Books in Brief
The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman (W.W. Norton, 320 pp., $25.95). Don’t bother reading the newspaper columns Paul Krugman has gathered to make this volume; his preface and introduction show clearly that would be a plentiful waste of time. It’s there in the opening pages that Krugman explains all his columns are written against a background belief that George Bush and his associates are engaged in a radical takeover of America. The radical-right administration and its allies do not “accept the idea that legiti-macy flows from the democratic process”; they “possibly” aim for “a country . . . in which elections are only a formality”; “will make whatever argument advances [their] goal”; and “have no compunction about misrepresenting their goals.”
And just what are these goals? First, “a country that basically has no social safety net at home.” Never mind that Bush is about to launch a prescription-drug program that will be the largest addition to that safety net since Franklin Roosevelt first wove it. Second, a country “that relies mainly on military force to enforce its will abroad.” Never mind the restraint shown by the administration in dealing with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, and with Syrian and Saudi support of terrorism. And third, a country “in which schools don’t teach evolution but do teach religion.” Proof for the latter is Tom DeLay’s statement that his purpose is to promote a “biblical worldview”–from which, says Krugman, “you can surmise that ‘faith-based’ initiatives aren’t mainly about delivering social services more effectively.”
These goals are to be pursued simultaneously with the creation of a tax system in which poor people pay a higher portion of their income in taxes than rich people, and–if conservatives have their way–“where rich people actually pay less than poor people.” Never mind that the Bush tax cuts mean that a family of four with an income of $40,000 or less will, after child tax credits, pay no income tax, and that the portion of total income taxes paid by “the rich” has risen during the Bush administration.
This radical-right revolution might succeed because “moderates have followed a strategy of appeasement,” and–get this–“Fox News, the Washington Times, and the New York Post” won’t follow up on stories of scandals in the administration: “instead they’ll harass other media outlets if they try to make it an issue.” This, from a columnist who boasts that he took the job with the New York Times because of the delicious prospect of having his words dropped on over one million doorsteps twice every week. And one who must know that the influence of the dreaded Washington Times and New York Post pales in comparison with that of the liberal New York Times and Washington Post, and that the Fox News channel has nothing like the reach of the three, liberal-leaning, over-the-air networks.
There is more, but you get the idea. The columns reprinted in “The Great Unraveling” are more the rant of a paranoid journalist than the calm policy analysis of which Krugman once was capable. A right-wing coup is under way. Elections are to be a formality. Moderates are supine and running in fear of being “demonized,” with “their careers destroyed.” The press is cowed by two relatively tiny newspapers and a cable channel. Given all of that, one can understand Krugman’s hysteria, especially since Americans who would oppose the right’s programs if they knew what is going on have become blinded by the right’s success in “obscuring its aims, and wrapping itself in the flag.”
And hysteria it is. I saw Krugman after a joint television appearance on the BBC, and I asked him if he would consider the possibility that some of those who disagree with him have honest differences and are not merely liars. “I’m too radicalized for that,” he said and swept from the room, accompanied by his publicist.
–Irwin M. Stelzer
