Defining Political Deviancy Down

(April 18, 2009)

In 1993, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously warned that American society was "defining deviancy down." To the approval of conservatives, Moynihan cautioned that when it came to crime, family breakdown and other social pathologies, "we have been re-defining deviancy so as to exempt much conduct previously stigmatized, and also quietly raising the 'normal' level in categories where behavior is now abnormal by any earlier standard." Now 16 years later, so it is with American political culture...

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10 Republican Lies for Tax Day

(April 15, 2009)

The truth may set you free, but not if you're a Republican and the subject is taxes. After all, 95% of American families as promised received a tax cut from the Obama stimulus package. And while three-quarters of Americans support President Obama's proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000 to their Clinton-era levels, it turns out that affluent voters, too, chose Barack Obama over John McCain. Making matters worse, a Gallup poll Monday revealed that Americans' "views of income taxes among most positive since 1956"...

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From Republican Rhetoric to Right-Wing Terror

(April 5, 2009)

The slaughter of three Pittsburgh policemen by an assailant who "didn't like our [gun] rights being infringed upon" has again highlighted the growing danger from incendiary Republican rhetoric spawning right-wing terror. After all, just days ago, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) announced, "I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous." Fox News host Glenn Beck warned of a "Constitution under attack" and predicted a coming "civil war" while featuring guests like NRA chief Wayne Lapierre whose group spent millions in 2008 denouncing Barack Obama's supposed "deep-rooted hatred of firearm freedoms"...

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Democrats. Saving American Capitalism Since 1933.

(March 27, 2009)

Even as President Obama prepared to meet with the CEO's of the nation's largest banks and financial institutions, his detractors' hysteria about his plans to rescue the economy reached a fever pitch. In Washington, GOP leaders decried Obama's "banana republic" budget, only to unveil warmed-over tax cuts certain enrich the wealthiest Americans while accelerating the Reagan-Bush emptying of the Treasury. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal spoke in apocalyptic terms of "civil war" as "Democrats bid business adieu. Of course, forgotten in Republican fear and loathing is the inescapable historical truth. Since the time of Herbert Hoover, Wall Street and the American economy overall almost always do better under Democratic presidents...

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Red State Socialism and the Politics of Stimulus

(March 22, 2009)

In just their latest posturing for the 2012 Republican presidential race, governors Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Mark Sanford (R-SC) joined Texas' Rick Perry, Mississippi's Haley Barbour and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal in announcing they would reject some of the federal stimulus funds allocated to their states. But as the steady one-way flow of tax dollars and earmarks spreading the wealth from Washington to their states shows, de facto red state socialism is alive and well...

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Republicans, Science and Manufacturing Uncertainty

(March 9, 2009)

On Monday, President Obama as promised reversed George W. Bush's draconian restrictions on federal support for stem cell research in the United States. But just as important as that key step was its larger message that this White House rejects the politicization of science which has dominated Republican strategy for a generation. And at the heart of that cynical subservience to business interests and social conservatives alike has been one of the Republican Party's most destructive tactics, manufacturing uncertainty...

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The Myth of Republican Fiscal Discipline

(February 17, 2009)

On Monday, President Obama as promised reversed George W. Bush's draconian restrictions on federal support for stem cell research in the United States. But just as important as that key step was its larger message that this White House rejects the politicization of science which has dominated Republican strategy for a generation. And at the heart of that cynical subservience to business interests and social conservatives alike has been one of the Republican Party's most destructive tactics, manufacturing uncertainty...

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On Stimulus, Republicans Party Like It's 1993

(February 14, 2009)

As predicted, House and Senate Republicans on Friday maintained their unified front in turning their backs on President Obama's economic recovery package. As it turns out, Obama wasn't the first Democrat to learn the hard way that bipartisanship is a one-way street for the GOP when it comes to the economy. In 1993, Bill Clinton's $496 billion stimulus and deficit-cutting program passed without a single Republican vote. But in 1981 and again in 2001, substantial numbers of Democrats acquiesced in backing regressive Reagan and Bush tax cuts which, also as predicted, drained the federal treasury...

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Lincoln, King and Obama's New American Dream

(November 10, 2008)

That the election of Barack Obama as the United States' first African-American president was historic is an understatement. But perhaps lost in the excitement and emotion of Obama's victory speech Tuesday was just how truly American it was. Weaving into his address the words of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., Obama tapped into the noblest tradition of American national unity. And in so doing, President-elect Obama traced the historical arc of the United States as a work in progress, a nation trying to fulfill its goal of becoming a more perfect union...

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The Haves, the Have Mores and the McCains

(August 19, 2008)

Eight years ago, then Governor George W. Bush revealingly joked about his backers at the 2000 Al Smith Dinner. "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores," Bush said, adding, "Some people call you the elites; I call you my base." With his own quip Saturday night that "$5 million" is his definition of rich," John McCain made no mistake that he is Bush's natural heir...

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McCain Fails McCain's Commander-in-Chief Test

(July 28, 2008)

Sadly, when it comes to the war in Iraq, it is the Arizona Republican who failed his own commander-in-chief exam. At almost every turn in the run-up to the invasion and the ensuing American occupation, McCain's judgment was almost always wrong, often disastrously so. From his predictions of a short war, claims U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators and that the U.S. would find weapons of mass destruction to his announcements of mission accomplished, his ongoing confusion over friend and foe in Iraq and so much more, John McCain the would-be wartime president gets failing marks...

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"All Roads Lead to Rove" - A Conversation with Don Siegelman

(July 22, 2008)

Dominating the discussion at this weekend's Netroots Nation conference in Austin was the urgent need to restore the rule of law now under withering assault by the Bush administration. From the suspension of habeas corpus and detainee torture to warrantless wiretapping and the politicization of the Justice Department, session after session detailed the unaccountable lawlessness of the Bush White House. And to be sure, no speaker made that case more personally than former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman...

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From Maverick to Prostitute: The Untold Story of John McCain

(March , 2008)

As much as anything else, presidential campaigns are won and lost by the media narratives that rightly or wrongly come to define a candidate. In the case of Republican nominee John McCain, the seemingly unshakable narrative of the political "maverick" could not be further off the mark. At almost every turn, McCain in his eternal quest for the White House has reversed long-held positions, compromised core principles and swallowed his pride in order to curry favor with both the leading lights of the conservative movement and right-wing Republican primary voters...

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That's Entertainment: Politics as Theater in Campaign '08 (Presentation)

(February 5, 2008)

Politics must now compete with an oversupply of entertainment and information sources, from television, radio, books, newspapers and magazines to web sites, blogs, online video, Podcasts and more. The result is a 21st century "infotainment complex" where politics, news, opinion and entertainment merge. Politics itself is now entertainment, part drama and part competition in a passion play where confrontation, conflict and good versus evil rule the day. The journalistic search for objective truth is replaced by the presentation of ideological clashes with two - and only two - sides. This talk examines the disturbing implications for campaign '08 and American democracy itself when a well-informed citizenry devolves into what Al Gore deemed the "well amused audience"...

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Bush's M.C. Escher Strategy for Iraq

(November 30, 2007)

More and more, President Bush's strategy in Iraq resembles an M.C. Escher illustration. Like the hands drawing each other or the elegant depiction of stairways that cannot possibly meet, the military progress of the U.S. surge is producing an image of a future Iraq that, while glorious to behold, can never be built. The very American alliances with Sunni tribal leaders that are reducing sectarian violence and the threat from Al Qaeda also threaten to undermine the Shiite majority government in Baghdad...

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The Party of Hate

(November 12, 2007)

In Washington, House Minority Leader John Boehner is struggling to rebrand a downtrodden and disheartened Republican Party in time for the 2008 elections. It's no wonder. Its agenda stymied and burdened by an unpopular war and an even less popular President, the GOP is being pulverized in the polls. And with its evangelical base splintered and big business supporters jumping ship, the only message seemingly uniting Republicans is disdain - of immigrants, of blacks, of gay Americans and above all, Muslims. The GOP is now the Party of Hate...

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The Unpology: How Republicans Never Say They're Sorry

(August 18, 2007)

In 1997, Seinfeld introduced Americans to the "unvitation." The unvitation enables the cynical person to seemingly satisfy the demands of social etiquette by extending an invitation to an event or gathering which they know the recipient will - or must - reject. As we fast forward to 2007, Americans are witnessing Republicans perfect a similar act of social hypocrisy and cynicism: the Unpology. Facing recriminations for ethical failings, racist behavior, sexist statements or outright criminality, this new generation of Republican wrong-doers delivers the facade of apology by uttering obligatory words of remorse devoid of actual regret, contrition - or even an admission of guilt...

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Up or Down Vote: Death of a GOP Talking Point

(July 22, 2007)

On Thursday morning, July 19th, the beloved GOP talking point "up or down vote" was officially declared dead. Its demise was little noticed in the aftermath of the Senate Republicans' successful all-night filibuster to block the Reed-Levin bill seeking to begin U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. "Up or down vote" was killed by a desperate Republican Party trying to obstruct Democratic accomplishments at any cost in advance of the 2008 elections. And so far, the GOP seems to be getting away with the crime...

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SiCKO Required Reading: U.S. Health Care by the Numbers

(June 29, 2007)

Perrspectives has reached into its archives and combed through other recent research to produce a quick look at the U.S. health care morass by the numbers. The summary below includes comparisons of the American health care system relative to other countries and between the states, data on the uninsured, rising health care costs, the woes of Medicare and Medicaid and more...

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The Minimum Wage in Red and Blue

(January 10, 2007)

In Washington this week, the Democratic-controlled House takes on the first minimum wage increase since 1997. But while the federal government has blocked help for 13 million working Americans (9.8% of the workforce) for a decade, many states have already moved forward with their own minimum wage hikes. And as you might imagine, few of them happened to vote for George W. Bush for president...

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Divide, Suppress and Conquer: The GOP's 25% Strategy for 2006

(November 6, 2006)

As Tuesday's vote approaches, Democrats are buoyantly optimistic about their prospects for retaking control of Congress. President Bush is wildly unpopular. His handling of Iraq, the election's dominant issue, is backed by less than a third of the electorate. On issue after issue, voters across the United States support Democratic positions. And in generic Congressional polls, a majority of Americans consistently prefer Democrats over Republicans. Almost none of which matters for the Republican braintrust. For the GOP, 2006 isn't a popularity contest. The Republican strategy for victory hinges on turning out their base while ensuring potential Democratic voters stay home. Call it "Divide, Suppress and Conquer"...

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Homegrown Terrorism in the U.S. and Europe

(August 13, 2006)

Commentators of all political stripes are too quick to draw conclusions about the comparative dangers of radical Islam within European and American Muslim communities. Predictably, conservatives use terror plots in England, clashes in France, train bombings in Spain and cartoon outrage in Denmark to attack the economic stagnation and social rigidity of Europe, while lauding the opportunity and equality of American society. In turn, liberals see multi-culturalism, affirmative action and group politics as a safety valve that provides American minorities political expression, electoral muscle and social standing missing in Europe. The reality is much more complicated than that, defying such facile comparisons and ready morality plays...

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The Republican Rap Sheet

(June 20, 2006)

This weekend, Democrats in Congress moved quickly to oust Louisiana Representative William Jefferson from his seat on the powerful House Way and Means Committee. Facing strong opposition from the Congressional Black Caucus, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed that Democrats would be quick to punish ethical transgressors within their ranks. The contrast with the Republican culture of corruption could not more stark...

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The Republicans' Constitutional Crisis

(February 20, 2006)

From the beginning, the administration's amen corner has aggressive claimed that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the wartime Commander-in-Chief powers give President Bush the statutory and constitutional basis for sidestepping the FISA process for domestic electronic surveillance. But most in the GOP are downright sheepish when it comes to the third argument that logically flows from their first two: FISA itself is unconstitutional. Their trepidation is well founded; as a matter of law and of politics, an attack by Republicans on the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is bound to fail...

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Getting Drafty: A Hybrid Model of National Service

(June 26, 2005)

The time for a collective free ride on national service is over. Our overcommitted American military is stretched to the breaking point, with a terrible toll and unfair demands on active duty troops and reservists alike...Our growing national security needs simply can’t – and shouldn’t – be met by a volunteer American military. The time has come for new, expanded American armed forces. Combining an enlarged professional fighting force with a new conscript-based Civil Defense Force (CDF), our new hybrid military would be prepared to face the challenges of the next decade. And by reintroducing national service, the United States might actually reinstill democratic values of shared defense and sacrifice across all sections of American society..

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Schiavo, Mill and the Culture of Living

(March 20, 2005)

Ours is – or rather should be – a culture that sees preserving individual autonomy as vital to liberty. Call it “the Culture of Living.” It is a culture that values the privacy, personal freedom and unique path to happiness of each American. A woman’s body and the decisions she and her partner make regarding their reproductive choices are no one’s business but their own, and certainly not the government’s. A Culture of Living does not condemn the terminally ill to the enslavement of their own bodies. And that culture certainly should respect the decision a woman freely made 15 years ago as to how and whether her life, no longer free, shall be continued...

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The Myth of the Bush Doctrine

(March 9, 2005)

In triumphant and self-congratulatory tones, the President and his allies are taking credit for the sweeping reform throughout the Middle East and claiming the vindication of the "Bush Doctrine.". Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Bush Doctrine. Or more accurately, there are many Bush Doctrines. It is whatever you need to it to be. It is the foreign policy hedonism of President Bush and the conservative ascendancy: if it feels good, do it...

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Framed: Lakoff's Dubious Speech Therapy for Democrats

(March 1, 2005)

In the wake of November’s disaster for Democrats, liberals and progressives of all stripes have been seeking guidance and comfort in the work of cognitive scientist and linguist George Lakoff. All the rage among Democrats, his book Don’t Think of An Elephant has introduced the term “framing” into their daily lexicon. For devastated Democrats trying to plot their return from the wilderness, Lakoff has taken on almost mythic status. And that’s not a good thing...

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The Opt Out Society: The GOP Threat to National Unity and the American Social Contract

(June 15, 2003; updated February 9, 2004))

American national unity itself that is under attack by the GOP during a time of war, and that presents Democrats with their best chance for to return from the political wilderness.. The American people are being divided and splintered by a Republican public philosophy of market worship, the privatization or abandonment of traditional government roles and services, and a radical individualism. The Bush philosophy represents an all-out assault on common national purpose in the United States. Government not only can't solve problems, it has no moral claim on its citizens' participation in a shared national effort to try...

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The End of the Unilateral Moment: Five Global Challenges for a New American Internationalism

(June 18, 2004)

With American unilateralism disgraced and discredited, the United States must move on to a new internationalism to meet the five global challenges of the 21st century. In a time of global terrorist threats, the U.S. must rebuild its alliances, partnerships, and most of all, its reputation, to help ensure its security. In a time of new competition from the EU, China, India and others in the global economy, the U.S. must skillfully manage economic transition to maximize the American standard of living. At a time of rapidly growing Chinese economic and geo-political power, the United States must ensure that competition does not become conflict...

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Cognitive Dissonance, Terrorism and 9/11

(March 30, 2004)

The massive national security disaster of September 11, 2001 was not primarily a failure of planning, bureaucratic coordination, or vigilance by either the Clinton or Bush administrations. Instead, the root cause of the American failure on 9/11 was psychological. That is, the American national security establishment simply could not absorb, process, and filter data regarding threats so fundamentally at odds with its post-Cold War mind set and conceptual framework. Perhaps more than anything else, the U.S. calamity of September 11 can be attributed to cognitive dissonance...

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Google's Gag Order: An Internet Giant Threatens Free Speech

(June 20, 2004)

There is no doubt that Google has joined the elite group of culture-changing brands.  Unfortunately, Google may be playing a darker, more sinister role in American society: corporate censor. On June 15, the Google Adwords team discontinued all advertisements placed by Perrspectives.com due to “unacceptable content” on the site that includes “language that advocates against an individual, group or organization.”  There can be no doubt that the current Google editorial guidelines, evenly applied, would bar almost any newspaper, magazine, opinion journal, political party, advocacy campaign or even religious organization from advertising on its site. And that puts Google dangerously at odds with core American values of free speech and assembly...

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States' Blights: Why the Rights of Gay Couples Can't Be Left to the States

(March 2, 2004)

In 2004, John Kerry and John Edwards said the issue of same-sex marriage should be left to the states.  That may have been playing it safe, but unfortunately it’s bad public policy. While the states have traditionally regulated marriage. their record of recognizing and protecting individual rights and personal privacy is not a happy one. From slavery and Jim Crow segregation to voting rights and the most private of sexual choices, state constitutions and legislatures have trampled on the core rights of racial, ethnic and other minorities. Supreme Court rulings in cases such as Dred Scott (1857) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) are a stain on the American ideals of human freedom and equality that took a bloody civil war and a hundred year civil rights struggle to overcome...

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