Book review: The Conscience of a Liberal

Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times who has been blasting Smirky and the Gang ever since the felons took office. Originally hired as an economics writer, Krugman has been forced into the role of esteemed political writer almost by default, given the Old Gray Lady's penchant for allowing its political scribes to rot into Administration henchmen/transcribers. His latest book details a history of liberal thinking from the (first) Gilded Age to the present. Lest that sound dry and oppressively historianesque, let me assure you that Krugman's writing is clear and concise; this is a quick and fun (really!) romp through the decades--although I must also point out that the treatment of the topic is actually deadly serious. The book's main thesis is twofold: 1) Republicans are destroying this country by attempting to "repeal" the 20th century and return us to the status quo circa 1880, as far as economic thinking, governmental activity, and fiscal/taxation policies; and 2) universal health care can and should be this generation's political/social legacy.
Krugman explores the various political moves the Republican Party has undertaken through the years, noting the initial opposition to the New Deal posed by the party in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as their Eisenhower-era acquiescence. The modern Republican Party, however, was gradually taken over by what he terms "movement conservatives" in the 2 decades following William F. Buckley's establishment of The National Review in 1955. Movement conservatives, according to Krugman, include Buckley and his intellectual heirs, who contribute ideas of anti-communism and white backlash against the civil rights movement (perhaps updated to include strains of anti-immigration), combined with the larger cadre of neoconservatives following on Milton Friedman's economic and Irving Kristol's sociological theories. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, members of this new conservative movement convinced wealthy individuals and corporate donors such as Richard Mellon Scaife and Joseph Coors to finance an entire infrastructure of think tanks, magazines and other media outlets, and eventually political action committees so that these groups could pursue political means to their intellectual ends. The end result of this activity has been the growing economic inequality of society, as well as the corruption of our political processes by the right wing.
Krugman's book, though, points to a way we can fight back against these dark forces of privilege and exclusion. By pushing for universal health care (which is supported by an impressive, and growing majority of the populace), liberals can not only regain the ground lost in the political arena over the last 30 years, but more importantly, provide a vital service to the people living in this country. The beauty of universal health care as an issue, Krugman explains, is that workable solutions already exist (in many countries throughout Western Europe and in Canada), funding options are plentiful--even without raising taxes on the middle and lower classes, and we have the lessons learned from the Clinton-era efforts to institute healthcare reform to help combat the movement conservatives.
Krugman tackles many side topics confronting liberals these days as well, offering at least better definitions of our situations, if not outright solutions. He saves the best mini-discussion for the end of the book, where he describes the differences between what a "liberals" and "progressives". Essentially, Krugman defines liberals as those who believe in social equity and fairness, while progressives are people actively engaged in political means to achieve those ends.The lack of cooperation movement conservatives show for any ideas not their own, however, means that progressives have only one political outlet to pursue their objectives (the Democratic Party), and that the stigma of "partisanship" will have to be ignored. "For now, being an active liberal means being a progressive, and being a progressive means being partisan. But the goal isn't one-party rule. It's the reestablishment of a truly vital, competitive democracy. Because in the end, democracy is what being a liberal is all about." (pg. 273)
Amen, brother.