Why We Are a "Nation of Whiners"...

Republicans had ideological majorities in Congress from 1981 through 2006 (at least). Republicans held the presidency for all except the eight Clinton years. The policies proposed by the executive, enacted by the legislature, and implemented by the courts over the past generation are Republican policies.

And, to Phil Gramm, these policies must have worked. Hence the cognitiv dissonance created by the fact that people appear to be dissatisfied--and the "nation of whiners" quote: it's an attempt to make sense of the fact that the policies must have worked and the fact that the policies do not seem to be popular.

Bill Scher:

Bill Scher: Phil Gramm Is Conservatism - Politics on The Huffington Post: Phil Gramm thinks that the economy is wonderful and those that feel otherwise are mistaken. This is does not make Gramm uniquely callous. It just makes him a conservative... conservatives... insist the economy tastes great, so shut up and eat it....

Larry Kudlow... "The U.S. economy is hitting on all cylinders as 2004 passes into 2005... amidst all this economic good news," a "declinist rant" was being perpetrated by "big-media." 15 months later... "It's always amazing to listen to conventional demand-side economic pundits and mainstream reporters who try as hard as they can to minimize the excellent performance of the American economy ever since lower marginal tax-rate incentives were put into place almost two-and-a-half years ago.... Of course, you can't please the worrywarts."

In December 2005, Fox News' Fred Barnes also pointed a finger at "the media" for marring the pretty picture: "...gas prices have fallen, I think new home sales, maybe it was old home sales, anyway, one of them set a record last month. And, and this 4 percent growth has been going on month after month after month after month. It's really an extraordinary economy. And yet, when you look at the polls you're so fond of, they show that the American people think they're fine, but that the rest of the people in the country are doing poorly economically. Why is that? ... Because, obviously people know how they're doing, but they have to rely on the media to tell them how the rest of the economy is outside their neighborhood. And the media has been entirely negative."...

[J]ust before the 2006 congressional elections, Barnes lamented... "The economy, strong as it is, hasn't produced a feeling of prosperity."...

June 2007... George Will concluded that Democrats had a "Prosperity Problem," based on Will's world of cherry-picked stats: "In the 102 quarters since Ronald Reagan's tax cuts went into effect more than 25 years ago, there have been 96 quarters of growth. Since the Bush tax cuts and the current expansion began, the economy's growth has averaged 3 percent per quarter, and more than 8 million jobs have been created. The deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product is below the post-World War II average. Democrats, economic hypochondriacs all, see economic sickness."...

[I]n January... David Gitlitz could only explain the looming recession on something other than economic reality: "If the U.S. is capable of talking itself into an economic downturn, we may be on the cusp of the first recession in history caused by a bad mood ... it's not difficult to understand why the economic mood of the country is so bad. It's nearly impossible to avoid the media's constant deluge of economic negativism..."

This is conservatism. The dismissal of economic burdens from others making less money than you. The belief that an ideal economy can thrive with a small boat of winners and a giant sinking ship of losers. The insistence that your economic dissatisfaction is illegitimate, and can only be explained by a brainwashing from the media or politicians.

Gramm's only unique remark was expanding the blame beyond "big media" and "the Democrats" to ... everybody. Calling America "a nation of whiners" only made glaring the fundamental elitism of conservatism.

But make no mistake. Gramm is conservatism.

It is precisely his attitude that has shaped conservative economic policies throughout the Bush Era. Massive tax giveaways to those earning more than $250,000. No investment to make education, clean energy and health insurance affordable to all citizens and businesses. No effective oversight of irresponsible corporations plundering the middle-class.

With the Bush Era ending, the choice is ours whether we want to continue being condescended to by conservatism in the coming years, or decide it is time for a progressive vision that puts our government and economy back in our own hands.

Comments

[Rich C]

I continue to be amazed by how similar today's conservatives are to the Stalinists of the past, and even in some ways to the western Marxists of the post-war era. Just as the western Marxists struggled to understand why workers in Europe and North America eschewed revolutionary politics, and ended up with explanations that were more sophisticated than what the GOP has been shilling these last few years, but that still suggested a degree of brainwashing and media manipulation. Its kind of ironic that conservatives - never fans of Marcuse or Adorno - now have to resort to a very pedestrian version of the culture industry argument to make sense of (by way of denying) its own failures.

[Rich C]

I continue to be amazed by how similar today's conservatives are to the Stalinists of the past, and even in some ways to the western Marxists of the post-war era. Just as the western Marxists struggled to understand why workers in Europe and North America eschewed revolutionary politics, and ended up with explanations that were more sophisticated than what the GOP has been shilling these last few years, but that still suggested a degree of brainwashing and media manipulation. Its kind of ironic that conservatives - never fans of Marcuse or Adorno - now have to resort to a very pedestrian version of the culture industry argument to make sense of (by way of denying) its own failures.

[Rich C]

I continue to be amazed by how similar today's conservatives are to the Stalinists of the past, and even in some ways to the western Marxists of the post-war era. Just as the western Marxists struggled to understand why workers in Europe and North America eschewed revolutionary politics, and ended up with explanations that were more sophisticated than what the GOP has been shilling these last few years, but that still suggested a degree of brainwashing and media manipulation. Its kind of ironic that conservatives - never fans of Marcuse or Adorno - now have to resort to a very pedestrian version of the culture industry argument to make sense of (by way of denying) its own failures.

[darin london]

or to, **GASP!!***, Noam Chomsky :)

I have been watching this with amusement, actually. I have always felt that Chomsky's argument of media brainwashing was an essentially elitist, condescending view that conservatives were more comfortable with. 'I and my kind are obviously superior to everyone around us, so why dont they listen to us? It must be media brainwashing!!!'

At least by Chomsky's standards the brainwashed masses were to be pitied.

[Lee A. Arnold]

McCain is running the real danger of appearing to bring another bunch of cynical, irresponsible, say-anything crooks into the White House. We've just had 8 years of these clowns: denying that anything is wrong with global warming or Katrina, lying to get into a war, running the country into the ground. People will think twice before voting for more of the same.

The real campaign problem for McCain is sorting-out these statements without the results sounding like more Bush/Cheney obfuscation. He really faces two dangers: on the issue of his mental competence, and on the issue of his honesty.

Obama could use-up the timespan of several debates just carefully repeating McCain's contradictory comments (and those of McCain's advisors,) and asking him to finally set the record straight: in other words, make the country LISTEN to what it's going to sound like for four more years, if McCain is elected: "You are not going to get a straight answer about anything, people! It's my way or the highway!" --Everybody is already sick to death of this.

[allan_in_upstate]

One of Brad's all-time favorites,
Steve Weisman of the Washington Post:

From today's online chat
(apropos of McCain's earlier statement about Social Security being a disgrace,
and references to the current projections)
__________
Princeton, N.J.: From a mathematician -- the projections (not predictions) of the Social Security Administration are based on unknowable assumptions and are no better than reading the entrails of a goat (with a certified shaman).

Jonathan Weisman: You have hurt their feelings terribly.
_________

[allan_in_upstate]

P.S. I'd just like to take this opportunity to congratulate
James K. Glassman and Kevin Hassett.
Only 25,000 more to go on the Dow, guys!
Too bad the derivative has the wrong sign.

[bakho]

"McCain is running the real danger of appearing to bring another bunch of cynical, irresponsible, say-anything crooks into the White House"

What do you mean "appearing to". McCain (once you get beyond his maverickiness (note new word)) is just another Conservative who believes the economy is
1. all dependent on what business does and
2. the only thing government can do for the economy is counterproductive meddling.

If McCain doesn't believe that government economic policy is important (he does not or he would spend more time learning about it), his economic policy is going to really suck. Sure he can bring in outside experts, but unless he knows enough to when to follow which "experts" (he cluelessly doesn't) his policy will suck even worse. This is an almost certain guarantee that he WILL bring in crooks to the WH. If he didn't know that Keating was a crook and doesn't get that advice from the enabler-in-chief of Enron might be tainted, what other bad judgement can we expect?

[donna]

We can't afford to conserve any more of what we have, apparently.

These people have turned "conservative" into "greedy bastard who doesn't give a shit about anyone else".

[Lisa Harrigan]

Unfortunately, my husband has bought the line Hook Line and Sinker, and he's not the only one listening ONLY to Fox Non-News. There are many like him out there, who don't understand that even the Social Security payment that is keeping us a float is under fire by these idiots.
These are the people who will vote for McCain even though it is against their best interest.
There are many people out there who are Not Hearing the Truth! La-la-la-la, all that I think is going wrong is All My Fault, the Economy is going strong, I'm just not connecting.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid.

[Thomas T. Schweitzer]

I am a Canadian who would not vote for McCain or any other Republican if I had a vote. Nevertheless, I think we pro-Democrats should not weaken our arguments by mis-quoting an opponent. Phil Gramm spoke of the Americans as a nation of whiners ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY. Looking at the international studies on the cognitive achievement of American school kids (surely one of the important influences on future productivity growth), we find that American performance is mediocre. (see for instance the OECD PISA studies of 2000, 2003 and 2006). This is a regrettably weak performance and deserves to be "whined" about. Of course, the Republicans are at least as guilty of the weaknesses of the American school system as the Democrats.

[Lee A. Arnold]

Bakho, you are right, I have no doubt. What I was writing about was that his campaign openly presents the appearance of doing so. I think a McCain administration would be a lobbyist's dream, but usually they hide it better than this.

[Slocum]

"No investment to make education, clean energy and health insurance affordable to all citizens and businesses."

It would be one thing to make this charge if government spending on education and health-insurance were down, in real terms, over the last 25 years. But, of course, they are not. Government health care spending, in particular, is far higher. The Medicare Prescription Drug program represented an enormous increase in spending -- but outlays have grown dramatically even without that.

Tax cuts may have resulted in unnecessary deficits. But they have definitely not resulted in reduced spending. The idea that once Republicans are out of office we can do away with all of this unnecessary stinginess and *really* start spending money on health care and education ... is damn scary.

[Neil B.]

Not only do the Pollyannas cheat by looking at averages (which don't show how badly the lower half is doing as such), but the "average person" isn't even as well off as advertised. Pollyannas often use the CPI of "core inflation" which has "volatile" food and energy prices (i.e., they might rise more than the government wants to accommodate in higher SS payments etc.) stripped out. Then there's also Boskin's attempt, fraudulent as Hell AFAICT, to make inflation seem less. But energy and housing got really bad, and housing is rough even after the recent drop. Bottom line: Most of us can still buy "junk" at good rates, but core necessities, education, etc., take up more and more of our incomes. Is it attitude and trickery, or stupidity, on the part of people like Gramm and by extension, McCain?

[save_the_rustbelt]

In the irony department, McCain was landing in Michigan about the time Gramm's comments hit the fan.

And we all know how well the economy in Michigan is doing............

[Tuco]

I don't know what the problem is, the food tastes great (9Lives Seafood Platter, Prime Entrée with Real Tuna & Shrimp, Sliced Beef in Gravy) and I just added a new addition to my dwelling: the box from a Sears Kenmore refrigerator. And hey, here under the bridge I'm outta the rain. Life doesn't get any better than this.

And the best part is I'm feelin good about doin my part to make sure those in the executive suite are livin life large.

[Neil B.]

Dig this cute Onionesque satire by "lampwick" on WaMo, about "JohnnieMac":
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014071.php#1292367
WaMo has the damn cleverist and intelligent commenters. You guys around here are as smart, but just not as clever on average (yet hat tip to Tuco and Jerry.)

[Melancholy Korean]

I can't even pretend to understand how I, as a Republican, am supposed to defend this. The old model, Republicans are Daddy and Democrats are Mommy, worked for us as long as Daddy was a rational, hard-ass realist, who worked hard in a real job in the REAL WORLD, and who always knew the score.

When Daddy starts sitting on the couch all day, drinking six pack after six pack, yelling at the television and muttering incoherently about the black helicopters and "Islamo-Fascists" and "liberal media conspiracy," you know it's time for an intervention.

I'm calling bullsh*t on the Republican Party. This isn't conservatism. It's deranged ideology. And ideology is supposed to be anathema to conservatives.

[Matt]

Looks like the repeal of Glass-Steagal had some, er, Grammifications...

Someone please calculate the UBS write-downs to date, plus VaR, and post, so that the wider punditry can adopt the phrasing, "Phil Gramm, having overseen a $Xb write-down at UBS, today commented..."

M

[peter jackson]

The hyperbole in this thread is *every* bit as shrill and absurd as any attributed to conservatives. Tuco, I'll give you a dollar for everyone you know who eats cat food and lives in a refrigerator box if you give me a nickel for everyone you know who doesn't.