its not a battle between libertarians and social democrats...

Reihan Salam over at National Review Online reviews Brad Delong and Stephen S. Cohen's End of Influence... and points out a fundamental confusion that many people make--its not big government Dems vs. Small gov. Republicans... 

One of the central virtues of the book is the sustained attention Cohen and DeLong give to some of the lazy assumptions we make about the American economy: they note that while postwar mixed economy model of the United States was very different from the models that took root in Europe, it was just as statist and interventionist. My takeaway is that the conflict over U.S. political economy is better understood as a conflict between rival industrial policies, one centered on spurring the growth of the defense industries and the Sunbelt and another centered on old-line manufacturing and the Rustbelt, than as a battle between libertarians and social democrats.

I read the book on the drive home from Florida earlier this month--I highly recommend it!

Posted via email from Jim Nichols for GA State House