http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/ Making the World Safe for Liberalism Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:14:08 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-340760 The Mahablog » Wild Things Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:42:12 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-340760 [...] In some ways liberalism/progressivism is in the same place today that conservatism was in the 1950s and 1960s. IMO the last Democratic president who pushed an unabashedly progressive domestic policy was Lyndon Johnson. Although LBJ was hugely unpopular and became the post-FDR template for big-government, tax-and-spend liberalism, I contend that much of the backlash to Johnson’s programs was less about political and economic ideology than it was about racism. In any event, a growing number of adult Americans are too young to remember what even a mildly progressive federal government was like, which makes progressivism the new new thing. [...] [...] In some ways liberalism/progressivism is in the same place today that conservatism was in the 1950s and 1960s. IMO the last Democratic president who pushed an unabashedly progressive domestic policy was Lyndon Johnson. Although LBJ was hugely unpopular and became the post-FDR template for big-government, tax-and-spend liberalism, I contend that much of the backlash to Johnson’s programs was less about political and economic ideology than it was about racism. In any event, a growing number of adult Americans are too young to remember what even a mildly progressive federal government was like, which makes progressivism the new new thing. [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-331534 The Mahablog » Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:26:26 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-331534 [...] This was not always true of the Dems, mind, although you have to be damn old to remember when it wasn’t. I wrote about how the change came about in “How the Democrats Lost, Period.” Spotlight [...] [...] This was not always true of the Dems, mind, although you have to be damn old to remember when it wasn’t. I wrote about how the change came about in “How the Democrats Lost, Period.” Spotlight [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-331533 The Mahablog » Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:26:17 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-331533 [...] This was not always true of the Dems, mind, although you have to be damn old to remember when it wasn’t. I wrote about how the change came about in “How the Democrats Lost, Period.” Spotlight [...] [...] This was not always true of the Dems, mind, although you have to be damn old to remember when it wasn’t. I wrote about how the change came about in “How the Democrats Lost, Period.” Spotlight [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-270153 The Mahablog » Left Behind Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:28:54 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-270153 [...] There are many factors that came together in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in a weakened, spineless, and soulless Democratic Party, and I explained these in some detail here. But there are three major factors I’d like to point out: [...] [...] There are many factors that came together in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in a weakened, spineless, and soulless Democratic Party, and I explained these in some detail here. But there are three major factors I’d like to point out: [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-68983 The Mahablog » Betrayal Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:41:25 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-68983 [...] In this puppet theater “liberals” (booo! hisss!) are the craven, cowardly, and possibly demented villains, and “conservatives” are the noble heroes who come to the rescue of the virtuous maid America. Any American under the age of 40 has had this narrative pounded into his head his entire life. Rare is the individual born after the Baby Boom who has any clue what “liberalism” really is. Ask, and they’ll tell you that liberals are people who “believe in” raising taxes and spending money on big entitlement programs, which of course is bad. (Read this to understand why it’s bad.) [...] [...] In this puppet theater “liberals” (booo! hisss!) are the craven, cowardly, and possibly demented villains, and “conservatives” are the noble heroes who come to the rescue of the virtuous maid America. Any American under the age of 40 has had this narrative pounded into his head his entire life. Rare is the individual born after the Baby Boom who has any clue what “liberalism” really is. Ask, and they’ll tell you that liberals are people who “believe in” raising taxes and spending money on big entitlement programs, which of course is bad. (Read this to understand why it’s bad.) [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-61903 » Blog Archive » … legal right to proclaim a fatwah against Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:08:44 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-61903 [...] The Mahablog ” 2006 ” August … the war in Iraq “and the war on terrorism “seems to have been to foment … crime had been committed against the United States, and that the defeat … [...] [...] The Mahablog ” 2006 ” August … the war in Iraq “and the war on terrorism “seems to have been to foment … crime had been committed against the United States, and that the defeat … [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-31845 The Mahablog » Where the Fault Lies Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:15:29 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-31845 [...] But how did laissez-faire and free-market ideologies make such a triumphant comeback? I think the chief wedge issue used by the Right to separate voters from progressivism was race. I explained here how the Republicans capitalized on a white backlash against the civil rights movement and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs to lure white voters away from the Democrats. Expanding on that a bit — voters enraged by federally mandated desegregation were voters easily persuaded that the federal government was too powerful and needed to be taken down a few pegs. Voters who resented Ronald Reagan’s apocryphal black welfare queen were voters persuaded that Republicans wouldn’t throw money away on foolishness like entitlement programs, the way those tax-and-spend Democrats do. [...] [...] But how did laissez-faire and free-market ideologies make such a triumphant comeback? I think the chief wedge issue used by the Right to separate voters from progressivism was race. I explained here how the Republicans capitalized on a white backlash against the civil rights movement and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs to lure white voters away from the Democrats. Expanding on that a bit — voters enraged by federally mandated desegregation were voters easily persuaded that the federal government was too powerful and needed to be taken down a few pegs. Voters who resented Ronald Reagan’s apocryphal black welfare queen were voters persuaded that Republicans wouldn’t throw money away on foolishness like entitlement programs, the way those tax-and-spend Democrats do. [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-30619 The Mahablog » Capture the Flag Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:15:39 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-30619 [...] A few days ago I wrote about how the Democratic Party lost its historic connection to working-class voters. Two factors in particular caused the ordinary working man and woman to abandon the Democratic Party and vote Republican. One was Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” which provided social and health benefits for the elderly and the poor, including poor African Americans. Earlier New Deal entitlement programs showed favoritism to whites (a concession FDR had to make to southern Democrats). By the 1960s white workers enjoyed a fast-rising standard of living, largely thanks to New Deal liberalism. But most whites resented paying taxes to relieve the poverty of African Americans. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and other Republicans exploited racist resentment to persuade white working-class voters to vote Republican. [...] [...] A few days ago I wrote about how the Democratic Party lost its historic connection to working-class voters. Two factors in particular caused the ordinary working man and woman to abandon the Democratic Party and vote Republican. One was Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” which provided social and health benefits for the elderly and the poor, including poor African Americans. Earlier New Deal entitlement programs showed favoritism to whites (a concession FDR had to make to southern Democrats). By the 1960s white workers enjoyed a fast-rising standard of living, largely thanks to New Deal liberalism. But most whites resented paying taxes to relieve the poverty of African Americans. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and other Republicans exploited racist resentment to persuade white working-class voters to vote Republican. [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-29421 The Mahablog » Bad Actors Mon, 21 Aug 2006 00:45:55 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-29421 [...] From time to time I rant about the Left’s stupid proclivity toward single-issue advocacy rather than working through coalitions or the Democratic Party. The most recent such rants are here and here. [...] [...] From time to time I rant about the Left’s stupid proclivity toward single-issue advocacy rather than working through coalitions or the Democratic Party. The most recent such rants are here and here. [...]

]]> http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/16/how-the-democrats-lost-period/comment-page-1/#comment-28030 The Mahablog » Can Dems Find Their Mojo? Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:06:34 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/?p=941#comment-28030 [...] The past couple of posts focused on how the Democratic Party lost itself. This post discusses how the Right, through a long campaign of “hysterical charges and bald-faced lies,” undermined the Democrats’ credibility on foreign policy. The last post looks at how white middle- and working-class voters bolted to the Right when Democrats took a stand in favor of racial equality. Further, the old New Deal coalition was fatally undermined by the New Left. But the New Left did not create a new coalition to take the place of the old one. Instead, for almost forty years American liberals and progressives have been caught up in discrete issues — civil rights, reproductive rights, gay rights, the environment, etc. — that compete with each other for money and attention. [...] [...] The past couple of posts focused on how the Democratic Party lost itself. This post discusses how the Right, through a long campaign of “hysterical charges and bald-faced lies,” undermined the Democrats’ credibility on foreign policy. The last post looks at how white middle- and working-class voters bolted to the Right when Democrats took a stand in favor of racial equality. Further, the old New Deal coalition was fatally undermined by the New Left. But the New Left did not create a new coalition to take the place of the old one. Instead, for almost forty years American liberals and progressives have been caught up in discrete issues — civil rights, reproductive rights, gay rights, the environment, etc. — that compete with each other for money and attention. [...]

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