Eternal Rest

I received notice yesterday from Nick Penner that my partner and friend of 32 years, Randall Penner, passed into eternity. 

Randy had been diagnosed with cancer last August and we closed down our office in November. He went through chemo and bone marrow replacement, and although it initially seemed that he was going to make it, about two weeks ago he had a relapse.

I can't believe he's gone.

Please say a few prayers for the repose of his soul and for the consolation of his family and friends.

Eternal rest grant to him, Lord, until that day when we are resurrected free from all sickness.

Leftie Populism - a losing movement for losers.

Walter Russell Mead points out a reason that Leftist Populism has a track record of failure:

Today the Gallup Organization has a new poll out that helps explain why leftie populism always looks like a good strategy but never seems to get anybody into the White House. By a significant margin, voters continue — even in the midst of tough economic times and rising economic inequality — to think it is more important to pursue pro-growth policies for the economy than to reduce inequality. According to the poll, 82 percent of those asked said it was either extremely important or very important to “grow and expand the economy”, compared to 46 percent who thought it was extremely or very important to “reduce the income and wealth gap between the rich and the poor.” 32 percent think growing the economy is extremely important; only 17 percent feel that way about reducing the income and wealth gap.

This means that even among many liberal or left leaning voters, a pro-growth message will work better than a pro-equality one. But it also means that there is enough pro-equality sentiment out there that in some congressional districts and even states, that message can win. At the national level, however, left populism looks like a loser compared to pro-growth.

Moreover, it appears that hard times may strengthen pro-growth rather than pro-equality sentiment. For the left, it is axiomatic that bad economic times are a period of political opportunity. That’s why the Obama White House saw the economic crisis as a historic, not to be missed opportunity for sweeping back in 2009.

But that perception looks wrong. It may be that equality is like the environment: it is perceived as a luxury good by much of the electorate, something you pursue when you think you can afford it, but something you ditch when you worry about the basics.

In any case, it looks as if 2012 is not going to be the year of Huey Long in American politics. Most voters want jobs and they want growth that will raise the value of their homes and their retirement portfolios more than they want to punish the rich. It will be interesting to see whether the White House, once it reassures the base, will swing back away from equality rhetoric towards the politics of growth. If its own polling agrees with Gallup, we are likely to see the left populists pushed back under the bus well before next November.