Word: galbraithe
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HAVING devoted another pamphlet to the subject, Galbraith soft-pedals military spending in this essay. It should be clear, though, that the Democrats can more effectively put this issue across on economic grounds rather than moral ones. To stake a case against militarism on moral arguments might ultimately work but it would entail unnecessary years in the political wilderness. Given the current patience of voters with liberal ethics, the party might wisely reserve appeals to conscience for matters like racial poverty and apartheid. Military spending defeats itself almost from fiscal definition of the problem. It creates enormous budget deficits...
...foreign policy, Galbraith makes fun of the techniques used by the State Department to oversell the Communist conspiracy in Asia and Europe. He is perfectly justified in his skepticism but probably underestimates the almost constitutional permanence of such diplomatic policy. Rhetorical overkill lies at the heart of the American foreign policy establishment. To establish bipartisan cohesion among the branches and departments of government requires whipping up the public and overselling "remedies." Policies must be unambiguous, but unambiguous policies escalate a diplomatic crisis. The American foreign policy establishment is a broad coalition of agencies and publics that must be welded together...
...they fight for a homogeneous public philosophy, Democrats may ask whether this requires a realignment of the parties. Galbraith caught hell for suggesting a purge of the Southern bloc, which would mean allowing the Republicans to organize the House of Representatives and name the committee chairmen. If the legislative branch is in the hands of a conservative coalition, he argues, then the minority liberals must expose and attack the conservative power centers of Southern legislators. He excepted the Senate and, presumably, Senator Fulbright. The objective of a Southern purge, though, might also be accomplished through Congressional reform of the seniority...
...reform must await the return of a strong Democratic president with the guts to lend his prestige to the effort. Not since FDR has the presidential party ever amassed enough muscle to intimidate the congressional party-although the prospects have improved somewhat since the Johnson-Rayburn days. While Galbraith may be right about the Dixie nemesis, no one should expect the Democratic Party to inflict on itself a massive internal bleeding in its current state of health. With perhaps a lingering nostalgia for the days of Southern populism, some liberals expect the problem to take care of itself...
...Galbraith essay pokes into the pathology of Democratic hyperbole, bureaucratic caution, and the single-minded concentration on production which have afflicted American life. It is as much a social document as a party document-and besides, it sounds absurd to call the Democrats a party. The essay also shows off Galbraith's elegantly clean prose to great advantage. The hegemony of George Orwell over the modern political pamphlet may cause readers to regret Galbraith's detached sarcasm and lack of personal outrage. But they can admire the personal outrage he provokes in Robert Straus and his Democratic friends...