About Lambert Strether
Readers, I’ve had a reporter present my views as literally absurd. Let me explain them briefly. I believe in universal programs that provide tangible tangible benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is a prime example, but college tuition and the Post Office also fall under this heading. So is Job Guarantee and Credit Jubilee. Obviously, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver such programs, because these two are different types of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t care much for the “ism” that brings benefits, although any should put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. It could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism tearing it apart and turning it into a column, or communism destroying it. I don’t care that much, as long as the benefits are delivered. For me, the main problem – and this is why Medicare for All always starts with me – is the tens of thousands of excess deaths “caused by despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That massive body count makes Medicare for All, at least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and environmental damage makes concerns about identity politics — and even the war on refugees the Bush, Obama, and Clinton wars have created — pale in comparison. So my frustration with the news flow – right now in my view a dynamic confluence of two different Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by the out-of-power libertarians and their allies in Government and the press – the news flow that always forces me to focus on the news which I consider important instead of overkill. What kind of political economy stops or even reverses the increase in life expectancy achieved by civilized societies? I also have high hopes that the continued destruction of both established organizations will open the way for voices that support programs like the ones I listed; let’s call those words “left.” The volatility creates an opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, is not allowed to return to scale. Eyes on the prize! I love the level of tactics, and I secretly even love horse racing, since I’ve been writing about it every day for fourteen years, but everything I write has this idea behind it.
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