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On 2010-02-06, at 12:48 PM, Greg McDonald wrote: > ====================================================================== > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > ====================================================================== > > > http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rutten6-2010feb06,0,1034960.column > > The winter of America's discontent > > Dissatisfaction with both political parties runs deep. > > By Tim Rutten > > February 5, 2010 | 4:26 p.m. > > [...] > > In one of his magisterial explorations of German politics between the > wars, the historian Ian Kershaw mused that "there are times -- they > mark the danger point for a political system -- when politicians can > no longer communicate, when they stop understanding the language of > the people they are supposed to be representing." > > It would be reckless not to insist that this country and its politics > remain, in crucial ways, far distant from Weimar. It would be rash, > though, to pretend that the distance remains as great as it once was. > =========================== Reading the offhand comment below from the latest Economist the other day reminded me of the German bourgeoisie's growing frustration with Weimar's parliamentary institutions: "...a “Beijing consensus” has been gaining ground, extolling the virtues of decisive authoritarianism over shilly-shallying democratic debate. In the margins of international conferences such as the recent Davos forum, even American officials mutter despairingly about their own “dysfunctional” political system." ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
