Universal health care can be the cornerstone of a new New Deal.

I recently finished The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman. Krugman, a Princeton economics professor, is also a columnist for the New York Times. He's long been my favorite columnist, and I greatly enjoyed his book a few years ago: The Great Unraveling, which wasn't a traditional book but a collection of his columns. Krugman has a great ability to break down complex economic problems in 800 words or less and I always find his columns interesting. He rarely does purely political bits, the focus of a column is usually economic in nature (health care, China, and the sub prime mess have been popular recently) and there's a heavy dose of politics mixed in.

I really enjoyed The Conscience of a Liberal, but found it wasn't as tight as his columns. It just seemed to wander a little. Of course, there was a whole lot of content in it. The main take-away's that I remember:

1. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the big change that swung a lot of national power to the Republicans over the last 20 years was rooted in race, and the key was Southern Whites switching to the republican party.
2. We're currently in a period of out of control economic stratification, which is reminiscent of the gilded age at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th centuries.
3. The strong middle class, created in the 40's, 50's and 60's and disintegrating now, was created mainly through government and social involvement in the economy and with increased involvement now we could regain a strong middle class.
4. Universal health care is something we have to do, and should be a cornerstone of a new liberal movement that begins with the 2008 election.

Since he's mostly preaching to the choir with me, it's hard for me to judge how well he supports his points. I read it with a critical eye, but I'm pretty sure if I was theologically opposed to his views there wouldn't be enough supporting evidence to sway me. Of course, I chose the term theologically on purpose. I feel like our political climate is more and more about people believing in a certain system and structure of beliefs, and that's just how it is. It's clear to me that republicans and democrats just think about the world differently, and it's hard to find any middle ground.

Krugman recently wrote a column about this too. I guess if you start with the assumption that a whole bunch of people will never be open to your ideas then you can write to the people on your side of the fence and maybe a few of the undecided's in the middle and call that good enough. So I guess the verdict is if you thought those four take-away's are clearly totally ridiculous and only an inept socialist living in fantasy land could think they're true than this book isn't for you. But if you just read them and think that they don't seem right but could be plausible, then you should give this a read and see what you think.

If you're unsure, then go read his columns to get a feel for his style. The book is very similar.

Labels: Book

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