On Capitalism, Rousseau, Burke, and the American Jobs Act

Written September 16, 2011 when I thought I knew better than anyone. Still not a terrible piece of writing.

     Here's the deal: regardless of the economic plan (whether it be a liberal or conservative measure), if no spending happens, this plan will stop dead in its tracks. Being that we're still in a recession, despite any jobs that are created, all money earned is not going to be money spent. People will save and conserve because it is the fiscally responsible thing to do as an individual. This is the problem I have with capitalism; the collective depends on the individual abandoning self-interest. This is a living, breathing example of Rousseau-ian philosophy; to appeal to the General Will, the Particular Will won't necessarily prevail. This leaves room for the possibility that NO ONE'S Particular Will will be fulfilled. All at the cost of what? The current organization/structure that dictates actions day in and day out just because it works? This is also another example of modern conservatism: the only reasonable action for the individual is to save and conserve, but the good of the whole depends on the individual abandoning reason. This is what Burke, the father of conservatism, asks us to do; abandon reason as our motive to govern.  

     In conclusion, the American Jobs Act will not work because people will continue to save and conserve. I know I will. Once the failure of this is realized, then all we have left are lower taxes, inflation, and perhaps an even wider margin of debt. I suggest we do what billionaire Warren Buffet has suggested: raise taxes. There's no need to lower taxes for the rich, and that is what this plan entails. If we want to save capitalism (which in my personal opinion any effort would be in vain), then taxing the rich is a good place to start. Like the corporations our government loves so much, we need to be looking at the bottom dollar.

The credibility of Fox News is sinking and why

     Stating that Fox News is the least trusted news source for Americans is generally accepted as “stating the obvious” (even some conservatives must make up the 46% of people who outright condemn the network). But a recent poll by the New Public Policy Polling finds Fox News Network at a four year low in approval rating; in addition to this, those who do not trust Fox News Network are most likely to trust any alternatives to the network for their news (even renowned liberally leaning networks such as MSNBC).

     We have to ask ourselves, though, why are less and less people buying into the conservative bias? A liberal might say “because people are becoming more enlightened” (a less polite liberal may say “because people are becoming less and less stupid”). In any case, the intelligence of Fox News viewers and former viewers likely has nothing to do with this outcome.

     Consider this: the Republican Party, specifically, is changing— it is most likely breaking apart, at best, or outright falling apart, at the worst. If we consider the conservative-Republican favoring bias which Fox News Network represents, we have to ask ourselves how is Fox breaking apart and/or in which direction is Fox News heading?

     Sparing ourselves the liberal sentiment (“Fox News is going down”) and taking the question seriously— as though bias is a neutral or good thing— we can see that Fox News is becoming less and less popular amongst Republicans and conservatives in general because it is only appealing to the neo-liberals and ultra conservatives (remember, neo-liberal and ultra conservative are essentially the same thing nowadays).

     Now we ask why Fox News is appealing to a specific grouping of conservatives rather than the entire body of conservatives. The answer is actually quite simple: an agenda must go to extremes in the hopes that falling short may result in the desired outcome. When such a rift occurs in the same movement, all that agenda can serve are the targets that have clung to those extremes.

     Therefore, it's my prediction that as Republicans in the socio-political realm separate themselves as “Tea Party” members or right leaning libertarians (as well as some conservatives setting themselves apart from those identities), Fox News will continue to crumble until the bias it presents is so thickly riddled with the radical that it will seem “Onion”-ish to Democrats and a majority of Republicans alike (as it already appears to be doing).

     On a slightly separate note, I'd like to address the conservative concern for liberally biased media. If we consider the number of folks who prefer any other network to Fox, what we have is not a plurality of news viewers who prefer a liberal network, but a plurality of news viewers who prefer not to watch a specific network for a specific reason. MSNBC may be notoriously liberal, but that's not all people are watching. The only people who seem to continue watching Fox News Network are those who refuse to watch anything else because they deem nothing conservatively appealing enough, and it is the pursuit of a bias which should not matter in the face of receiving truthful and factual information and that fact is ultimately the reason why the network is failing. (As far as the reliability of American news in general— only a separate article can address that concern). 

~Joe

Notable links:

Fox News Credibility at Record Low

Public Policy Polling

Case Point