What's the deal with Kansas?
IN a nutshell, the Thomas Frank thesis courtesy of Salon:
Still, Bush's second-term focus on money issues like Social Security, the tax code, and tort law, rather than on gay marriage and abortion, proves a point that several liberal analysts put forward during the campaign: Republican politicians constantly use the culture wars to hoodwink religious people into voting for big-business ideas that, ultimately, run against the financial interests of the voters. "This is a party with a mission, a historical mission it's adhered to since the 1930s -- and that has been the mission of the business community, the repeal of the New Deal and war with the labor movement," says Thomas Frank, whose book "What's the Matter With Kansas?" offers the most detailed explication yet of the theory that Republicans fan the flames of social issues only to get their way on business issues. Social Security privatization, Frank says, is further proof that religious people "are getting played."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/
2005/02/25/sellout/index.html
Still, Bush's second-term focus on money issues like Social Security, the tax code, and tort law, rather than on gay marriage and abortion, proves a point that several liberal analysts put forward during the campaign: Republican politicians constantly use the culture wars to hoodwink religious people into voting for big-business ideas that, ultimately, run against the financial interests of the voters. "This is a party with a mission, a historical mission it's adhered to since the 1930s -- and that has been the mission of the business community, the repeal of the New Deal and war with the labor movement," says Thomas Frank, whose book "What's the Matter With Kansas?" offers the most detailed explication yet of the theory that Republicans fan the flames of social issues only to get their way on business issues. Social Security privatization, Frank says, is further proof that religious people "are getting played."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/
2005/02/25/sellout/index.html
posted by Matthew at 12:31 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Matt, I finally did read "What's the Matter with Kansas". You're right, it was a terrific and sobering read. I lost my anger by the end of it and just ended up despondent. Whither my country?
Glad you liked it, but sorry about the despondence. I think that it is already starting to have an effect. Dean definitely 'gets it' when it comes to the message of this book, and that is why it is very dangerous for the GOP to be misunderestimating him the way they are now. But good for our side! Basically, I think that now the cat is out of the bag, this game will not be able to go on ad infinitum (notice I didn't say ad nauseum)!
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