Wherein The Economist Brings The Dynamite

I read the Economist because it annoys me.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love LOVE the cover art and the graphs are way cool; geeky cool.

But, they are Liberal Leftists from Europe and it just bugs me enough to net out annoyed.

Which only means I love it when they bring the whup-ass.

You see, because at the root of most folks, left of center or not, is the common understanding that this scree of “The Rich Are Ruining The World” rings like Ice Ice Baby memories from college; kinda fun at the time, but not so much in retrospect.

It’s just nice to hear confirmation of that fact from the Economist:

Then I read it again, with annoyance. Mr Herbert wanted to say that American democracy is broken because it’s been hijacked by the rich. This is one of approximately five columns liberal pundits phone in when they are uninspired or feeling lazy. Not that you can sleepwalk through a phone-in! Oh, there’s work to do. First, you’ve got to find a piping hot news hook. This can be accomplished by staring at the headlines until you run across a word that also appears in one of your ready-made gotta-get-to-brunch op-ed templates. So, let’s see… Egyptians have cast out a dictator in hopes of one day establishing a democracy. Democracy! Rich people have hijacked our democracy! Then it’s just a matter of peppering the thing with au courant Pavlovian keywords: “corporate stranglehold”, “Citizens United decision”, “Koch brothers”. Finally, one must summon the energy to loop back to the hook. “The Egyptians want to establish a viable democracy, and that’s a long, hard road. Americans are in the mind-bogglingly self-destructive process of letting a real democracy slip away.” Boom! This is is how they do it in the bigs, folks.

BOOM! Goes the Dynamite!

7 responses to “Wherein The Economist Brings The Dynamite

  1. I discovered your blog from a mutual “agitator” we have in common (See the comments section of my post here: http://reflectionsofarationalrepublican.com/2011/02/20/rallying-against-the-red-menace/ and you will quickly discover exactly about whom I am speaking.

    I am also a Republican who agrees with most, but not all of what you write on this well-designed blog.

    One area of disagreement is on your characterization of The Economist as a liberal magazine. I wouldn’t call The Economist a liberal magazine. What I like most about it, is that it just tells you what its opinion on a topic is and then lays out its case. This is in contrast both left and right wing media sources in the United States, which seem to report opinions as news.

    For instance, The Economist does a great job of laying out the reasons public sector unions are bad for budget deficits. Its arguments tend to be well-sourced and fact-based, and its opinion on public sector unions is anything but liberal.

    I also believe that The Economist advocated invading Iraq in 2003. Again, not what one would expect from a liberal news source.

    That said, on social issues, The Economist does tend to have more of a liberal bent.

    Ultimately, I just think it is tough to put The Economist in any specific political box. It just is what it is.

    • Sean, I see you’ve been Hoffmanized!!!! hahaha.
      Just taking a read over on your blog, and enjoying it.

    • I discovered your blog from a mutual “agitator” we have in common

      Ben is fun.

      Wrong, but fun!

      I am also a Republican who agrees with most, but not all of what you write on this well-designed blog.

      Blog or post? I hope everything I write isn’t wrong! 😉

      One area of disagreement is on your characterization of The Economist as a liberal magazine. I wouldn’t call The Economist a liberal magazine.

      Well, they’re not Liberal like HuffPo or KoS. But I do think they trend Left of Center. However, they ARE center enough for me to subscribe.

      It just is what it is.

      And I love it for it’s challenging me.

  2. I have to agree with you on Ben.

    He is definitely a lot of fun.

    “Blog or post? I hope everything I write isn’t wrong!”

    I meant blog and I didn’t mean to imply your views were wrong, just different. 😉

    I don’t think every conservative agrees with everything another conservative believes. I have non-traditional conservative views on energy, so I suspect there will be some disagreement there.

    Otherwise we seem to have fairly similar views.

  3. With you Sean I’m guessing he thought he was debating a coffee shop ideologue until he saw your background and realized you’d run intellectual circles around him, so he resorted to his usual childish swearing and name-calling as his way of backing out of the debate.

    Moe’s entirely not like that. To me she sees people first, party second, and she calls it like she sees it. I have a lot of respect for her.

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