http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/op...brooks.html?hp
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If Balzac were alive today, he would plant himself in that region of America that starts in central New York and Pennsylvania and then stretches out through Ohio and Indiana before spreading out to include Wisconsin and Arkansas. He’d plant himself in the working-class families in this area.
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I could tell right away that today's Brooksian eructation was going to be particularly fragrant (Hank, grab a dictionary - I'm going to use college words).
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Democrats have, at least temporarily, blown the opportunity they were given to connect with the industrial Midwest. Voters in this region face structural problems, not cyclical ones. Intensely suspicious of government, they are nonetheless casting about for somebody, anybody, who can revive their towns and neighborhoods.
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That would be the government, since the private sector isn't hiring anyone or spending any money. But because of their "intense suspicion" of government, they all just squinted real hard and voted in people who will be sure to cut whatever public sector jobs there are, reduce aid to states, counties and municipalities, and generally encourage America's flinty yeomen to get creative and entreprenurial with their structural problems.
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Disillusioned with big spending and big debt, they at least want to see their government reflect their values of discipline, order and responsibility.
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Again with the current government (cough - you know who - cough) not reflecting those well-known American values of discipline, order and responsibility. Leaving aside the fact that the American public is thoroughly and legendarily self-indulgent, instant-gratification-addicted and irresponsible, the sages of the heartland have turned to the Tea Party to settle things down. Discipline, order and responsibility -- the Tea Party's got em in spades.
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American politics are volatile because nobody has an answer for these people. They will remain volatile until somebody finds one.
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Yes. Or, alternatively, they will remain volatile as long as they are willing to believe bullshit about how the budget can be balanced without raising taxes on anyone, or cutting the services the government provides to them (despite their intense suspicion). They demand answers! Except when they're answers they don't like. Then they demand new politicians! Someone is pulling on my Balzac.
