John V. Walsh « Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton and Charles Goyette

Scott Horton Interviews John V. Walsh

Scott Horton, February 16, 2008

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John V. Walsh, regular contributor to CounterPunch laments the failures of the progressive Left, paleo Right and libertarians to get their act together in a real antiwar coalition.

MP3 here. (28:56)

John V. Walsh, a frequent contributor to CounterPunch.com and Antiwar.com, is a member of the Green Rainbow Party of MA. He is also a member of Physicians for a National Health Program. Some years ago he ran for U.S. Congress and won the endorsement of the Boston Globe.

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Comments to “John V. Walsh”

Williams
February 16th, 2008 at 10:19 am

Matt Taibbi, a very funny and caustic commentator on the current political process/environment, has some interesting things to say about the protest movement in general. He rightly condemns the coverage of most protests but also gives his attention to the faults of the protest movement itself. I’ll see if I can dig up a useful quote.

In respect to Dr. Walsh’s accurate comment about members of the progressive left being unwilling to support a Paul campaign and libertarians a Nader, I don’t think it is necessarily so much a matter of the differences outweighing everything that the two candidates have in common as it is simple party/identity politics.

Erich
February 18th, 2008 at 6:11 am

Scott,

I seriously doubt that Nader would choose to run with Paul. Nader is deeply invested in the regulatory state, which is, at least in part, his legacy. Paul would tear it down.

In any case, the presidential race is over. What wer need now are conversations, such as yours with John Walsh. Beyond that, there is the hard work of organizing at the local level for local candidates. An anti-imperialist strategy would run the strongest candidate possible depending on whcih direction the district leans. The point is to create a plurality, across the political spectrum, which will deconstruct the empire.

I believe Antiwar.com once hosted a conference entitled “Beyond Left and Right” where both Pat Buchanan and Alexander Cockburn, as well as Ron Paul, shared the platform. Perhaps its time for “Beyond Left and Right Redux”.

RJ Hayes
February 19th, 2008 at 6:57 am

Where we can, we need to cooperate with anyone who supports civil liberties,
and is not a racist or a totalitarian advocate. We need to put the interests of
the majority of the American people first. We definitely need to talk to each
in a civil manner. I would add to other people to invite to the proposed
conference: John Whitehead and Chris Hedges.

Dixon
February 20th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

Scott,
Since you’re such an devoted supporter of Rep. Paul how is it reasoned that if a state makes a law maintaining racial segregation, how does a libertarian handle that? Also, I can’t say that I wouldn’t want a well-operated FDA to minimize food dangers to the general public. The preamble of the Constitution says “promote the general Welfare” and I think that “some” govt and taxes are good, what we lack are legitimate checks and balances.

Also, I agree with Erich that Nader is all about the well-managed, heavily regulated govt as opposed to so-called “free enterprise”. A free enterprise that this country has never seen because of the level of corporate welfare. Through a well educated population, we can be free of war.

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