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July 13, 2004
Billmon: Class Warfare
Comments
Image wars aside, the Kerry/Edwards ticket does not seem to have delineated positions that are distinctively different enough from B/C policies to arouse much populist passion. Yes, roll back some of the tax cuts for the richest, but I haven’t heard much discussion of fundamental redirection of spending or tax policy in ways that would benefit the masses. Maybe I have missed something here.
Posted by: maxcrat | Jul 13 2004 8:51 utc | 1
Image wars aside, it does not seem that the Kerrey/Edwards ticket have articulated a program that differs all that much from the B/C policies now in place. Yes, roll back some of the tax cuts for the richest, but no fundamental redirection of spending and tax policies in a way that would be of greater benefit to the masses. Or am I missing something?
Posted by: maxcrat | Jul 13 2004 8:56 utc | 2
@maxcrat
With record deficits, an economy in the doldrums and record debts on all levels, there is nothing to spend without massive tax increases. Even if Kerry/Edwards would plan to benefit the masses (I doubt this), the should probably better not talk about it.
Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 13 2004 9:06 utc | 4
Populist messages delivered by angry voices rarely work with the political center. They scare more than they incite. Finding the right emotional pitch – optimistic, eloquent, passionate but not belligerent – is the key. FDR understood this instinctively; so did Hubert Humphrey. So did Paul Wellstone.
I’m going to pin that message on my lapel and spell it out for every democrat and populist running for office around here this fall. Thanks Billmon.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 9:34 utc | 5
Class war is not just another party seeking to gain power or a new way of telling people what to do. Class war is what happens when ordinary people have had enough of being pushed around and decide to fight back.
If you’re one of the people who’ve swallowed the crap about “we’re all middle class now” or “we live in a classless society” this is the time to stop reading! We live in a society severely split along the lines of class ,where capitalism, the State and the ruling class dominate us.
There is no WAR because the masses are not fighting back.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 13 2004 10:36 utc | 6
bernhard, the answer is one that no one in this country is allowed to talk about or even contemplate — massive cuts in military spending. Roll back the empire. Not likely to happen in my lifetime though, sadly.
Posted by: semper ubi | Jul 13 2004 11:57 utc | 7
I would like to find an income statement for George W. Bush, something compact that I can use to prove to my Republican friends that Bush is actually very wealthy. Has anyone here seen one, and could I please get a link?
Posted by: pol | Jul 13 2004 12:34 utc | 8
OT
when ideology became more important than fact
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 13 2004 13:26 utc | 9
I found Theresa Heinz’ observation on 60 Minutes the other night right on target:
Funny, isn’t it, how the Heinz fortune was no problem for the Republicans when it rested securely in their camp?
Posted by: SusanG | Jul 13 2004 14:11 utc | 10
maxcrat,
The first thing I heard from the Kerry-Edwards campaign that I liked had to do with college tuition: planned tax credit up to 4,000$ per year towards tuition. Then there’s the two-year service buys you “the equivalent of four years at a state school.” The amounts of hard cash are all a bit vague so the proposals are probably somewhat demogogic, but the basic idea is a decent one. College education is a big issue for lower middle-class voters, and something has to be done urgently to stop it from becoming the line that divides the rich and the endebted.
(The other thing I like about the proposal is that since it doesn’t give money directly to the student or to the university in the form of a scholarship, it also supports state colleges, most of which, God knows, need the support.)
BushCo., of course, has nothing similiar on the table. His education proposals all seem, strangely enough, to focus on K-12 levels.
Wonkish answer, but this proposal caught my eye.
(See Kerry Campaign website for specifics…)
Posted by: Jackmormon | Jul 13 2004 14:18 utc | 11
pol, for Bush’s financial records a source, opensecrets.org
Posted by: Felicia | Jul 13 2004 14:28 utc | 12
Bernhard, from what I gathered at the times I’ve been over at the Kerry website, he is talking about spending. I haven’t read the whole site and every proposal, but he seems to be saying we need to do the spending in the big stuff and at the same time spend on domestic stuff: police, education, etc. One of his proposals is to create a Domestic National Service that would engage 500,000 people each year and be running within a decade. He says that program will be paid for by cutting out a program that subsidizes profits to banks for making student loans. Elsewhere he talks about eliminating Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy. (If I understood correctly) His website seems to be full of initiates for various programs.
Juannie-how goes it? Did you decide to run?
Re class war– it doesn’t surprise me that this is the way the Republicans would respond to the “two Americas” theme. Hey it’s politics, what do we expect?
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 14:30 utc | 13
oops… the above link goes to the Center for Public Integrity. I found that site to be more comprehensive than opensecrets.
Posted by: Felicia | Jul 13 2004 14:32 utc | 14
That’s funny Juannie…we focused on the same sentence. In fact, I’ve got it loaded and ready to paste:
Populist messages delivered by angry voices rarely work with the political center. They scare more than they incite. Finding the right emotional pitch – optimistic, eloquent, passionate but not belligerent – is the key.
But my take on the quote is a bit different. I tie it in with Bernhard’s previous post (and thread): “What are we going to do about it?”
Remember my answer back then was:
“The answer lies between ‘very little’ and ‘nothing.’
America would have to completely rethink its relationship with corporations. I do not see that happening.”
I’ve been wondering about the passivity of the poor and middle class ever since then. For me, that’s a conundrum wrapped in a barbituate swallowed with a bottle of thunderbird.
Clearly class warfare is being launched from the top down… why is it not being countered from the bottom up?
If the rich can vote their pocketbooks should not the poor be encouraged to vote their’s too?
I’ve come up with two answers. And I’d like to share one of them with you:
Americans realize in a fundamental way that the blessings of the industrial revolution occurred because corporations were able to leverage the necessary tooling into existence.
In other words: Americans regard Corporate America as “the golden goose.” And no one wants to threaten that fabled bird. Or even tinker with its feed or its needs.
That’s one of the main reasons where why we are where we are: The passivity towards corporate power and aggrandizing wealth.
And that’s why Billmon’s post is spot on enlightened. Any populist candidate must not brandish a stick over the golden goose. The trick is to sweet talk the goose into doing the right thing: laying more and healthier eggs for everyone and not shitting up the nest.
Wasn’t it Truman who said that being president was about getting people to do what they didn’t necessarily want to do but ought to do?
Substitute “corporations” for “people” in the above sentence and you will know the spirt of my post concisely.
Posted by: koreyel | Jul 13 2004 14:34 utc | 15
@pol
Mr. Bush reported $822,126 in adjusted gross income for last year, on which he paid $227,490 in federal income taxes — or about 28 percent, according to the president’s federal returns…Sen. Kerry reported $395,000 in taxable income and paid $90,575 in federal income taxes
Bush, Kerry Release Tax Returns
and Cheney reported more than Bush and Kerry combined
Posted by: b real | Jul 13 2004 14:37 utc | 16
It’s always amazing to me that so many people buy the Republican portrayal of BabyBush as just a ‘good ole cowboy from Texas’…conveniently forgetting his wealthy patrician New England roots. With that in mind, I’d like to know how much Poppy Bush is worth and how much of his wealth comes from his decades long relationship with the Saudis.
Anyone know?
BTW, this latest Billmon post was a particularly fine read.
Posted by: ByteB | Jul 13 2004 15:21 utc | 17
@Jackmormon: State college tuition credits – that is a great proposal. I wasn’t aware of it, but I agree it is needed and would benefit people who need it and don’t have many options. I got through a state college on a combination of Pell grants, working two to three part-time jobs most of the time, and very limited use of student loans. That was in the 70s, when college was a lot cheaper.
Re the corporate golden goose: maybe this is just my little fantasy, but I would like to see the tax code restructured to decrease (not eliminate) the many beneficial provisions for big corporations, and increase the tax benefits for small businesses, “mom and pop” outfits, and other independent businesses trying to cling to their niches while being slowly overwhelmed by the big box store chains and holding company type corporations that just buy up or force out all these little local operations that are a little more aware of their employees and local communities and conditions.
Posted by: maxcrat | Jul 13 2004 15:51 utc | 18
Instead of killing each other in the barrios, I sometimes wonder why some of our more enterprising gang members don’t do what they do south of the border and father south, which is target the very rich with kidnapings. I mean, in Mexico, if you’re known to make $100,000 in a year, you’re a target. Here, Michael Eisner walks (well, drive) the streets? Weird.
Posted by: Lupin | Jul 13 2004 15:52 utc | 19
The first thing I heard from the Kerry-Edwards campaign that I liked had to do with college tuition: planned tax credit up to 4,000$ per year towards tuition. Then there’s the two-year service buys you “the equivalent of four years at a state school.”
That plan is outlined on the Kerry site under the heading “National Service.” There is no other heading that touches on the army, the military, enlistment, the draft, etc.
Kerry has spoken against the back door draft, has said that Bush has spread the military too thinly, (using the words “hollow army”); has emphasised that Bush is not concentrating properly on the war on terror; has stated that not enough money is given to the army; that he wants 40,000 more troops, that he would double the number of Special Forces..
from the Kerry/Edwards site:
Creating a New Army of Patriots
On September 11th, 2001, America experienced the most terrible and deadly attack in its history. Yet, President Bush’s response was (…) As President, John Kerry will have the courage to lead and call on all Americans to make our nation stronger. Whether it is protecting America from the threats of terrorism or addressing the problems we have at home, America’s new challenges will not be met (….) John Kerry will call on all Americans – tapping into the idealism and ingenuity of Americans and putting it to work on building a safer, stronger, and more secure nation.
(my bold)
He aims for 500,000 more young people in national service “each year within a decade” (page 1, very ambiguous.) Next, it details the tasks these young people would undertake (e.g. teaching reading to pre-schoolers, cleaning up parks), and the benefits they would obtain — four years of college for two years of service (skipping the financial details which are rather murky and unrealistic.)
My interpretation is that this plan is step one in setting up obligatory service for all — military or civilian. That is called forced conscription. Little imagination is needed to understand how it will be implemented and how the classes will be kept separate.
I have read that Kerry supports the two Draft Bills in Congress. I have also read the opposite! (No idea whether either is true.) However, it makes sense – he is for the draft, but has, as usual, different ideas about means and methods.
Posted by: Blackie | Jul 13 2004 15:54 utc | 20
Has anybody coined a word yet to descirbe something akin to “internet synchronicity”?
At any rate… what I wrote up-thread probably had its origins in the head of Buckminster Fuller years ago.
Just surfed to a site which mentions that Monday was Fuller’s 109 birthday, and also, the release day for a US Stamp to honor him.
This would be all off topic were it not for this terrific Bucky quote (from the site) which synchronizes with my previous post:
“Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all, to feed everybody, clothe everybody, give every human on earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before—that we now have an option for all humanity to ‘make it’ successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment.”
Aye…the golden goose. Everytime I’ve an interesting idea I find Bucky beat me to it by 50 or more years.
Posted by: koreyel | Jul 13 2004 16:37 utc | 21
Blackie–
If Kerry is proposing to conscript people able to teach in inner-city schools for two years after high school, he’s probably targeting middle-class and rich Americans more than the poor, rural types who usually and unfortunately provide cannon fodder.
More generally about the idea…I dunno, mandatory service doesn’t sound so terrible. Some of the 18 year-old Ivy-Leaguers I teach (in the US) would have gotten a lot of use out of a couple of years of building housing for poor people. Here in Germany, my male students have done two years of civil or military service (they get to choose which), and I hate to say it, they have a poise, maturity, and sense of self that the female students (two years younger, usually) lack.
But I don’t think that the “all” Americans in your quote is the first step, as you say. Sounds like inflated rhetorical style instead. (I also think that the program is just an expanded “Teach for America,” which has been incredibly successful, and would make more explicit reference to it if the political climate weren’t so martial…)
Posted by: Jackmormon | Jul 13 2004 16:40 utc | 22
Blackie (and Jackmormon)–
Thanks for opening up more thoughts on the National Service proposal of Kerry.
I think this is a program essentially for jobs creation, at least it will be promoted as doing so, even though it is “National Service” and he’s calling it that. But the idea is that 500,000 young people will be engaged in it every year and it will constitute a national service.
Blackie, I was searching there in order to find anything I could about the military and the defense budget and his plans for it, and the only thing I could come up with was the “National Service” category. You’ve just confirmed my experience. Weird. And unsettling, for me, given what policies I care about and even searching for what’s going to fund all these programs plus what sounds like the full speed ahead gung ho military spending he seems to have been talking about. (I can only infer from statements like the ones you’ve quoted, but feel kind of like we’re working in the dark, here.)
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 17:14 utc | 23
PS Blackie, I agree with you that it sounds to me like it’s at least opening the door for national conscription — for both genders — although what “service” one performs is not necessarily what we in the US associate with conscription. Query: Doesn’t France, for example, have a national service like this?
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 17:18 utc | 24
Query: Doesn’t France, for example, have a national service like this?
Don’t know about France, but I believe The Netherlands does. It used to be manditory military service, a la Israel, but was updated to be some kind of national civil service. An idea that I think would be beneficial in the US.
What if all American 18 year-olds were ‘conscripted’ to spend a year doing things like: planting trees, cleaining streets and freeways, bringing meals to the homebound, tutoring and the like? Issues of civil liberty aside, I have to think it would do good overall.
Posted by: æ | Jul 13 2004 17:54 utc | 25
To a certain extent, the “national service” idea is being given trial runs nationwide on a local level.
In my town, you can’t graduate from high school without performing a mandatory 60 hours of community service. These programs range from helping to run the summer reading program at the library to volunteering for the Red Cross to working in the warehouse at Direct Relief International (based in our town).
I think it’s a terrific idea. Three of my kids have gone through the programs; two of them enjoyed doing it so much they put in an extra 100 hours and the third one actually became a permanent volunteer for three years after high school at the local Rape Crisis hotline center.
This is one idea of Kerry’s that I back 100 percent.
Posted by: SusanG | Jul 13 2004 18:02 utc | 26
doh! should have read Jackmoron’s post first, I guess…
Anyway, w/r/t class warfare- ByteB said: “It’s always amazing to me that so many people buy the Republican portrayal of BabyBush as just a ‘good ole cowboy from Texas”
me, too. But maybe it’s not as ubiquitous as all that- according to this AP poll Both candidates are viewed as wealthy by nearly all voters, with slightly more seeing Bush as wealthy than Kerry. (I assume there is a missing ‘more’ in that article).
Posted by: æ | Jul 13 2004 18:03 utc | 27
SusanG
I agree wholehartedly with the “National Service” idea, have long thought there should be some kind of compulsory service for a year or 2. Would definitely help the kids mature…
Posted by: NEPAJim | Jul 13 2004 18:11 utc | 28
x @ 10:30 AM
Juannie-how goes it? Did you decide to run?
I am reading this as I am in the process of making up my mind. Talked to the demos last night and they had contacted someone else who they hopped would while I was trying to make up my mind. Just called them & left a message to let me know because I would only have till the 19th to get my signed petitions in (50 signatures. Not a problem).
I’ve become psyched enough to consider an independent run if the Demos have selected someone else. Am heading off to get petition forms as soon as I finish reading this post.
I use “Thanks” probably way too much but Thanks for asking anyway.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 18:17 utc | 29
That’s twice now in the comments here with the kidnapping idea. Not cool.
The society that results from bottom-up lawlessness isn’t any more appealing than the one that results from top-down lawlessness. At least here there is the chance to vote these bastards out, and while I’m not ready to hang up my tinfoil hat just yet I’m also not ready to give up on the possibility that the country can still be saved. Talking fondly about 3rd-world criminal/guerilla tactics isn’t a whole lot different as far as I’m concerned from talking fondly of empire building.
Posted by: mats | Jul 13 2004 18:19 utc | 30
Juannie — Go for it! That sounds very exciting and we’ll look forward to hearing about it. (Like a political blog within a political blog! Very cool!) And good luck. Or break a leg, whatever you prefer 🙂
I’m a believer in liberal thanking, and it’s appreciated.
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 18:24 utc | 31
I should have included in the previous post the acknowledgment that nowhere was there an explicit statement of support for kidnapping. But both posts struck me not only as wondering why it doesn’t happen but also as implying that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Posted by: mats | Jul 13 2004 18:25 utc | 32
re National Service I have to admit I generally like the idea, just because it reminds me of the FDR programs that put people to work. Especially if the kids will be doing the sorts of things that are implied. In this country we could get used to the idea that national service is not just about going off and shooting a good at somebody: that it could be about helping kids in school and all other worthwhile peace-building and human-building things.
Would have to reconsider if this became conscription and all the other things go along with it, just because of the nature of our current pro-war policies and how it might wind up being used.
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 18:30 utc | 33
Koyerel @ 10:34 AM
Clearly class warfare is being launched from the top down… why is it not being countered from the bottom up?
Read, but don’t have time to respond to your whole post as I’d like to but, YES!
I’m going to run (if I do) as a working class slob who won’t change my clothes or hair but, be accessible to all. As, not a corporate hater but as a (true) FREE market advocate. Appreciating the critter that lays the golden egg but not forgetting we plebeians who keep grinding out the harvest from day to day, M to M, Year to Year.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 18:31 utc | 34
shooting a good at somebody
I need sleep. I mean to say “shooting a gun at somebody”
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 18:31 utc | 35
Quoth SusanG:
“In my town, you can’t graduate from high school without performing a mandatory 60 hours of community service.”
excellent… In my family, college tuition payment was (and will be, for the next generation at least) contingent on having done some community service in high school.
Posted by: æ | Jul 13 2004 18:37 utc | 36
Koyerel @ 10:34 AM
I Love this f***ing blog. Bernhard, Thanks. I told you I overuse the word, but maybe not. It even prevents we overzealous posters from becoming overbearing. Had to wait, I don’t know yet how long yet, before I could post this. But here it is:
Koyerel @ 12:37
Buckminster Fuller quote: “Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all, to feed everybody, clothe everybody, give every human on earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before—that we now have an option for all humanity to ‘make it’ successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment.” .
I believed, no, I knew this even before I read Bucky. We (the US) had the chance to become the shining light for the world to follow after the end of the cold war, if only we had had less unenlightened leaders. Forget his name but some big wheel U.S. NATO general (top in charge, help me outraged) wrote that he believed that this was now possible.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 19:09 utc | 37
I agree that mandatory service is not terrible. Switzerland, for example, has it. I also agree that some kind of national ‘community service’ for all (ages between 18 – 22 say) is not a bad idea, depending on time, place, how it is done, etc. Why not? Here, high school leavers, in some programs, also do consequent community service, and it is beneficial to all. But note: it is entirely separate from the army. Humanitarian projects, environmental work, or taking care of the old, sick, are not under the same administration as learning to drive a tank or shoot enemies. (Cf. the confusion in Iraq between defeating an enemy and rebuilding a country by painting schools and digging ditches – essentially repairing what one has oneself destroyed..)
Yet, the Kerry proposal sounds awfully communistic for the US…odd.. as pointed out, it is shifting some classes of low paying jobs from the private sector to the Gov’mint one. In line, by the way, with the growing military, the expanding Gov’mint, and the flourishing prison-industrial complex. Read that now 1/6 of Americans work for the state; that did not include the 2.1 or 2.2 million prisoners, but besides that I don’t know how it was calculated (military?), so it is something to check rather than accept. Still, it struck me. The myth of enterprise, individualism, a break for the little guy, low taxes and small government have become illusions, stridently trumpeted, falsely upheld. I pay less taxes than my NY girl friend who earns the same amount as I do as .. I get return for my money.. well I won’t go down that path right now!
Kerry’s style is calculated to fit with Democrat ideals – subsituting vague ideas of togetherness, community, for clear words and hard policies. As x said, where to find out what Kerry’s plans for the army are? Besides that he plans for the US to stay in Iraq forever? What exactly is his stance on upping or augmenting the army without a draft? How can it be done? The simple answer is that it cannot, ask Rummy…who has actually always refused that solution. The US army is overstretched in a big way, the planned (and necessary, viewed in one way) upcoming foreign adventures require men, women, men, more men. As well as new arms and equipment, as Kerry has also stated.
Hardened policy makers, people in the know, Gvmt. officials world-wide, read these words with a different eye. They understand the code. They know that the ‘all’ means, all, and that US foreign policy is set in stone. They knew it already, of course, but are interested in the confirmation and the form of things to come. For example, some of them have young relatives in the US.
I probably sound harsh. Find out, ask your representatives for details, bring up the Army, etc.
Posted by: Blackie | Jul 13 2004 19:13 utc | 38
The original:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” — Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16.
Ronald Reagan:
“America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”
Also:
“I’ve spoken of the Shining City all my political life. In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. Thats how I saw it, and see it still.”
Wesley Clark was the Supreme Commander for Europe (NATO) during the Yugoslavia carnage. He used the image of beacon of hope in his book Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and American Empire:
“We don’t need the New American Empire. Indeed, the very idea of classic empire is obsolete. An interdependant world will no longer accept discriminatory dominance by one nation over others. Instead, a more collaborative, collegiate American strategy will prevail, a strategy based on the great American virtues of tolerance, freedom, and fairness that made this country a beacon of hope in the world.”
Posted by: Blackie | Jul 13 2004 19:50 utc | 40
I guess it all depends on how you define “good works,” doesn’t it?
Illuminating, Blackie, illuminating. (ah… there’s that metaphor again) And important. alabama our wordsmith should read this…
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 19:56 utc | 41
Very fine, Blackie. The quote from Clark is to die for. People, who’ve never laid eyes on that quote, are dying for it as we speak (dying because of it, dying on its behalf).
I’m sixty-five, and I don’t, actuarially speaking, have a whole lot of time left to do the things I’d like to do. And the most pressing of these? To expose, in word and phrase, in the language of law and contract, om the rhetoric of pulpit and “bully pulpit,” the iron cables tying our American Way to Calvin’s “Institutes”. To expose this ositively, minutely, and irrefutably, so that no one will ever, in good conscience, be able to glide among those discourses without knowing just how sectarian and violent, how murderous, how lethally partisan, the rhetoric of “democracy” can be. Not, I say, “is,” but “can be”. For there are, believe it or not, other ways of conceiving democracy besides “the American Way”.
Wesley Clark has always scared the hell out me, though I’m sure he’d be fun to meet–very gracious, very well spoken and such. But the man knows nothing about defeat, and if you don’t know anything about defeat, then you’ll never know the “saving grace” of irony.
I think we Americans must have the poorest political discourse on the face of the globe. The most impoverished. (Here’s a question for someone who knows how to measure these things: is the wealth of one’s political discourse inversely proportional to the size of one’s bank account?)
Posted by: alabama | Jul 13 2004 20:44 utc | 43
You can tell I’m getting exercised when my typing goes all to hell….
Posted by: alabama | Jul 13 2004 20:47 utc | 44
Blackie @ 03:50 PM
The original:
“You are the light of the world…”
My Spiritual practice challenges me to say: “I am the light of the world” . However, I still (choose to ) believe that I am incapable/unworthy to live up to that (even though I’m trying to try), but isn’t that what we all need to accept as our responsibility here.
Egad, i’m blasted. Too much going on too fast. You guys are my solace. Please forgive me from leaning on you during my travail.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 21:08 utc | 45
I don’t get it alabama. Is om , Om of yogic origin? And if so, how does it fit into your following sentence?
alabama @ 4:44 PM
To expose, in word and phrase, in the language of law and contract om the rhetoric of pulpit and “bully pulpit,” the iron cables tying our American Way to Calvin’s “Institutes”.
If you feel so inclined, please elucidate for this undergraduate.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 13 2004 21:21 utc | 46
(I think he probably meant “in”–see his note about typing, just moved his hand a little to the right on the keyboard)
Posted by: x | Jul 13 2004 21:23 utc | 48
“I am the light of the world”
Juannie —
There is no separation from God . . .
Posted by: ck | Jul 13 2004 21:26 utc | 49
classwarfare
In a Slate article yesterday there are these claims:
… the University of Michigan and the Conference Board both publish monthly gauges of consumer confidence. ..[They] find that Americans, on the whole, are confident—more optimistic, in fact, than they have been in two years. But they also found that while those with incomes above $50,000 have become more confident and optimistic, those with incomes below $50,000 have become less so.
…
In its most recent month, May, the index for over-$50,000 demographic was 112.1, the highest it’s been since June 2002. But for those making under $50,000, confidence not only remains below its levels of July 2002, it has been falling in 2004.
If this is the trend and if you follow it long enough it curtainly leads to real class warfare.
Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 13 2004 21:27 utc | 50
to all who’ve expressed agreement with a mandatory civil service, i’ve often thought of that issue/possibility as a means of impressing on new voters the importance of their first civic duty – to get involved, to become vested in the health of their community (local on up)… to vote. if i were a civics teacher i would try to have my class monitor the polling places.
we’ve recently bemoaned the structure of our presidential election system which basically renders our vote symbolic. rituals and symbolism are important in our daily lives. i’m hoping for something to inspire the generations behind us that change is good.
did i make any sense?? i’m off to bed now.
Posted by: esme | Jul 13 2004 22:03 utc | 52