August 29, 2007
Another Take on Blue States
Speaking of blue states, in his forthcoming book The Bluest State: How Democrats Created the Massachusetts Blueprint for American Political Disaster, Boston political analyst Jon Keller offers this short diagnosis of the problems with national-scale liberalism, all too evident in the state politics of our neighbor to the north (via Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix)…
Democrats have limped through a generation of tenuous grasp on national political power in part because they’ve been infected with the Massachusetts viruses I’ve described: addiction to tax revenues and a raging edifice complex couched in disrespect for wage earners; phony identity politics without real results for women and minorities; reflexive anti-Americanism in foreign affairs; vain indulgence in obnoxious political correctness; self-serving featherbedding; NIMBYism; authoritarian distortion of the balance of governmental power, all simmered in a broth of hypocritical paternalism.Any of that sound familiar to Rhode Island residents?
Note to self: Get this book!
Posted by: Greg at August 29, 2007 10:30 AM>>Any of that sound familiar to Rhode Island residents?
If we inserted " ... and subservience to public sector union bosses to the point of genuflecting before them while kissing their pinkie-rings, coupled with a culture of political corruption that is not just accepted, but pervasive and celebrated ..." it would sound JUST LIKE Rhode Island!
Posted by: Tom W at August 29, 2007 10:31 AMJust another republican using big words to make himself more attractive to the man in the next stall at the bathroom airport.
Posted by: Jeremy at August 30, 2007 8:03 AMThat's funny considering we have the second highest per capita income in the US, 32nd in tax burden (good thing), and best education in the United States and one of the lowest crime rates.
In fact things got worse when Romney, the man who bleeds Red State, (unless he wants to be moderate, then he is for blue state initiatives) took office.
Taking any advice from Jon Keller on Massachusetts is like asking asking Sheldon Whitehouse whats wrong with the RI Republican party.
Posted by: George at August 30, 2007 10:05 AM>>Just another republican using big words to make himself more attractive to the man in the next stall at the bathroom airport.
Actually, it sounds like this was a situation involving a Republican trying to "reach across the aisle" and engage in a little "bipartisanship" with his limp-wristed colleagues across the aisle, since he (like everyone else) he knows that the Democrat side of the aisle is home to the majority of the limp-wristed brigade.
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at August 30, 2007 1:50 PM