At 11:39 AM 2/13/96, bill mitchell wrote: >i cannot comment on the americo-centric observations except to say that the >relgious right seems to be becoming a more insidious force than the more >straightforward capitalist right. If I may be indulged the vulgar habit of quoting myself, here's a few paragraphs from my piece on Steve Forbes, just out in the Nation. (It was written at the peak of the Forbes boomlet, appeared in New York mailboxes just as the slide was beginning, and will hit the outback after he's sent back home, unless of course the story of Arizona will be the return of Steve Forbes, you never know....) <quote> It's amazing that a simple-minded plutocrat should attract such popular attention, but such is the dismal state of presidential politics this year. Forbes is the only candidate who refuses to prescribe the hair shirt; Clinton, who avoided all talk of austerity in 1992, has become more ardently frugal (cops and jails excepted) with every budget he's proposed. For the market utopians, Forbes is the last best hope. Their other hero, Jack Kemp, wouldn't run, so the small circle of pundits and Wall Streeters who keep the faith alive turned to the magazine heir instead. Their difficult task is to cloak their elite agenda in populist garb. That task is made even more difficult by Forbes's reticence on social issues. As R. Emmet Tyrell, editor of The American Spectator, points out, the Republicans aren't really all that serious about most of their moral agenda; "they're not willing to risk their coalition" by pressing too hard on the matter. But they need the agenda to rally the faithful at election time -- the same way the Dems need labor, African-Americans, feminists, and environmentalists in Novembers of even-numbered years. Once the election is done, both parties can betray their popular bases and govern in the interests of Wall Street and the Fortune 500. Though Forbes was slow to play to the Christian right, news that he's recently been hardening his rhetoric in fundamentalist-rich Iowa suggests that he may be discovering the appeal of the low road. <endquote> Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html>
