Quotes by

Thomas Frank

As you may recall, Truman was extremely unpopular when he finally left Washington in 1953, thanks largely to the Korean War. Today, however, he is thought to have been a solidly good president, a Near Great even, in the terminology of those surveys of historians they do every now and then. – Thomas Frank

One of the things I keep coming back to in my writing is that society doesnt work on this mirror principle, you dont have an exact replica on the left of what you have on the right. It just doesnt work that way. – Thomas Frank

Most of Roosevelts innovations have been the law of the land for 70 years now, and yet we are still a free society free enough, that is, to allow tens of thousands of protesters to gather on the National Mall and to broadcast their slogans and speeches to the world via C-SPAN. – Thomas Frank

There is much to dislike about President Obamas approach to the financial crisis. But opposition, it seems, will have to come from somewhere other than conservatism. The party out of power is also a party out of touch. – Thomas Frank

This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. Its authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys. – Thomas Frank

The only truly individualistic health-care choice – where you receive care that is unpolluted by anyone elses funds – is to forgo insurance altogether, paying out-of-pocket for health services as you need them. – Thomas Frank

Yes, Democrats can prove that America pays more for health care than other countries yes, they have won the dispute that private health insurance is needlessly expensive. But what theyve lost is the argument that we are a society. – Thomas Frank

Mr. Obama still has time to reverse course. A great deal depends on it. To fail on health care yet again might well be the Waterloo Republicans dream of. – Thomas Frank

We are watching industries crumble, Wall Street firms disappear, unemployment spike, and unprecedented government intervention. And our designated opinion leaders want to know: Is Obama up this week? Is he down? And is his leadership style more like Bill Clintons, or Abraham Lincolns? – Thomas Frank

While Democrats fussed with the details of health care reforms, conservatives spent months telling the nation that the real issue is freedom, that whats on the line is American liberty itself. – Thomas Frank

When the entertainers of the Right arent declaring their disgust with President Obama for groveling before foreign potentates, theyre pretending to fear him as a left-wing thug, an exemplar of what they call the Chicago way. – Thomas Frank

Acknowledging class was always difficult for New Democrats – it was second-wave, it was divisive – but 2008 made retro politics cool again. – Thomas Frank

In America, we no longer have an institutionalized, organized way of calling business to task – of taking them to account for what theyve done – and this is especially true in the cultural realm. – Thomas Frank

Selling public property is the true Chicago way. Had Mr. Obama not been elected president, the nations business journals would be falling over one another to praise his city for its daring, market-friendly innovations. – Thomas Frank

Money has transformed every watchdog, every independent authority. Medical doctors are increasingly gulled by the lobbying of pharmaceutical salesmen. – Thomas Frank

What is at stake in the debate over health care is more than the mere crafting of policy. The issue is now the identity of the Democratic Party. – Thomas Frank

Concerns about the size and role of government are what seem to leave reformers stammering and speechless in town-hall meetings. The right wants to have a debate over fundamental principles elected Democrats seem incapable of giving it to them. – Thomas Frank

Government is, by its very nature, a destroyer of liberties the Obama administration, specifically, is promising to interfere with the economy and the health care system so profoundly that Washington will soon have us all in chains. – Thomas Frank

Under the administration of George W. Bush, you will recall, federal spending grew pretty significantly. At the same time, the number of people directly employed by the federal government shrank. One of the factors that explained the difference was contracting. – Thomas Frank

For-profit higher education is today a booming industry, feeding on the student loans handed out to the desperate. – Thomas Frank