Tag: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In 1938, an ambitious young Texas congressman named Lyndon Johnson voted for a bill called the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established the minimum wage. This was the famous “solid South” of the mid-20th century, after all. In the 1930s, the region supported economically progressive legislation, but by the 1940s, much of the South had soured on the New Deal. “Even though there was no partisan competition in the South, there was intraparty competition,” Caughey says, noting that “once members of Congress were elected, they would divide in ways that aligned either with the Democrats or Republicans nationally.” But while other interpretations of the Democratic Party in the South at the time depict it as being controlled by elites who ignored the masses, Caughey contends that Southern politicians backed away from their party’s program because voters would not have kept electing them otherwise. “A lot of Democratic Party primary contests in the South were often on the kinds of issues that divided Democrats and Republicans nationally, about the role of government, how high taxes should be, and other classic New Deal issues,” Caughey says. Of course, as Caughey details in the book, any discussion about public opinion in the South in this era comes with a huge qualification: Segregation prevented almost all African-Americans from voting, so the public opinion that swayed politicians was strictly white public opinion. “The distinctive regime in the South for most of the first part of the 20th century featured both disenfranchisement and a lack of party competition.” The issue of racial relations, Caughey notes, also strongly informs the South’s reversal regarding the New Deal. In the 1930s, much of the South supported the New Deal in large part because it brought jobs and infrastructure to what was the country’s most economically lagging region. The other was its even more famous flip away from the Democrats after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — signed by, yes, President Lyndon Johnson — to the point where the region is now heavily controlled by the Republican Party. The current dynamics, Caughey writes, still “exhibit an extraordinary degree of ideological and partisan polarization by race.” For his part, Caughey adds, he would like the book to open up avenues for further research about conditions of one-party domination in politics, something he affirms in the book’s conclusion: “My hope is the questions raised in this book will spur other scholars to pursue a broader research agenda on representation and democracy in one-party settings around the world.”

The renowned American political dissident, MIT linguist, and author Noam Chomsky came out in criticism of the media’s portrayal of what he considers trivial issues – the Russia investigation, U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and Trump’s cozying up to Russia's Putin. Chomsky was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now - an independent news program. He believes that there are more pressing issues to be addressed by the media, such as the root causes of immigration, Trump’s climate policies, and Israeli interference in U.S. elections. Chomsky said: "First of all, if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support.” chomsky criticises israel - ??? "Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done," Chomsky said. "I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies—what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015. Did Putin come to give an address to the joint sessions of Congress trying to—calling on them to reverse U.S. policy, without even informing the president?" "And that’s just a tiny bit of this overwhelming influence." The interview was recorded in late July, but is making waves in U.S. politics this week as Trump continues to attack the Trump-Russia investigation and RealClearPolitics highlighted the clip. Chomsky also said Trump is "perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish."

The renowned American political dissident, MIT linguist, and author Noam Chomsky came out in criticism of the media’s portrayal of what he considers trivial issues – the Russia investigation, U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and Trump’s cozying up to Russia's Putin. Chomsky was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now - an independent news program. He believes that there are more pressing issues to be addressed by the media, such as the root causes of immigration, Trump’s climate policies, and Israeli interference in U.S. elections. Chomsky said: "First of all, if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support.” chomsky criticises israel - ??? "Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done," Chomsky said. "I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies—what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015. Did Putin come to give an address to the joint sessions of Congress trying to—calling on them to reverse U.S. policy, without even informing the president?" "And that’s just a tiny bit of this overwhelming influence." The interview was recorded in late July, but is making waves in U.S. politics this week as Trump continues to attack the Trump-Russia investigation and RealClearPolitics highlighted the clip. Chomsky also said Trump is "perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish."