Pointing Fingers At Japan

When it comes to the need for austerity, conservatives used to be fond of pointing at Europe, where the social welfare state has reigned supreme for most of the past 60 years.

Then, a funny thing happened, one that happens often in "bipartisan" America with disastrous results.  European nations took the advice of conservatives seriously.  They adopted austerity.  And boy, did it make a difference.  It just didn't make the difference conservatives said it would.  It took a bad situation, and made it worse.

But one good thing has come out of this.  You don't see conservatives pointing fingers at Europe anymore.

And you won't find them pointing fingers at Japan, either.  For a much different reason.  Japan took a very different approach and, sadly for conservatives (but not for the Japanese), it's working.

What can I say?  Liberal ideas work, and conservative ideas don't.  Maybe we can now find room in this country to give liberal ideas the chance that they, and we, deserve.