Carrots didn't work, so get out the sticks

The difference between liberals and progressives, according to David Sirota, is the difference between "using taxpayer money to help better society" and a "focus on using government power to make large institutions play by a set of rules".  

Sirota goes on:

To put it in more concrete terms - a liberal solution to some of our current problems with high energy costs would be to increase funding for programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). A more "progressive" solution would be to increase LIHEAP but also crack down on price gouging and pass laws better-regulating the oil industry's profiteering and market manipulation tactics. A liberal policy towards prescription drugs is one that would throw a lot of taxpayer cash at the pharmaceutical industry to get them to provide medicine to the poor; A progressive prescription drug policy would be one that centered around price regulations and bulk purchasing in order to force down the actual cost of medicine in America (much of which was originally developed with taxpayer R&D money).

Sirota is tired of carrots, he wants to beat capitalists with a big stick.

Let's be clear - most progressives are also liberals, and liberal goals in better funding America's social safety net are noble and critical. It's the other direction that's the problem. Many of today's liberals are not fully comfortable with progressivism as defined in these terms. Many of today's Democratic politicians, for instance, are simply not comfortable taking a more confrontational posture towards large economic institutions (many of whom fund their campaigns) - institutions that regularly take a confrontational posture towards America's middle-class.

In other words, industry must pay. Industry must be controlled by the state so it's fair to all people according to the statists in control. Read the whole article and you realize where the progressives stand in relation to modern liberals. Sirota suggests that liberals have influenced Obama to take a more carrot-like approach, but it's obvious that Obama has visions of a more progressive push -- he has stated that not all the progressive agenda can be done at once -- it will take incremental steps. Sirota, and prgressives like him, are impatient -- they believe the liberal pansy approach of bribing industry with carrots, in other words, applying corporate welware, is too beneficial to the rent-seeking, scumbag, "capitalists", and that now is the time to make them do what government wants them to do. I agree with Sirota regarding the corporate welfare -- end it -- but after that, Sirota and I are worlds apart.

But how far apart are the liberals and progressives? How far apart are the moderates and liberals?

It's been my contention for quite some time that companies seeking government favor are dancing with the devil and that it's only a matter of time before government turns on the companies and renders them lackeys for the state. Despite Obama's posture as a liberal, even a moderate in the eyes of some starstruck supporters who are having difficulty accepting reality, he's a progressive. But Obama is not the problem -- every president will do what is politically expedient to maintain power. Our problem in America goes way beyond Obama -- our problem is creeping progressivism -- the new age socialism.

It's unclear at this point whether liberals will resist the progressive goals of outright control over the free market, and instead maintain their carrott/corporate welfare approach. In many ways Obama has been acting as both liberal and progressive -- but with his administration's favoritism toward Goldman Sachs, that might just be plain old cronyism granted to his financial gurus -- there was really no liberal goal of social change involved with bailing out Goldman Sachs. The stimulus could be said to be a liberal scheme to help middle class workers, and in the process offer carrots to some businesses in exchange for cooperation.

We'll have to see what regulations are in the cap and trade legislation, but it appears to be a progressive plan to get the camel's nose in the tent, just like the bailout of GM. With regulations being planned for energy, environmental concerns, the automakers and the financial industry, we begin to see the progressives' plan unfold. Sticks are handed out to regulators and czars. The free market will be beat into shape.

It remains to be seen if the moderates are content trying to manage the growth of statism or whether they will attempt to resist it by joining the conservative/libertarian effort. Liberals are in a precarious position, and in many ways, I include the moderates among the liberals, because the difference between the two is negligible. Most moderates have been okay with liberal use of tax payer money to influence companies to work toward the greater good -- they just don't want to go too far in debt.  

Progressives aren't concerned with debt, nor are they concerned with the free market -- progressives are interested in controling production and economic activity. If moderates/liberals continue to appease progressives, we're in for economic ruin and a great loss of liberty, yet, politically, the moderates/liberals can't find a way to join forces with the conservatives/libertarians. The political divisions are favoring the progressives, as the moderates/liberals vacillate between the poles of conservativism/libertarianism and progressivism.

The limited government conservatives and the libertarians don't agree on social concerns, but they are united in resistance to statism. The moderates and liberals don't agree on all social or fiscal issues, but they are united against the limited government conservatives and libertarians. The questions for the moderates and liberals is -- Will they fight progressivism? Will they uphold classical liberal principles? Will they allow capitalism to be destroyed? Will their disdain for the conservative base override their reason, principles and common sense, pushing them into the progressive movement, brandishing sticks to beat down a free nation? 

David Sirota ends with:

The "free market" conservatives have so dominated the political debate over the last two decades that our side seems only comfortable proposing to pay off different economic players, instead of forcing those players to behave themselves. It's time for that to change. The government has a job to play in protecting Americans from being ripped off, and that doesn't mean just handing the economic bullies a bribe. It means pushing back - hard.

Comments

[MTF]

I loved the movie about Sirius XM: "Stock Shock" because it explains how the whole naked short selling stock market manipulation thing works-and how the company nearly went bankrupt. Good DVD. Amazon has it or stockshockmovie.com has a movie trailer.

[Mike Farmer]

Thanks.