Economic liberalism is on life-support, while cultural liberalism thrives

[eridani]

Democrats really do need to be more than just pro-choice Republicans.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/10853-focus-cultural-liberalism-is-not-enough

s White House aides and Congressional leaders flood the media with dueling leaks about just how far President Obama was willing to go last summer to meet the budget-cutting demands of House Speaker John A. Boehner, many liberals have reacted with shock and horror at how much of their historic achievement the president appears to have been ready to bargain away. If a Democratic president could consider cutting America’s shredded safety net further when unemployment remained stiffly high and the country was undergoing an explosion of inequality, was the "liberal moment" of American politics finally over?

Yet Maryland recently became the eighth state to join the same-sex marriage club (which includes the District of Columbia). Rush Limbaugh was force-fed a triple helping of crow for his failed attempt at "slut shaming," after opening up the gender gap again. Women, young people, college graduates and mixed-race Americans, surveys indicate, are spurning conservative arguments about contraception, same-sex marriage and sexual freedom.

In other words, economic liberalism is on life-support, while cultural liberalism thrives. The obvious question is why. The simple answer is that cultural liberalism comes cheap. Supporting same-sex marriage or a woman’s right to choose does not cost the wealthy anything or restrict their ability to become wealthier. But there is more to it than that.

[DonCoquixote]

1. You want the real answer

Because those "socially liberal/fiscal conservative" types are noty interested in truly exp[anding their opprtinitues to the masses.

[limpyhobbler]

2. good question, wrong or incomplete answer

Mr Alterman asked an important question as to why "liberal" economic policies have apparently fallen off the agenda over the past decades. I don't think he quite got the answer completely. Here's my answer:

1) The government has been captured by wealthy special interests.

2) Growing inequality, maldistribution of resources, dislocated workers, and personal economic insecurity are all really features of our (global) economic system. Misery and anxiety are always going to catch up to us as they are "baked into the cake". I don't think the President is going to give a speech about "we need to fundamentally change the way the whole global economy works" any time soon. I'm afraid the Democratic party doesn't even really have the vocabulary to address people's economic concerns.

[xchrom]

3. +1

[CrispyQ]

4. Most of the people I know who are dems, are these kind of dems.

They are pro-choice, equal rights, but when it comes to economics, they are republican through & through. Poor people? They don't care about them. For the most part, they do not support a social safety net. Most of them are well to do.

This is what has infested the democratic party. It no longer holds the same values I do. Even pro-choice/equal rights are on the line, sometimes! But never, never going after the wealthy or the corporations. That's never on the line. Institute a tax on all stock transactions? It will never be mentioned.

I honestly do not know what I'm going to do this fall. I will vote - there will be issues to vote on, but I do not know if I can continue to vote for a democratic candidates who don't represent me. I've seen that when I continue to vote & support these candidates, they in turn continue to take me for granted & continue to shift right.

[Zalatix]

5. Your power is best exercised during the primaries.

[RobertEarl]

6. $$$$

If you want to focus on money then just look at all the money that is raised from taxes and spent on food stamps, housing, water and sewer, and the roads that are all a great benefit to poor people.

There is a huge liberal economic system in place and working very well.

Just because some choose to ignore all that the Democratic party has stood for, got funded and fight every day to protect, does not mean it does not exist.

We have done a great job building this country. Is it perfect? No. But we have one of the greatest societies this earth has ever seen. Be proud to be a Democrat and vow to never stop fighting.