With conservatism in disarray, those on the fringe seem to be laying claim to the wreckage
There was a time, not too long ago, in American politics in which people like former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin were considered “conservative.”
The persistent efforts to prevent accurate sex ed and to keep hitting kids
The fear of knowledge and progress: It’s long been a hallmark of conservative groups fighting to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving world. Whether it’s American opponents of integration a half-century ago or present day foot-draggers in the fundamentalist regimes of the Middle East and the decrepit leadership in China, these groups all share a fear of modernity and change.
As with a lot of the “grass roots” actions of the modern American far right, it’s been hard to know whether to laugh or cry in recent days at the so-called “tea party” tax protests that have been taking place around the country. [Continue Reading...]
Local right-wing group outdoes itself with annual budget proposal
One of the most common hypocrisies of modern public policy debates is the repeated and ever-confident assertion of various far right politicians and commentators that it’s easy to slash government budgets by simply cutting “wasteful spending.” Whether it’s John McCain, Bobby Jindal, or Rush Limbaugh, the pattern is almost always the same: trot out a few examples of potentially controversial spending items (it usually helps if the items have a funny or unusual name or a scientific purpose that might actually take some effort to understand) or some other smaller item of public extravagance and then extrapolate like crazy.
Even as new evidence pours in, the far right stubbornly resists carbon controls
With so much of the far right’s economic and social agendas devoted to the defense of a mostly mythological vision of the “good old days” – in everything from the regulation of corporate robber barons to civil rights to the definition of “marriage” to cigarette smoking – it’s probably no wonder that they cling so desperately to their denial of the role of humans in climate change.
Why are North Carolina public officials in league with the extreme right on the treatment of workers?
President Obama may yet accomplish his goal of ratcheting down the levels of partisanship and attack politics Washington, but for now it’s clear that he has a lot of work to do. Rather than rallying to a position of support and loyal opposition – as one might have expected during a time of profound economic crisis – the ideological right has instead gone on a rabid, all-out assault against the President and his centrist policy agenda.
As usual, the market fundamentalists miss the mark in diagnosing state budget ills
Okay, here are some basic facts that everyone who’s paying attention ought to agree on when it comes to the current state budget picture:
Raleigh right-wing group unearths commie plot at UNC
It’s been interesting (and a little frightening) to watch the responses that next week’s election seems to be provoking on the far right. Though paranoia and a general desire to foment fear of “the other†has always been a prominent part of the right’s playbook, the possibility that voters may actually usher in some real change next week seems to have given rise to a new and powerful wave of fear mongering that would have warmed the heart of old Tail Gunner Joe and his faithful sidekick, Roy “Redbaiter†Cohn. See for instance, Elizabeth Dole’s pathetic attacks on a moderate-to-conservative, one-time Sunday school teacher named Kay Hagan.
It’s time to stop referring to Raleigh’s right-wing think tanks as “libertarian”
For years, conservative writers and commentators in the collection of think tanks funded by Raleigh chain store magnate Art Pope have claimed that were about advancing a “libertarian” message and agenda. Hence the endless stream of columns and reports and blog posts about “liberty” and “freedom.” The Locke Foundation even entitles its budget proposals “Freedom Budgets.”
The far right’s desperate energy policy prescriptions
It is a familiar theme. We’ve all witnessed and participated in it in our own lives and watched it unfold countless times in history books, Shakespeare, other works of literature, movies and television. You know the pattern, it goes like this:
Why progressives are often out-shouted by a noisy minority and what can be done about it
One of the big news stories in North Carolina this week concerned an incident that actually occurred more than a month ago. It involved the sad and scary story of a family (a mother and her three minor children along with a church friend) whose car was pulled over late at night on Interstate 85 in Alamance County. The reaction it has provoked should provide an important lesson to progressives on the state of the current public debate in our state and nation.
More bizarre claims about the environment from the far right
For those who frequent the world of political websites and blogs, one of the best and most insightful places on the Internet is the outrageous news website parody known as The Onion. If you haven’t checked it out, you really ought to.
According to a National Public Radio tribute, the recently deceased film director Sydney Pollack was fond of the following statement that he included in more than one of his many successful films: “You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth.” He used it to skewer the CIA and other serial prevaricators.
If Pollack had lived and was now directing the movie exposé of the modern American political right, he might well have used a somewhat similar line to shine a light on their increasingly shrill “think tanks” and pundits. It would go something like this: “You think that increasing your own wealth and comfort and ignoring everyone else is the same thing as freedom.”
The far right offers up its anti-poverty program
We Americans are notorious for our short attention spans and memories. So perhaps it’s understandable, if not excusable, that many people delude themselves into believing that the “good ol’ days” were somehow always superior to the modern era. Progressives, for instance, need to be careful at times not to get too carried away in deriding modern technology and consumerism lest we forget that the world of bumpy two-lane roads, non-wrinkle free clothes and two or three dreary TV stations wasn’t always as much fun as some like to think.
Consider the following basic difference between modern progressives and the market fundamentalist right.
For most progressives, the world is a complex and imperfect place in which humans struggle to address the problems that confront them – both individually and collectively. In this worldview, society makes use of public and private structures (government and the market) as part of an ongoing effort to build a better, freer, healthier, and fairer world.
