Reply #22: "i'm not convinced they're as clever [View All]

[phiddle]

as others believe them to be. I really think they're shortsighted opportunists, and not strategic thinkers."

It would be comforting to agree with you, Professor, but I don't. I think that what we have here is a VRWC that goes back at least to Goldwater, and involves the strategic, coordinated and systematic takeover of every aspect of public life by a small coterie of radicals, utilizing relentless pressure from both within and out of the government.

A few examples: The takeover of the judiciary can be dated at least to Nixon's naming of Rehnquist to the Supreme Court. Since then, the courts have been packed with right wing judges, often trained within right wing think tanks. The concentration of the communications media in a very few hands, the elimination of the fairness doctrine, the eviscerating of SEC scrutiny of publicly traded securities, the privatization of government functions, the marginalization of unions via legislation, outsourcing and "free" trade agreements, the shredding of the social safety net, the shifting of the tax burden away from corporations and the wealthy toward individuals and the middle class, and the imperialist foreign policy of most of the last 30 years all serve the interests of a very small oligarchy.

It would be very difficult to argue, given the overlapping of certain individuals (Bush family) and think tanks (Heritage Foundation, et al) in the above listed enterprises, that there is no coordinated and strategic plan. My most fervent hope is NOT that this gang is stupid (a complacent presumption; Bush may be an idiot, but he's just a figurehead), but that their hubris, inflated due to their heretofore almost total success has finally caused them to over-reach.