YOU MEAN THEY WANT TO TRANSFER POWER FROM THE STATE TO US?:

A Privatizing President: A second Bush presidency would usher in an age of privatization of our federal social programs. (E. J. Dionne, September 15, 2004, Washington Monthly)

What would President Bush do with a second term? Let's take him at his word. Bush is engaged in a bold (and, if you disagree with him, dangerous) project to dismantle the social advances of the New and Fair Deals, the New Frontier, and the Great Society. He wants to throw more risk onto the individual, free corporations and employers from regulations that protect employees and consumers, and reduce government's role in providing retirement security. He would further cut taxes on the savings and investments of the well-off and weaken the individual's right to sue corporations and heath-care providers for malfeasance.

Or, to put this same list in Bush's terms, he wants to "empower" individuals, end "junk law suits," expand "incentives" for investment, give the elderly "ownership of their retirement," and free businesses from "unnecessary" regulation. A second Bush term would be a big deal, if not necessarily a fair one. [...]

Would the planks of this Bush program be passed? As long as Democrats hold at least 45 seats in the Senate – they are likely to win at least several more than that, perhaps even a majority – much of this Bush agenda will be stillborn. But you never know. Enough Democrats caved in to Bush on his tax-cut proposals to make them law. Maybe the privatized world Bush seeks could happen if Democrats are intimidated by his re-election. That makes the outcome of November's presidential vote very important.

Well, it looks like the Left is finally figuring out the architectonics of the Ownership Society and Neoconomics, but a few more accidentally positive essays like this and even libertarians may pluck the I-beams from their eyes and support the President.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 16, 2004 10:21 AM