Hokum for the yokels

I'm excerpting some great comments that the Daily Howler blog made on the Friday before this joyous if storm-tossed holiday weekend. I'm not stopping to learn what the protocol is, so I hope I'm clear in my attribution &mdash this is from the Daily Howler, not from me.

DEFENDING THE YOKELS: This morning, Paul Krugman touches on an important point. ... Discussing the Bush Admin’s “hunger for tax cuts,” he notes the way the pseudo-con empire is constantly misleading voters:

KRUGMAN (12/23/05): Since the 1970's, conservatives have used two theories to justify cutting taxes. One theory, supply-side economics, has always been hokum for the yokels. Conservative insiders adopted the supply-siders as mascots because they were useful to the cause, but never took them seriously.

(Daily Howler again:) Supply-side has always been “hokum for the yokels,” Krugman says. ... If we lower the tax rates, revenues rise! No serious person could believe such a thing as a matter of general policy.

... But the claim has lived as a staple of talk-show discourse over the course of the past several decades. How in the world could that happen?

It has happened because we live at a time when no one really tries to police our utterly laughable public discourse. In part, the eternal life of such silly spin is the fault of Dem pols, of course. But it’s also the fault of a lazy press corps — a press corps which has long since abandoned the attempt to police the American discourse. Ludicrous spin-points can live for decades without comment or challenge from mainstream pundits. Sean Hannity is free to throw hokum to yokels because our press corps lets him.

In the new year, we expect to spend our time on a new subject—the education of low-income kids, kids from low-literacy backgrounds. They’re the kids described in this searing passage from that recent CAP report, the passage we’ve quoted so often:

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Young low-income and minority children are more likely to start school without having gained important school readiness skills, such as recognizing letters and counting. ... By the fourth grade, low-income students read about three grade levels behind non-poor students.

... (Daily Howler again:) But as we move to this important new topic, we’d like to say a word in defense of the yokels Krugman mentions. Yokels go off to work every day, and then they have to take care of their children. They don’t have time to analyze every nuance of every policy proclamation. When they hear pure bullroar again and again — and when they never hear it challenged — then only naturally, they’ll start to think that the hokum is well-founded.

I appreciate this observation in connection with my small attempts to truth-squad the "hokum for the yokels" (HFTY) constantly streaming at us from the richly funded charter/voucher/privatization think-tank forces. I believe that the truth will eventually become evident, as occurred with for-profit Edison Schools, now-discredited beneficiary of a massive HFTY campaign.

Meanwhile, let's stay tuned as the Daily Howler — a former teacher in inner-city Baltimore schools — exposes the HFTY on educating disadvantaged children and provides some views on effective solutions.

Happy holidays to all!

— Caroline