Laughable MattYglesias on why the US is
a center-right country:
A political coalition grounded in the social mores of the ethno-sectarian majority and the ideas of the business class has overwhelming intrinsic advantages against contrary movements grounded in the complaints of minority groups and the economic claims of the lower orders. It’s a little bit hard to even know what a permanent progressive governing majority would mean, and harder to know how you would sustain it.
Actually that's the sensible part of the post, but I needed to include it so I could highlight the goofy part. Forced to explain why the Democrats in fact ruled Congress for so many of those years and even had occasional occupants in the White House, he concludes:
The dominant position of the Democratic Party for much of the 20th Century was achieved through the strange method of the Democratic Party containing a lot of very very very very conservative politicians. The actual periods of major progressive legislation were brief—but they had lasting impact.
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They certainly had some conservative Democrats in Congress from the South, but the "very very very very" bit is moronic. Were they more conservative than, say, Barry Goldwater, Matt? Because he's somebody you could call conservative, maybe even very conservative.