[Peace-discuss] Bill Blum asks T-Party questions:

Fri Dec 3 12:59:33 CST 2010

On the contrary, Blum here furthers Democratic party propaganda.  Obama & the 
Democrats are delighted to have the TP to run against, especially since they can 
get gullible liberals to condemn the TP for being outside the political class (= 
"they don't have the intellectual competence or ideological independence" to 
observe the limits of allowable debate).

Having co-opted the liberal anti-war movement, the Democrats now look for wqys 
to denigrte the only principled anti-war groups, libertarians and 
paleoconservatives.

On 12/3/10 12:09 PM, Brussel Morton K. wrote:
> 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
>
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