Recommended: The Social-Democratic Illusion

One of the persistent dangers of political discourse is falling into the "group mind" trap -- of beginning to believe that all the solutions are somewhere within the range of political views commonly discussed. In our case that means the political narratives of the two major parties - Republicans and Democrats. But a study of history will reveal many occasions in which neither the ruling elite nor their "loyal opposition"  understood the current circumstances correctly , and in which the political consensus was completely wrong. One suspects we are at such a point right now.

In that context, it pays to begin to cast further afield for new ideas and different perspectives. Immanuel Wallerstein has always been outside the mainstream of political thinking, viewing circumstances from a different perspective, and for that reason I pay attention to his occasional writings. His Sept 15 posting
The Social-Democratic Illusion is a case in point.

Wallerstein argues that the "Social-Democratic" view (which in America corresponds roughly to the neo-liberal view) of an expansive welfare state was sustainable through the decades following World War 2 because of two factors: the incredible expansion of the world economy, and the stabilizing influence of America. However, both of those have lost their force now, so the social-democratic welfare state system is tottering, both here in America and especially in Europe. His argument has some force, since in both America and Europe the current economic crisis seems to be driven largely by the huge debt governments have built up, largely trying to sustain entitlement programs.

It is an article well worth reading.