That’s Friedman, Not Free Man
The world may be hot, flat, and crowded, but Tom Friedman is a whack job:
Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.
Our one-party democracy is worse. The fact is, on both the energy/climate legislation and health care legislation, only the Democrats are really playing. With a few notable exceptions, the Republican Party is standing, arms folded and saying “no.” Many of them just want President Obama to fail. Such a waste. Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist. But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.
The New York Times’s Thomas Friedman finally gets to where he’s been wanting to go all these years. Everything would be so much better if we could just submit to the benign rule of an enlightened elite.
…
For some reason, the Times thought enough of my “comparison” of America and dictatorships to stick it on page one. It seems a shame to bury their own Great Thinker’s thoughts on the subject on page 29.
I cannot begin to tell you how this is exactly the argument that was made by American fans of Mussolini in the 1920s. It is exactly the argument that was made in defense of Stalin and Lenin before him (it’s the argument that idiotic, dictator-envying leftists make in defense of Castro and Chavez today). It was the argument made by George Bernard Shaw who yearned for a strong progressive autocracy under a Mussolini, a Hitler or a Stalin (he wasn’t picky in this regard). This is the argument for an “economic dictatorship” pushed by Stuart Chase and the New Dealers. It’s the dream of Herbert Croly and a great many of the Progressives.
BTL:
Tom Friedman has long since lost the respect, admiration, attention of any thinking reader. Now, he deserves to lose all of the above of NY Times readers.
I searched in vain for a glimmer of Swiftian satire, a modesty to his proposal, but found none. “Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist.” Do they not have to pee in a cup at the Times? Exhale into a breathalyzer? Even his most loyal followers wouldn’t claim this. Certainly Van Jones wouldn’t.
Republicans aren’t doing anything but following the lead of their constituents who are standing athwart Obamacare and yelling “Stop!” Some of whom may even have voted for him.
If Obama’s 112 speeches on health care haven’t convinced us of his wisdom on the subject, another one won’t help. The National Guard might. The 82nd Airborne might. If you think that’s crazy, you’re right. But so is a Joint Session of Congress.
UPDATE
What am I saying? The Democrats own Congress. They have the votes, as we are repeatedly told by Reid and Paleolosi (Did I coin that? How clever! No, dammit, I didn’t.) Republicans can fold their arms, hold their breath, stamp their feet, slit their wrists, and it won’t matter at all. In other words, Tom, Obama has his fascist dictatorship, or near enough, if he can keep it.
judi said,
September 9, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
…Many of them just want Obama to fail…. He’s so darned original. Look out BTL, looks like competition!
KyleNYC said,
September 9, 2009 @ 10:39 pm
Dude, when I heard his comments on “Bleats the Press” I had an allergic reaction that launched a DefCon1 sinus attack and ignited a poison ivy outbreak with extreme prejudice. Wait, that was from yard work this weekend, never mind.
Anywozzles, what’s sad, and I mean SAD, are the pseudo-intellectual, wine swilling, self-fellating, brie eating elites who think that Mr. (glorified HS teacher) Friedman can “turn a phrase”, not realizing that the underlying tone (read, venom) of his statement/chicken scratch, is condescension.
His statements on “Bleats The Press” (hey, I’ve coined it and I’ve got to use it) are similar to when the New York City Council, back in October ‘08, originally decided to extend term limits for Michael Bloomberg only (‘cause it’s good to be the king), and without a public vote (even though they had voted for term limits twice before) because, as Bloomberg’s lawyer Anthony Crowell stated “…a special election to decide this question is far more problematic, and far less representative,” he said, “than a vote by the 51-member Council.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/10/16/2008-10-16_term_limits_referendum_in_early_09_would.html
As a born and bred New Yorker, that translates into, “you’re not part of the elite and therefore, not smart enough to make this decision. Now go eat some cake. You peeg!”. And just a little non-sequitiresque self-promotion here: I’ll take street smarts over book smarts ANY DAY.
P.S. - I hereby grant BTL permission to re-gift “Bleats The Press” ad infinitum within any future blog posting, so use it up, wear it out, yada, yada, yada.
Seig Hiel said,
September 9, 2009 @ 10:52 pm
I love this line:
“But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.”
So what, it’s the responsibility of the OPPOSITION party to ratify all of President Jerk-o’s stupid ideas because his own party isn’t gullible enough to do it? What a moron. And if the $%#$%# NY Times pays him in anything but twigs and gum wrappers for writing this junk, they’re bigger idiots than he is.