Re: Mixed economy??? - Was: Gintis:TINA

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 22 Jul 1994, Herbert Gintis wrote:

> 	The voters are the ones making the 'march to the right' the
> only viable option for any party that wants to stay in power, Trond!
> Moreover, social democracy is practically a thing of the past, Trond.
> We may mourn its passing if we want, but we gotta move on! We gotta
> find out why it's dying, correct its errors, and move on.

This isn't exactly the case. In Britain, Thatcher's Tories never got more
than 43% of the popular vote, yet she imposed a radically transformative
agenda on the UK. In Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union - I'm
thinking specifically of Poland, Hungary, Belarus, and Ukraine - voters
voted for parties that promised a slowing or reversal of the
marketization agenda, but the governments have turned on their own
campaign rhetoric and have intensified the "reform." In the US, polls
show that Clinton voters were, by and large, to the left of Clinton on
most issues (and his 43% is seen as a squeaker, but Thatcher's 43% was
seen as a mandate). Worldwide there has been a tremendous failure by
political and intellectual leaders to articulate an opposition to market
orthodoxy. There's no point in making things seem worse than they are.

I thought social democracy was the mixed economy par excellence. If it's
dying, isn't the mixture dying with it?

Doug

Doug Henwood [dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx]
Left Business Observer
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