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Yesterday the war of words heated up between Glenn Greenwald and Paul Krugman.  The lennonist has a recommended diary over at firedoglake with links to Greenwald's important piece on propaganda.  Greenwald had used Jonathan Gruber as just one example of an expert being paid by the administration without disclosing that he was being paid when advocating certain health care policies.  The White House also would quote Gruber's models as more evidence that their "reforms" were on the right track.  They also did not mention that Gruber was paid.  Greenwald takes great pains to point out that neither he or Marcy Wheeler over at firedoglake, who broke this story, are saying Gruber changed his theories because he was paid.  But being paid must be disclosed if you are saying the guy is an "independent expert".

But this is not the heart of Greenwald's piece and we should not let Krugman or anybody else distract us from the further revelations of the  chilling ideology that  surrounds Obama.   Greenwald again exposes Cass Sunstein's eliltism.  Greenwald points to a paper that Sunstein wrote only 18 months ago where he  "advocates to 'cognitively infiltrate' online groups and websites--as well as other activist groups."

Readers of this blog know that Sunstein has been in my sights for awhile as I did research on the Obama team in 2007 and 2008 as an Edwards blogger.  Later after the primaries, Greenwald had a  debate with Sunstein on "Democracy Now" in June of 2008.  I wrote two pieces here.  One was "Welcome to the Party of Nudge".  And the next piece soon after called "Nudgonomics: The Repackaging of Feudalism One More Time"

Readers here also know that I encourage everyone to read Sheldon Wolin's "Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and Inverted Totalitarianism".  His chapter "Intellectual Elites and Democracy" speaks to Greenwald's warnings of the insidious ideas of Sunstein regarding his good intentions.  Greenwald asks how Sunstein can justify covert programs to undermine conspiracy theorists and even to fine them how?

Because, says Sunstein, such powers are warranted only when wieldedby truly well-intentioned government officials who want to spreadThe Truth and Do Good -- i.e., when used by people like Cass Sunstein and Barack Obama:

Throughout, we assume a well-motivated government that aims to eliminate conspiracy theories, or draw their poison, if and only if social welfare is improved by doing so.

Butit's precisely because the Government is so often not "well-motivated"that such powers are so dangerous.  Advocating them on the ground that"we will use them well" is every authoritarian's claim.  More thananything else, this is the toxic mentality that consumes our politicalculture:  when our side does X, X is Good, because we're Good and are working for Good outcomes. That was what led hordes of Bush followers to endorse the samelarge-government surveillance programs they long claimed to oppose, andwhat leads so many Obama supporters now to justify actions that theyspent the last eight years opposing.

These are the arguments, yes , of feudal lords and authoritarians.  It is from the conventional wisdom of the hierarchy narrative of empire rather than partnership narrative of earth community that David Korten's talks about in his books most notably "The Great Turning" and his recent "Agenda for a New Economy".  (Korten's "When Corporations Rule the World" is considered a classic rebuff of globalization written in 1995.)

We can change this story but we must call out these elitist Chicago Boy theories that sound oh so soothing.  "We are just nudging", they say.  And it doesn't help that we get stories about how "funny" Sunstein is.  (Can't seem to find a link.)  I saw it on the TV that Cass can crack people up. Great!  A creepy comedian loose in the White House. 

Phil Perspective links to Greenwald's piece:  "The Creepy Mindset Behind Cass Sunstein's Creepy Proposal"

    

 

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