I was thinking about the standoff in Wisconsin this afternoon and I had to ask myself a question. The dynamics of the schism seem to be conservatives who are angered by state deficits, union pensions and compulsory union membership against a liberal block that feels that the Republicans are union busting and trampling on the rights of teachers, firemen, police and other public workers.
I was wondering if there is not another significant sub narrative at work here. Could it be that public workers are being targeted because they are a group of people who are in contact with, and tend to aid the poor and the lower class, the real nemesis of the right? Perhaps they represent a bureaucracy that fails to administer enough tough love to those shiftless lazy bastards who they feel just want to lay around and have babies on the government dime? First salvo against the welfare state. Not to mention strike a blow against those individuals most apt to regulate the environment and impede the unrestrained free market for these obdurate masters.
Since it is politically inadvisable to declare open war on the underclass, it makes some sense to instead attack those on the frontline with them and hope for a little collateral damage.
This way they get to hurt the unions and dismantle social services at the same time. There could be some transference at work here.
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Very interesting article on human social structures and commentary on same by Frances Fukuyama in today's NYT.
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I am reading A pleasure to burn, a 2010 collection of Fahrenheit 451 stories by Ray Bradbury. Pillars of Fire was my favorite piece of adolescent science fiction in its original R is for Rocket publication. It is still great. I forgot what a brilliant writer he is, on a par with and equal to the titans. Great shit.
1 comment:
Hi rob
My book group has been reading lots of sci fi. Just finished Escape by Ben Bova and just started The Rolling Stones by Heinlein...some title eh? It is amazing how clairvoyant some of these writers were! I had an English teacher at Poway hs that had a tiny bit of success doing something or other in Hollywood before he gave it up and took a teaching job. He had good connections, he got Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury to visit our school and speak. It was way cool. We took a bus up to Hollywood and saw a Bradbuty stage play called Leviathan 99, an avant guarde adaptation of Moby Dick set in outer space. It was beyond me but a really fun trip never the less.
Brian V
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