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March 27, 2011

American Thought Police

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Recently William Cronon, a historian who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, decided to weigh in on his state’s political turmoil. He started a blog, “Scholar as Citizen,” devoting his first post to the role of the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council in pushing hard-line conservative legislation at the state level. Then he published an opinion piece in The Times, suggesting that Wisconsin’s Republican governor has turned his back on the state’s long tradition of “neighborliness, decency and mutual respect.”
So what was the G.O.P.’s response? A demand for copies of all e-mails sent to or from Mr. Cronon’s university mail account containing any of a wide range of terms, including the word “Republican” and the names of a number of Republican politicians.
If this action strikes you as no big deal, you’re missing the point. The hard right — which these days is more or less synonymous with the Republican Party — has a modus operandi when it comes to scholars expressing views it dislikes: never mind the substance, go for the smear. And that demand for copies of e-mails is obviously motivated by no more than a hope that it will provide something, anything, that can be used to subject Mr. Cronon to the usual treatment.
The Cronon affair, then, is one more indicator of just how reflexively vindictive, how un-American, one of our two great political parties has become.

Republican War on Working Families

I haven't written about the Wisconsin rally's yet. But I saw a video today that moved me to do so. Finally, the Democrats and the labor movement have figured out to to frame an issue effectively! The video, aptly named, is called 'The Republican War on Working Families."

(To see the video click here.)

The labor movement, which has been gasping its last breath in the wake of 30 years of legislation that has stripped the movement of almost all support- is kicking. And kicking hard! There are hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of states that have come out in support of the Wisconsin workers, who have staged a sit-in to protest the Republican governors proposal to curtail collective bargaining, the life blood of unions.

By connecting the Republican party to the death of the middle class American dream- the union rank and file have created an effective message. Let us only hope that this Mainstreet Movement grows to be an effective counter weight to the Tea Party. I hope that the Mainstreet Movement will argue for the restoration of middle class benefits, social services, education, and the accountability of the individuals and corporations that caused the financial crisis at the nexus of this recession. Lastly, I hope that the Democratic party capitalizes on the momentum and rage heard across the nation over the last month. They need to continue to make the connection between Republican & Tea Party aspirations to cut all government benefits and services with the tax cuts for the wealthy that were extended just months ago. I'm pleading with the Democratic leadership to wake up and smell the coffee. Join the chorus calling for the end to the Rublicans War on Working Families!