'Third Way' Blather
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, October 2, 1998; Page A27
First Reagan, then Thatcher, now Kohl. The heroic age -- the age of the
outsized, unswerving leaders who brought victory to the last great global
conflict of the 20th century -- is over. Now it is Clinton, Blair and
Schroeder, as in Gerhard Schroeder, the newly elected chancellor of
Germany.
The old guard's exit was by no means as swift and unsentimental as
Britain's rejection of Churchill less than two months after Germany
surrendered in World War II. But the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately
message is the same. The three Western countries most instrumental in
winning the Cold War have turned out the hard-line parties that won it.
And turned toward . . . what? Clinton, Blair and Schroeder represent a
new generation, a willingness to experiment ("the courage to change" --
Clinton '92), and the promise of a kinder, gentler capitalism. That should
be explanation enough. But for Clinton and Blair and the intellectuals who
flatter them, that won't do. Vanity demands that they be more than just
clever, adaptive politicians. They must be leaders of a heretofore
unrecognized world-historical movement.
What is it? We'll get to that. First, all great movements must have a name.
In this century of isms, an eponymous ism -- Clintonism, say -- would have
been nice. Unfortunately that word is not available, having already and
forever entered the lexicon as "a lie wrapped in a hair-splitting half-truth, as
in 'I did not inhale.' "
The movement has instead been dubbed "The Third Way." And Tony
Blair, in a recent philosophical gem titled "Third Way, Better Way" [op-ed,
Sept. 27], explains what it is. Third Way means navigating "beyond an old
left preoccupied by state control, high taxation and producers' interests and
a new laissez-faire right championing narrow individualism and a belief that
free markets are the answer to every problem."
Now, one half of this formulation is pure invention. No one believes that
free markets are the answer to every problem. Conservatism holds simply
that free markets are a better guide than government, though government
has a crucial role in maintaining both the rule of law and a social safety net.
Blair is right, however, about the Left. The problem for the Left is this: The
end of the Cold War marks the collapse not just of communism but of
socialism. For a hundred years, socialism was the alternative in the
democratic West to free-market capitalism. Blair's own Labor Party, for
example, stood for the preeminence of government, for nationalized
industry, for extraordinary social regulation and for massive taxation to
support it all.
It proved an unmitigated disaster. And when Reagan and Thatcher proved
the revitalizing effect of rolling it back through privatization, deregulation
and lower taxation, the rout was complete. No one believes in socialism
anymore. What was the Left to do?
Transform socialism into social conscience and compassion -- deployed,
of course, with flexibility -- producing "a new balance between rights and
duties" (Blair, again).
Sounds great. But does it mean anything? Can you give us an example?
Sure, says Blair: "reforming welfare to make it a pathway to work where
possible."
This is an idea of the Left? In the United States, Republicans rammed
welfare reform down the throat of a Third Way president who, on the
advice of Dick Morris, signed the bill because he thought it might otherwise
cost him the election.
Now that welfare reform is working, conservatives are delighted that
Clinton is taking credit for it. But it shows that Third Way ("triangulation,"
as Clinton-Morris called it) is simply the Left coming around to the social
policy of the Right -- in this case, helping the poor not by perpetuating a
system of handouts but by encouraging and, yes, forcing people into the
dignity of work -- without the courage to admit it.
What this century has taught us is that there is no Third Way. With
socialism dead, there remains but a single model for achieving both
freedom and prosperity. That model, which has become universal, has
worked so well in the West that it is now almost universally imitated
around the world. It consists of a vibrant free market, unfettered as much
as possible, but buttressed by a democratic state that enforces contracts
and provides social protection.
What does Clinton's Third Way stand for? His party is today reduced to
launching an election-eve jihad over an $80 billion tax cut. Over five years.
That's $16 billion a year in an $8,000 billion economy. It means federal
taxation of 20.4 percent of GDP, rather than 20.6.
Some movement. Some philosophy. What really is The Third Way? It is
the sound of the Left moving Right but stopping 0.2 percent shy.
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