Sunday, November 16, 2008

McCain and Palin's silly attack on "socialism"

I am not usually an enthusiastic reader of George Will (or, indeed, any other sort of reader of George Will) but the column I read today over lunch in the Ann Arbor News struck me as right on target. The McCain/Palin push about "socialism" was silly and completely hypocritical given the Republican's performance under Bush II.

Here are some good bits:
... falsely shouting "socialism!" in a crowded theater such as Washington causes an epidemic of yawning. This is the only major industrial society that has never had a large socialist party ideologically, meaning candidly, committed to redistribution of wealth. This is partly because Americans are an aspirational, not an envious, people. It is also because the socialism we do have is the surreptitious socialism of the strong, e.g., sugar producers represented by their Washington hirelings.

In America, socialism is un-American. Instead, Americans merely do rent-seeking -- bending government for the benefit of private factions. The difference is in degree, including the degree of candor. The rehabilitation of conservatism cannot begin until conservatives are candid about their complicity in what government has become.

Read the whole thing. I cannot recall ever reading Will sounding so (classical) liberal.