A Nation of Whiners

Earlier I made some comments on the coverage last week of the various gaffes, policy statements and just plain old nutty stuff, but I felt that former Senator Phil Gramm's comments needs some special attention.

A refresher:


Now I have often made some pretty blanket statements on what I feel about the general state of our collective intellect in this country. Generally those comments are not particularly nice. They tend to focus on the lack of perspective we seem to have with regards to comments made by our politicians and our lack of any collective recall on the subject. But then really do like how the folks at TPM put Gramm's comments in the proper context. This is a man who is respected in many circles on economic issues, and guess what. He does not like you very much. Just look at the statements he made, Gramm firmly believes that the economic downturn is in part a product of "negative vibes". The credit crunch, the housing market implosion, sky high oil prices, and dollar in free fall are the product of Joe Sixpack not feeling good about owning that hummer? That is why things are so bad right now. Because we are not sufficiently supportive of republican policies.

This is an aspect that has always concerned me about the liberal/conservative divide in this country. Liberals in this country are labeled as elitest and not being "for the common man", condescending would be the ideal descripition I would guess. It is amazing that the same meme does not really exist for the conservatives. Even when they show complete disdain for their fellow citizens, they escape that sort of scrutiny and pejorative association.

To my eyes this is a part of the standard republican trope. If there is something wrong with the economy it is our fault. We should be grateful for their largess. Liberals have guilt, conservatives have greed. It's the only construction that can explain why no matter what the economic problem is, the republican platform is, almost in it's entirety, to cut taxes. That is the solution. Semper et ubique. Housing crash? Cut taxes. Oil too high? Why of course, cut taxes. Medical expenses too high? Just cut those damnable taxes. This is just another example of the sort of disdain those in power have for their subjects. We should grateful.

But I will give Phil Gramm this, somethings about what have happened over the last 8 years are a bit mental.