In the land of [the] Law and Justice [Party], anti-intellectualism is king. Polish scientists are aghast at proposed curriculum changes in a new education bill that would downplay evolution theory and climate change and add hours for “patriotic” history lessons. In a Facebook chat, a top equal rights official mused that Polish hotels should not be forced to provide service to black or gay customers. After the official stepped down for unrelated reasons, his successor rejected an international convention to combat violence against women because it appeared to argue against traditional gender roles....Faiola has an explanation for that popularity:
Cheered on by religious conservatives, the new government has defunded public assistance for in vitro fertilization treatments. To draft new sexual-education classes in schools, it tapped a contraceptives opponent who argues that condom use increases the risk of cancer in women. The government is proffering a law that critics say could soon be used to limit opposition protests.
Yet nothing has shocked liberals more than this: After a year in power, Law and Justice is still by far the most popular political party in Poland. It rides atop opinion polls at roughly 36 percent -- more than double the popularity of the ousted Civic Platform party.
The new government doled out money to families with children. They also slashed Poland’s retirement age -- to as young as 60 for women and 65 for men....I was going to explain how that distinguishes the Law and Justice Party's approach from the likely approach of Trump and the GOP Congress, but Paul Krugman beat me to it:
The road to Law and Justice country runs an hour outside cosmopolitan Warsaw, down a dirt path in the hamlet of Krupia Wolka. Once there, pass the front-yard playground of a cream-colored house and meet Pawel and Maria Wiechowski.
High school sweethearts, they married back in 1992. Two-and-a-half decades and 10 children later, they’re still deeply Catholic -- and still struggling financially.
...The new government program for families is the Wiechowskis’ life raft; it offers them a monthly cash payout worth nearly $1,000.
“Right now, that’s 100 percent of our income,” Pawel said. “Some people criticize the child benefit and say it’s a government handout. It’s not. It is support for traditional families.”
Well, there’s an important difference -- a bit of American exceptionalism, if you like. Europe’s populist parties are actually populist; they pursue policies that really do help workers, as long as those workers are the right color and ethnicity. As someone put it, they’re selling a herrenvolk welfare state. Law and Justice has raised minimum wages and reduced the retirement age; France’s National Front advocates the same things.So does this mean the Trump Republicans will be less popular in the U.S. than the Law and Justice Party is in Poland? Don't bet on it. In America, the non-rich voters in the GOP base are used to not getting what they want economically, and are used to voting for people who kick them in the teeth because those pols always persuade them that it's Democrats who are kicking them in the teeth, with all their taxing and spending. (Much of the spending is on Medicare and Social Security, but the voters are never told that.)
Trump, however, is different. He said lots of things on the campaign trail, but his personnel choices indicate that in practice he’s going to be a standard hard-line economic-right Republican. His Congressional allies are revving up to dismantle Obamacare, privatize Medicare, and raise the retirement age. His pick for Labor Secretary is a fast-food tycoon who loathes minimum wage hikes. And his pick for top economic advisor is the king of trickle-down.
The Republicans will have to give their voters something, but it'll be crumbs: Carrier-like moments in which tiny numbers of jobs are (seemingly) saved, accompanied by a loosening of gun laws (know what national concealed-carry reciprocity is? you will soon), tightening of abortion laws, attacks on public-sector unions (we saw how popular that was in Wisconsin), and probably quite a lot of high-profile scapegoating of Mexicans and Muslims. And if all that fails, starting a war is always good for the old approval ratings, at least if the war-starter is a Republican.
So look to Poland for a glimpse of our future, but imagine the Polish government without its selectively benign aspects. That's where we're heading.
You would think the Poles, of all European nations, would be exquisitely sensitive to ethnic and racial profiling and discrimination.
ReplyDeleteHere in the States, it will be all Circuses, no Bread.
ReplyDeleteToo much liberal commentary takes it for granted that the evils of the Republican agenda are self-evident. For example, if people realised that the GOP intends to increase the retirement age, they'd be horrified.
ReplyDeleteThey need to go back to basics and question these assumptions. Anybody who's already securely retired probably thinks it's a great idea to keep the young'uns working longer, to keep social security from going broke. Anybody under 50 probably doesn't care enough for it to matter. Therefore you're looking at a narrow slice of the population, some of whom, fit and healthy, probably think being able to work past 70 would be preferable to sitting watching movies on TV in an apartment.
In similar fashion, whacking tariffs on those wicked Chinese seems like a terrific idea. How many Americans understand the hit their wallets would take from price increases on everything from cell phones to underpants?
In other words Democrats need to explain the implications of the Republicans' agenda, not just say what it is. And keep saying it, over and over, following the well-known axiom that when political tragics are sick to death of hearing something, the unengaged masses might just be starting to pay attention. Pick half a dozen powerful, simple messages and focus on them.
By the mid-terms, they might just begin to make some impression.
No not Poland; Kansas.
ReplyDelete"“Right now, that’s 100 percent of our income,” Pawel said. “Some people criticize the child benefit and say it’s a government handout. It’s not. It is support for traditional families.”"
ReplyDeleteAs long as the money goes to the right people, they won't complain. As the rally poster said, "Keep government out of my Medicare!" If Derp Fuhrer says the right things, and even attempts to do some of the things he lied about on the campaign trail, he'll have his demographic eating out of his tiny hands.
Any failures in the system will be pointed out as legacy issues from Obama and the Dems.
"Anybody who's already securely retired probably thinks it's a great idea to keep the young'uns working longer, to keep social security from going broke.?
ReplyDeleteBaloney, Ken L. I'm securely retired (or was until Trump got elected) and I think the retirement age should be moved back down to 65.
How can we pay for it? The way we always did. By keeping the cutoff for Social Security taxes high. If adjusted for inflation to what people paid when America was "great," the cutoff would are $250,000.
Raising the cutoff fixes it all. But ultra-Conservative Puppet Trump won't hear of it. So they'll find ways to cut benefits and wreck the system. The new Republican motto seems to be, "If it ain't busted, bust it."
Yours very crankily,
The New York Crank