Let's Do the Time Warp (Again!)
Recently, a friend and I discussed how policy, especially Congressional policy, seems to be stuck in the 1970s. Iraq is not Vietnam, but we tried to fight like it was, because we were so scared of making the same mistakes. The last presidential election revolved around Vietnam, and the conservative revolution of a great man, now Reagan, where before it was Goldwater, has almost completely faded into the past.
Arnold King has a TCSDaily column up about liberals being stuck in 1968, and I think my friend and I, and King, are on the sam ewavelength when it comes to this:
Arnold King has a TCSDaily column up about liberals being stuck in 1968, and I think my friend and I, and King, are on the sam ewavelength when it comes to this:
Most people who were liberals in 1968 still are. Liberals. In 1968.
Does this sound familiar?
Some things never change. This seems to be a consensus among many liberals today. The movement of liberlism has seemingly reached its end point, and as soon as those old-time policy makers fade into the distance, we can finally move past Vietnam.The Conventional Wisdom among well-educated liberals in 1968 included the following:
- Anti-Communism was a greater menace than Communism.
- The planet could not possibly support the population increases that would take place by the end of the twentieth century.
- Conservatives stood in the way of progress for minorities.
- Government programs were the best way to lift people out of poverty.
- What underdeveloped countries needed were large capital investments, financed by foreign aid from the rich countries.
- Inflation was a cost-push phenomenon, requiring government intervention in wage and price setting.
The degree of confidence in these beliefs was so strong that liberals in 1968 came to the overriding conclusion that:
- Anyone who is not a liberal must be incorrigibly stupid
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