Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Lot of Good Questions from Glenn Greenwald

Dreher cites a bunch of Greenwald in a post actually about Glenn Beck.

Is opposition to the Wall Street bailout (supported by both parties' establishments) left or right? How about the view that Washington is inherently corrupt and beholden to the richest corporate interests and banks which, through lobbyist influence and vast financial contributions, own and control our political system? Is hostility towards Beltway elites liberal or conservative? Is opposition to the Surveillance State and endless expansions of federal police powers a view of liberals (who vehemently opposed such measures during the Bush era but now sometimes support or at least tolerate them) or conservatives (some of whom -- the Ron Paul faction -- objected just as vigorously, and naturally oppose such things regardless of who is in power as transgressions of the proper limits of government)? Liberals during the Bush era continuously complained about the doubling of the national debt, a central concern of many of these "tea party" protesters. Is the belief that Washington politicians are destroying the economic security of the middle class, while the rich grow richer, a liberal or conservative view? Opposition to endless wars and bankruptcy-inducing imperial policy generally finds as much expression among certain quarters on the Right as it does on the Left.

Well. SOME of those 'right/left' questions are answered "populist," which is a fairly strong streak in this country--it perdures from Andy Jackson through today. But only a blindered fool could ignore Ritholtz' sharp, pointed, and clear criticisms of D.C.'s affinity for commercial and investment banks (and bankers.) Only a blindered fool could ignore the national-debt problems of GWB which were geometrically enhanced by Obama.

And only blindered fools declare that 'we MUST win' in Afghanistan, particularly when they cannot define "win"--proving that they can't even learn from history only 6 years old, when GWB couldn't offer a definition of "win" in Iraq.

But then, there are a lot of blindered fools.

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