The Davebrand Monthly Visitor

Also Sprach Zarathustra on Kazoo (mp3)

Happy Hairy Hippy Harry Claus (mp3)

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The Secret Cavern of Read-Along Treasures! Remember all of those great records from the 1970s and 1980s where Mr. T does things he would never do in real life, or C3PO and R2D2 go to the Planet of the Hoojibs? Actually, they don’t have Planet of the Hoojibs. Sad.

Today I went to hear Paul Krugman (his blog) speak about his new book, The Conscience of a Liberal. Here are some notes from his talk:

1. He has hope for America’s future. The signs are improving, and the progressive cause is much louder and vocal than even three years ago.
2. The basis of his book is an overview of America since the Guilded Age of the 1890’s, which was an era of great disparity in wealth. This was followed by what he calls the Great Compression, the time during the 1930’s and 1940’s when The New Deal era legislation (social security), wage controls and progressive taxes lead to a compression of wealth into a large and stable middle class.
3. Since the 1960’s, movement conservatism has taken over the GOP starting with Barry Goldwater. Using its agenda to remove the pillars of democracy: social security, medicare, civil rights, and the Great Society, movement conservatism has been very successful in winning elections.
4. Why has movement conservatism been successful? In large part, it’s been due to the switch of the south from solid Democrat to solid Republican. Republicans actually lost seats in the north. So why has the south changed? One word: racial racism. Wait, that’s two words. Yes, the south is racist, and movement conservatism has used keywords like ’states rights’ and ‘local control of education’ and ‘intelligent design’ to win the south over.
5. Bush isn’t lazy or stupid - his lack of planning for Iraq, Katrina, or, well, anything, is actually movement conservatism’s belief that government is ineffective. Proven by their own actions.
6. Ironically, cronyism guarantees jobs for Republicans who don’t succeed, like Rick Santorum. He calls this ‘wing-nut welfare’.
7. But the American public has always been more liberal than is believed. The majority of Americans support single-payer health care, which Krugman believes is the key for the future success of liberalism. It is also the most feared aspect to the Republicans.
8. A single-payer health care system is the key to being competitive in the global marketplace. By moving the cost of healthcare (which is bloated and ineffective as is) from the employers to a single-payer system removes the burden on workers and corporations. It’s a win-win.
9. His beard is awe-inspiring and all-knowing.

I have found the best french fries in Austin, but I’m not going to tell anyone. Sorry.