Noam Chomsky: Obama would be a 'moderate Republican' several decades ago

**LAM** · 02-01-2013, 04:41 PM

MIT professor Noam Chomsky said Thursday the Republican and Democratic parties had become increasingly conservative since the 1970s due to the reshaping of U.S. economic power.

Chomsky told The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur that President Barack Obama was ?more or less? a progressive, given the current usage of the word. But Obama would have been described as a ?moderate Republican? several decades ago, he added.

?Kind of a mainstream centrist with some concerns for liberal ideals and conceptions but not much in the way of principle or commitment,? Chomsky explained. ?And on some issues he is pretty reactionary ? civil liberties, for example.?

Chomsky said the rise of conservatism was a ?reflection of the redesign of the economy since the 1970s,? when the more liberal policies first promulgated by Franklin D. Roosevelt were replaced with bank-friendly policies. Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs were increasingly sent overseas due to cheap labor in developing countries.

?So you have these two tendencies getting started, and they have consequences. One consequence was the very sharp concentration of wealth. This is not a big secret, but since then, wealth in the United States has concentrated enormously. The concentration of wealth leads very quickly to the concentration of political power. By now it is so obvious you can?t even debate it.?

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:

Raw Story (Noam Chomsky: Obama would be a ?moderate Republican? several decades ago | The Raw Story)

**IronAddict** · 02-01-2013, 06:10 PM

There goes that damn Noam Chomsky again always clouding the issue with facts.

**The Big Sexy** · 02-01-2013, 06:14 PM

Gee... I wonder what Obama would have been in the 1st century.

The fact is it isn't the 1970s anymore... you can't get gas for 75 cents a gallon, you can't do any number of things that could be done back then. Taxes are higher, people make more $$$ and the government is even more infiltrated into our lives than ever before. To take ONE element out of that (Obama) and put him in an entirely separate set of elements is insane. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills watching that.

**LAM** · 02-01-2013, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by The Big Sexy

Gee... I wonder what Obama would have been in the 1st century.

The fact is it isn't the 1970s anymore... you can't get gas for 75 cents a gallon, you can't do any number of things that could be done back then. Taxes are higher, people make more $$$ and the government is even more infiltrated into our lives than ever before. To take ONE element out of that (Obama) and put him in an entirely separate set of elements is insane. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills watching that.

do you even know who Chomsky is? he's one of the most heavily cited scholars in world history.

**bio-chem** · 02-01-2013, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by LAM

do you even know who Chomsky is? he's one of the most heavily cited scholars in world history.

right behind Plato, and Aristotle I'm assuming. He's a scholar no doubt, but lets not get into over exaggeration here LAM

**exphys88** · 02-01-2013, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by The Big Sexy

Gee... I wonder what Obama would have been in the 1st century.

The fact is it isn't the 1970s anymore... you can't get gas for 75 cents a gallon, you can't do any number of things that could be done back then. Taxes are higher, people make more $$$ and the government is even more infiltrated into our lives than ever before. To take ONE element out of that (Obama) and put him in an entirely separate set of elements is insane. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills watching that.

Are taxes higher? Can you cite a source for your rubbish?

**LAM** · 02-02-2013, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by bio-chem

right behind Plato, and Aristotle I'm assuming. He's a scholar no doubt, but lets not get into over exaggeration here LAM

how am I over exaggerating...he is the most heavily cited scholar in world history that is still alive, that's not my opinion it's a known fact.

**IronAddict** · 02-02-2013, 10:05 AM

Chomsky warns us to listen closely to what our leaders tell us, and decern what they leave out. Agree with him or not, we lose out by not listening.

**Bowden** · 02-02-2013, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by LAM

how am I over exaggerating...he is the most heavily cited scholar in world history that is still alive, that's not my opinion it's a known fact.

Most people do not know who Chomsky is, much less know his 'citations'.
I have read several of his books.
The right hates him with a passion as few on the right can match his intellectual brilliance.

**troubador** · 02-02-2013, 02:50 PM

Speaking of linguistics, it's annoying people use left wing or right wing to mean nearly anything. I mean if right = authoritarian then I'm far left of Obama and maybe all democrats on the national stage.

**FUZO** · 02-02-2013, 08:24 PM

Bull shit never

**LAM** · 02-02-2013, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by troubador

Speaking of linguistics, it's annoying people use left wing or right wing to mean nearly anything. I mean if right = authoritarian then I'm far left of Obama and maybe all democrats on the national stage.

especially since the left is where the right was 30 years ago and the right is way out on pluto today. that's why it doesn't really matter which party is in power, it's either the slow walk (dems) off a cliff or a sprint (gop).

all the global think tanks the world bank, BIS, FSB, etc. are calling for the inevitable collapse of the global economy around 2050 +/-, there is no reversing the path we are on. this kind of discussion is obviously not in the US main stream media on tv or in print. but if you go to there websites it's all over them.

**maniclion** · 02-04-2013, 12:28 AM

He's a cunning linguist I'll give him that...

But seriously who better to see through all that political double speak than a linguist.

**LAM** · 02-04-2013, 01:31 AM

Originally Posted by maniclion

But seriously who better to see through all that political double speak than a linguist.

exactly...definitely not another politician. that's like asking the CEO of Ford who's better them or Chevy

**Swiper** · 02-04-2013, 09:31 AM

Obama is to the left of an admitted socialist, Bernie sanders

**The Big Sexy** · 02-04-2013, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by exphys88

Are taxes higher? Can you cite a source for your rubbish?

Yup. The paycheck I get with a higher percentage of social security tax that is being taken out...

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