David Brooks Justifies GOP Extremism

I'm glad that David Brooks has finally come out of the closet.  He no longer pretends to be an objective observer of the political economy. The GOP wants to end the "welfare state".  Republicans always hated the "New Deal" that rescued capitalism from the Great Depression.  Now they are using the Great Recession as an opportunity to provide the finishing blow to it.  The economic problems in Europe, which are primarily the result of risky behavior by banks, prove that the welfare state is obsolete. We need to funnel resources away from a "bloated government sector" into the hands of job creators.  That means the privatization of education (choice is the preferred euphemism), and letting the market system do its magic in the healthcare market (which means that rationing is performed by the price system).  It also means the end of the social security system that transfers income from the young to the elderly.  He even suggests that it will end the dominance of large corporations. Ending subsidies to large corporations will pave the way for small businesses, that compete in a free market, to provide the innovations and inefficiencies that are required in our "brave new world"

If this is the GOP vision, and not simply a reflection of its current campaign slogans, its a vision that reflects an idealized world of laisezz-faire capitalism that has never existed in reality.  It also is inconsistent with the real behavior of GOP politicians.  Anyone who witnessed the behavior of Republican senators when they questioned the CEO of JP Morgan, at the recent Senate hearing, will understand how they worship the large corporations that dominate the banking system.  They
 did not come to the hearing to "bury Caesar", they came to praise him. They have little interest in the small businesses that they pretend to serve.  They want the votes of the small business person, while they seek campaign contributions from the JP Morgan's of the world, in return for the subsidies that Brooks derides.

David Brooks lays out the battleground for the next election for Obama.  Describe the reality of the GOP vision and tell the public what he will do in addition to protecting the social welfare system.  In other words, he has the opportunity to show that he has a plan to deal with the global economy and the transitions that must be made to distribute the benefits of globalization more broadly.