The Austerians of Reactionary Keynesianism

Howard Dean has a horrible little video on Big Think, where he talks about the need to "drive over the fiscal cliff" in order to restore our public finances.

This video is wrong for a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost, it violates Charles P Pierce's  basic economic theory: Fk the deficit. People got no jobs. People got not money. When Howard Dean says "there will be a little pain" for everyone, he forgets to mention all of the working men and women that will be thrown out their asses because of a two-quarter long recession. We have spent the last four years essentially shrugging our shoulders at the greatest economic crisis in 60 years; Howard Dean wants to make it worse.

Howard Dean, unfortunately, seems to have spent three years ignoring any and all news about the UK and Europe. His little jab about Greece is the epitome of misinformation (Greece's ultimate problem is currency related), and it's the exact same argument that extreme budget cutters on the Right use to justify their personal madness. Note to any left-leaning politician out there: if there ever comes a moment where you might think you agree with Paul Ryan, slap yourself hard across the face and say the exact opposite.

But there's a bigger issue here. Democrats have essentially ceded the politically beneficial aspect of fiscal strategy over to the Right. They talked about this recently on Up with Chris Hayes. While Republicans, in their permanent minority status from the 40s to the 70s, regularly complained about having to be the tax collectors for the welfare state, they've been able to turn the tables on Democrats recently, essentially making them the Austerians for the tax-cuts state.

The Right gets to be Santa every two years (more tax cuts for everyone!!!), forcing the Democrats into being the party that takes away everyone's money. This kills the Dems in election after election, and it means they're always on the back foot when it comes to average voters' pocket books. Do you really want to vote for the party that's promised, time and again, to raise your taxes? Of course not! It's an easy choice.

The shift in attitudes, as Corey Robin explains so well, is an incredible two-front attack on Progressivism in the United States. On the one side, Democrats' priorities have shifted towards budgetary issues over progressive economic issues. It's the basic complaint many liberals had when President Obama shifted to concerns over the deficit in 2010. At the same time, reducing deficits often means cutting support for social programs, further eroding efforts for economic justice. In one stroke, the Right has discovered away to force supposed liberals to ignore their economic priorities and attack them at the same time.

If you're wondering what happened to the Left over the last thirty years, there's your answer. Our "Left-leaning" party runs on essentially the same governing platform as David Cameron's Tories, giving America has the choice between the Center-Right and the Far Right. Good luck.