Who We Are


We are not the stereotype of the typical Republican. We drink. We smoke. We cuss. We like The Simpsons and Family Guy, but we love South Park. We are Goldwater Girls Gone Wild and cynical punk rockers and drunk frat boys and bong-toting Burkeans and chain smoking blue collars and right-wing ravers and conservative clubbers and postmodern iconoclasts and Wall Streeters partying like it's 1982. We are metalheads and deadheads and parrotheads. Our heroes include Johnny Ramone, Jonah Goldberg, Greg Gutfeld, Hank Jr., P.J. O'Rourke, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, Ted Nugent, Neal Peart of Rush, Kid Rock, Andy Levy, Andrew Breitbart and Frank Kelly Rich. We love Ronald Reagan and PBR with straight shots, and Margaret Thatcher and fine cigars with Scotch. We often lean more libertarian than traditional conservative on certain issues, and would love to kick the ass of anyone wearing a Che t-shirt. We care a helluva lot more about a candidate's tax policy than past drug use. We are well informed on pop culture, the latest music, and Milton Friedman. We read National Review, Ayn Rand, and The Onion. Our religious beliefs range from devout to atheist, but we are more likely to be nursing a hangover on Sunday morning than in a church pew. And we are getting damn tired of people exclaiming, "YOU'RE a Republican?!?!"

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Brooks & Progressive Corporatism

NYT columnist David Brooks is a conservative like Al Franken is a comedian.  At some point, long ago, the description was attached for one or two actions but despite a long record belying that title it has stuck.  That isn't to say Brooks isn't an occassionally insightful writer, especially when describing trends in politics and culture.  His column today is an interesting analysis of the reaction to the financial crisis and the remergence of the Establishment, both of the left and right.  It is well worth a read.  One comment toward the end caught my attention:

The government will be much more active in economic management (pleasing a certain sort of establishment Democrat). Government activism will provide support to corporations, banks and business and will be used to shore up the stable conditions they need to thrive (pleasing a certain sort of establishment Republican). Tax revenues from business activities will pay for progressive but business-friendly causes — investments in green technology, health care reform, infrastructure spending, education reform and scientific research. If you wanted to devise a name for this approach, you might pick the phrase economist Arnold Kling has used: Progressive Corporatism.

Progressive Corporatism?  Sure.  But wouldn't it be easier just to call it fascism?
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1 comment:

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September 23, 2008 at 10:52 PM

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The Edwards Report, the right wing Onion rip-off.

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