I tweeted briefly on this column yesterday, but I wanted to offer a little more by way of explanation. David Leonhardt, who is among the best business reporters/columnists working today, overstates President Obama’s progressive bonafides in his column.
He portrays an aggressive remaking of Washington, but the reality is that the remaking has not been progressive and in many ways — too many ways — has been an extension of the corporate domination and expansion of executive power we have witnessed from previous White Houses.
Yes, we have financial rules and a new healthcare arrangement, but he did not do anything to lessen corporate influence and, in fact, appears to have amplified it.
Leonhardt acknowledges this in a single paragraph — which is incredibly telling:
(T)here are also ways that Mr. Obama and today’s Democrats have accepted, and are even furthering, the Reagan project. They are not trying to raise tax rates on the affluent to anywhere near their pre-1981 levels. Their health bill tried created new private insurance markets, not expand Medicare.
Most striking, the administration is trying to improve public education by introducing more market competition. To win stimulus funds, about 20 states have changed their rules to allow more charter schools or to evaluate teachers in new ways. On Thursday, Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado signed a bill that would reward teachers who received strong evaluations and deny tenure to some who did poorly.
To translate, the president is attempting to increase access to private, for-profit health insurance and change schools via the markets — with some nominal regulation to keep everyone honest. It is an agenda that not only leaves the corporate order in place, but very well could expand it.
That’s not exactly what I’d call a progressive agenda.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 
At the risk of being called a \”Glenn Beck-ian\”, \”progressive\”, progressing towards what?BHO44 held himself as being anti-war; seen any ANY \”progress\” in that direction?BHO44 held himself out as a fiscally responsible (i.e., line by line thru the budget); seen any \”progress\” in that direction?BHO44 held himself out as the champion of the little people; seen any \”progress\” in that direction?Post-racial; yeah right?Left of Hillary; it pains me to say, Hillary would have been better. Instead we got a corrupt Chicago politician (i.e., Resko and Blago) that has either directed or permitted the looting of the public treasury.Who has weakened us internationally politically, bankrupted us financially, and almost single handedly destroyed our healthcare.WHile he doesn't get close to the top of my \”bad presidents\” list, he's close to breaking into the top ten. And, the best that we can hope for is that the other team of liars and crooks get into power and stop him. The alternative is the rise of a dictator like Hitler that promises to make us \”a great nation once again\”. And, kill a lot of folks doing it.If this is \”progress\”, thanks but no thanks. Please take your \”progressive\” agenda elsewhere and leave the good folks alone. That kind of progress we don't need.We need peace and a return to the Constitution. We need honest money, an end to all the foreign wars, end of drug war / regulation, and an end to all the corporate / personla welfare.That would be progress! Actually retrograde amnesia of the meme that \”Big Gooferment can accomplish anything\”.
Libertarians are supposedly anti the Democrats and the Republicans or they say a pox on the Ds and Rs. But their libertarian heroes are Ayn Rand Paul and Ron Paul, GOPers. When it comes down to crunch time, libertarians (the 2 Pauls) choose to associate themselves with the evil Gopers. Isn't that precious.Libertarians are supposedly for freedom, for personal freedom but isn't it interesting how they always end up being against unions and for the giant corporations, like BP, which killed 11 workers and Massey Energy which killed 29 miners. In libertarian world, unions are evil blood suckers and workers are a nuisance to be barely tolerated. Those damn unions want good wages, good benefits, safe work conditions and a voice in their employment conditions. How dare they, don't they know that workers are serfs who lose their first amendment rights the minute they enter the work place. Libertarians always end up being for the rich and powerful because they worship business and private property more than they value human rights.
>Libertarians are supposedly anti the Democrats and the Republicans\”Anti\” is such a strong word. As a little L libertarian, I bear them no ill will. Unfortunately, they keep trying to impose their will, their vision of Plato's \”the good\”, on all the rest of us by force. When they do, we're a little more forceful than the Amish voicing our displeasure.>they say a pox on the Ds and Rs.I'd never wish ill on anyone. Like the Buddhist, we know that ill will comes back to haunt you. The D's and R's are like children, who JUST don't understand that bad things result form their initiation of force on other human beings. So us little L libertarians have to just patiently just have to keep explaining it. Over and over. Eventually they will get it. It's human destiny to be free. Tyrants and dictators can't bottle up the human spirit to be free. >But their libertarian heroes are Ayn Rand Paul and Ron Paul, GOPers.Us little L libertarians have very few \”heroes\”. Lysander Spooner, Thomas Paine, Gandhi, MLK, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and such come to mine. But no one is perfect.
>When it comes down to crunch time, libertarians (the 2 Pauls) >choose to associate themselves with the evil Gopers. In the rigged game that is the American political system, it's impossible to mount an effective challenge. The two parties conspire to keep it just that way. Think a game of old maid where only two players can play because they set the entry rules impossibly high. When Ross Perot, who was in just to take votes from Bush, came surprisingly close, the duopoly quickly revise all sorts of rules to make it harder. SO you have to worm your way in and like a vampire or parasite, take one over. For example, Libertarian members of the Free State Project are infiltrating the D's and running.>Isn't that precious.It's expediency! >Libertarians are supposedly for freedomNot supposedly. We forsake the initiation of force. That's the platinum standard. Libertarians come in a vast number of flavors, but all adhere to that Zero Aggression Principle.>they always end up being against unions and for the giant corporationsSigh! Most libertarians have absolutely no problem with unions except in two cases: (1) they initiate force against others; or (2) if they are gooferment captives (e.g., the Post Office workers union; the teachers' union). When the unions use force to prevent \”scabs\” from working, that's immoral. When the teachers' union, for example, exerts political power or uses children as hostages, that's immoral.>like BP, which killed 11 workers and Massey Energy which killed 29 miners.In the examples cited, where was OSHA? Where was the Gooferment law enforcement? If the workers of BP took out an ad saying \”don't buy BP they endanger workers\”, then who would buy from them? If they are so dangerous, why are people working there? Does BP chain their legs like a slave ship? No only the gooferment can do that; like in the military.>In libertarian world, unions are evil blood suckers and >workers are a nuisance to be barely tolerated. No, if you ever saw a libertarian world, then you'd see no need for unions. People could vote where they would work by the feet. Bad conditions or low wages, I'm outa here. No, the gooferment conspires with big biz and big labor to lock people in. With pensions and \”benefits\” and laws that supposedly protect them from bad treatment. Argh! Business doesn't necessarily equate to a \”limited liability corporation. That LLC is a gooferment creation to protect the monied interests.>Those damn unions want good wages, good benefits, safe work >conditions and a voice in their employment conditions. Please don't make me laff and insult everyone's iq. The unions have long since stopped representing the workers and are all about \”the union\”. Dues and handouts from the gooferment. Workers have to vote the right way. It's not about good anything.>serfs who lose their first amendment rights\”First amendment\” ONLY applies to restrict the gooferment.>Libertarians always end up being for the rich and powerfulNAH, WHERE DID YOU EVER GET THAT IDEA. >private property more than they value human rights.\”Private property\” is the essential human right. Your property is your past. It's the sum of your past efforts. What gives you, any collection of \”yous\”, or the gooferment to steal it?I'd suggest that you watch a little video about Liberty at http://goo.gl/Cy2X and tell us what you think. Essentially it says \”we all own ourselves\” and everything flows from that. It's pretty good. And simple enough for even a D or an R to understand.