On 11/4/06, Carrol Cox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
But Jim is right. I can't see any way to actually measure my claim. I put it forth for consideration.
here's a possible measure, which would only apply from the late 40s, though maybe we could figure out a way to extend it. Measure the average extent to which the Senate and the House vote with the Americans for Democratic Action. That organization is seen as measuring the extent to which the legislatures are "liberal" (with both the up-side, i.e., domestic liberal programs, and the down-side, i.e., Cold War-ism). To extend the measure, we'd have to find some other organization that's been around longer. Assume that the ADA changes its political attitudes more slowly than the legislatures do. (I think that there is good reason to do so, since the ADA follows principles (however odious) more than politicians do.) Then, a fall in the legislatures' ADA rating would represent a "shift to the right." This measure would tell us when the legislatures -- the most popularly-elected parts of government -- shift to the right, but not "how far right they are" at any point in time. If the rightward shifts happen more than any leftward shifts, then Carrol's hypothesis is right (as it seems to be). This kind of measure could be combined with a similar measure based on the American Conservative Union's ratings (or something similar). By the way, such economic numbers as GDP don't really measure how much production there is these days. Rather, they measure how much there is this year compared to last year. So it's like my ADA rating. -- Jim Devine / "Mathematics has given economics rigor, but alas, also mortis." -- Robert Heilbroner
