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Ideology After the Welfare State

Ideology After the Welfare State INTERVENTIONS Jason C. Myers Ideology After the Welfare State The curious employme nt of the term ‘liberal’ in American politics is well-known. While, in the rest of the world, ‘liberals’ occupy a position on the Right of the political spectrum, in the United States, to be identiŽed as a ‘liberal’ is to be grouped with the Left. An anomaly, to be sure, but not one whose origins are too difŽcult to trace. Like weak currencies staked to the value of the dollar, the most common American political labels are pegged to the underlying value of one’s position vis-à-vis the welfare state: liberals in favour of it, conservatives opposed. Elsewhere, the liberal tradition found its roots in a particular concept of individual freedom. In the US, however, ‘liberal’ somehow came to mean ‘free-spending’, with particular reference to the state’s social welfare bud- get. These days, of course, self-confessed liberals of the generously spending kind are increasingly difŽcult to Žnd. Once in ofŽce, President Clinton quickly shook o ff the o utmoded ‘Traditional Dem ocrat’ campaign platform with which he had won election (urban renewal and a national health-care plan) for the sleeker, sexier ‘New Democrat’ line: ‘An end to http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Historical Materialism Brill

Ideology After the Welfare State

Historical Materialism , Volume 10 (2): 171 – Jan 1, 2002

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2002 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1465-4466
eISSN
1569-206X
DOI
10.1163/156920602320318110
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

INTERVENTIONS Jason C. Myers Ideology After the Welfare State The curious employme nt of the term ‘liberal’ in American politics is well-known. While, in the rest of the world, ‘liberals’ occupy a position on the Right of the political spectrum, in the United States, to be identiŽed as a ‘liberal’ is to be grouped with the Left. An anomaly, to be sure, but not one whose origins are too difŽcult to trace. Like weak currencies staked to the value of the dollar, the most common American political labels are pegged to the underlying value of one’s position vis-à-vis the welfare state: liberals in favour of it, conservatives opposed. Elsewhere, the liberal tradition found its roots in a particular concept of individual freedom. In the US, however, ‘liberal’ somehow came to mean ‘free-spending’, with particular reference to the state’s social welfare bud- get. These days, of course, self-confessed liberals of the generously spending kind are increasingly difŽcult to Žnd. Once in ofŽce, President Clinton quickly shook o ff the o utmoded ‘Traditional Dem ocrat’ campaign platform with which he had won election (urban renewal and a national health-care plan) for the sleeker, sexier ‘New Democrat’ line: ‘An end to

Journal

Historical MaterialismBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2002

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