<<http://www.bopnews.com/archives/000330.html#000330>>
... Saletan does not realize it, but he has put his finger on the problem with Bush - a problem that the late, and in some quarters lamented, editor Michael Kelly hit upon in the days after 9-11. Kelly, with typical partisan bias, said that "somewhere in the last few weeks a Democrat has taken the White House" as he noted interventionist policies beginning to grow from the Bush executive. Calling Bush a liberal or a Democrat is like calling someone rich because he is running up his credit cards - it relies on the pervasive misunderstanding, or in some cases disunderstanding, of what liberalism means. Liberalism rests on the creation of feedback mechanisms in policy which automatically restrain the abuse of authority, by placing the responsibility for the results of failure to adhere to policy limits in the lap of the government, and hence the people, themselves. Since the right wing recognizes no restraint other than pure force, the idea that present pleasure might be prevented by future pain eludes most conservative thinkers, who instead see "discipline" as the way to maintaining present society. Bush is caught in a bind - he has to run defending policies which have not worked and which are ideologically unacceptable to the very people who could be relied upon to be stupid enough to shill for them. If someone who believes the way to put out a fire is to pour gasoline on it is no longer fooled by Bush, then there are real problems. ... ----- Shrub 04: Don't Switch Horsemen Mid-Apocalypse _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
