Joe Bageant: Not new ideas, but identifying new enemies - The Diigo Meta page

• 12 Apr 09
  

  Mark Moore

  fundamentalism politics popular-culture

• 19 Oct 08
  

  Chuck Brands

  The tasks of progressives is to tear apart the conservative consensus of the past thirty years by advocating agendas that will consistently split the constituencies of the religious right from its corporate right partners.
  
  If progressives are serious about winning victories that can realign our politics, they must find a way to marry the legitimate criticism of the decadence of popular culture with criticism of the decadence of an economic system that create the savage inequalities we see in America today. Once that is done, the entire project of the right collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.
  
  The mastery of the political right over the past thirty years has been primarily to better understand the irrational factors in politics. Conservatives have always understood that when it comes to politics, people rarely act in their rational self-interest but instead on emotion, fears and the perception of their interests.

  • The genius of the economic right and the neo-conservatives has been their ability to ignore this fact and work instead to fill in the blanks in the vast empty spaces within the worldview of the religious right with militarist and pro-corporate ideas.

    
    
    

    The tasks of progressives is to tear apart the conservative consensus of the past thirty years by advocating agendas that will consistently split the constituencies of the religious right from its corporate right partners.

    
    
    

    If progressives are serious about winning victories that can realign our politics, they must find a way to marry the legitimate criticism of the decadence of popular culture with criticism of the decadence of an economic system that create the savage inequalities we see in America today. Once that is done, the entire project of the right collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.

    
    
    

    The mastery of the political right over the past thirty years has been primarily to better understand the irrational factors in politics. Conservatives have always understood that when it comes to politics, people rarely act in their rational self-interest but instead on emotion, fears and the perception of their interests.

• 

  triple_ t

  politics fundamentalism

• 14 Oct 08
  

  shadiahm
  • Of all the different factions in American society, it is only the most retrograde forces that have clearly understood the destructive effects of consumer popular culture on our society.
  • During the 30 years of its active involvement in politics, and its development of both a significant political and communication infrastructure, the religious right in the United States has yet to formulate a coherent world view to address aspects of life outside of the narrow window of social issues it is concerned with.
  • 4 more annotations...
  • • the religious right either by design or effect has failed to ask and answer the questions that would broaden the bases for its appeal.
    • The truth is that the distance between religious conservatism and social democracy is far shorter than the difference between it and libertarian economics.
    • The tasks of progressives is to tear apart the conservative consensus of the past thirty years by advocating agendas that will consistently split the constituencies of the religious right from its corporate right partners.
    • The mastery of the political right over the past thirty years has been primarily to better understand the irrational factors in politics.
• 11 Oct 08
  

  Todd Suomela

  The conflict between these two forces has come to dominate the discourse of our politics. What drives the intensity of this cultural war is the fact that it is a struggle between the only two revolutionary forces in American society. Popular culture is revolutionary because of the way and the relentless speed in which it challenges and uproots the traditional mores of American culture. Religious fundamentalism is revolutionary because it represents the only movement in American public life openly critical of American culture and society.

  religion politics america fundamentalism conservatism

• 

  Clay Burell

  elections08 neocons fundamentalism

  • Before he
    again rode off on his white horse Mescalero, he left this silver bullet
    for us to contemplate -- the answer to the question: "Why the neocon
    bastards always seem to put six rounds into the chests of earnest
    liberals in every political gunfight, and why the Christian
    fundamentalists always cheer for the bad guys?" 

  • The genius of the economic right and the neo-conservatives has been their ability to ignore this fact and work instead to fill in the blanks in the vast empty spaces within the worldview of the religious right with militarist and pro-corporate ideas.

    
    
    

    The tasks of progressives is to tear apart the conservative consensus of the past thirty years by advocating agendas that will consistently split the constituencies of the religious right from its corporate right partners.

    
    
    

    If progressives are serious about winning victories that can realign our politics, they must find a way to marry the legitimate criticism of the decadence of popular culture with criticism of the decadence of an economic system that create the savage inequalities we see in America today. Once that is done, the entire project of the right collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.

    
    
    

    The mastery of the political right over the past thirty years has been primarily to better understand the irrational factors in politics. Conservatives have always understood that when it comes to politics, people rarely act in their rational self-interest but instead on emotion, fears and the perception of their interests.

    
    
    

    The first principle of organizing any successful new political movement is not new ideas but the identification of new enemies.

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