Pendragon_6
09-17-2006, 07:33 AM
September 17, 2006
BY GEORGE WILL
In this autumn of their discontent, Republicans tremble as November nears. But now comes yet another book by a gloomy liberal anticipating permanent Republican dominance. Thomas B. Edsall of the New Republic, in Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power, argues that inexorable social forces, augmented by the conservatives' superior reservoirs of anger, ruthlessness and cynicism, favor Republicans, ''the party of the socially and economically dominant.''
The parties are almost at numerical parity, but Edsall, who until recently was a Washington Post political reporter, says Republicans rep- resent people ''more broadly skilled in economic combat'' and ''more accustomed to the rigors of the market.'' Hence Republicans can maintain ''a thin but durable margin of victory.''
''The GOP,'' Edsall laments, ''has achieved a gradual erosion of the popular consensus behind the major progressive and social-egalitarian movements of the 20th century.'' But what actually ''achieved'' that? Edsall says the principal Republican objective has been to break ''the trust . . . between the government and millions of its less advantaged citizens.'' But he acknowledges that Republicans have been helped ''inestimably'' by ''the daily inefficiencies of government'': ''The monopoly nature of government guarantees that the public services will often lag in quality behind those delivered in the competitive private sector.'' Hence ''the declining credibility of non-market solutions to economic problems'' and the demoralization of ''backers of a redistributive agenda.''
In Full
Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo17.html)
BY GEORGE WILL
In this autumn of their discontent, Republicans tremble as November nears. But now comes yet another book by a gloomy liberal anticipating permanent Republican dominance. Thomas B. Edsall of the New Republic, in Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power, argues that inexorable social forces, augmented by the conservatives' superior reservoirs of anger, ruthlessness and cynicism, favor Republicans, ''the party of the socially and economically dominant.''
The parties are almost at numerical parity, but Edsall, who until recently was a Washington Post political reporter, says Republicans rep- resent people ''more broadly skilled in economic combat'' and ''more accustomed to the rigors of the market.'' Hence Republicans can maintain ''a thin but durable margin of victory.''
''The GOP,'' Edsall laments, ''has achieved a gradual erosion of the popular consensus behind the major progressive and social-egalitarian movements of the 20th century.'' But what actually ''achieved'' that? Edsall says the principal Republican objective has been to break ''the trust . . . between the government and millions of its less advantaged citizens.'' But he acknowledges that Republicans have been helped ''inestimably'' by ''the daily inefficiencies of government'': ''The monopoly nature of government guarantees that the public services will often lag in quality behind those delivered in the competitive private sector.'' Hence ''the declining credibility of non-market solutions to economic problems'' and the demoralization of ''backers of a redistributive agenda.''
In Full
Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo17.html)