Friday, October 17, 2008

The Wall Street Journal Is Worried

As the McCain campaign concentrates on holding the red states, Rupert Murdoch's house organ for the super-rich sounds the alarm on what could happen if Barack Obama's coattails are long enough to give Democrats filibuster-proof majorities in Congress.

"Though we doubt most Americans realize it," a WSJ editorial warns, "this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s."

A sidebar lists Republican nightmares that passed the House this year but were blocked in the Senate--prescription-drug price controls, renegotiating mortgage contracts in bankruptcy, withdrawal timetables for funding the Iraq war and, horror of horrors, a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

Looking to the future, the Journal is doing a Paul Revere on the possibility of laws to expand health care coverage that could lead to a single-taxpayer system and a "tax-and-regulation scheme in the name of climate change."

To a liberal who was alive when FDR created such support systems as Social Security and FDIC insurance for bank accounts, going back to the 1930s and 1960s, when LBJ finally gave the vote to African-Americans, is nowhere near as scary as continuing the Bush debacle that is decimating our economy today.

But then again, the editors of the Wall Street Journal are so much more sophisticated about such matters, particularly with the Australian-billionaire sensibility they recently acquired.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Though we doubt most Americans realize it," a WSJ editorial warns, "this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933.

What a wonderful world it would be.

Anonymous said...

I loved that "sidebar." The horror list of they-must-not-come-to-a-vote measure shows just how out of touch the editorial page of WSJ is with most Americans.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for pointing this out. I am SO sick of reading and hearing about how awful it's gonna be with Democrats in charge imposing a leftist agenda. Like the worst thing that could happen to this country is to restore the sense of community and the social compact that would put the government to work for average people instead of the wealthy. And, as if everyone in America must be afraid of that possibility. If that were true, the Dems wouldn't be winning, for pete's sake.