Social Democracy Strategies and Realities

This one is very long, about political realities and strategies for social democracy (if we can keep it, and expand on it again).  I'm currently only half way through the comments at #140.  Lots of different and interesting perspectives, including many foes of social democracy.

http://crookedtimber.org/2011/07/25/where-the-money-is/#comments

Here's one comment I found kind interesting (#106)

Ok John Quiggin, I’m going to make a radical suggestion to you for progressive strategy to go after the 1%, if you are up to it, I’ll come back and really make my case with you.

Please give it some real serious thought.

Here it is: ADMIT YOUR TEAM IS JUST THE “C” POWER.

If you are familiar with bipolar theory of during the Cold War, great. If not here it goes:

The A power was the US.
The B power was the USSR.
The C power was China.

Basically as in a two party Democracy, the sides all split up into two teams, and the third power the C power, they go their own way – and the best strategy is to PLAY BOTH SIDESagainst each other.———-

Ok, now for the radical part. Forget Republican / Democrat. Instead, there are three self interested parties in America:

1. The” A” power are all us citizens who during part of their earning life are part of the top 90-99%. This is a GIANT group of citizens. They look like the Tea Party. Lots of SMBowners. Lots of big fish in small ponds. They are all “likely voters.” There are tens of millions of these pretty comfortable people.

2. The “B” power are the top 1%.

3. The “C” power are the folks who never spend anytime in the top 90%. In fact, there are some who get up into just the 80%+ who also identify as A, a smaller amount of 70%+, etc. So it isn’t exact, but the demos hold very well.

This is why we have so many elites in the 1% who skew liberal. Some are born with it. Some are in industries that skew that way (lawyers). And some are Fortune 100 management types who like lawyers get part of their income from the government.———
OK, here’s my point: Your side has no $, and without $, your numbers aren’t great enough to be A or B.

The mistake you’ve been making , and the cause of this economic crisis, AND THE GIANT DISPARITY we now have is that for FAR TOO LONG you have been partnering with a B power the top 1% to get political donations.

To serve your “Big DC” urges the technocracy has partnered with the corporatists, to try and topple those 30-40MILLION republicans who NEVER make it to the top 1%.

And Tea Party, the natural A power, they like the asshole of the body are in shutdown mode.———-

There is a real strategy here. As the C power, what you want to do is CRAFT POLICY that takes directly from the B power (the top 1%) and gives it ALL to the A power.

Keep nothing for yourself.

Think of this as a series of broad tax changes that make SMB owners far richer and more nimble and make investors and Fortune 1000 far less comfortable.

Imagine the kind of tax policy where the best and brightest ALL WANT TO START THEIR OWN BUSINESS. Nobody goes to Wall Street, because investor / bankers pay real taxes, and SMB owners have it easy.

Like a flat tax of 25% on corporations AFTER say $10M in profits with NO EXEMPTIONS.

And it is easily attainable, and you could pull it off immediately. The A power has $ and votes, you have votes – all it takes is you ACTUALLY JUST FUCKING THE TOP 1%.

The problem is you don’t REALLY want to get the 1% if the money doesn’t go directly to you. That’s bad strategy.

This is called distributism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism
———-

The truth is, during the past 30 years, the B power (top 1%) have made huge gains.

But the 90-99% haven’t lost a dime. They are powerful because they are far more than than just 9% – they have MORE $ then the B power, and they have 35M+ more votes than the A power.

Meanwhile the C power – they have lost it all to the B power.

Anyway, you asked for a way out. And I’m sure at first blush, this won’t convince you. but rather than write me off, please ask questions – see if I can answer them.

Yes, this will entail a different approach to regulation, but it isn’t nearly what you think it is.

And yes, there are some negatives that comes from a broader swath of well monied SMBowners who are suddenly less afraid of government.

But I do think I can convince you that this strategy WILL net out the C power MORE real gains, not everything you are after, but more than you got now.