-called Libertarian aspect of the Tea party which Blum holds up to ridicule, justly. --mkb
On Dec 3, 2010, at 11:40 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> It's depressing to see the normally insightful Blum buy the Democratic party's mendacious construction of the tea-party.
>
> Blum seems not to notice that the tea partiers are quite right to blame the president and his policies because those policies are in support of the "the recklessness and greed of Wall Street, the banks, and other financial corporations."
>
> Here's a far better account:
>
> "...the Tea Party movement itself is maybe 15, 20 percent of the electorate. It’s relatively affluent, white, nativist. You know, it has rather traditional nativist streaks to it. But what is much more important, I think, is its outrage. I mean, over half the population says they more or less support it or support its message. And what people are thinking is extremely interesting. I mean, overwhelmingly, polls reveal that people are extremely bitter, angry, hostile, opposed to everything.
> "The primary cause undoubtedly is the economic disaster. It’s not just a financial catastrophe, it’s an economic disaster. I mean, in manufacturing industry, for example, unemployment levels are at the level of the Great Depression. And unlike the Great Depression, those jobs are not coming back. U.S. owners and managers have long ago made the decision that they can make more profit with complicated financial deals than by production. So, finance—this goes back to the '70s, mainly Reagan escalated it, and onward—Clinton, too. The economy has been financialized. Financial institutions have grown enormously in their share of corporate profits. It may be something like a third or something like that today. At the same time, correspondingly, production has been exported. So you buy some electronic device from China. China is an assembly plant for a Northeast Asian production center. The parts and components come from the more advanced countries, and from the United States, and the technology. So, yes, that’s a cheap place to assemble things, sell them back here. And it's, you know, rather similar in Mexico, Vietnam and so on. That’s the way to make profits.
> "It destroys the society here, but that’s not the concern of the ownership class and the managerial class. Their concern is profit. That’s what drives the economy. And the rest of it is a fallout. People are extremely bitter about it but don’t seem to understand it. So, the same people who are a majority, who say that Wall Street is to blame for the current crisis, are voting Republican. Both parties are deep in the pockets of Wall Street, but the Republicans much more so than the Democrats. And the same is true on issue after issue. So the antagonism to everyone is extremely high. Actually, antagonism—they don’t like—population doesn’t like Democrats, but they hate Republicans even more. They’re against big business. They’re against government. They’re against Congress. They’re against science."
>
> On 12/2/10 11:32 PM, Brussel Morton K. wrote:
> > To Libertarians and their
> defenders:
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Some questions to ask our quaint little Teaparty friends
>
> >
>
> > The Teaparty folks never tire of calling for "smaller
> government".
>
> > How sweet. Most other Republicans repeat the same mantra /ad
> nauseam/
>
> > as well, as do many liberals (not to be confused with
> progressives).
>
> > So for all these individuals I have some questions:
>
> >
>
> > * When there's a plane crash the government sends
> investigators to
>
> > the crash site to try to determine the cause of the accident;
> this is
>
> > information that can be used to make air travel safer. But
> it's
>
> > really BIG GOVERNMENT, forcing the airlines to fully
> cooperate,
>
> > provide all relevant information, secrecy is not permitted,
> and make
>
> > changes or face severe penalties. Do you think the government
> should
>
> > stop doing this? * Following this year's BP oil spill do you
> think
>
> > the government was right to bully and threaten the company
> for an
>
> > explanation and solution for the catastrophe, or should it
> have been
>
> > "hands off" for the sake of small government? * Following a
> major
>
> > earthquake there's usually a cry from many quarters: Stores
> should
>
> > not be raising prices for basic necessities like water,
> generators,
>
> > batteries, tree-removal services, diapers, etc. More
> grievances soon
>
> > arise because landlords raise rents on vacant apartments
> after many
>
> > dwellings in the city have been rendered uninhabitable. How
> dare they
>
> > do that? people wail. Following the 1994 earthquake in Los
> Angeles
>
> > the California Assembly proceeded to make it a crime for
> merchants to
>
> > increase prices for vital goods and services by more than ten
> percent
>
> > after a natural disaster.^11
>
> > <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-11>
> Following the
>
> > destruction caused by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, the
>
> > governor and attorney general of Virginia called on the
> legislature
>
> > to pass the state's first anti-price-gouging law after
> receiving
>
> > about 100 complaints from residents. North Carolina had
> enacted an
>
> > anti-gouging law just shortly before.^12
>
> > <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-12> Does
> such blatant
>
> > big-government interference in our God-given
> Supply-and-Demand system
>
> > bother you? Do you think that our legislators should simply
> allow
>
> > "the magic of the marketplace" to do its magic? * Do you
> think that
>
> > the government should continue waging war against what they
> call
>
> > "terrorists" abroad, since there's no bigger or more
> expensive
>
> > big-government action than this? * Do you think the
> government should
>
> > continue with its electronic strip searches and body feel-ups
> at
>
> > airports or should we allow the risk of bombs being brought
> on board
>
> > airplanes? (Or — as an alternative to either — do you think
> the
>
> > government should cease its bombing, invading, occupying,
>
> > overthrowing, killing and torturing around the world so as to
> put an
>
> > end to its creating anti-American terrorists?) * If your bank
> fails —
>
> > and hundreds have done so in recent years — are you willing
> to accept
>
> > the loss of your life's savings? Or are you thankful that
> big, big
>
> > government steps in, takes over the bank, and protects every
> penny of
>
> > your savings? * Do you think that big government — federal,
> state or
>
> > local — should stop haranguing the citizenry about the
> environment:
>
> > recycling, air pollution, water pollution, soil runoff, etc.,
> etc.,
>
> > or that people should simply be allowed to do what is most
> convenient
>
> > for them, their families, and their businesses? * Do you
> think that
>
> > manufacturers should have the right to run their factories à
> la a
>
> > sweatshop in a Bangkok alley 50 years ago or that big
> government
>
> > should throw its weight around to assure modern working
> conditions,
>
> > with worker health and safety standards? * When a
> prescription drug
>
> > starts to kill or harm more and more people, who should
> decide when
>
> > to pull it off the market: Big Government or the drug's
>
> > manufacturer? * Are you glad that food packages list the
> details of
>
> > ingredients and nutrition? Who do you think is responsible
> for that?
>
> > * A huge number of Americans would be facing serious hunger
> if not
>
> > for their food stamps; more than 40 million receive them.
> Where do
>
> > you think food stamps come from? No, not from Sarah Palin. *
> And
>
> > where, pray tell, do you think unemployment insurance,
> housing
>
> > subsidies, and Medicare come from? (There were of course,
> lord help
>
> > us, the Teaparty signs: "Keep your government hands off my
>
> > Medicare,"^13
> <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-13>
>
> > while simultaneously ridiculing Obama's push for "socialized
>
> > medicine".) Some of you would probably rather see widespread
> hunger,
>
> > poverty, homelessness, and illness in America than have
> people
>
> > dependent upon the BigGovernmentMonster. * Do you think that
> big
>
> > government is no match for the private sector in efficiently
> getting
>
> > large and important projects done? Big government in the
> United
>
> > States has created great dams, marvelous national parks, an
>
> > interstate highway system, the peace corps, social security,
> the
>
> > National Institutes of Health, and the Smithsonian
> Institution; it's
>
> > also landed men on the moon, wiped out polio, and built up an
>
> > incredible military machine (ignoring for the moment what
> it's used
>
> > for), and much more. * Do you know that twice in recent years
> the
>
> > federal government undertook major studies of many thousands
> of
>
> > federal jobs to determine whether they could be done more
> efficiently
>
> > by private contractors? On one occasion the federal employees
> won
>
> > more than 80% of the time; on the other occasion 91%. Both
> studies
>
> > took place under the Bush administration, which was hoping
> for
>
> > different results. ^14
>
> > <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-14>
>
> >
>
> > We have to remind the American people of what they once knew
> but seem
>
> > to have forgotten: that they don't want BIG government, or
> SMALL
>
> > government; they don't want MORE government, or LESS
> government; they
>
> > want government ON THEIR SIDE.
>
> >
>
> > I think the Teapartyers are motivated primarily by two
> factors: 1)
>
> > they don't have the intellectual competence or ideological
>
> > independence to place the blame for the sick economy where it
>
> > belongs: the recklessness and greed of Wall Street, the
> banks, and
>
> > other financial corporations; and so they blame the president
> and his
>
> > "socialist" policies; 2) the president is black.
>
> >
>
> > *Mark Brzezinski, son of Zbigniew, was a post-Cold War
> Fulbright
>
> > Scholar in Poland: "I asked my students to define democracy.
>
> > Expecting a discussion on individual liberties and
> authentically
>
> > elected institutions, I was surprised to hear my students
> respond
>
> > that to them, democracy means a government obligation to
> maintain a
>
> > certain standard of living and to provide health care,
> education and
>
> > housing for all. In other words, socialism." *^*15*
>
> > <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-15>
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss
> mailing
>
> > list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
> > http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20101203/786efd14/attachment.html>
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list