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kpete

(71,901 posts)
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:13 AM Jul 2014

Why Am I Moving Left? - America’s changed, and so have I. ---By THOMAS E. RICKS

Last edited Thu Jul 24, 2014, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Another ‘natural conservative’ has publicly recanted. Here’s Thomas E. Ricks, “journalist who writes on defense topics“, in Politico:

Why Am I Moving Left?
I used to be right down the middle. But America’s changed, and so have I.
By THOMAS E. RICKS July 23, 2014




In my late 50s, at a time of life when most people are supposed to be drifting into a cautious conservatism, I am surprised to find myself moving steadily leftward…


…Since leaving newspapers, I have again and again found myself shifting to the left in major areas such as foreign policy and domestic economic policy. I wonder whether others of my generation are similarly pausing, poking up their heads from their workplaces and wondering just what happened to this country over the last 15 years, and what do to about it….




His triggers include Iraq (“I believe that the invasion of Iraq was wrong, not only launched on false premises but also strategically foolish”), torture (“I never expected my country to endorse torture”), “intelligence officials run amok”, “growing income inequality”, and gun massacres… among others.



… Not long ago, when I mentioned my unease to an old friend who is a Pentagon official—not in a political job but a professional one—he surprised me by confessing that he was feeling the same way. Exploring the thought, he mentioned in particular how disturbed he had been by the trend of “stand your ground” laws that seem to permit angry white men to gun down black youth who frighten them.

Where might this all lead? I am no better at predicting the future than anyone else. I think there are many others like me who are just as puzzled about where our country is at now, and how we got here. No doubt there are many reasons, though I believe there are clear signs that the Reagan Revolution, which made incentive-oriented, free-market solutions the default mode of both parties, is now finally petering out. I anticipate calls for more federal intervention, especially in areas where the public good is suffering, such as transportation and the cost of higher education. We may yet see a leftish generation of senior citizens, a group of aging Baby Boomers who can make common cause with a squeezed middle class and a generation of millennials whose careers have been damaged by the Great Recession while the top 1 percent have grown even wealthier…






The rest:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/07/why-am-i-moving-left-109241.html#.U9EFbuNdX1F
via:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/07/24/thursday-morning-open-thread-17/
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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BeyondGeography

(39,284 posts)
1. Honest and hopeful
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:29 AM
Jul 2014

The movment of such people toward our side is significant. Rather than ask what took so long, I welcome him/them with open arms. The Republicans are a destructive menace that need to be permanently discredited and downsized We need all the help we can get.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
2. Interesting comment about Edward Snowden...
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:38 AM
Jul 2014

How would we have known about the Intelligence Officials "turning a vast and unaccountable apparatus on the citizens it's supposed to be protecting" without Snowden's courageous whistle blowing.

At least Ricks gives some credit...but, still has to caveat. Sad that...but, I guess he felt he'd get attacked and no one would read his comments if he didn't backhand Snowden.

It's a good read....thanks for posting...

----------


Intelligence officials run amok.

I think that American intelligence officials have shown a contempt for the way our democracy is supposed to work in turning a vast and unaccountable apparatus on the citizens it is supposed to be protecting. I remain wary of Edward Snowden’s motivations and connections, yet still am worried by the intrusive surveillance by the National Security Agency he has unveiled. At the very least, in a democracy, we should be able to be informed about the actions that have eroded our privacy but supposedly were taken in our name.




Pholus

(4,062 posts)
7. How many sources would turn off if he hadn't done that?
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:58 AM
Jul 2014

I guess it's understandable for him. Then again, it's more than we've gotten from some apologists....

redstatebluegirl

(12,264 posts)
3. Republicans have discovered how to use "cultural issues" to divert attention from their real mission
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:39 AM
Jul 2014

They use abortion, gay marriage, gun control and racial hot buttons to keep their base in line and get them so hopped up they don't realize they are picking their pockets. It is a diversion, and those who are under educated are easily swayed. Now they are trying to guarantee that continues by going after education budgets at the state and local level. Convincing their base that educated people are the enemy.

Very scary times.

Dragonfli

(10,622 posts)
11. Unfortunately, there is a portion of the Democratic party that does the same thing
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 10:19 AM
Jul 2014

Defending cultural issues we all care about such as choice and equality (thankfully as they do need to be defended), while adopting Republican economic, education and trade policies. In my younger days such "Democrats" would have been called moderate Republicans, but now they are called New Democrats and they worship at the alter of Milton Friedman, fellating investment bankers and corporate "citizens" while advocating privatization of traditionally government run institutions.

Perhaps someday they will be relegated to the fringe of the party or go back to the Republicans where they belong, but for now, they are very much in control of many aspects of our once great party.

Zorra

(27,670 posts)
4. A conservative notices something may be wrong
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:45 AM
Jul 2014

as he stares at the hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex standing in front of him.

earthside

(6,960 posts)
5. It is happening.
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 09:48 AM
Jul 2014

I am a year younger than Ricks and have always been fairly progressive though quite independent-minded.

The events since the Bush/Cheney theft of the White House in 2000, have driven me further to the left.
Indeed, I would now consider myself closer to anarcho-syndicalism than any other political philosophy.

Indeed, I find the Hillary Clinton potential candidacy, the knee-jerk pro-Israel protestations, for instance, to be disturbingly conservative and reactionary in a nation that desperately needs a non-violent revolution to empower the average working person.

Though I am moving towards notions that are surely too unorthodox for most folks, nevertheless I am find that many of my moderate and conservative-moderate friends and associates are tacking to the left as well.

The Democrats ought to, therefore, do well in 2014 if they get smart and nationalize effectively the theme of just how extreme and crazy are the Tea Party-Republicans.

These are weird times -- I get encouraged by things like the Ricks article, by the clear trend among regular people against the Tea Party, by the slow but sure acceptance of climate change science, etc.; but then I get discouraged when I realize just how much money the Kochs, et al., are willing to spend and how powerful are institutions like the Supreme Court, the banks, the military, the corporations.

LisaLynne

(14,554 posts)
9. That's very interesting
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 10:00 AM
Jul 2014

As I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more progressive. I used to think I was just an aberration and it had more to do with my unique upbringing, but now I wonder if it isn't more of a trend and the "wisdom" that people get more conservative as they age was really just about a couple of generations and not necessarily some set in stone thing.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
13. IMO, it's based on how the country used to be moving.
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 10:52 AM
Jul 2014

The country has a long-term trend of gradually drifting left. We go from slavery to segregation to desegregation to anti-discrimination laws. Or women go from "why on Earth would you listen to one of them?" to women getting the vote to anti-discrimination laws. (And no, the job isn't done in either example)

As a result, someone who held the same political views for their entire life would become "conservative" as they aged. Because the country moved around them.

Reagan's coalition temporarily reversed that leftward trend. As a result, people who held the same political views for the entire life are now becoming "liberal" as they aged. Because the country moved around them.

As Reagan's coalition annihilates the Republican party, we'll eventually settle back into the long-term trend. And "old people" will once again be conservative in a generation or two.

 

Bigmack

(8,020 posts)
10. I haven't moved to the left...the country has moved so far right, it just seems like I moved left.
Thu Jul 24, 2014, 10:05 AM
Jul 2014
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