I Knew Everything in My Twenties Too

Just as we enter the battle of a generation and it is most important to present a unified front, Matt Yglesias has to remind us that he alone knows the truth:

Near as I can tell there's absolutely no public outcry demanding that the courts prevent Congress or state legislatures from enacting popular regulatory measures pertaining to labor, the environment, product safety, etc. Nevertheless, various rightwingers to various extents want to do just that. Sandra Day O'Connor's always had some sympathy for that agenda, but hasn't pushed it nearly as far as she could have, or as far as many conservatives (and, perhaps more to the point, the wealthy businessmen who finance them) would have liked. These questions need to be put on the table. I don't think the American people are looking for any dramatic departures from the constitutional status quo or efforts to undo the past 100 years of jurisprudence.

I've been crying out for a while on this topic and it does frighten me.   I even talk about the way that abortion and now Eminent Domain are the diversions of choice for the radical wingers and the multinational corporations that finance them.  We aren't all as stupid as Matt thinks.  And let me say right now that when he takes heat for this intemperate language in the opening paragraph of his post: (emph mine)

Having seen some talking points emailed around, I slightly despair of this happening, but I hope liberals will keep in mind the full range of issues facing the Supreme Court.  There's more at stake here than your "hot-button" topics of abortion and gay rights, and more in play than the possibility that the Court will underenforce Americans' basic rights and liberties.

he ought to do the right thing and re-phrase immediately unless he wants to drive the Economics Train further off the tracks.   Why does he persist in making it an all or nothing game?  The single most brilliant thing the GOP did in the last generation is to politicize choice.   We have plenty of ammunition on that topic - more now with Stem Cell research and birth control on the table.   This is not the time to start throwing women's reproductive rights issues over the side so we can argue the correct interpretation of the Commerce Clause. 

And where was the scolding of the much larger Corpo-fascist wing of the Dem party while he was busy putting ideological ducks in a row?  As far as I'm concerned they're a much bigger threat to the future of the party, to the future of the court and to the future of this country than all the Pro-choice, Pro-civil rights, Pro-civil liberties people combined.  But then again I'm a special interest.

Comments

[Scott Lemieux]

While I do think that economic issues need to be emphasized more than they sometimes are, you're right that it's not a zero-sum game. Moreover, it's not as if Bush is going to put a libertarian on the Supreme Court; since his nominee will almost certainly be conservative on both "economic" and "cultural" issues, it's not as if liberals will be fooled by focusing on abortion...