Hendrik Hertzberg Interviewed at White Oak

Hendrik Hertzberg interviewed by the Brennan Center for Justice while attending "The Next Democracy" conference at White Oak Conservancy Center in Florida. Hertzberg is a Senior Editor at The New Yorker, where he blogs and contributes the opening "Comment" column in "The Talk of the Town." He discusses the current political moment as well as Nation Popular Vote.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Hendrik Hertzberg
• Democracy
• Justice
• National Popular Vote

[thmdpa27]

And this conversation has to do with Hertzberg's discussion of N.P.V. Exactly how?

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

You're right. We ought to just trust rich people. They've got plenty of incentive to do the right thing for the common people, and would never try to exploit us as a cheap source of wage labor. Perhaps, if we're lucky, some of their money will trickle down to us, and we'll prostrate ourselves before them and kiss their boots. After all, they've proven so wonderfully adept at running Wall Street.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

So America's prison system is "a farce?"

Have you ever heard of a super-max? That's not farce.

I'd like to see you try to break out of one.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

So, you're saying I'm "a Marxist" who just coincidentally lives happily in a democratic republic and by random happenstance supports the United States Constitution, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, gun rights, publicly-traded corporations, private companies, the Supreme Court, certain old traditions of English Common Law, principles of 'habeus corpus,' legal rights to trial by a jury of peers, property rights, and a bicameral legislature. How unpatriotic!

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

I'm honestly amazed by your callous statements about American society. So I'm just going to repeat one here, in a position of emphasis and glory for other readers, if by some miracle there are any, to read at some future date.

"WE DON'T apply the same standards of ethics, morality, and compassion to the poor" as we do to the wealthy.

What a despicably true statement about America today.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

And in reality, China today is a radical departure from Mao's China of 1976. As you rightly point out, Capitalist reforms and a subsequent rise in professional classes have played a key role in this rapid transformation. I'd say modern China is closer to a totalitarian oligarchy than a truly Communist nation.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

To your point about subversion, you can easily subvert another country and destabilize the government, and once a coup has been orchestrated, you manipulate the bloodshed and disorder to make sure your favored candidate comes to power, thus effectively installing a puppet government. This is not terribly complicated and the terms are not contradictory or mutually exclusive.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

Capitalism is an economic system that guides and informs our political system in America, and also informs the political system in China, which has been changing dramatically since the Nixon Administration. I'm making the point about Capitalism because Capitalist economic principles are so frequently described as the central counterpoint to Communism.

[quantumcodex]

@NoGuff

You torture people in a foreign country so Americans who care about the rule of law in this country never find out about the torture programs, at least in theory. Your reasoning is like saying, "if murder is a crime, why hire a hit man? Why not just do it myself and shoulder the blame?" Obviously, you're not going to say such a thing if you're thinking clearly, because you'd just be coming closer to getting caught red-handed and later convicted of a felony.

[NoGuff]

@quantumcodex

"history of working by subversion to install puppet governments"

--Subversion is influence, you ninny. They make small influences here and there to bring about a goal. Installing a puppet or dictator isn't "subversion," it's outright control.

PLEASE, you Marxists are so disconnected from reality. Enough with your NEWSPEAK!!!! I'm so sick of it all.