Tucker Carlson has sparked the most interesting debate in conservative politics “All I’m saying is don’t act like the way things are is somehow ordained by God.” https://www.vox.com/2019/1/10/18171912/tucker-carlson-fox-news-populism-conservatism-trump-gop Last Wednesday, the conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson started a fire on the right after airing a prolonged monologue on his show that was, in essence, an indictment of American capitalism. America’s “ruling class,” Carlson says, are the “mercenaries” behind the failures of the middle class — including sinking marriage rates — and “the ugliest parts of our financial system.” He went on: “Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.” He concluded with a demand for “a fair country. A decent country. A cohesive country. A country whose leaders don’t accelerate the forces of change purely for their own profit and amusement.” The monologue was stunning in itself, an incredible moment in which a Fox News host stated that for generations, “Republicans have considered it their duty to make the world safe for banking, while simultaneously prosecuting ever more foreign wars.” More broadly, though, Carlson’s position and the ensuing controversy reveals an ongoing and nearly unsolvable tension in conservative politics about the meaning of populism, a political ideology that Trump campaigned on but Carlson argues he may not truly understand. Moreover, in Carlson’s words: “At some point, Donald Trump will be gone. The rest of us will be gone too. The country will remain. What kind of country will be it be then?” The monologue and its sweeping anti-elitism drove a wedge between conservative writers. The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher wrote of Carlson’s monologue, “A man or woman who can talk like that with conviction could become president. Voting for a conservative candidate like that would be the first affirmative vote I’ve ever cast for president.” Other conservative commentators scoffed. Ben Shapiro wrote in National Review that Carlson’s monologue sounded far more like Sens. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren than, say, Ronald Reagan. I spoke with Carlson by phone this week to discuss his monologue and its economic — and cultural — meaning. He agreed that his monologue was reminiscent of Warren, referencing her 2003 book The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Growing Broke. “There were parts of the book that I disagree with, of course,” he told me. “But there are parts of it that are really important and true. And nobody wanted to have that conversation.” Carlson wanted to be clear: He’s just asking questions. “I’m not an economic adviser or a politician. I’m not a think tank fellow. I’m just a talk show host,” he said, telling me that all he wants is to ask “the basic questions you would ask about any policy.” But he wants to ask those questions about what he calls the “religious faith” of market capitalism, one he believes elites — “mercenaries who feel no long-term obligation to the people they rule” — have put ahead of “normal people.” But whether or not he likes it, Carlson is an important voice in conservative politics. His show is among the most-watched television programs in America. And his raising questions about market capitalism and the free market matters. “What does [free market capitalism] get us?” he said in our call. “What kind of country do you want to live in? If you put these policies into effect, what will you have in 10 years?” (Much more at above url)
It is interesting that the message from Carlson got a little attention from conservatives, although a very similar message coming from "liberals" over the past forty years has been ignored by conservatives. This is yet another example of the messenger being equally as important as the message. One can deliver the right message without results until one is blue in the face. It takes both the right message and the right messenger to get results.
Sign of the times. We have the longest period of economic growth in history yet the working and middle class is stuck and struggling. Things like healthcare, retirement and college education are really hurting working people. There’s no wage growth and all of the gains are going to the wealthy and investor class. All of the above is because of conservatism. This is the predicted outcome when you believe wealthy people make jobs and if you just hand over the country to them some miracle will happen and wealth will trickle down to the working people. It’s horse shit. The truth is all of the things that helped create the middle class were fought for tooth and nail against the wealthy. Social security, minimum wage, right to unionize, ACA, Medicare. The list goes on and on. As these things get eroded or allowed to bankrupt so does the working class. The so called conservatives can see it too.
Are you a twisted thinker. Most of the loss of our middle class has been by design. The cronies and their policies have caused the extraction of America. Allowing our currency to be pegged. Allowing our private central bank to crated trillions and trilions of dollars for the benefit of its friends and owners... causing massive inflation. Progressive taxation so our middle class could not save money... and if they had a business it would get taxed away by death taxes. Keeping the middle class cemented in place if they were good but if they made mistakes they became lower class. Bringing in millions and million of cheap labor. And giving them benefits they put their standard of living on part with lower middle class without working so they had to compete for housing and education driving up the costs. Using the govt... to help health cement in monopolies. You are fucking nuts if you think that is small government low tax conservatism. Absolutely fucking nuts or dishonest beyond belief.
That is kind of funny, because things like healthcare and retirement are things the democrats claimed to have fixed. In fact Hussein Obama claimed he fixed healthcare and he had a nice little photo op with a fat black kid. I guess we are supposed to forget this ever happened and forget the promises made and broken. [/QUOTE]
It's interesting to me that health care companies are uniformly slammed as vicious predators who have driven virtuous people to bankruptcy through excessive costs. There is probably some truth to that. The educational establishment however is never blamed for wrecking people's lives by charging outrageous prices for an inferior product. At least a hospital or wonder drug may save your life. Getting a degree in gender resentment doesn't even qualify you for a job at Starbucks. The common denominator in both cases is that government "assistance" makes the customer less price sensitive and allows these monopolists to ramp up the charges. Now the chickens have come home to roost as gullible millenials start to realize that those student loans actually have to be paid off with real money. Of course, they want someone else to pay for them. The obvious solution to the student loan crisis is to force schools to have some skin in the game. Students should be allowed to discharge loans in bankruptcy but the schools that took their money should have to eat a sizeable portion of the loss. There is nothing the government could do to improve education more. Market discipline has a way of doing that.
The big, bad government is involved in everything from transportation to housing to technology. Do you blame the government for the price of houses or the rent prices? How about the price of your food? Or your airplane ticket? I see things differently. The costs of healthcare and education is not because of government itself but lack of regulation over the prices. Whether it’s prescription drugs to college textbooks, we have thrown the American people to the wolves when it comes to things that people need.