Paul Krugman’s Democratic Party

John C. Goodman

Paul Krugman may understand the Democratic Party better than most Democrats do. The New York Times editorial writer describes Democrats as a “coalition of social groups, from teachers’ unions to Planned Parenthood, seeking specific benefits from government action.” More often than not, what these groups want from government is at someone else’s expense.

That isn’t just a characteristic of the party. That’s what the Democratic Party is.

There are also groups that support Republicans: gun owners, small business owners, evangelicals, etc. But Republican groups tend to not want anything from government. More often than not they just want to be left alone. As Krugman sees it, Republicans are far more concerned with general principles or ideology.

Although Krugman often likes to characterize Republicans as Ayn Rand individualists, the typical Democrat is far more self-interested – in a bad sense of the word. Democratic groups tend to base their loyalty to the party solely on what political favors the party can deliver to the group.  There are no overriding principles here. The party is always seeking opportunities to take from Peter and give to Paul. Paul can be rich or he can be poor. Ditto for Peter.

All the really matters is that Paul promises a bigger reward (in terms of votes, campaign contributions, etc.).....And that is the fundamental problem with Democratic Party politics. Think of political jurisdictions where there basically are no Republicans. Think Detroit, Michigan. Think Puerto Rico.  Think of sharks in a feeding frenzy, eating a dead whale.   Once the whale is gone, there is nothing left to eat......To Read More....