The Future of the Donkeys
There are a couple of good reads on Lewrockwell.com today that focus on the notion of "liberals" with a look at the past along with hope for the future. William L. Anderson provides Some Free Advice For Democrats, centering on the honorable administration of Grover Cleveland and a return to classical liberal policy, while Lew Rockwell's Liberty Yet Lives compares our current climate to the 1930s and it's emphasis on the communism/fascism dichotomy before providing hope for the future by noting that the liberty loving community is in a better situation now compared to the '30s due to international outreach and technological advances.
Something I notice from various people who voted for either Kerry or Nader on Tuesday is that fascism is on the rise thanks to the Republicans. While I don't dispute this, I find it troubling that they equate fascism with only the types of statist corporate goodies that Republicans provide. In other words, they'd be utter dumbfounded by an early passage in Rockwell's piece where he includes "New Dealers" with the fascist camp. Their likely response would be that FDR was trying to alleviate corporate power run amok by establishing various economic regulations designed by keep corporate power in check. They aren't aware of the true roots of corporate statism, and how the regulatory state actually preserves corporate power by promoting artifical monopolies and hindering competition, while also discouraging economic growth. While Republicans may seemingly have more in common with Dr. Lawrence Britt's 14 points of fascism, there is more to fascism than that, and the parts left out ultimately place the likes of FDR into the fascist camp as well.
One of the reasons why it's important to acknowledge this is that future Democrats may want to reincarnate the supposed glory days of their party by returning to the legacy of FDR. William Anderson's piece explains why this would not be such a good idea, and suggests that liberals may want to look to the legacy of Democrats like Grover Cleveland instead. I bring all of this up because of the increasing frequency with which I'm bombarded with the name of Hillary Clinton. What an absolute nightmare it would be if she ends up with the Democratic nomination in '08, especially with an opponent like Jeb Bush or Rudy Giuliani Uber Alles! As Anderson puts it:
Not only would Hillary's agenda be disasterous for America, but she would guarantee a record voter turnout for both Bible thumpers and sexist males who are too insecure to acknowlege the presence of intelligent and assertive women (not that I'm calling Hillary's politics intelligent or anything). Let's hope that the donkey party moves away from jackasses like Kerry and the Clintons and discovers it's classical roots.
By the way, the link I provided for Dr. Britt's list of fascist characteristics comes from a site called Project for the Old American Century, a humorous parody of the imperialist Project for the New American Century. While I haven't checked out much of this site yet, it's looks pretty cool aside from an obvious liberal-left bent to it. I did notice a link to Paul Craig Roberts's essay The Brownshirting of America, a great piece that I commented on the day it appeared on Lewrockwell.com.
Something I notice from various people who voted for either Kerry or Nader on Tuesday is that fascism is on the rise thanks to the Republicans. While I don't dispute this, I find it troubling that they equate fascism with only the types of statist corporate goodies that Republicans provide. In other words, they'd be utter dumbfounded by an early passage in Rockwell's piece where he includes "New Dealers" with the fascist camp. Their likely response would be that FDR was trying to alleviate corporate power run amok by establishing various economic regulations designed by keep corporate power in check. They aren't aware of the true roots of corporate statism, and how the regulatory state actually preserves corporate power by promoting artifical monopolies and hindering competition, while also discouraging economic growth. While Republicans may seemingly have more in common with Dr. Lawrence Britt's 14 points of fascism, there is more to fascism than that, and the parts left out ultimately place the likes of FDR into the fascist camp as well.
One of the reasons why it's important to acknowledge this is that future Democrats may want to reincarnate the supposed glory days of their party by returning to the legacy of FDR. William Anderson's piece explains why this would not be such a good idea, and suggests that liberals may want to look to the legacy of Democrats like Grover Cleveland instead. I bring all of this up because of the increasing frequency with which I'm bombarded with the name of Hillary Clinton. What an absolute nightmare it would be if she ends up with the Democratic nomination in '08, especially with an opponent like Jeb Bush or Rudy Giuliani Uber Alles! As Anderson puts it:
"I have some advice for Democrats who believe that Hillary is The Answer: Don’t even go there. If you think that the Christian fundamentalists crowded the polls to stop Kerry, just wait until Hillary is on the ballot. Entire congregations of fundamentalist and evangelical churches will line up at the voting booths. Hillary, please stay in New York and write more bad books. Since government already has performed the equivalent of a nuclear blast on the state’s economy in the upstate, your presence cannot make things there any worse. Quit while you have the title of Senator."
Not only would Hillary's agenda be disasterous for America, but she would guarantee a record voter turnout for both Bible thumpers and sexist males who are too insecure to acknowlege the presence of intelligent and assertive women (not that I'm calling Hillary's politics intelligent or anything). Let's hope that the donkey party moves away from jackasses like Kerry and the Clintons and discovers it's classical roots.
By the way, the link I provided for Dr. Britt's list of fascist characteristics comes from a site called Project for the Old American Century, a humorous parody of the imperialist Project for the New American Century. While I haven't checked out much of this site yet, it's looks pretty cool aside from an obvious liberal-left bent to it. I did notice a link to Paul Craig Roberts's essay The Brownshirting of America, a great piece that I commented on the day it appeared on Lewrockwell.com.
posted by freeman at 11/04/2004 08:47:00 PM
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