The crazy people have already won.
I mean, in our public-policy debates, how many so-called liberals do you hear calling for a return to 1950s income-tax rates, or expanding Social Security, or lowering the Medicare eligibility age? Unwinding the national security-surveillance state? Declaring the Cold War over, and reverting to a peacetime economy? Nationalizing the banks, and waterboarding their executives? Sure, deeply unserious bloggers such as yours truly can be heard saying it, but among the mainstream members of Team Democrat, the dominant topic of conversation isn't how we can make the pie higher for everyone but how much/how little punishment needs to be inflicted upon the rabble in the name of fiscal responsibility because American families are making the same tough decisions around the dinner table, etc. This is not to say we'll never be able to reclaim a New Deal Democracy again, but simply sidelining the hillbilly Hayeks is only half the battle; we're going to need to re-make Team Democrat, too. Of course, this begs the question of whether there's enough time on the clock to mount a comeback, or whether we might as well resign ourselves to perpetual austerity because it's too late in the game to make any difference.
---Baron V
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