Listening to @rauchway's "Why the New Deal Matters", I' once again struck by FDR's characterization of democracy not simply as a procedure for electing leaders, but as a deep and pervasive ideology that could and should define all aspects of society.
This is something I think we've lost, and need to regain: Democracy as a way of life, not just a process of elections. Democracy in social relations, democracy in business, democracy in culture.
FDR also believed that democracy was the only ideology that could stand up to fascism and make a better world. He was right. Communism, despite its battlefield victories in WW2, ended up looking much like fascism after a while. Democracy, in contrast, built a better world.
2/In the 1980s, as Japan threatened to overtake the U.S., many observers were wowed by the Japanese government's performance in directing the country's economy.
In 1989, Bill Emmott wrote a book pointing out some of that government's mistakes.
3/In fact, Japan's bureaucracy and industrial policy had never been infallible; the cracks in the model appeared decades before we started to notice it, and decades before they had real macro consequences.
I mean, what is the conservative plan for the future of our country? Moar tax cuts? Anti-trans legislation? Border wall and deportation sweeps?
Who gets up in the morning and is excited to fight for that?
Conservatism has a total lack of ideas and vision right now. In 1980 you knew the kind of country conservatives wanted to build -- Christianity, family values, tax cuts and deregulation, etc etc. Now what do they want to build? I don't even know.
1/One thing I think the coup attempt of 1/6 did, besides galvanize institutional awareness of a rightist threat, was to expose how militarily weak the rightists are.
2/In the 90s we envisioned the far right as a vast network of well-trained militias. In the 00s we envisioned Blackwater mercenaries being used as rightist paramilitaries in a civil conflict.
In reality, we got a rabble of out of shape 50-year-old boat dealers.
3/They managed to get past the police by doing the old "toe the line between goofy and serious" trick that online Nazis perfected in web forums. But that trick won't work twice.
Friday open question: What are the 1 to 3 most underrated movies ever made?
My own three picks might be: 1. Shimotsuma Monogatari 2. Drop Dead Fred 3. A Scanner Darkly
But there would also be a strong case for Batteries Not Included, Cube, Picnic, Millennium Actress, and Return of the Jedi.
Also, there are my favorite movies, Groundhog Day, Battle Royale, and Slacker, which people do generally like but which are underrated because they are not recognized as the best movies of all time