I wrote: > It seems that the "default" position of DP politicians is what used to be > called "Cold War liberalism" -- muscular foreign policy plus technocratic > welfare state policies.<
It should be pointed out that it's possible for the politicians to be partly and temporarily dislodged from their default position. Back in the 1960s, for example, the anti-war movement was able to cause establishment characters like RF Kennedy to go leftward. That also reflected a division within the ruling class, which was partly a result of the anti-war movement. LBJ went beyond technocracy due to the civil rights movement. Etc. Our current DP president isn't subject to that kind of pressure (and I don't see how Julio's praise for him could ever help create such pressure) and instead is going with the capitalist flow. So he goes against government lawyers to evade the War Powers act, etc., setting a precedent for future presidents to do the same. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/opinion/21Ackerman.htm.) That act was a hangover from the Vietnam war and the aforementioned division within the ruling class. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
