{"id":884064,"date":"2018-07-28T16:42:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T16:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=884064"},"modified":"2018-07-28T16:42:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T16:42:27","slug":"ker-politics-sat-28-jul-2018-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=884064","title":{"rendered":"KER Politics &#8211; Sat 28 Jul, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-style:italic;font-size:16px\">By  <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kereport.com\/2018\/07\/28\/great-editorial-week-magazine\/\">Big Al<\/a><\/span>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kereport.com\/2018\/07\/28\/great-editorial-week-magazine\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" src=\"http:\/\/api.theweek.com\/sites\/default\/files\/author-images\/RyanCooper.png?resize=100x100\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>A great editorial from  \u201cThe  Week\u201d magazine.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Why do Democrats love limp dishrag centrism?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>Ryan<\/span> <span>Cooper<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/api.theweek.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/tw_image_9_4\/public\/dishrag.jpg?itok=VRoZgPqd&amp;resize=1260x560\"><\/p>\n<div>Illustrated | iStock\/Serenethos,<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>July 25, 2018<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>SIGN UP FOR<\/div>\n<div>Our free email newsletters<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>10 things you need to know today<label for=\"ten_things\"><\/label><\/div>\n<div>Today&#8217;s best articles<label for=\"best_articles\"><\/label><\/div>\n<div>Today&#8217;s top cartoons<label for=\"best_cartoons\"><\/label><\/div>\n<div>The good news newsletter<label for=\"good_news\"><\/label><\/div>\n<div>The week&#8217;s best photojournalism<label for=\"best_photos\"><\/label><\/div>\n<div>Daily business briefing<label for=\"business_briefing\"><\/label><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bernie Sanders, the famously cantankerous democratic socialist loner, appears to have finally found a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of sorts in the form of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old leftist who pulled off a stunning upset victory in the primary for New York&#8217;s 14th congressional district \u2014 knocking off the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House in the process. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been touring famously red Kansas to enthusiastic crowds, stumping for Sanders allies in local elections there.<\/p>\n<p>America&#8217;s centrist grandees have reacted with slackjawed horror to this development. The United States needs wise, moderate leadership, they moaned in unison, not irresponsible leftism. Former FBI Director James Comey <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Comey\/status\/1021132108381683712\">begged Democrats<\/a> to not \u201close your minds and rush to the socialist left.\u201d Third Way, the deep-pocketed centrist think tank, plans to fight Sanders just as hard as Trump, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2018\/07\/democratic-centrists-ready-to-fight-trump-and-bernie.html\">report Gabriel Debenedetti<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/sanders-wing-party-terrifies-moderate-dems-here-s-how-they-n893381\">Alex Seitz-Wald<\/a>, supposedly because they want to win in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>These people need to get a grip. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/261863-it-s-tough-to-make-predictions-especially-about-the-future\">Predictions are hard<\/a>, but I will stake my left arm on this: America is not crying out for limp dishrag centrism.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Democrats have been the party of hesitant, timid, hanky-wringing moderation for the last 10 years, and it has been an epic political disaster. Barack Obama, it&#8217;s true, did manage to win two presidential elections. But the rest of the party collapsed under his watch, losing <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quorum.us\/data-driven-insights\/under-obama-democrats-suffer-largest-loss-in-power-since-eisenhower\/291\/\">64 House seats, 12 Senate seats<\/a>, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Changes_in_state_legislative_seats_during_the_Obama_presidency\">968 state<\/a> legislative seats. They capped that record off by losing perhaps the easiest lay-up presidential election in American history to a hideously unpopular reality show buffoon \u2014 by nominating a candidate <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2017\/9\/18\/16305486\/what-really-happened-in-2016\" rel=\"noopener\">only slightly less unpopular<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hillary Clinton was (and is) unpopular in part for unfair sexist reasons, but it was also because she was patently the status quo moderate in a time of populist backlash. She was the candidate of secret buck-raking Wall Street speeches, raising hundreds of millions of dollars <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/04\/us\/politics\/hillary-clinton-fundraising.html\">from the ultra-wealthy<\/a>, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/650219\/hillary-clintons-poverty-plan-woefully-inadequate\">penny-ante policy tinkering<\/a>. Perhaps most obnoxiously, she gave off a distinct air of wanting to be president simply because she deserved it \u2014 thus \u201cI&#8217;m With Her\u201d and \u201cAmerica Is Already Great,\u201d certainly two of the most tin-eared political slogans in American history. She was an appallingly poor fit for the times.<\/p>\n<p>We just had about the clearest possible test of the viability of milquetoast centrism at this moment in history, and it failed spectacularly.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also worth interrogating just what is meant by centrist moderation. The Obama administration&#8217;s economic record was disastrous, rescuing Wall Street with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.levyinstitute.org\/pubs\/op_23.pdf\">trillions in cash and loans<\/a> but <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/cifamerica\/2012\/jan\/24\/larry-summers-memo-hobbled-obamas-stimulus\">lowballing the broader stimulus package<\/a> to win centrist votes \u2014 and conducting a homeowner assistance program <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/624777\/obamas-biggest-failure\">designed mainly to help Wall Street even more<\/a>, doing virtually nothing to stop over 9 million families getting kicked out of their homes. Then <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/02\/02\/us\/politics\/02budget.html\">by early 2010<\/a>, Obama pivoted to austerity, driven by idiotic centrist anxiety over the large budget deficit (at a time when U.S. debt was selling for literally less than free). The result was a devastating defeat in the 2010 midterms, Republicans taking control of the House, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/714423\/great-recession-never-ended\">locking in pitifully slow growth<\/a> up to today.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans bear the lion&#8217;s share of blame for the stagnant economy, of course. But the fact remains that centrist Democrats had the run of government for two critical years, and bobbled their majorities directly because of centrist timidity.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, Sanders Democrats are not proposing some Marxist-Leninist overthrow of constitutional democracy. On the contrary, they want to strengthen democracy with automatic voter registration, restoration of the Voting Rights Act, removing money from politics, and so on. Their most consistent lines of attack are against outsize corporate profits and the necessarily concomitant low wages for workers \u2014 a leftward swing from current practice to be sure, but also part of an American tradition stretching back centuries. Most of their policy proposals come from copy-pasting programs from vastly more decent European societies, which provide universal health care, paid leave, generous retirement pensions, and much more while maintaining cutting-edge economies (indeed, it&#8217;s increasingly clear that America&#8217;s garbage welfare state is actually <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/687569\/america-road-economic-backwardness\">hindering<\/a>the growth of economic productivity.)<\/p>\n<p>And on the most critical emergency facing American society \u2014 climate change \u2014 leftists are the only ones proposing anything <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/663506\/why-democrats-need-radical-climate-change\">remotely as large<\/a> as what needs to be done.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>MORE PERSPECTIVES<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/api.theweek.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/tw_image_6_4\/public\/screen_shot_2018-07-26_at_2.47.26_pm.png?itok=Zv4O35YY&amp;resize=180x120\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span>MATTHEW<\/span> <span>WALTHER<\/span><\/div>\n<div>This gazillionaire Democrat is obsessed with population control<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/api.theweek.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/tw_image_6_4\/public\/therealwhitehouseofwashington2.jpg?itok=kcxjp7yz&amp;resize=180x120\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span>MATTHEW<\/span> <span>WALTHER<\/span><\/div>\n<div>The exhausting Trump porno saga<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In other words, when it comes to actually addressing America&#8217;s many problems, it is centrists who are not thinking straight, or really at all. Big problems require big solutions, but centrists tend to regard the political status quo, whatever it happens to be, as unchangeable and wise.<\/p>\n<p>As Lionel Trilling once wrote about conservatism, this attitude is little more than \u201cirritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.\u201d It&#8217;s the weaselly carping of dim upper-class people who are doing quite well from the status quo, and want to keep the gravy train flowing, thank you. It is neither politically popular nor worthwhile on the merits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kereport.com\/2018\/07\/28\/great-editorial-week-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\" id=\"rssmi_more\"> &#8230;read more<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>From:: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kereport.com\/2018\/07\/28\/great-editorial-week-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"KER Politics - Sat 28 Jul, 2018\">The Korelin Economic Report<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Big Al A great editorial from \u201cThe Week\u201d magazine. Why do Democrats love limp dishrag centrism? Ryan Cooper Illustrated | iStock\/Serenethos, July 25, 2018 SIGN UP FOR Our free email newsletters 10 things you need to know today Today&#8217;s best articles Today&#8217;s top cartoons The good news newsletter The week&#8217;s best photojournalism Daily business [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[362],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}