tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8491680575722193600..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Tyler Cowen's Inconvenient QuestionsJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-1554127556945761532016-08-04T11:27:21.224-04:002016-08-04T11:27:21.224-04:00Based on John's characterization of Cowen'...Based on John's characterization of Cowen's questions, it seems like Cowen is basically trying to score points by pointing out the contradictions between the current Democratic stance, and policies and stances adopted by FDR. To me the answer would be the changes brought by history. The later 1960s and early 1970s transformed both parties. The party of Lincoln became the part of the white South, and the party of Jefferson Davis became the party of the Northeast. The latter kept allegiance to some of FDR's policies (eg., social security, alliance with unions) while repudiating others (Japanese internment, tolerance for southern segregation). Most of today's Dems would probably have problems voting for FDR unless he changed along with them. Arguably, today's Democratic Party is more the party of Eleanor than of Franklin.<br /><br />On a separate point, I'm somewhat skeptical about the usefulness of the label "authoritarian" in a debate like this. It seems to me almost any exercise of power could be slandered as "authoritarian," and to the extent that any exercise of power is bound to make someone unhappy, that person might be perfectly sincere in so slandering. Arguably Ike's use of the army to enforce school desegregation was authoritarian, just as segregation itself was enforced by state governments with authoritarian means. So authoritarianism is in the eye of the beholder.<br /><br />Tom Edsall has an essay on authoritarianism in the NYT today, which basically slams Trump and his followers as authoritarian. But there are problems with this. For example, one of the metrics used to determine if a person is "authoritarian" is the degree of desirability they assign to teaching children good manners; the more manners, the more authoritarian. But a lot of what anti-Trumpistas dislike about Trump are his insults and his ill-mannered person as a politician, and much of what they find disturbing in his rallies is their general rowdiness. And surely political correctness is all about manners. One might point out further that supposedly anti-authoritarian ideals like creativity and questioning authority are, in an academic setting, largely dependent on students having already assimilated basic good classroom manners. (We want students to raise their hands and say in an even tone of voice, "I disagree with the premise of this assignment," not yell "Fuck this, I'm going out to smoke weed!")<br /><br />Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.com