Daily Kos: "The only question is, Whose morality?"

Daily Kos: "The only question is, Whose morality?":

"The only question is, Whose morality?"

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Those words are from Economics and Morality, Paul Krugman's Framing a Common Dreams piece by George Lakoff and Elisabeth Wehling, who in part are promoting an interest in a book they have just authored, and in part responding to Another Bank Bailout by Paul Krugman, which appeared online June 10 and in a slightly different version (to which the authors refer) as an op ed the next day.  In his piece Krugman had criticized the policy elites who are focused on the financial institutions while being

completely unwilling to admit that its policies are failing the people the economy is supposed to serve.

 Lakoff and Wehling agree with Krugman raising this, going on to write

Markets are not provided by nature. They are constructed - by laws, rules, and institutions. All of these have moral bases of one sort or another. Hence, all markets are moral, according to someone’s sense of morality. The only question is, Whose morality? In contemporary America, it is conservative versus progressive morality that governs forms of economic policy. The systems of morality behind economic policies need to be discussed.

While I will quote from the Common Dreams piece, I strongly suggest you read it in its entirety.  It is written in Lakoff's traditional framing - that Conservatives believe in a Strict Father who punishes children who stray from the morality he teaches, while the Progressive approach is that of the Nurturing Parent (often female).I will explore parts of this while my real focus is on the question of Whose Morality should be governing our public policy, and why.