John Edwards calls Bush a crook-coddling pinko

[renie408]

(This is an oldie, but a goodie! I hadn't read it before, so it was new to me.)


The Proletarian Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
John Edwards calls Bush a crook-coddling pinko.
By William Saletan
Posted Friday, June 20, 2003, at 3:32 PM PT


A few days ago, John Edwards delivered the most audacious speech of the 2004 presidential season. Just my luck, I missed it. Fortunately, the Edwards campaign has put the text on its Web site. The argument is so clever and ambitious that for now I'm just going to try to outline it. We'll have time to revisit it as the campaign goes on.

1) I'm pro-capitalism and anti-big government. Edwards repeatedly praised "our great free enterprise system." He argued, "American's small businesses create jobs better than any government program. Our markets allocate capital more efficiently than any bureaucrat." He repudiated "the notion among some in my party that we could spend our way out of every problem." He embraced (without crediting Bill Clinton) a philosophy that "trusts people to make the most of their own lives and gives them the chance to do so." He pledged to use savings from the partial repeal of Bush's tax cuts "not for new programs, but to restore fiscal discipline and to give tax cuts to middle-class Americans."

2) Capitalism isn't greed; it has values and rules. Key sentence: "Yet our free enterprise system also depends on values: innovation, integrity, hard work, and great rewards for honest success." One rule is that teammates go up or down together: "The captains of industry who create jobs and wealth deserve to be rewarded richly, but it's wrong when they walk away with staggering bonuses while regular workers' pensions are cut." Another rule is that ownership should be widespread, because it promotes good citizenship. "I want to make sure everybody has the chance to be an owner," said Edwards. "Under my plan, every American will have the chance to be an owner—to buy a home, save for college, invest in America." He offered buyers "a $5,000 tax credit toward the down payment on their first home," since there's "nothing better than home ownership to give citizens a stake in fighting crime, keeping the neighborhood clean, and building stronger schools."

3) Corporate cheaters are subverting those values and rules. The "free enterprise system … has been betrayed by a handful of swindlers," said Edwards. "Our economy, our people, and our nation have been undermined by the crony capitalists who believe that success is all about working the angles, working the phones, and rigging the game, instead of hard work, innovation and frugality."

4) Bush is a cheater, too. Edwards repeatedly drew parallels between sneaky corporate governance and sneaky Republican government: "Our great free enterprise system has been rocked by some at the top who put their own fortunes ahead of their company's future and their employees' hard work. Our democracy has been wounded by some at the top who put favors for the few ahead of what's right for the whole nation." Referring to the game-rigging ethic of stock manipulators, Edwards charged, "These manipulators find comfort in an Administration which, through its own example, seems to embrace that ethic." He noted that "some of our most powerful leaders stand accused of letting big campaign contributors write special favors into law."



http://slate.msn.com/id/2084686/

[mbali]

1. This is what Molly Ivins had to say about that speech . . .

"John Edwards in the early appearances struck me as almost a little too pretty, a little lite. But he's got a populist streak I like--his daddy spent thirty-seven years working in a North Carolina mill, and Edwards ain't forgot it. Seemed to me he might develop. In a recent speech at Georgetown University, the sumbitch hit a home run. (Look it up.)"

[kwolf68]

4. I stil say

He's a sleeper.

[w4rma]

2. Sen. Edwards is right on target! (n/t)

[kwolf68]

3. Not bad

But the system is inherently flawed. Any system that, through the use of stock options, would enrich a man for laying off and destroying the lives of thousands of people is sick, broken and immoral.

Capitalism’s success can be traced to NOT ONLY hard work, but to the exploitation of men, women and children…to the colonization of third worlds…to the willing dictatorial governments who aid the capitalists with military force and to the destruction of our earth and the unbridled pillaging of our planet.

Capitalism can only work within a set of democratically set of rules and regulations. The very best system is one with a little capitalism and a little socialism. This is something that I believe like a religion.

[chimpymustgo]

5. Thanks for posting that Renie. We have to get the word out.

Edwards is da man!