debate

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bush's main ideological point -- that the people can make decisions better
than government bureaucrats -- was never answered  by Gore. Gore could have
answered in two ways:

(1) that when Bush talks about "the people", he's talking about the rich,
since these are the folks who would get the lion's  share of the tax
breaks. Gore hinted at that, but never followed through, since it suggests
that having more income and wealth gives one more power (which goes against
the dominant ideology). Gore almost said that he didn't like the government
bureaucrats making decisions for people concerning the issue of abortion,
but never clearly linked this up with an attack on Bush's main ideological
point.

(2) that it's not the government bureaucrats who are making decisions for
people, but instead that the government acts as a representative of the
democratic will of the people. I think that he didn't make this point
because (a) he likes the idea of technocracy, the "father-knows-best"
attitude, especially since he, Gore the super-wonk, knows so much; and (b)
to talk about the US government responding to the democratic will of the
people would be absurd in this era of government for the dollar, by the
dollar, and of the dollar.
Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine