Whatcha Readin'?
A couple days ago I got done reading What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank, loaned to me by my dad, a Wichita resident. The basic premise of the book: Kansas voters in the last decade or so have been voting for Republicans and Conservatives who falsely make themselves out to be populist candidates-i.e. concerned about average, low to middle class folks. The trick they apparently use is to get potential voters whipped into a frenzy with all manner of supposedly crucial social issues--abortion, the sanctity of families and marriage, the evils of Hollywood--and then once elected, screw those voters over by ignoring the rhetorical pseudo-issues and getting to their real agenda, kowtowing to businesses with tax breaks. Frank sees this scenario historically playing out in a bunch of small Kansas towns as a microcosm of national politics. The process he describes is a pretty wily bait-and-switch and I have no reason to not believe it's not true, due to my low esteem for politicians and our political process as a whole.This certainly was not the most exciting thing I've read in a long time, but this book opened my eyes to a whole world of economics that I know that I don't understand. In general, Frank does a fairly good job of making villains of Republicans and reiterating their appeal to rich folks and businesses. There is no question where his political loyalties lie, but there is a section of the book where he contrasts today's, (well, 2004's) ineffective Democratic party with the populist Democratic party of the early 20th century. I wished that this section would have been expanded for a little more balance.
The chapter about the guy in Kansas who has declared himself the REAL pope is rather humorous and sad at the same time.
The previous is not intended as a book recommendation. You'd have to be bored, nerdy, or heavily interested in politics or all three to want to read this book. But if that's you--have at it.
posted by Mike @ 3:07 PM
1 Comments:
Mike-
I blame the voters themselves as much as the politicians. At some point, the voters have to wise up and realize that Christian/traditional values is a vague concept that politicians have no ability, let alone willingness, to enforce by law.
The politicians are simply selling what the public has always bought. Until the demand changes from the voting public, things will always remain this way.
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