Are Turning Left?

[Alan]

Loyal subjects whose most basic needs are covered (just barely, but always) are the least likely of all to rock the boat.

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." ~ Voltaire

[Gardenarian]

I think there may be a slight correction going on, where Democrats actually start living up to their populist credo. The Republicans have become (some of them) more socially liberal.

Without campaign finance reform, the US will remain a corporatocracy.

[LDAHL]

I'm less fearful of the "corporatocracy" than I am of giving self-styled populists the power to trim back the first amendment like it was so much topiary.

“If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.”
- Friedrich von Hayek

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think there may be a slight correction going on, where Democrats actually start living up to their populist credo.

no they are as bad as they have ever been, although the rhetoric may sometimes change

The Republicans have become (some of them) more socially liberal.

possibly

Without campaign finance reform, the US will remain a corporatocracy.

quite possibly even with campaign finance reform, if laws are continually overruled by corporate bodies due to trade agreements (existing ones but also especially TPP, TTIP). If the U.S. became utopia where politicians never got any corporate money ever, it is highly likely with these trade agreements they would still hesitate to do anything that might challenge corporate profits (you know including regulating them so they don't poison the gulf of Mexico and so on) if it means they must pay up based on investor state rulings for doing so.

[jp1]

I'm less fearful of the "corporatocracy" than I am of giving self-styled populists the power to trim back the first amendment like it was so much topiary.

I haven't participated in this thread because I generally think that "society is going to hell in a handbasket" has been consistently the view of at least some people throughout time and that this whole thread is pretty much a bunch of left handed exercises. But I WAS curious about this comment. I know you're not afraid of the 'corporatocracy' since you have already expressed your support for the TPP, but I'm curious how exactly you think the populists are trimming back the first amendment.

[LDAHL]

I haven't participated in this thread because I generally think that "society is going to hell in a handbasket" has been consistently the view of at least some people throughout time and that this whole thread is pretty much a bunch of left handed exercises. But I WAS curious about this comment. I know you're not afraid of the 'corporatocracy' since you have already expressed your support for the TPP, but I'm curious how exactly you think the populists are trimming back the first amendment.

I used the term "self-styled populists". Mrs. Clinton has said "We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccounted money out of it, once and for all, even if that takes a constitutional amendment" And of course the President famously wagged his finger at the Supreme Court for having the temerity to rule against him in Citizens United on first amendment grounds.

I personally don’t think chipping away at free speech, no matter what the reason, is ultimately in the best interest of our democracy; just as I don’t think trade protectionism is in the long term best interest of our economy.

[gg_sl]

Color me surprised that Hilary is having such trouble within her own party. I think Alan suggested recently that she may not even be the candidate for her party, and it is looking that way. She will have trouble in the general election with all ofmthismrecent stuff coming out.

If I can toot my horn a little, I was one of the very few people in 2007 who never believed that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee. But in 2007 there were quite a few viable alternatives. Now, it is hard for me to see who else can be the nominee besides Hillary. It looks like a disturbingly weak field.

Don't get me wrong, she has my vote if she wins the nomination, but I am not crazy about the whole the prospect of it, at least for now.

[gg_sl]

That's the problem, isn't it? Stand on lofty principle or strive to thwart the negative developments you see coming.

If it makes you feel any better, many on the side feel the same way, too.

[gg_sl]

As do I, although I wish it were not so. It seems to me that we now live in an age of instant communication and the left controls the message while the majority of the proletariat can't be bothered by reason or cause/effect, favoring emotion to logic. The GOP establishment walks a fine line between pandering to the proles and upholding Republican principles, the further left the media prods us, the further away from those principles it drifts.

Who is the "proletariat" in this version of things? As for "favoring emotion over logic" wholly crow have you seem a Trump rally? There sure is a LOT of emotion there, and it isn't coming from a good place.