BB, I agree that Bush and his rabid supporters pushed the pendulum far off center and that it set the stage for Obama.
Interestingly, however, the lessons of competence over ideology, pragmatism over purported idealism and compromise over partisanship are lessons where the pendulum settles with a loud thud right where it needs to sit.
Other issues of government non intervention in the regulatory market, the appointment of right wing judges who see things in conservative black and white, and trickle down economics may swing too far from the far right...time will tell.
We won't know if the pendulum has swung too far from the right until it settles in and we see the results. Will the provision of health care become more efficient and be allocated more justly, will regulation be smarter and create a more efficient and more just economic environment, will we have a cleaner America without undermining the economy, will education become more equally available and more suited to the needs of our many children and displaced workers, will regulatory agencies begin to function for the good of those they are charged with protecting rather than for the good of those who need regulation...we'll find out over the next years.
If some things work we'll keep them, if they don't we'll drop them. I think it's clear that some significant new experiments in American government should be examined. The economy has left too many strong backed, willing workers out in the cold, it has left too many powerful financial interests with too much power over the vast majority of Americans and it has left too many of our fellow citizens with too little hope.
In the end we can forget all the scare talk. It's not about whether something is "right wing" or "left wing," it's about whether it works or whether it doesn't. In my view many of the purported "left wing" policies attributed to Obama seem workable. Ed |
