I'm reading Paul Krugman's "The Great Unraveling"...

[terrya]

And he makes the assertion, which I agree with, that the radical right wing, which has enormous influence in this adminstration, wants nothing less that to remake the entire domestic and foreign policy of the United States.

My question is: why don't more people realize this? I mean, come on. This adminstration did not come into power with a mandate...unless the definition of mandate has been changed somehow. One doesn't lose an election, get elevated into the White House by a friendly Supreme Court, and then begin to remake the government in a way that does not reflect the majority political philosophy of the American people.

This book is scaring the hell out of me. And maybe we need to be scared.

[Eloriel]

1. I saw just snippets of him on Russert's one-hour show recently

and he scared the hell outta me too. Same reports from his Booknotes appearance recently. He's got a seriously sobering message.

Eloriel

[LizW]

2. I'm reading it, too

And it is a very frightening book. I have to keep taking breaks from it because it is so disturbing.

[Yavin4]

3. Three Words: Corporate Controlled Media

The CCM won't even allow an opposing viewpoint on the economy be heard. Case in point, on Chris Matthew's Sunday show, the entire panel spent 10 minutes beating up on Howard Dean, calling him too Liberal, saying that he's mean. One talking head even said, "the more you get to know Dean, the more you won't like him". Not one mention of Dean's policies. Not one discussion of major issues. No substance whatsoever. It was just a Dean bash-fest based on his personality.

The sad thing is that the people won't revolt against the status quo for as long as they can just declare bankruptcy and walk away from their debts.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Actually, the more I've learned of Dean, the more I liked

I initially bought into the "too liberal" argument, etc, in the beginning, but the more I've read about Dr. Dean, the more I like him.

[JHB]

4. The Yankees lose! THE YANKEES LOSE!

In other words, first of all, most people people just don't "keep up" with politics and history, so they don't get how significant the change is.

Second: they don't believe things can change that much in so short a time. This relates to the first point in that most people don't realize how long and hard the "unravellers" have been pushing to make it happen.

Third: Thirty years of conservative media activism, so that no one in "the liberal media" is inclined to point this out, and many don't even realize it (see the first point).

[booksenkatz]

6. I recorded his C-SPAN appearance last night

and I plan to forward this video to my family down in Texas. Krugman took alot of difficult information and summed it up well for people like me who are not economics professors. My favorite point of his was when he said that when you reject this administration's economic policies (and you must, because they make no fiscal sense in any way), then you can only question its motives. And those motives will make your blood run cold.

I like how he keeps a complicated mass of information fairly simple to digest. I don't always follow him, but I do most of the time. The American people have got to be told about the ultimate goals of Bushco, or else this country is doomed. I don't think it's too late yet, I'm still hopeful........