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Entry: Why the Right Moves Left Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/why_the_right_moves_left#12969 Post contents: Whether or not "Left" and "Right" are meaningful today, it seems anachronistic of Dr. Gottfried to conflate Democrats/Republicans in the 1960s with Left/Right. The fact that "[a]lready by the 1960s the Republicans were taking positions that were farther on the left than those held by many Democrats" says something about how the parties have become more ideologically based since then, not about how self-identified conservatives have moved leftward. Dr. Gottfried's argument that the leftward slide didn't follow public opinion seems questionable. What if the media, academics, etc. had not been on the Left? Then public opinion would have been less to the Left, manufactured outrages would not have been the problem that they are for right-wing politicians, and there would have been less "fear of giving offense". There's also an apparent assumption that these "faux Right" American politicians somehow float above the culture, that they didn't grow up watching the same TV shows and reading the same newspapers as everyone else. I'm always puzzled that Dr. Gottfried, who I think counts Gramsci as an influence, puts so much emphasis on the state (and politicians) and so little emphasis on the culture. Sent at: 2008 07 09