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I'm not that cynical. I find the whole concept of attributing malice as the primary motive of those whom I disagree with to be one of the most basic (and common
by beat 8y ago
I'm not that cynical. I find the whole concept of attributing malice as the primary motive of those whom I disagree with to be one of the most basic (and common) of political failures.
No, I think they actually believed what they were saying. They believed the rising tide lifts all boats, and none of them would get swamped.
- fallingfrog 8y agoBut while those policies didn’t benefit the public they did benefit the people who formulated the policies. That’s the smoking gun. When someone shoots themselves in the foot it is likely an accident. If someone shoots me in the foot and somehow winds up with my wallet in their hands, I’m inclined to think it was intentional.
- goodpoint 8y ago"smoking gun" is an understatement. neo-liberalism: "a modified form of liberalism tending to favour free-market capitalism." The movement has been very right wing, pro-corporate and pro-billionaire since the beginning.
- antidesitter 8y agoWhat do you mean by "right wing" here? Do you just mean "capitalist"?
- fallingfrog 8y agoThe term “right wing” comes from revolutionary era France, where in the general assembly the aristocracy sat on the right, and everyone else sat on the left. In the modern world the “aristocracy” would be the capitalist class, so yes, anything that benefits the capitalist class is right wing, in that sense.
- antidesitter 8y agoWhy not just say "capitalist" since "right wing" can mean many other things? Why use the more ambiguous term when the more precise one will do? Is it intentional?
- antidesitter 8y agoAre you trying to draw an analogy between market-friendly policies and stealing your wallet?
- fallingfrog 8y agoYes. They scuppered the middle class, pillaged the commons and made a boatload of money doing it. The whole small-government argument was insincere.
- antidesitter 8y ago> They scuppered the middle class, pillaged the commons How so? This is just empty rhetoric.
- CharlesColeman 8y ago> No, I think they actually believed what they were saying. They believed the rising tide lifts all boats, and none of them would get swamped. I do too. I think their primary motive was selfish and short-signed motivated reasoning about the effects of their ideas. They ignored how those ideas could harm others because they were so captivated by how they could help themselves.
- beat 8y agoYeah. This is such a common fallacy. "This works for me, therefore it must work for everyone."