I’ve highlighted Thomas Frank’s latest book on the sidebar because it’s one of the most intriguing nonfiction books I’ve read in the last couple years. Frank is an astute observer of the political forces shaping his home state of Kansas. and because Kansas is supposed to represent quintessential Middle America, it might also explain similar trends in other states. What was once a hotbed of radical left-leaning political movements is now one of the most conservative states in the nation. He explains that modern conservatism has succeeded in uniting people of vastly different economic backgrounds on social issues like abortion, etc. People in lower and middle income brackets vote Republican even though Republican economic policies overwhelmingly favor the wealthy. This strategy is brilliant because the social battles are ones that can never really be won, but it’s what mobilizes the base and they can be relied on to also vote for tax cuts that will almost certainly do nothing to benefit them. These people, good and decent for the most part, vote for policies that will weaken their towns and cities, slash funding in their children’s education, and deny themselves health care while allowing themselves to be placated by promises of a restoration of “traditional values” in this country; promises that will never materialize.
Frank also is fair-minded enough to blame the left for its failures as well as the right for its manipulation. At some point, liberalism ceased to have any meaning to these people. Maybe the left was too condescending towards the cultural views of so much of Middle America. Maybe we pushed too strongly for globalization at the expense of the union workers in this country. Whatever the causes, the book is a fascinating study of how we got to our present Red State/Blue State Paradigm

I’m taking advantage of the holiday weekend to catch up on some movies that have been on my list. Yesterday was Hero, the Chinese martial arts movie starring the color wheel. It was actually a quite beautiful film with some vivid backdrops. The story has a couple twists, but nothing that will make you want to pluck your eyes out (a la The Village). The fight scenes have marked similarity to the ones in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but didn’t feel unoriginal. Jet Li doesn’t have the expressiveness of Chow-Yun Fat, but he does a good nameless warrior impression. And today, I think I’m going to see Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut with my sister. It’s been getting a lot of buzz on the internet and I want to see what the fuss is about.

Bill, you should have backed off the Big Macs a long time ago. These days, a quadruple bypass is about as routine as a root canal and I have no doubt that Clinton will be on his feet in a couple weeks, giving interviews and signing books. Ten bucks says that the paperback edition of his book will have a whole new chapter about his brush with mortality.
Like most people, I’m absolutely horrified by the mounting death toll at the school in Russia. The Russians don’t seem to have a good track record in resolving hostage standoffs. Are their cops that incompetent or are the Chechens that bloodthirsty? It’s hard to tell from this side of the world. Even after 9-11, I think most Americans have a hard time comprehending a way of life under constant threat from bombings and other acts of violence. If things like this were happening on an even semi-regular basis in the US, we would see a wave of mass paranoia sweep the country. Our geographic isolation has a lot to do with our (sometimes false) sense of security. In other parts of the world, bloody conflicts with one’s neighbors are a fact of life. Here, we think of our neighbors as vacation spots, if we think of them at all.
I managed to go the entire week without watching one second of the RNC. Of course, sometimes you have to put politics aside out of business necessity. Go read Alexa’s blog and see what I mean. Alexa is a New York blogger who may get herself a book deal if she keeps at it.

We Democrats tend to be a skittish lot. When things aren’t going perfectly, we start wringing our hands, sweating profusely, and whining about how our guy is continuing the long Democratic tradition of screwing the pooch in the last leg of election season. That pretty much describes our behavior over the last week, including my own to some extent. When I saw this story on CNN about possible shake-ups at the Kerry campaign, I repeatedly glanced out the window to assure myself that the sky wasn’t falling. But like Josh Marshall over at TPM says, we need to stop whining and shut up. Kerry still occupies a great position, especially considering that there are only two months left. Bush will probably be ahead in most of the post-convention polls, but that can’t last long in an electorate this closely divided. Kerry does need to go on the offensive and develop a better rapid response system, but I think he’s experienced enough to realize that. Those of us who support him need to grow a spine and not allow the media to manipulate our perceptions.

I haven’t decided how much of the RNC I’ll be watching. It might be interesting to watch Schwarzenegger and McCain to see what kind of reception the crowd give them. I’m a little disappointed that the GOOPers aren’t putting at least one right-wing nutjob in prime time. I’d love to see Gary Bauer froth at the mouth about the homosexual agenda and the satanic faith of Islam. I think Alan Keyes should be free as well, since the people of Illinois are pretty much ignoring him. Either one would make great television, but the Republicans seem determined to present themselves as the heirs to the Party of Lincoln.
Kevin Smith is doing a sequel to Clerks. The dialog in Clerks is some of my favorite in a movie. The characters were exaggerated portraits of people in my generation; people I went to college with. It captured that self-indulgent slacker cynicism that defined a lot of us who came of age in the mid 90s. It works because it could have been set in any convenience store/video store in American suburbia and the characters were implicitly critiquing the cookie-cutter consumer culture that had defined our whole lives. I wonder how the sequel will treat the characters ten years later. They said irony died after 9-11, but the events of the last few years seem to belie that notion.