Reply #12: Before everyone goes off in a complete tizzy.... do some basic research. [View All]

[MissMarple]

Information is our friend, you may not agree with everything he says, but Massey may have a cogent point or two. Also, he is not a political scientist or a historian. And, yes, liberal politicians have not always served the liberal/progressive cause well.

http://books.idealo.com/prices/P691123039K0.html

"Somewhere in the 1970s liberals in the United States lost their way. After successes like the New Deal, they became arrogant. So argues Douglas Massey in Return of the "L" Word. Faced with the difficult politics of race and class, liberals used the heavy hand of government to impose policies on a resentful public. Conservatives capitalized on this with a staunch ideology of free markets, limited government, and conservative social values. The time is ripe for a liberal realignment, declares Massey, but what has been lacking is a consistent liberal ideology that explains to voters, in simple terms, government's vital role in producing a healthier, more financially equitable, less divided society."

and here : http://www.asanet.org/governance/Massey.html

I clicked on Alterman's link for more information and read Robin Orlowski's review:

"But, it's the fine print which catches the 'everybody else' every single time. Conservative politicians talk about 'common people's lives' because they have learned this is what brings in the votes, but they remain as detached and self-absorbed as ever. They still want a majority of the wealth concentrated in a compact segment.

A key strength of Massey's work is that it recognizes the power of economic systems to bring about political and social transformation. Viewing markets as autonomous entities apart from politics ultimately proves disastrous and we need to be articulating how our world view will ultimately benefit other people in 'concrete ways' inside their own daily lives."

He seems to really debunk the psuedo conservative /libertarian mystical belief in unregulated "free" markets.