“What Went Wrong with Liberalism?” by Douglas S. Massey

[phantom power]

This is a point of view I haven't seen before. Exploring liberal responsibility for Viet Nam, anti-tax backlash, etc. The last paragraph happens to summarize the entire article, in classic essay form:

Although liberals accomplished great things during the first three quarters of the 20th century, thereafter they stumbled badly. When they encountered resistance to black civil rights among poor and working class whites—some of it racially motivated some of it not—rather than dealing with the resistance politically, liberal elites sought to impose solutions from above by taking advantage of their privileged access to judicial and executive power. Then, rather than telling Americans honestly about the likely costs and consequences of a military intervention in Southeast Asia and trust them to make the correct decisions, they used lies and deception to trick voters into supporting an unwinnable war that was fought mostly by the poor and working classes; and when the war came too close to home, they quickly forgot about the lower class combatants and their sacrifices they had made. Then after liberals’ attempt to support guns and butter set off hyperinflation to erode the real value of wages, they callously thought up new ways to spend the windfall of tax revenue rather than adjust tax brackets to relieve the unsustainable burden on the middle class. Finally, when faced with political revolt because of these misguided policies, they retreated into arcane ideologies to wage a rearguard cultural insurgency from the safety of the ivory tower. Is it any wonder that liberals lost the public trust?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8787296/#050804

[Atman]

1. Mr. Massey, put down the crack pipe and step away from the keyboard!

Jesus..was this an early April Fools piece? The sad part is, so many sheep will baaah it.

[expatriot]

8. this is GOP hackwork - 'reframing history' at its best....

notice how "poor whites" are the victims of "privileged liberal elites" and how liberals did good things up to a certain point (that everyone now agrees were good - desegregation, tried to get us out of Vietnam, etc.) SINCE then - on issues that are still up for debate - NOW they are bad.

It broils my blood. Now I AM getting off DU to get ready to go ot work and going to work (I need to go in early today) so if anyone sees me posting here after this.... yell at me).

[carnie_sf]

2. WTF?

I guess Nixon, Reagan, Jerry Falwell and Grover Norquist never existed

[iamjoy]

3. What Is Callous Spending

Education? Roads?

I am not an economist, but my guess is steeply rising oil prices had a lot to do with inflation.

SNIP
rather than telling Americans honestly about the likely costs and consequences of a military intervention in Southeast Asia and trust them to make the correct decisions, they used lies and deception to trick voters into supporting an unwinnable war that was fought mostly by the poor and working classes;
END SNIP

substitute Iraq for Southeast Asia, and you are describing the current administration with amazing accuracy.

[wryter2000]

4. It's BS

When they encountered resistance to black civil rights among poor and working class whites—some of it racially motivated some of it not—rather than dealing with the resistance politically, liberal elites sought to impose solutions from above by taking advantage of their privileged access to judicial and executive power.

Sounds a lot like Robert Bork's answer to why he opposed civil rights laws. "At the time I was working on a free market theory of how race relations should be addressed. If you left the problem alone, the market would fix itself." Barbara Jordan's response to how she felt when she heard that was "My eyes glaze over." Of course, you "impose" solutions to injustice when people don't want to fix the injustice themselves.

Then, rather than telling Americans honestly about the likely costs and consequences of a military intervention in Southeast Asia and trust them to make the correct decisions, they used lies and deception to trick voters into supporting an unwinnable war

Liberals proposed getting us into Viet Nam? Excuse me. What planet is this idiot on? And don't tell me "Democrats did." Liberal and Democrat are not the same thing. Liberals were the ones protesting LBJ's war.

This is yet another example of pseudo-intellectual bullshit blaming liberals for the ills brought on us by "conservatives." Laying it on our supposed incompetence just adds insult to injury.

And, furthermore, there's nothing new or original with this piece of crap. We hear it all the time. And, unfortunately, too many liberals sit down and consider whether or not they might be guilty of some of this when they ought to just shout "Bullshit!"

[expatriot]

5. EXCUSE me.....

When they encountered resistance to black civil rights among poor and working class whites—some of it racially motivated some of it not —rather than dealing with the resistance politically, liberal elites sought to impose solutions from above by taking advantage of their privileged access to judicial and executive power.


okay... there are two very wrong things with this second sentence.

first of all, what else other than race coul motivate resistance from whites to civil rights for blacks? It is not economics because if poor whites felt economically threatened by other whites from which they could not draw any ethnic distinction there wouldn't be problem unless these poor whites could classify these people who they felt threatened by.

Secondly: The article states that instead of dealing with the problem politically... "liberal elites sought to impose solutions from above by taking advantage of their privileged access to judicial and executive power." What a bunch of GOP framing bullshit... how are these "liberal elites" any different than ANY politician who appoints judges and makes changes executively to promote change? This "privileged access to judicial and executive power?" WTF? Liberals have to get elected just like conservatives do and yes, there are wealthy liberals but not ass many as wealthy conservatives. Geesh this makes me so mad. This is garbage. Garbage.

[DBoon]

6. So there was massive conservative opposition to the Vietnam War?

learn something new every day.

I could have sworn the war's opponents were "left liberals".

Foolish me - they were all low tax conservatives

[BootinUp]

7. I don't even know where to start

There is nothing in that article that even resembles a real analysis of what happened.

[dbonds]

9. Complete garbage.

The only true thing in it is the first sentence "Although liberals accomplished great things during the first three quarters of the 20th century". The rest pure bunk, liberals are not the elite - we are the people. We are the populist. As opposed to the corporatist who truely are the elite and are running the show now - although all their advertising campaigns has brainwashed some of the less intelligent of the people.

[AndyTiedye]

10. So Much Wrong Here It's Hard to Know Where to Start

When they encountered resistance to black civil rights among poor and working class whites—some of it racially motivated some of it not—rather than dealing with the resistance politically, liberal elites sought to impose solutions from above by taking advantage of their privileged access to judicial and executive power.

What he really means is that we didn't cave in and allow the civil rights of black people to be abrogated forever.

We did deal with it politically, but at the Federal level with things
like the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

rather than telling Americans honestly about the likely costs and consequences of a military intervention in Southeast Asia and trust them to make the correct decisions, they used lies and deception to trick voters into supporting an unwinnable war that was fought mostly by the poor and working classes; and when the war came too close to home, they quickly forgot about the lower class combatants and their sacrifices they had made.

That war had nothing to do with "liberalism". LBJ either sold his
soul to the warmongers or went along because he did not want to be JFK'ed. Bush**ler is running the current war the same way, and he is the most right wing pResident ever.

they callously thought up new ways to spend the windfall of tax revenue rather than adjust tax brackets to relieve the unsustainable burden on the middle class

The middle class was in much better shape then than it is today.

Finally, when faced with political revolt because of these misguided policies, they retreated into arcane ideologies to wage a rearguard cultural insurgency from the safety of the ivory tower

Since the Rethugs bought up the media, the voting machinez, and the churches, we've been pretty much run out of the government. Said ivory towers, and the areas under their cultural influence, are all we have left.

[mikehiggins]

11. Just more lies for people who don't have a clue about history

or reality. And, of course, nobody on msnbc bothered to correct them.

[MissMarple]

12. Before everyone goes off in a complete tizzy.... do some basic research.

Information is our friend, you may not agree with everything he says, but Massey may have a cogent point or two. Also, he is not a political scientist or a historian. And, yes, liberal politicians have not always served the liberal/progressive cause well.

http://books.idealo.com/prices/P691123039K0.html

"Somewhere in the 1970s liberals in the United States lost their way. After successes like the New Deal, they became arrogant. So argues Douglas Massey in Return of the "L" Word. Faced with the difficult politics of race and class, liberals used the heavy hand of government to impose policies on a resentful public. Conservatives capitalized on this with a staunch ideology of free markets, limited government, and conservative social values. The time is ripe for a liberal realignment, declares Massey, but what has been lacking is a consistent liberal ideology that explains to voters, in simple terms, government's vital role in producing a healthier, more financially equitable, less divided society."

and here : http://www.asanet.org/governance/Massey.html

I clicked on Alterman's link for more information and read Robin Orlowski's review:

"But, it's the fine print which catches the 'everybody else' every single time. Conservative politicians talk about 'common people's lives' because they have learned this is what brings in the votes, but they remain as detached and self-absorbed as ever. They still want a majority of the wealth concentrated in a compact segment.

A key strength of Massey's work is that it recognizes the power of economic systems to bring about political and social transformation. Viewing markets as autonomous entities apart from politics ultimately proves disastrous and we need to be articulating how our world view will ultimately benefit other people in 'concrete ways' inside their own daily lives."

He seems to really debunk the psuedo conservative /libertarian mystical belief in unregulated "free" markets.

[QC]

15. Inform ourselves before performing drama tantrums?

But this is DU!

[geckosfeet]

13. This is crap being spewed by the rw spin apparatus and fed to MSM.

You take out the word liberal and substitute anything you like, dogs, cats, elevator operators and it makes just about as much sense. Now, drop in the phrase "right wing fanatics" and it all falls into place.

I am sick of these assholes fucking the word liberal. I am proud of the word. I am fighting for the recognition and acceptance of liberal ideals and values and if that means kicking dense, stubborn, narrow minded RW butts then so be it.

<snip>"rather than telling Americans honestly about the likely costs and consequences of a military intervention in Southeast Asia and trust them to make the correct decisions, they used lies and deception to trick voters into supporting an un-winnable war that was fought mostly by the poor and working classes;"</snip>

You mean like the shitheads in the WH now?

[The Traveler]

14. Guess I gotta add to my current DU unpopularity level

but I think he makes some valid points.

Look, power corrupts ... anyone. Too much power is a bad thing, and at one point liberals had that. For a long time. The end result was the development of a certain arrogance.

Too many of us forget the titanic struggles between Jimmy Carter (now properly revered as a near saint) and a Democratic Party controlled congress spear headed by Ted Kennedy.

I remember my very liberal Democrat father's struggle to make ends meet, the crushing financial pressure he resisted as inflation robbed him blind. He'd have voted for Reagan but was certain the man was a closet racist. It would have been his first Republican vote. Ever.

There are lessons for us from those days, should we choose to avail ourselves of them. We can take comfort in the fact that the neocons have learned nothing from our mistakes, and are expanding upon them now. An implosion of popular support for the conservative movement is quite possible, all due to their ideological blindness, arrogance, and commitment to the acquisition of power.

When that happens, we Democrats must needs nibble a bit on the humble pie. It tastes like shit but it sure is nutritious.

[expatriot]

16. i think we've had five years at the all you can eat humble pie buffet. nt.

[The Traveler]

18. That wasn't humble pie

That was a series of jackbooted kicks to the face. But I feel ya. That I do.

The point I was trying to make is that a natural response to a Republican collapse would be to make all the same mistakes both parties have proven they can produce. While the Irish in me would love to spend some time getting even, I think everybody would be best served if we all focused on achieving tha national interest and put our egoes in standby.

The national interest has been untended since Clinton left office. Repeating past patterns of folly would do little to repair the damage thse living pieces of offal have inflicted.

[Skittles]

17. I got off the boat on the word ELITE

proves me me right there this is a partisan GOP hack writing rather than someone doing a serious comprehensive review.

[MissMarple]

19. I know, "elite" and "ilk", words like that just set one's teeth on edge.

It's like they have taken on a life of their own. But when you give this guy a closer look he doesn't seem like a partisan hack. I agree with The Traveler, Massey makes some good points. I think he may be a moderate progressive not a GOP partisan.