Friday, February 1, 2019

QOTD: "Fanatical Centrists"


Paul Krugman, in today's New York Times:
"Why is American politics so dysfunctional? Whatever the deeper roots of our distress, the proximate cause is ideological extremism: Powerful factions are committed to false views of the world, regardless of the evidence.

Notice that I said factions, plural. There’s no question that the most disruptive, dangerous extremists are on the right. But there’s another faction whose obsessions and refusal to face reality have also done a great deal of harm.

But I’m not talking about the left. Radical leftists are virtually nonexistent in American politics; can you think of any prominent figure who wants us to move to the left of, say, Denmark? No, I’m talking about fanatical centrists.

Over the past few days we’ve been treated to the ludicrous yet potentially destructive spectacle of Howard Schultz, the Starbucks billionaire, insisting that he’s the president we need despite his demonstrable policy ignorance. Schultz obviously thinks he knows a lot of things that just aren’t so. Yet his delusions of knowledge aren’t that special. For the most part, they follow conventional centrist doctrine."
Another Krugman column well worth reading in its entirety.

Schultz has become master of the green rooms lately, with many gullible pundits taking his rhetorical pablum seriously, while he mostly attacks Dem social programs and positions (wait, wasn't Schultz billed as liberal on "social issues"?). His "lifelong Democrat" schtick is wearing thin, and Krugman exposes it well here.

3 comments:

Jimbo said...

As someone noted, Schultz is just "Trump Lite". But the vast majority of billionaires (and most millionaires for that matter) are also Trump Lite. Naturally inclined to an authoritarian philosophy of life and definitely wanting to ensure no challenges to their extraordinary wealth. So Schultz may give health insurance to his employees but he certainly opposes guaranteeing good health insurance coverage for every American. For him, that's "Un-American". Well, there's a lot about the traditional "American" economic assumptions that needs to change to improve the lives of Americans but only real Democrats are prepared to implement those changes.

Hackwhackers said...

Jimbo -- Well said. His "noblesse oblige" is obnoxious, when he would deny single payer health insurance to every American.

donnah said...

When the elections in November were done and the dust settled, Democrats emerged as a better representation of the people in this country. Not perfect, not completely balanced, but more people of different colors and cultures. And more women! This is what moves the country forward, not another white rich guy who sees a chance to gain more attention and power.

Schultz deserves to be a flash in the pan and I think his fifteen minutes of fame should end in three...two...one.