I seem to be into Bill Moyers
material today. This one is an interview with Geoffrey Nunberg on these buzzwords or dog whistle politics; words that
evoke certain responses, code words. An example he begins with is George Bush
using the phrase “people of faith,
‘as if
he was talking about religious believers of any sort, but Karl Rove made it
clear the phrase meant conservative Catholics, Charismatics, Pentecostals and
the like.’” Another one is Newt
Gingrich calling President Obama the “food stamp president.”
The interviewer
Feeney asked: Are “1 percent” and “job creators” the same word in two different
languages? Nunberg says there is a loose correlation relating to those who pay
taxes and the moochers, more buzz words. He also points out that more than
100,000 of the top 5% in income in our society pay no taxes.
The next question had to do with how we define conservative. I have been
maintaining that the word has undergone considerable change over the year and
the conservatives I remember prior to Reagan differ radically from those who
call themselves conservatives. I’ll put his complete response here:
Nunberg: At one point the
word was basically associated with issues like limited government, decreased
regulation, and so forth. Those things still matter but these days people’s
position on abortion, gay marriage and immigration tends to be more decisive
than their view on taxes, say. And the criteria are expanding to include views
on evolution, global warming, even the theory of relativity — the whole
package. But mostly it has become a matter of committing to an uncompromising,
sectarian rhetoric. When you track the words “socialistic” and “communistic” in
the media since the 1940s, they become less and less frequent until a couple of
years ago, when they suddenly started to shoot up again.
This intrigues
me in that conservatives I remember wanted government to be hands off on matter
and emphasized individual free to do what they want. But now they have reversed
themselves wanting to force their values, like to mentioned above, upon
everyone else. So, I believe they are less and less conservative and more and
more authoritarians in the guise of
conservatives. The idea that you must believe as I do seems anticonservative.
If you want the
whole article to go http://billmoyers.com/2012/02/17/decoding-the-political-buzzwords-of-2012/
It all depends on what type of authoritarianism you favor. You listed 3 examples. I favor one of them because it saves lives.
ReplyDeleteOther examples of authoritarian policies include speed limits, the health insurance mandate, laws against discrimination in housing, and smoking bans. Some of these I favor, some of these you favor. Some of these I oppose, some of these you oppose.
I guess if you want the least authoritarian politics, you might turn toward Ron Paul... at least until you realize he favors the very authoritarian and radical policy of stripping Americans of their citizenship based mere charges of crimes against their relatives.
Not sure whether to blame Sprio Agnew or Lee Attwater, but
ReplyDeleteI increasingly find that I am no longer considered a liberal nor a scientist...but a 'sheeple', 'leftard' and
a gullible practitioner of 'psuedo-science'. The world of
politics has grown Kafkaesque, illogical and mean.
BB: "....leftard...."
DeleteThe use of hate speech insults against the mentally disabled by some (not you) with the "Retard" word and variations of it is truly unfortunate. It reflects a mean spiritedness at the expense of a group that by their disability really can't speak out or object that well.
It reached a height when the White House, early in the Obama administration, declared them to be "f***ing retards".
dmarks - Laws against discrimination are to protect people's rights. Protecting rights isn't authoritarian, it's the opposite.
ReplyDeleteAs for the health insurance mandate, that was of course a republican idea. Proposed in the 90's as an alternative to the health care reform proposed during the Clinton administration. Only adopted by Obama much later as he was looking for a centrist approach to health reform. Unfortunately by the time the Democrats had found the center path, the Republican party had become radicalized beyond all recognition.
Smoking laws & other safety regs, depends on context. Where they only interfere with your right to hurt yourself, no argument: they're authoritarian. Where they interfere with your 'right' to hurt others (certain types of smoking laws), it's protecting their rights - the opposite of authoritarian.
In other words, protecting others from your 'right' to exert power over or harm others, I do not recognize such laws as 'authoritarian'. Exerting your personal authoritarianism over others is not an inalienable right, and laws limiting THAT authoritarianism is not, in itself, authoritarian.
PK said: "Laws against discrimination are to protect people's rights. Protecting rights isn't authoritarian, it's the opposite."
DeleteThese are authoritarian from the point of view of the business. but libertarian from the point of view of the would-be or actual victims. By the way, I strongly side with the latter on this, and I accept the fact that there is an authoritarian aspect of it (from the point of view of a business owner) and find it to be quite acceptable price.
"As for the health insurance mandate, that was of course a republican idea."
Actually, it was a Democrat idea. It was imposed on the nation by Democrats over opposition by the left/Democrats. Republicans imposed this "idea" on one small state: Massachusetts. But for the nation, it is an idea of the Democrats and left.
"Unfortunately by the time the Democrats had found the center path, the Republican party had become radicalized beyond all recognition."
Actually, the Democrat position on this is the strongly left. and the Republicans are more to the center",There is no "radicalization" in American politics on either side. Other than in the rhetoric of demonizing the other side.
"Smoking laws & other safety regs..."
I think you made the assumption of assuming I opposed smoking laws due to how I including them in my comment. I support tehse also.