Gallowglass

Debasing the currency

One of the things that really makes me angry is the debasement of language by political spin. Prime example - the term "class warfare." This Washington Post article talks about how the administration has managed to cow the Democrats, by calling their efforts to criticise government tax policy "class warfare." That isn't class warfare. Class warfare is when the administration brings in tax cuts that grossly and disproportionately favour the richest 1%. Class warfare is when the federal government oversees swingeing cuts in state level programs supposed to help the poor. The current US administration seems to be auditioning for the part of lackey of monopoly capital in some 60's Marxist agit-prop drama. Its policies are that crudely biased. And nobody in the mainstream of the Democratic Party is calling them on it.

Update: Douglas Kellner has a similar reaction, as does Eugene Oregon

And see Jack Balkin (permalinks bloggered) for an excellent long essay on Republican hardball tactics and Democrat spinelessness. Josh Marshall sums up the latter perfectly when he says " At a certain point you wonder whether the GOP will have to start executing family pets before the Dems find something they can mobilize on."