And a Delicious Review of Tony Judt’s New Book
by Matt B. on March 17, 2010
Dwight Garner has a review of Tony Judt’s Ill Fares the Land in the New York Times. I haven’t yet read the book, but if Garner’s review is to be believed, then Judt sounds a little quick to valorize previous generations of statesmen. On the other hand, Judt has some deeply interesting things to say about the current situation. This cherry, for example:
‘”Oddly enough, Mr. Judt writes, the left and right have swapped political modes. The right has become radicalized, abandoning the “social moderation which served it so well from Disraeli to Heath, from Theodore Roosevelt to Nelson Rockefeller.” It’s the left that now has something to conserve, “the institutions, legislation, services and rights that we have inherited from the great age of 20th-century reform.”’
And yet so much of that radicalization feels purely rhetorical. Despite the hard right’s railing against ‘big government’ and ‘socialism’, how many Republicans would really be willing to roll back programs like Medicare and Medicaid if they could do so without fear of political consequences? How many talk radio personalities truly believe that these services could be adequately provided via private means (or that it would be okay if our society simply failed to provide them)? My guess: not very few.
And a Delicious Review of Tony Judt’s New Book
by Matt B. on March 17, 2010
Dwight Garner has a review of Tony Judt’s Ill Fares the Land in the New York Times. I haven’t yet read the book, but if Garner’s review is to be believed, then Judt sounds a little quick to valorize previous generations of statesmen. On the other hand, Judt has some deeply interesting things to say about the current situation. This cherry, for example:
‘”Oddly enough, Mr. Judt writes, the left and right have swapped political modes. The right has become radicalized, abandoning the “social moderation which served it so well from Disraeli to Heath, from Theodore Roosevelt to Nelson Rockefeller.” It’s the left that now has something to conserve, “the institutions, legislation, services and rights that we have inherited from the great age of 20th-century reform.”’
And yet so much of that radicalization feels purely rhetorical. Despite the hard right’s railing against ‘big government’ and ‘socialism’, how many Republicans would really be willing to roll back programs like Medicare and Medicaid if they could do so without fear of political consequences? How many talk radio personalities truly believe that these services could be adequately provided via private means (or that it would be okay if our society simply failed to provide them)? My guess: not very few.