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<\/a><\/p>\nHere\u2019s another book I picked up through an Eric Alterman recommendation via his site (altercation.msnbc.com).\u00a0 Here\u2019s another book I picked up through an Eric Alterman recommendation via his site (altercation.msnbc.com).\u00a0 \u00a0 Return of the L Word\u00a0isn\u2019t too different from Robert Reich\u2019s\u00a0Reason.\u00a0They lay out the marching orders, talking points and facts for Liberals to use as … Continue reading
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\nReturn of the L Word<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t too different from Robert Reich\u2019s\u00a0Reason.<\/em>\u00a0They lay out the marching orders, talking points and facts for Liberals to use as their fighting words against the Right-Wing Echo Chamber. Their approaches to delivering the rebuttal do diverge. Reich\u2019s book had more personal anecdotes regarding his family, upbringing, education and career in Washington DC. His writing style is quite engaging too. Massey leaves himself out of the book and goes on the attack with facts, strategies and numerous footnotes. Sounds dull. Agreed. Alterman\u2019s preview showing where the Liberals went wrong in the Seventies is what convinced me to buy his book. More hand wringing over past mistakes? No. Massey bluntly points out the past arrogance (hubris is overused) when Liberals had the helm and it resulted in the 12-year Reign of Error starring Reagan. He then turns it around to becoming the best ammunition Democrats should use to refute the Republicans\u2019 so-called tax reforms.\u00a0
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\nWhy are the Seventies the turning point? Most would reply \u201cthe Reagan Revolution began in the Eighties thus the Seventies were the end for the Liberals, end of story.\u201d Not really. Massey\u2019s argument goes like this: The financial costs of the Vietnam War started to be felt through double-digit inflation and then the OPEC oil embargo squeezed working Americans. Salaries rose to keep up with the expenses yet everyone but the rich lost ground. Why? Because income and property taxes remained at their past rates and there was no adjustment for inflation, thus many working people were pushed into the higher brackets reserved for what were affluent incomes a generation ago. Liberals, Conservatives and Moderates let it continue since these were stealth tax increases. When you can increase taxes without legislation, media coverage and voter outrage, it\u2019s the perfect plan for elected officials. More government revenue without blame. Eventually, the financial pinch became too much and it led to disastrous responses; Proposition 13 in California is the most famous \u201cremedy.\u201d Then along came Reagan cutting taxes through smoke and mirrors. Liberals continued to be caught flat footed on the ongoing tax \u201creforms\u201d enacted by the Conservatives and Republicans. By looking back on the Seventies, the smarter counter proposal is not to cut the taxes but to correct the rates to the real-dollar values after adjusting for inflation post 1973. People would find those rates much more palatable. The Reagan through Bush II tax cuts have only widened the income gap between the rich and working people. And when the knee-jerk rebuttal of \u201cclass warfare\u201d is uttered, the response is \u201cDamn right! You\u2019re the ones who declared war on the working people and the numbers show you\u2019re killing them.\u201d\u00a0
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\nMeanwhile, Massey says many of the same things Reich and Alterman state. With Reich he\u2019s in agreement of why Liberals need to embrace Globalization, Free Trade and let go of the Secondary Economy (manufacturing). Here he\u2019s an apologist like Thomas Friedman about its inevitability, how it will really help Americans (other Westerners too) and eventually raise the standard of living worldwide. Really? Last time I checked, NAFTA has been in effect for 11+ years. Mexico is still an economic toilet. Only now they have even more bankrupt farmers, remittances accounted for $20 billion in 2002 to their economy (making them the second biggest source of revenue), the amount of money sent back in remittances has nearly doubled since NAFTA\u2019s ratification, Mexico\u2019s GNP is still equal to Los Angeles and millions of their citizens live here illegally. Massey argues that the means of globalization such WTO, GATT, so on can still be brought into line with the right elected officials. I\u2019d say it\u2019s too late now, the damage is done even by his own admittance through the deeds of the Chicago Boys during the Eighties. I\u2019m still not convinced because globalization has only succeeded in its race to the bottom. Wages in Third World nations haven\u2019t truly improved while unemployment, insecurity and fewer benefits grow in the West. I also don\u2019t buy his reasoning that rejecting globalization could lead to a World War-level conflict as it did in 1914 (Serbian terrorism and European militarism) or 1939 (US-based MNCs led by Henry Ford and Bush\u2019s grandfather selling Germany the means to become a menace had more to do with it).\u00a0
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\nWith Alterman, Massey repeats the points of\u00a0What Liberal Media?<\/em>\u00a0on how the Right\u2019s long-term plan rising from the ashes of Goldwater\u2019s drubbing now coming to fruition with the coronation of Bush II. He also shares the VARWICON (VAst Right-WIng CONspiracy) argument branded by Hilary Clinton through lists of tables, tables and more tables connecting all the dots to the numerous Right-Wing think tanks, organizations and their leaders. I agree they are much more organized on the Right but I subscribe to the number one rule about Evil Forces from Monte Cook (a great D&D designer); Evil isn\u2019t monolithic, it fights amongst itself as much as it does against Good. Besides, the Right and its allies aren\u2019t Evil, they\u2019re just deluded, selfish, immature and when they\u2019re not wealthy or powerful, stooges. He is correct on his documentation of the VARWICON\u2019s depth which means the Liberals have much to do. At the same time, it\u2019s depressing. The opposition is formidable with its resources, 30-year head start and constant assistance from a lazy media that they now own thanks to Reagan and the horrific Telecommunications Act of 1996. He gave me a moment of comfort when he pointed out how incestuous the VARWICON\u2019s organizations are. By his math its members and followers are only 20 percent of the US population. They\u2019re only \u201cwinning\u201d now by very slight margins (remember the 2000 election) and dirty tricks [Diebold anyone?]. If that\u2019s the best they can do in 30 years, then it\u2019s not too late to turn back the tidal wave which is really a noisy duck fart. \u00a0
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\nIn the end, I agree with Massey more often than I don\u2019t. For a Liberal, his book is a great companion to Reich\u2019s\u00a0Reason<\/em>\u00a0to make a one-two punch against the bullshit from Ann Coulter, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity. Liberals have plans that don\u2019t involve strangling Capitalism. Hell, when FDR was elected he saved Capitalism from itself with the Liberals\u2019 assistance. Meanwhile Conservatives attacked from the sidelines or continued to preach the failedlaissez faire<\/em>\u00a0policies. However, I think Massey\u2019s points withstand the stronger, thoughtful opposition from the Right publication I do read from,\u00a0The Economist<\/em>\u00a0or the contrary, lazy SCLM. I don\u2019t have any interest in reading the Right-Wing\u2019s fiction to counter this. Life\u2019s too short and I\u2019m already bombarded with the Right\u2019s lies every day of my life living in Texas, the National Laboratory for Bad Government. Once again, Massey\u2019s book won\u2019t change many people\u2019s minds. I think the American people made their choices long ago by the SUVs they drive. His book is ammo to fight back the myth and lies about what the Liberal Agenda for the 21st century is. For Liberals, this is a book to use in the fight to regain control of the House and Senate (not guaranteed to happen in my opinion). For Conservatives, you\u2019ve made your choice, this won\u2019t change your opinions even though true Conservatives agree with true Liberals more often than you\u2019ll admit. For the fence sitters, you\u2019ll see your self-interest has more in common with the Liberals than the Republicans, Neo-Confederates and DLC Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"