Wisconsin is Not Your Father's "Culture Wars" - It's a Right Wing "Cultural Revolution"

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-berkowitz/34882/wisconsin-is-not-your-fathers-culture-wars-its-a-right-wing-cultural-revolution

With the stripping away of fifty years of collective bargaining rights for public employee unions in Wisconsin, the culture wars of the past three decades are morphing into something much larger: a right-wing cultural revolution. And while battles over reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and an assortment of other highly-charged social issues will continue to be fought over, the political landscape is dramatically changing.

The "culture wars," as reported by the mainstream media since the Reagan administration, has been portrayed as mostly being about such hot-button issues as abortion, homosexuality, and prayer in the public schools. And while it is true that those issues, and a slate of similarly divisive ones, have propelled the modern "culture wars" forward, the battle over union rights in Wisconsin and Ohio (with other states likely to follow) is not just another battle in the "culture wars." Rather it is a redefinition of this country's social contract and a complete realignment of the political landscape.

What's going on is a fusion of Koch-ist anti-union free-market fundamentalism, Tea Party bluster, and the Religious Right's traditional values agenda; think the Heritage Foundation's nearly four-decade-old mission coming home to roost.

Everything the Heritage Foundation has been seeking, thinking about, researching, promoting, marketing, writing about and fundraising for - from destroying unions to putting the kybosh on public education -- is now on the table.

More at the link --