tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post459852478540671298..comments2023-10-30T19:03:59.225+01:00Comments on David Seaton's News Links: Notes on populismDavid Seaton's Newslinkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269813419598042699noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-77010169734966135512007-12-26T11:29:00.000+01:002007-12-26T11:29:00.000+01:00Hi, I need you to help me run my campaign.You say ...Hi, I need you to help me run my campaign.<BR/><BR/>You say all that I've been saying. It's strange that I've never yet heard anyone say what I've been shouting to anything with ears but the facts are that I haven't (the "excesses" of Stalin's "Communism" may have something to do with that). What you write may or may not be common discourse in Europe but in the US no one says it. In fact there's no political discussion of <I>any</I> sort to speak of in the US. You pick a team (Republicans or Democrats) and you defend them. They're your <I>family</I>, no political conversation or debate is needed. What passes for debate here is something like a Hindu and a Muslim screaming at each other - no one is considering switching teams. and if by miracle someone <I>does</I>, he's gotta buy ALL of his new team's positions - on every subject. (He'll do it over three years, to appear less obvious.)<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, it's nice to meet you.<BR/><BR/>mnuezmnuezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10328856077944673860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-79709248345199605092007-12-23T19:21:00.000+01:002007-12-23T19:21:00.000+01:00Huckabee's appeal is extremely narrow, i.e. white ...Huckabee's appeal is extremely narrow, i.e. white religious right; it's also the group that would most readily respond to a populist message with a "God and country" theme. His surge in the polls is due to the evolving realization among this group that he is the only candidate that directly represents their interest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-61051547926534121342007-12-23T19:04:00.000+01:002007-12-23T19:04:00.000+01:00anon said the same thing I clicked to say; the one...anon said the same thing I clicked to say; the one minor flaw in your fine article is that in fact it's a whole lot cheaper for society to keep an addict in a rehab than in a prison, even when you compare in-house treatment in rehab clinics to prison. American prisons are ridiculously expensive, public-funded rehab clinics not so much. <BR/><BR/>The obvious exception to that is the sort of luxury "rehab" spa that tabloid celebrities check into between booze-and-cocaine binges, but those are hardly representative of <I>real</I> rehab places. Anyway tax-payers don't pay the outsized leisure-class fees for those. Their government subsidies are judicial, not financial; when a Rush Limbaugh or a Lindsay Lohan checks in the courts award them a free get-out-of-jail card that ordinary drug criminals can only dream of.<BR/><BR/>As for out-patients, their expense to society is measured in <I>negative</I> numbers, as guys on methadone can and do get jobs and pay taxes.johnny phenothiazinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01128994712643274580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-80069228269332136702007-12-22T22:55:00.000+01:002007-12-22T22:55:00.000+01:00Cost of drug rehab (outpatient) vs. cost of prison...Cost of drug rehab (outpatient) vs. cost of prison? I think a fiscal conservative would prefer the former.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com