Legal Commentary

Extreme In The Beltway

By Big Tent Democrat

[C]razy, kooky, extreme actions are perpetrated by establishment centrists far more often than by marginalized libertarians. -Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf writes:

Forced to name the “craziest” policy favored by American politicians, I’d say the multibillion-dollar war on drugs, which no one thinks is winnable. Asked about the most “extreme,” I’d cite the invasion of Iraq, a war of choice that has cost many billions of dollars and countless innocent lives. The “kookiest” policy is arguably farm subsidies for corn, sugar, and tobacco—products that people ought to consume less, not more.

Friedersdorf is discussing the mindlessness of the Beltway, with its acceptance of the views of Very Serious People as non-kooky while pretending that Rand Paul's views are nuts. (To be clear, Paul's views are indeed nuts, imo. But they also are, for the most part, the views of the mainstream Republican Party.)

Perhaps the kookiest view pressed by the Very Serious People of the Beltway is the idea that we need to cut government spending in the midst of a jobs crisis and a stagnant economy on the precipice of a second recession dip. Meteor Blades explains:

Democrats have chopped more than 25 percent out of the jobs bill, which is actually an amalgam of economic relief measures. The objective: collect "moderate" votes from other Democrats needed to pass the legislation. There is no guarantee the cuts will achieve that objective, however.

[. . .] The reality is - as the continuing mess in Europe and today's disappointing gross domestic product numbers and new jobless benefit claims demonstrate - the recovery remains dicey. That means worries about deficit spending ought to be far down in Democratic thinking.

[. . .] It's not that huge amounts of deficit spending can go on forever. And nobody suggests they should. But the economy is far from healed. And while we obviously can expect little from Congress in the way of measures pushing long-term structural improvement in the economy - something that deals with stagnant wages and industrial policy - can't we at least get a bit more of what actually worked 17 months ago to keep us out of a depression? You know, from Democrats, the party of FDR? Instead of all this lame neoliberal caterwauling?

As a "neoliberal" myself, I think Meteor Blades misuses the word (it generally refers to trade policies). But his larger point holds true. The views of the "moderates" on this issue are simply lunacy. Now is not the time to cut government spending. Now is the time to INCREASE government spending to spur aggregate demand and push the economy into a sustainable recovery.

The lunatics of course are the Very Serious People in the Beltway. The SAME people who brought you the Iraq Debacle, the 2008 financial meltdown, the inadequate stimulus of of 2009, and many other idiotic policies.

As the man said, change is hard. But it would be nice if Democrats at least tried.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 27, 2010 (boomark / email).