Recapturing Kansas (Thomas Frank interview)

[atommom]

Can you give some historical background for what you call the “Great Backlash”?

What I mean by that term is populist conservatism. It’s this angry right-wing sensibility that speaks in—or pretends to speak in—the voice of the working class. It got its start, more or less, in 1968, with the candidacy of George Wallace. The issues that the Backlash has embraced have changed a lot over the years. In the early days it was pretty much racist. Today, you have the same angry, hard-done-by sensibility, but it’s attached to different issues – the most famous being abortion, and, in this latest election, gay marriage.

The Great Backlash has a way of thinking about the people vs. the elite, which is one of the classic hallmarks of populists. According to your standard populism—your left-wing variety—it’s working people against owners, or blue collar against white collar. It’s about social class. According to the Backlash, it’s basically everybody against what they call the “liberal elite,” who they generally identify by their tastes and fancy college educations. But it’s an amorphous term, they’ll apply it to anybody they feel like. It’s not a solid sociological category. Nonetheless, it’s extremely powerful. And conservatives throw this idea around all the time, basically unchallenged by liberals or by the left.


http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1866/

[KurtNYC]

1. I want to read his book

thanks for posting this.

His book is due out in paperback shortly btw.
eg. "What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America"

[atommom]

2. It's a good read, though it's frustrating to see how people are being used

by the Right.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

3. its an amazing read

He is not only a great writer, but his book has some great points....don't wait!!!! go read it now! lol

[KurtNYC]

4. Wow - eye opener

something has become apparent to me since I moved to Washington, D.C. . There is this aversion, bordering on hatred, for the left, especially among Democrats. People who dominate discussions in Democratic circles despise the left, and there is no way in hell they are going to embrace the values of the left. You can try to explain to them how they need to do it for strategic purposes or in order to win elections, it doesn’t matter. The Democratic centrists got their way , they got their candidate, they got their way on everything, and they still lost. And who gets the blame? It’s going to be the left.

[hedda_foil]

5. Look at his description of the beltway "Dems"

There is this aversion, bordering on hatred, for the left, especially among Democrats. People who dominate discussions in Democratic circles despise the left, and there is no way in hell they are going to embrace the values of the left. You can try to explain to them how they need to do it for strategic purposes or in order to win elections, it doesn’t matter. The Democratic centrists got their way , they got their candidate, they got their way on everything, and they still lost. And who gets the blame? It’s going to be the left.

[eg101]

6. The face of the lady with the bandaid--if that aint the face of fascism...

....I don't know what is....

[eg101]

7. Great political movements need to give people something to hate

And that is just the bald truth. If you want to motivate most people to vote and to donate and to volunteer and to participate in a political movement, you need to GIVE THEM SOMETHING OR SOMEONE TO HATE. THat is just a fundamental facet of the human makeup.

The Rightwing as a tool of corporatism has ALWAYS done this. Germany is the PERFECT example. The union and labor movement that basically gave birth to the New Deal and other social improvements in America were organized around hating the bosses and corporations. Apparently the Democratic party was not above using hate in those days to rally their base.

And please don't try to tell me that the GOP is not a party of hate. Just look at the face of that woman in this TC Frank interview article.

But now we have let the rich and powerful use the media to scare us away from using HATE for the advantage of the political Left.

WE MUST USE HATE TO REVIVE THE LEFT IN AMERICA. Either we do it, or this country is doomed.

We need to isolate and attack and demonize the actors that can best handle it, and that deserve it--the rich and the corporations. And the corporate media will scream "class warfare". Let 'em.

But we need to broaden the focus of the hate. Right now it is on Bush and the GOP. But we need to broaden it to the rich and to regressive taxation and a whole host of values-related schema. That is another part of the problem--the 'crats cater to the affluent social liberals, wich is an abdication of their responsibilities.

[Chef]

8. Kansas

It's been 2 hours since this was posted, so I doubt anyone sees this. I am half way through the book now, and having read of the most recent liberal authors, I think this book is the best of the lot. It explains why someone like GW and all is creeps can get elected to destroy America. It does not appear that the Democrats are quite to the point of being able to take on the right and beat them. I think they (we?) are waiting until the right destroys itself, which may never quite become apparent to enough people, short of a depression. The centrist approach is wrong. We need to make the case for Democratic values. Universal health care, a rational military and foreign policy, fair taxes that pay for the cost of government, sound social security, and so much more. I don't know what it will take to put the party back together that will appeal to the majority of voters and counter the backlash crowd.

The one great point Frank makes is that the people have to be shown that for the last 25 years, the right has steadily gained control of all three branches of government but have really no victory in there motivating causes while they have pretty much destroyed it for all of us.

[sandnsea]

9. corporatism/consumerism

There's an article in LBN about Coke in India and that they're using all the water. That's the path for the Democrats. It isn't about rich vs. poor, it's about self-preservation. It's about selfish consumerism that obviously can't sustain itself and the destruction of the environment which will destroy our ability to even feed ourselves. Multinational corporations are driving it. All traditional Democratic values can be put together through a fight against unethical multinationals under a simple truth "Everything is Connected". It's pro people oriented business and trade. It's not only smart politically, it's something we're going to have to do sooner or later anyway. The entire world simply cannot consume at the same pace as Americans.

[starroute]

10. "Liberal elite" has a very specific meaning in RW conspiracy theory

It goes back to the most noxious kinds of racist theories of the early 20th century, when the extreme right believed that Jews secretly ruled the world and were trying to destroy civilization. After World War II, when it was harder to get away with that sort of overt anti-Semitism, they toned down the rhetoric to speak more vaguely of New York bankers and the liberal media.

(It was the John Birch Society that was mainly responsible for this retooling, and their version of right-wing conspiracy theory is now extremely common in both the religious and the secular right.)

The "liberal elite" label has served the right very well. Covert racists can read it as code for their real beliefs. Non-racist right-wingers can use it to feed into conspiracy theories about how abortion and gay marriage are destroying the moral fiber of the country and leaving it at the mercy of the communists / terrorists / whatever. And naive populists can use it as a simple expression of resentment towards those snooty people on tv who are wealthy and educated and look down on ordinary folks.

It's also served as a way for the extreme right to badmouth not only the Democrats but also whatever remnants there still are of moderate East Coast Republicanism. For them, it's all just one big New World Order conspiracy.