Marv Gandall: No one is saying the Republicans are not to the right of the Democrats on these issues . . .
I would say that "left" and "right" are no longer relvant terms in respect to either the DP or the RP. The DP over the last 4 decades have so successfully narrowed the domain of "respectable" debate that ordinary political terminology in respect to partisan debate is empty of content. And on the issues that count, the _practice_ of the two parties when in power is identical, though they wrap the same policies in different rhetoric. Wishful thinking on the (so-called) left turns these verbal differences into grounds for "lesser-evil" politics. Eras of Good Feeling (when there are no substantial differences on policy) are characterized by intensely "uncivil" debate, mostly in terms of personal attacks concealing similar policies. Remember Johnson's campaign ad in 1964, accusing Goldwater of planning to drop an a-bomb, and Goldwater's urging the use of herbicides. Well, LBJ was already using herbicides and Goldwater would not have used the bomb. Identical policies, sharply different rhetoric. That is the nature of an Era of Good Feeling. You can't have such an era without scurrilous rhetoric. Uncivil discourse is a sign of agreement on policy. Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
