Just Like 1932

I offered this response to an article by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER who was decrying how conservatism is dying because of the civil war in its ranks:

You are finally beginning to realize that conservatism is dying, or is almost dead.  It is dying for two reasons:  1.  Ideological purity that is its mainstay (no tax pledges) rushes headlong into the reality of a middle class that is bleeding out.  Flint Michigan is a telling example.  The numbers of people in desperate need are increasing every day as the gap between rich and poor affects even the most strident conservative.  This is particularly true of senior citizen conservatives who are watching in horror as they have to keep working to supports their children and grandchildren who are unemployed.  Couple this with an epidemic of dementia that leaches life savings away.  

What we are seeing is wealth draining out of the middle class; in short, they are bleeding out in front of our eyes.

This runs headlong into a conservative philosophy that allows no tax increases and as you so eloquently declare is the welfare state gone bad.

2.  Except we need the welfare state.  The conservative core principle is that self reliance and Liberty is essential to a vital economy.  This relies on opportunity for those who are willing to work hard and succeed.  Savings from this work ethic will then lead to a secure retirement and happiness.

This is not happening.  Almost all of my senior citizen friends (I am in my late 60s) are quitting the golf course to take part time work, or having their children live with them because they are out of work.  This is going on everywhere.

And they turn to Trump, who makes them feel good, gives them platitudes that in the end mean nothing (illegal immigration is not the culprit in job loss).  Other pretenders who became cost cutting austerity governors have promised the Reagan approach would lessen the pain.  It only made it worse!

I still think Flint Michigan is a textbook case of conservatism not fitting the modern economic paradigm. Neither, I would argue does traditional liberalism.  The ACA is a vivid example.  Private medical insurance as a model to reform medical care for all is not getting it, as rates go up.  A single payer looks better all the time, and that would be the democratic socialism you talk about.

In short, the answers will be difficult and painful to find.  The answers may indeed NOT EXIST!  

There are simply too many losers in today's global economy.  How we deal with this, given our gridlock in Congress, will determine whether our Republic will survive as a democracy.

What we are seeing in the Republican Party is the utter and complete failure of conservatism to even approach modern economic reality.  Flint Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, all conservative "reformist" states are bleeding out right now.

And the greying population keeps electing conservatives who promise the standard cut taxes and spending will fix it all, and it doesn't work over and over again.

The austerity simplistic answer does not work in a global economy.  It doesn't work in socialist democracies either; witness Ireland and Greece.  

Reagan's approach does not work in a global economy.  His simple approach, to cut the marginal tax rate of 90% to like 30% worked to stimulate the economy in 1980, but we did not have a global economy in 1980.  Jobs that have gone overseas will not come back no matter how much you cut taxes.

What results is less revenue for states and that means cuts to social welfare programs that are more and more needed by the white middle class elderly.  

The middle class was gutted by the recession of 2008, retirement funds were lost, housing valuation plummeted.  And they have not caught up.  Add this to the dementia crisis that drains retirement savings and eliminates inheritances for adult children and you have the perfect storm.

Dementia is a ticking time bomb in the baby boom generation that could plunge us into a Great Depression with no end.  

That is why the Republican Party is at war with itself.  That is why the Democratic Party is seeing Bernie surge.  People are scared and bewildered.

Just like 1932!