E. J. Dionne: (Elizabeth) Warren Makes the Proper Case for Liberalism

[babylonsister]

Warren Makes the Proper Case for Liberalism
By E.J. Dionne


WASHINGTON -- It's not often that a sound bite from a Democratic candidate gets so under the skin of my distinguished colleague George F. Will that he feels moved to quote it in full and then devote an entire column to refuting it. This is instructive.

The declaration heard 'round the Internet world came from Elizabeth Warren, the consumer champion running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warren argued that "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own," that thriving entrepreneurs move their goods "on the roads the rest of us paid for" and hire workers "the rest of us paid to educate." Police and firefighters, also paid for by "the rest of us," protect the factory owner's property. As a result, our "underlying social contract" requires this hardworking but fortunate soul to "take a hunk" of his profits "and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

In other words, there are no self-made people because we are all part of society. Accomplished people benefit from advantages created by earlier generations (of parents whom we didn't choose and taxpayers whom we've never met) and by the simple fact that they live in a country that provides opportunities that are not available everywhere. The successful thus owe quite a lot to the government and social structure that made their success possible.

snip//


What Warren has done is to make a proper case for liberalism, which does not happen often enough. Liberals believe that the wealthy should pay more in taxes than "the rest of us" because the well-off have benefited the most from our social arrangements. This has nothing to do with treating citizens as if they were cows incapable of self-government.

more...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/10/warren_makes_the_proper_case_for_liberalism.html

[ThomWV]

1. I wish I could Recommend this post twice, but as it is all I can do is K&R once

[malaise]

2. Here's one more

Rec

[madokie]

3. If I was a bett'n man I'd bet money she is our first Woman President

and she'll come right after BO's second term.

[unblock]

4. not a chance, sadly.

obama was deemed acceptable to the powers that be, who knew early on that shrub had screwed things up so badly that a republican could never win in 2008. whatever people think now or then about where he lies on the political spectrum, he was never confused with kucinich.

under no conditions would warren be deemed remotely acceptable to the powers that be. it'll never happen.

damn shame, because we desperately need her voice on the national stage. that said, the senate may yet give her that opportunity.