Tea for Two
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/may/27/tea-party-jacobins/?page=1
"But the blame does not fall on Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or the Republican Party alone. We are experiencing just one more aftershock from the libertarian eruption that we all, whatever our partisan leanings, have willed into being. For half a century now Americans have been rebelling in the name of individual freedom. Some wanted a more tolerant society with greater private autonomy, and now we have it, which is a good thing-though it also brought us more out-of-wedlock births, a soft pornographic popular culture, and a drug trade that serves casual users while destroying poor American neighborhoods and destabilizing foreign nations. Others wanted to be free from taxes and regulations so they could get rich fast, and they have-and it’s left the more vulnerable among us in financial ruin, holding precarious jobs, and scrambling to find health care for their children. We wanted our two revolutions. Well, we have had them."
There is something romantic and ugly about this Tea Party stuff. We played one and it was a mish-mash of angry rhetoric at best. There was no unifying principle other than frustration coming out over a loudspeaker. I can't say anything thought provokingly smart was said.
But I like looking at this sort of stuff. You follow the course of music history and where Schoenberg says "harmony is dead" releases his music to unload that freedom as a disconcerting cacophony. The artists and philosophers are usually ahead of the curve. Hey, I'm free to make up my own language that no one understands. This is what were battling. Anomie has perhaps become the constant state in opposition to any historical sort of social demand coming from institutions. And while the gubment is being picked on now, most are forgetting all the other battles which have been waged against institutional demands. Could I make the case that my life is more intruded on by big corporations than big government? Where is the line between tax and purchase price?
As an aside, the other day I saw the Reagan speech where he courts Gorby to "tear down the wall".
"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek LIBERALIZATION, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Ron the Liberal. Oh, we do know our history. Or not.
And there is Liberal Progressive-ism in the Constitution as well. "Promote the general welfare". In every corner you can see how those old coots knew it was about fighting and both made the system slow and ponderous and with relief valves along the way.
Shrink government enough and you have anarchy. Lets go the distance.
"But the blame does not fall on Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or the Republican Party alone. We are experiencing just one more aftershock from the libertarian eruption that we all, whatever our partisan leanings, have willed into being. For half a century now Americans have been rebelling in the name of individual freedom. Some wanted a more tolerant society with greater private autonomy, and now we have it, which is a good thing-though it also brought us more out-of-wedlock births, a soft pornographic popular culture, and a drug trade that serves casual users while destroying poor American neighborhoods and destabilizing foreign nations. Others wanted to be free from taxes and regulations so they could get rich fast, and they have-and it’s left the more vulnerable among us in financial ruin, holding precarious jobs, and scrambling to find health care for their children. We wanted our two revolutions. Well, we have had them."
There is something romantic and ugly about this Tea Party stuff. We played one and it was a mish-mash of angry rhetoric at best. There was no unifying principle other than frustration coming out over a loudspeaker. I can't say anything thought provokingly smart was said.
But I like looking at this sort of stuff. You follow the course of music history and where Schoenberg says "harmony is dead" releases his music to unload that freedom as a disconcerting cacophony. The artists and philosophers are usually ahead of the curve. Hey, I'm free to make up my own language that no one understands. This is what were battling. Anomie has perhaps become the constant state in opposition to any historical sort of social demand coming from institutions. And while the gubment is being picked on now, most are forgetting all the other battles which have been waged against institutional demands. Could I make the case that my life is more intruded on by big corporations than big government? Where is the line between tax and purchase price?
As an aside, the other day I saw the Reagan speech where he courts Gorby to "tear down the wall".
"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek LIBERALIZATION, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Ron the Liberal. Oh, we do know our history. Or not.
And there is Liberal Progressive-ism in the Constitution as well. "Promote the general welfare". In every corner you can see how those old coots knew it was about fighting and both made the system slow and ponderous and with relief valves along the way.
Shrink government enough and you have anarchy. Lets go the distance.