MemeMachineGo!

Paul Krugman interview :

What I realized looking back over my own writings is that it’s pretty easy to identify some very radical intents on the part of the coalition that now runs the country. It’s not just a single group. It’s the religious right, it’s the hard-line conservatives, it’s the anti-environmental industry groups and so on.

Put it all together and what you see is the outlines of an extremely radical program. Maybe reactionary would be the word because a lot of it would be rolling us back to where we were before the 1930s, before Franklin Roosevelt. In any case, a very radical program that would un-do the America that we’ve all grown up in.

I end up quoting Henry Kissinger because his writings gave me the key to why it’s so hard for people – even liberals – to accept what’s going on. He wrote about how when faced with a revolutionary power – who really doesn’t accept the rules of the game, the legitimacy of the system – people who have been accustomed to the stability make excuses. They say: “Oh, well, they may talk that way but they don’t really mean it. If we give them some partial concessions we can appease them, they’ll be satisfied and all of this stuff would stop.” That’s exactly what’s been happening now.

The true radicalism of the Bush Administration – cutting taxes to a level that will not support social programs and dangerous adventurism in foreign policy – has been right in front of our eyes, but most pundits and much of the public are saying: “Oh, let’s not get too extreme here. I’m sure we can work this out. We can find a middle ground.” And there isn’t one.

(Via Follow Me Here )