hi again James,
When I say it's not a shift I mean it is a left wing position that same generation has held their entire lives.
again, that is not exactly true. in fact, the formative years of the baby boomers occurred under the "greatest generation" - the Eisenhower era.
It is also a left wing position the republican party has accepted going back to the liberal consensus.
it doesn't have that much to do with liberal consensus, though. it's just a realpolitik sort of thing. the old and the vulnerable (and just
being old makes you more vulnerable) grasped that they need social security, something that was borne of the depression era old people not having a pot to piss in as the economy collapsed.
likewise, LBJ's medicare and medicaid weren't programs that conservatives "accepted", lol, it was one they
needed. it doesn't matter if you're some crazed liberal or Ayn Rand (the goddamned hypocrite), they all grabbed for their entitlements when they needed them.
as people age, they may become more conservative socially, its sort of part of getting old - you get left a bit behind, however, they sure as hell cling to liberal, big spending entitlement programs.
if you don't believe me, lets watch the GOP primaries and see what the candidates say about social security, medicare and medicaid when they land in Florida.
So telling me how socialist it is says nothing about whether the country has moved to the right when we've had a consensus on this particular socialist program the whole time.
not the whole time. go and read up on Social Security, in particular. there were cries of SOCIALISM, and fear mongering that it would destroy the job market, and on and on. it's the third rail of politics now, but it wasn't a half century ago.
Now if you want to argue whether the US today is to the left or right of that of the 1920's, well, you might be able to make a good case there. But the point of this discussion is liberals being pulled to the right by society. And liberals per se didn't even exist back then, the left wingers were called the progressive movement. The left wing came out of the 60's basically.
it doesn't matter how you label it, liberal, democratic, progressive, what have you - the country as a whole is drifting toward the left, socially. it's not occurring on a smooth arc, but it's undeniable.
fiscally, it's hard to say. under Mr. Reagan and Mr. W. Bush, government spending grew at a startling, never-before-seen rate. then again, under Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama, the growth in government spending abated somewhat.
taxes seem very, very low - but then again the biggest tax cuts in my earning lifetime have happened under Mr. Obama. so maybe there is a drift to the right on that count.
in terms of foreign policy, the public at large seems positively dovish nowadays, so that i guess would be a drift to the left also.
as to your poll;
your poll has nothing to do with Manchin Toomey, which had nothing to do with repealing the 2nd amendment. i don't grasp the significance of that poll. i cited Manchin Toomey as an example of how the country seems to be sliding to the left on the issue.
Manchin Toomey polled very high, across party lines.
- IGIT
