And how well it works! Not just to create alienation and political
passivity, but also to keep the lower and lower-middle classes at each
other's throats via racism, sexism, etc. When things are tough, they
attack each other instead of the elite that is the source of their
problems.
On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, Tom Walker wrote:
>
> Huntington's prescription for encouraging democratic "self-restraint" was
> for governments to _deliberately fail_ to deal with economic problems. The
> point of doing this was to create a generalized alienation, which in turn
> could, "reinforce tendencies towards political passivity engendered by the
> already observable decline in the sense of political efficacy."
>
> Note that Huntington didn't reckon economic distress as the result of the
> government's inability to deal with economic problems, but as a strategy to
> assist the governing elite deal with it's political problems. In retrospect,
> Huntington's prescription is plausible as an explanation of policies that
> western governments have actually pursued over the past two decades. It's
> also credible as a prediction of what would be the political result of a
> purposeful anti-prosperity regime -- the entrenchment of the elites whose
> policies were designed to spread poverty and insecurity.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom Walker
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Vancouver, B.C.
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (604) 669-3286
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
>
>
Selma
*Don't Just Do Something, Sit There*
Sylvia Boorstein
