Chomsky: The Majority of Today's Elected Democrats Are Moderate Republicans
According to Chomsky, America is a two-party state, "but there's only one faction."By Alexandra Rosenmann / AlterNet
May 13, 2016
The majority of Democrats have shifted to the right so far that the two-party system is almost unrecognizable, according to Noam Chomsky.
"There used to be a quip that the United States was a one-party state with a business party that had two factions: the Democrats and Republicansand that used to be pretty accurate, but its not anymore. The U.S. is still a two-party state, but theres only one faction, and its not Democrats, its moderate Republicans. Todays Democrats have shifted to the right," Chomsky told RT America's Anissa Naouai.
And apparently, so have the Republicans.
According to Chomsky, "[Political scientist] Norman Ornstein simply describes the Republican Party today as a 'radical insurgency that doesnt care about fact, doesnt care about argument, doesnt want to participate in politics, and is simply off the spectrum.'"
Is it any wonder, given Chomskys statements two years ago, that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee? But if there's any doubt in how much the Republican Party has changed, just listen to the 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole advocate for the food stamp program. Can you imagine our current Republican nominee saying anything similar today today?
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http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/chomsky-todays-democrats-are-moderate-republicans?akid=14263.260530.RWVJ-B&rd=1&src=newsletter1056516&t=14
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)I felt like I had committed a sin when I spoke the same sentiment here, early on in the primary.
I'm lucky enough to have grown up in a neighborhood with neighbors like the guy who got after me for wearing a second hand Bob Dole sweatshirt. I was painting after all.
coffeeAM
(180 posts)bjo59
(1,166 posts)They're corporatists and I don't call corporatism "moderate." Both physically and financially destroying countries abroad and causing the US to be reviled the world over is not moderate. Causing the largest refugee crisis since WWII is not moderate. Using the US population's taxes to fill for-profit corporations' coffers to overflowing while infrastructure crumbles across the land is not moderate. Throwing the country under the bus for the sake of Wall Street and the global financial elites is not moderate. I call it treasonous.
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)alarimer
(16,245 posts)Along with anyone else who dared to express this.
It's true, philosophically at least, for many. I blame Bill Clinton and the DLC. Winning was more important than anything else. So they sold out.