Quickie Storm – I think GG was definitely right to pick up on the, ah, improvised character of FDR’s New Dealing – But hard for me to ID with his paleo-libertarian angle on history. For me, the Flint sit-down strike was the great event of 30s. I don’t see the tension between the indivdual and the collective in the same way he/you do. Once the nature of production changed in America so did the nature of liberty…Back to that line again – you can’t stop it by yourself if you need to take a leak!
Reading re the New Deal reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me re his pop’s response to FDR. His dad was a career military man. And, as you may imagine, the New Deal was not too popular with his colleagues at the Army War college in the 30s. My bud’s pop went to see how his tax dollars were being spent. Found out New Deal’s public works programs weren’t horrific – But he didn’t try to make a case for the new park down the road when his fellow officers called him to account…He just said – “Look, there are SO many Americans out of work and suffering the Government has do something…even if its wrong!” Interesting to hear Huckabee re-up on FDR in front of the pubs tonight…
RE the Courts – Unlike many people on the left I wasn’t won over by the assumption that the Congress couldn’t challenge the Courts in the Schiavo case. A friend of mine named O’Brien – you can check some of his stuff in the War on TError section of firstofthemonth.org – wrote a brilliant attack on “progressives” who are enamoured of the Supreme Court (in particular). They certainly do have an elitist vision of democracy. Obama – interestingly enough – understands that (writes about it “Audacity”)though he’d appoint liberal judges. He’s argued that liberals need to win decisive mandates on the ground through elections, not slip by 5-4 or relie on having cannier lawyers…
The “progressive” fixation on the Supreme Court is a relatively new thing (as you probably know). Basically flows out of Brown v Board. Given how crucial that decision still seems to me, I’ll admit I can’t say I’m ready to consign my old biases to the dustbin of history quite yet!
“Elitism is European” – If only…But shouldn’t a conservative be a little careful here. I’m a lib and I want you guys to HELP fight those w/o any principles who assume the Market is always the best measure of value…
MY wife is going to kill me if I don’t shut it down now. Good night…
