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July 03, 2004
It reminds me of the Cambodian killing fields:
Michael Ramirez
Then we have this.
The pro-war's "you are either with us and everything we do, or you are siding with evil" implies an indifference towards, if not a contempt for, the processes of informed public debate and deliberative democracy.
It is an experience that leads to critical turn against a liberalism, which has an unlimited faith in the market, unlimited scepticism towards government and the need to protect individuals against oppressive democratic majorities. That sort of liberalism says that politics only comes into play when the competing interests of different individuals cannot be reconciled to their mutual benefit through the operation of the deregulated market.
Liberal politics is about the reconciliation and aggregation of pre-determined interests within set of rules (a constitution) designed to protect individuals against the government and each other.
The big implication is this: this market liberalism is silent on the issue of democracy and public reasoning. That is why you never hear them talking about democratic citizenship, only populism.
John Howard says that the Liberal Party is the trustee of, and combines, both the classical liberal economic policy and social conservatism. There is a big hollow in the middle---democracy.
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Who is this idiot cartoonist Ramirez? I'm appalled that anyone could suggest that he is a president of Mt. Rushmore significance.