Some minor corrections to some widely held opinions
I. Hey, jerks at Fox and all you war bloggers! Having been on the "far left" for most of my adult life(and having only recently decided that Noam Chomsky's greatest contribution is not to politics but actually to computer science, and that by accident), I'd like to point out that Paul Krugman, George Soros and Hillary Clinton do NOT represent the "far left", not by a long shot.
They are, respectively:
1) A neo-liberal free market economist.
2) A Billionaire international financier.
3) The wife of a president who presided over the spread of globalization/a US senator.
This is far left? ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? All of these things immediately disqualify anyone from being on the "far left". In case you missed it, being on the "far left" means being in opposition to things like globalization and international financing. That puts Krugman, Soros and Clinton right out. Also, being on the far left means you believe in direct democracy, not representative democracy, and you refuse to participate in representative democracy. That's strike two for Hillary.
Of course, I know it's important for the Hannitys of the world to paint these moderate types as far left. The whole notion is to move the acceptable realm of debate into the space between McCain and Delay.
II. The strength of the technology industry in the US did NOT DERIVE from the application of free market principles. Almost all the major advances contributed by Americans were done in either academic institutions being underwritten by the DOD - IE TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED(at least in the 1960's and 1970's when most of the good stuff was done), or at AT&T when it was a government protected monopoly(again, not exactly free market). The free market principles came into play when all of this R&D and innovation was put into the public square for people to try and turn into profit machines.
III. If your state makes money off of having defense contractors, you're not participating in the free market - you're participating in state capitalism. I'm not sayin' it's bad, I'm just sayin' it happens. Grow up and live with it.
Yeah, this is disconnected, and to a degree old news, but it's all memes that are still out there. And if the right can, after 3 years in power, STILL blame Clinton for everything that's going wrong, well, I can still complain about the lame ass memes that go around.
They are, respectively:
1) A neo-liberal free market economist.
2) A Billionaire international financier.
3) The wife of a president who presided over the spread of globalization/a US senator.
This is far left? ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? All of these things immediately disqualify anyone from being on the "far left". In case you missed it, being on the "far left" means being in opposition to things like globalization and international financing. That puts Krugman, Soros and Clinton right out. Also, being on the far left means you believe in direct democracy, not representative democracy, and you refuse to participate in representative democracy. That's strike two for Hillary.
Of course, I know it's important for the Hannitys of the world to paint these moderate types as far left. The whole notion is to move the acceptable realm of debate into the space between McCain and Delay.
II. The strength of the technology industry in the US did NOT DERIVE from the application of free market principles. Almost all the major advances contributed by Americans were done in either academic institutions being underwritten by the DOD - IE TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED(at least in the 1960's and 1970's when most of the good stuff was done), or at AT&T when it was a government protected monopoly(again, not exactly free market). The free market principles came into play when all of this R&D and innovation was put into the public square for people to try and turn into profit machines.
III. If your state makes money off of having defense contractors, you're not participating in the free market - you're participating in state capitalism. I'm not sayin' it's bad, I'm just sayin' it happens. Grow up and live with it.
Yeah, this is disconnected, and to a degree old news, but it's all memes that are still out there. And if the right can, after 3 years in power, STILL blame Clinton for everything that's going wrong, well, I can still complain about the lame ass memes that go around.
posted by jayinbmore at 10:32 PM
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