Prometheus 6

You know how the NY Times does little summaries of aarticles on each section's landing page? I saw this today for David Brooks' latest on the Times' Opinions page.

Revolt of the Nihilists

America’s political leaders have failed utterly to project any sense of authority and to give the world a reason to believe that this country is being governed.

That promised to at least raise topics of serious interest to me. What I found is that Brooks has a pretty damn good view of the problem Republicans have created.

The American century was created by American leadership, which is scarcer than credit just about now. 

He just refuses to put the actual blame where it belongs. The op-ed is more than interesting. Coming from an axle of the Republican machine

I’ve spoken with several House Republicans over the past few days and most admirably believe in free-market principles. What’s sad is that they still think it’s 1984. They still think the biggest threat comes from socialism and Walter Mondale liberalism. They seem not to have noticed how global capital flows have transformed our political economy.

...it was jaw-dropping in places.

In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt inherited an economic crisis. He understood that his first job was to restore confidence, to give people a sense that somebody was in charge, that something was going to be done.

This generation of political leaders is confronting a similar situation, and, so far, they have failed utterly and catastrophically to project any sense of authority, to give the world any reason to believe that this country is being governed.

How do you convince the world we are a s a nation have some sort of rational governance when about half of it declares governance itself is a flawed concept? Worse, when they actively fight to eliminate all governance? When they elect leaders that promise to dismantle the government? Mr. Brooks' references to "the 228 who voted no" totally obscures the fact that the Democrats...yes, who voted against the bill for the exact same reason the Republicans did...were responding within a political reality created by Republicans.

House Republicans led the way and will get most of the blame.

And everyone knows it. Mr. Brooks' task now is to inject enough reality into the discussion to change what folks are looking at.

It has been interesting to watch them on their single-minded mission to destroy the Republican Party. Not long ago, they led an anti-immigration crusade that drove away Hispanic support. Then, too, they listened to the loudest and angriest voices in their party, oblivious to the complicated anxieties that lurk in most American minds.

Now they have once again confused talk radio with reality. If this economy slides, they will go down in history as the Smoot-Hawleys of the 21st century. With this vote, they’ve taken responsibility for this economy, and they will be held accountable. The short-term blows will fall on John McCain, the long-term stress on the existence of the G.O.P. as we know it.

The advantage of beng the wonks when things go bad becomes apparent: we can explain things. Progressives will be able to explain their ideas and have them transmitted to the base with reasonable fidelity. To those Republicans still capable of detached reason I ask you, would you rather have the new economic realities explained by Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity?

That's the Republican's upcoming problem. They've trained their support to respond to dog whistles and getting through the transition away from a consumer economy (that is the minimum long term change necessary to support cultural survival) will require something more like Brass Construction.