Political Provocateur

In today’s New York Times, columnist and econoblogger Paul Krugman manages to string together the following words:

In fact, surveying current politics, I find myself missing Richard Nixon…But the Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now. America is a better country in many ways than it was 35 years ago, but our political system’s ability to deal with real problems has been degraded to such an extent that I sometimes wonder whether the country is still governable.

And why has our “political system’s ability to deal with real problems” been so degraded lately? Excellent question. According to Krugman, it’s because the radical “right-wing fringe” has silenced the moderates, spread lies about health care reform, and overall been very, very difficult to deal with. In essence, the K-man misses the moderateness of Nixon who during his presidency, proposed health care reform ideas even more radical than what we’re seeing now.

However, I feel I should point out that Krugman’s nostalgia for the Nixon years is all very well and good, but the man never was at any point very representative of the conservative ideology. So really, saying today’s Republican party has strayed too far from Nixon by not being moderate enough doesn’t really make sense. Nixon was always an outlier, an exception (especially when it came to the economy).

The truth is Nixon was a disaster for true conservatives in the 1970s. And the right “fringe” that Krugman is moaning about was there during Nixon’s presidency too. Besides, when I see someone like Paul Krugman longing for the return of Richard Nixon, it’s a clear sign the desperation has set in.