Growth and Prosperity

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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6 Responses

  1. I’m still working on my post on the various responses to my liber-al-tarianism theme. But what you have written here pretty well explains why I think severing libertarianism from conservatism would be a healthy thing for the country writ large, creating a party of stability and tradition to align against a party of change, growth, and dynamism.

    The short version of the argument I’m going to be making on that point is that severing libertarianism from conservatism will (ion the long run) make the remaining conservatism very appealing to some core constituencies of the modern Left that philosophically have much more in common with conservatives than liberals. The departure of those groups from the Left would, simultaneously, make the Left more classically liberal, making the Left actually appealing to libertarians in a way that it is not currently.Report

  2. E.D. Kain says:

    A great Realignment, as it were. Of course, in the real world everything consists of coalitions. And my idealism expressed here, and yours in the libera(l)tarian debate are both unlikely in the near future. But who knows? Every great once and a while an idealist is right…Report

  3. Cascadian says:

    The elephant in the room however, is social conservatism. I long for a complete realignment. I just don’t see anyone willingly joining the Palin crew. The Republican Party is going to have to completely collapse for it to be rebuilt. Perhaps this can happen at the State level. Then again, in my last mailer from the Washington Republican Party was more “all we need to do is tweak the messaging system” denial.Report

  4. Will says:

    I’m sympathetic to a lot of this, but I don’t get how we’re supposed to fiat cultural renewal through a few tariff programs. One of the reasons I admire Professor Deneen’s work is that he emphasizes the importance of cultural change. Absent a real mindset shift, heavy-handed national legislation isn’t going to do a thing to promote restraint, virtue and localism.Report

  5. Cascadian says:

    I see a lot of this locally. I’d say, at least in my corner of the world, supporting local artisans, agriculture, and local businesses is gaining in popularity. Seattle is composed of a number of distinct neighborhoods that help to promote community. I’m not sure that this same thing happens in our exurbs.

    Growth is a local issue. I certainly favor the ability to limit growth with land use legislation. Growth means less than nothing without sustainability. Unfortunately, in order to limit supply, without creating overwhelming negative effects, one must also be able to limit demand.Report

  6. E.D. – I should have mentioned (and will emphasize later) that we are talking long term here – at least a decade, and probably more (especially with the way that the economic crisis and response has mucked things up), before the realignment would be complete.Report