The Awful Truth

[Dover]

Volume 50, Number 17 · November 6, 2003
Review

The Awful Truth
By Russell Baker

Review: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
by Paul Krugman


......It is hard to imagine the Republicans, had the Supreme Court appointed a Democrat to the White House, accepting the decision as meekly as the Democrats accepted the Court's anointing of Bush. Republicans thrive on combat and have a passion for opposing, which is rooted in all those years of opposing the New and Fair Deals, not to mention Theodore Roosevelt's "square deal" a century ago. Theirs is a party so dedicated to opposition that it opposes government itself and often seeks power mainly to dismantle a great deal of it. A favorite Republican battle cry is: "Government is the problem!"

Democrats have a flabbier tradition. Congressional Democrats, who might have been the natural source of an opposition to Bush, chose instead to be good sports about the aborted election. They promptly joined the President in granting lavish tax cuts to the richest part of the population, then moved en masse to endorse his request for authority to make the war he wanted in Iraq. After managing to lose the off-year congressional elections of 2002, they settled into a torpor so restful that they are still vexed with Howard Dean for disturbing their peace....more >>

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16730

[ixion]

1. the only part of government repugs don't like

are the necessary parts, like health, education, transportation and human services. They hate having to provide the safety net. The parts they dearly love are the 'enforcer' parts of government -- that is military and law enforcement, which makes them giddy.

[mhr]

2. The Book Review's End Was The Best

"It seems slightly scandalous that Krugman has persisted in noting that the present administration has been moving the lion's share of the money to an array of corporate interests distinguished by the greed of their CEOs, an indifference toward their workers, and boardroom conviction that it is the welfare state that is ruining the country. Krugman has been strident. He has been shrill. He has lowered the dignity of the commentariat. How refreshing."

[maha]

3. May all the buddhas

and bodhisattvas bless Paul Krugman!