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I think a left wing populist can succeed in the US, but there aren't any around that are charismatic enough.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 01:33:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't think Ron Paul could get elected dogcatcher in 99% of the counties in America, especially given his past survivalist-type rants about blacks and gays and all that.  America has some obvious libertarian tendencies, but it's not a fundamentally libertarian country.

Look what happened to Bush when he suggested privatizing Social Security.  He didn't even get a bill written.

Beyond the foreign policy, on which I think someone like him could do well, I don't see his appeal.  Maybe capitalizing on the Fed and Wall Street's unholy alliance, but I think people's eyes would glaze over, and he'd simply come off sounding like he was a hundred years old.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 01:44:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, I'm trying to calibrate for a populace struggling through a depression, which is admittedly not much more than a guessing game.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 01:48:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually I think a depression makes the election of someone like Ron Paul even less likely.  People want security during times of crisis.  They want the government to do something.  Ron Paul would be the opposite of what most people would have in mind.  His message would be easily turned into basically telling the people, "Hey, go screw yourselves."  He'd be Herbert Hoover, but without even the half-assed effort.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 01:57:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think it's a knife edge between demanding socialist policies and attacking scapegoats.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 02:23:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Agreed.  Really, I think it's a lot of both, and the line between the two can be pretty blurry in the real world.  But I don't think scapegoating blacks/gays/Jews/Latinos/whatever would earn you much political capital outside of maybe 5% of the electorate these days.  Even the immigration stuff only appeals to about 25% of the electorate who really care about the borders, and they're all Republicans anyway.  Back in the early-20th Century it would've worked, but nowadays you'd have to scapegoat -- oh, I dunno -- speculators.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 02:37:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The loss of Wellstone was truly tragic.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 02:11:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, it was, although Wellstone had his issues, too.  He voted in favor of the "Defense of Marriage Act," and, though right on the Iraq War, he didn't have a great aversion to the Team America: World's Policeman thing.  Also voted for the PATRIOT Act.  He was also pretty much in bed with AIPAC.

I wish we still had him, but the canonization of Wellstone among liberals really went too far.  He was a good senator, pretty reliable, but not the God of Pregressivism he's been made out to be.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 02:31:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
... identify politics two-fer.

And he's only a moderate progressive populist. A radical populist would get completely hammered by "free media", which remember is bought and paid for by large corporations.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue Jul 15th, 2008 at 05:17:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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