Trump is but a symptom. The rot goes back many decades.....

[KY_EnviroGuy]

....in my recollection starting with Richard Nixon and it has worsened throughout my adult life.

Many decades ago, Republicans set out to essentially reduce the functionality of governments at all levels to an absolute minimum, while cutting taxes to bare bones and shifting all social functions over to private commerce and industry.

They've done this slowly and methodically and few in the public felt the knife in their back. In fact, they have taught a sizable percentage of Americans to enjoy the pain and participate in the destruction. Now, we're paying the price.

After watching this happen very slowly for most of my life, I never thought I would live to see Republican's mischief backfire big-time, but here we are.

But why aren't millions protesting in our streets because hundreds of small community clinics and hospitals have closed and poor children are going hungry, for example?

Sorry to sound like a sad, bitter old man but that's exactly where I'm at today........

That's what I get for paying attention.......

KY rant done.....

[pat_k]

1. You've prompted a lifetime of thoughts... too much..

It goes back so far...

It's hard to tell if there was a real "turning point," Where did an overall upward path toward finding our national soul deteriorate into selling our national soul? Maybe it was a drip, drip, drip...

In recent history, perhaps it was the Nixon era, but the Watergate investigations sparked government transparency and ethics laws that served us. There was a meaningful, positive, response to the exposure of corruption.

Then we had Iran Contra. Congress failed us because they feared "backlash" if they actually did their duty and followed the investigation to it's obvious conclusion.

For me, these events set the stage, but the major turning point was the stolen election of 2001. SCOTUS interfering in a state contest to stop a vote count. Congress counting those electors, refusing to declare the incomplete election unlawful, Any pretense that we actually held free and fair elections ended that year. And when those we empowered to protect us against a corrupt state election (i.e., the people we elect to the House and Senate congress) turned a blind eye, that was it. The road to hell was paved.

And then there was the failure to impeach Bush and Cheney for ordering torture in plain sight. The American soul our father's and grandfathers fought for was dead. Geneva conventions, basic human rights, or common decency be damned.

Perhaps the Obama admin was an opportunity to get things on an upward slope, but there was no moral reckoning of the sins of the past. It was all "look forward, not back" and "give immunity to CIA torturers" and thumb our noses at the ones who stood firm for human rights.

And with torture AOK and stolen elections AOK, our national acceptance of immorality opened the door to Trump..

[Mike Niendorff]

2. For me, it was 12/12/2000

12/12/2000

The day 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court intervened in an election to stop the vote count and hand the presidency to their preferred candidate.

They should have been impeached, prosecuted and jailed.

And the nation rolled over and allowed it to happen.

If current trends continue -- and especially if Trump and his co-conspirators are not STOPPED COLD this November -- that will always mark the day for me that American democracy officially entered its death throes.


MDN

[raccoon]

8. Great post. Nt

[pat_k]

11. And January 6, 2001

Last edited Thu Mar 12, 2020, 05:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Even the treasonous five in their black robes could not have gotten away with stealing an election in plain sight if our congress had not failed in their duty to judge the legality of the appointment of electors, and, as their oath to protect required, objected to and rejected those appointed pursuant to the incomplete, and therefore utterly unlawful, Florida election.

Justice Breyer gave explicit instructions to congress in his dissent.

I will never forget the heartbreaking calls from members of the houses for a Senator to join them in objecting -- and the silence of the members of the Senate.

'Fahrenheit 9/11': Not a Single Democratic Senator Joins with House Objections to Bush/Gore

[KY_EnviroGuy]

4. Yes, thank you. Our moral degradation shows every day......

much of which is the result of America's complacency toward the events you listed and many others. We must instead be worried about our favorite NBA player's sordid affairs and his latest sportswear.

However, from a pure political viewpoint I can recall several events (although I was somewhat disconnected for several years for a number of crazy reasons):

* Nixon/Agnew Southern strategy - a very evil plan that turned much of my beloved South red.
* Reagan's tax cuts and installing of hatred of taxes and government into many American's mind.
* Newt Gingrich's continuation and amplifying of Reagan's dogma and morbid dreams.
* W's degradation of the dignity of the office of president, Cheney's corruption in plain sight, the god-awful wars that killed or displaced millions and W's tax cuts.
* The massively funded process of the ultra-wealthy and corrupt corporations creating a right-wing propaganda machine unrivaled in the world consisting of dozens of think tanks, hundreds of talk radio stations, Fox News and now social media.

That list could continue into book form, but what we can easily see is a long-term pattern of the right - both in the U.S. and abroad - of a well-oiled machine out to destroy the working man's dreams and commandeer control of all the world's precious natural resources.

Political historians may wish to chime in, but I've read that this process hatched by the right-wing goes back into even before the Great Depression when groups of industrialists, misguided political scientists and religious fanatics combined their ideas and lit the fire.

That's why I get a bit perturbed when I see articles and blog posts attempting to blame Trump for this or that ill in our society, or for one of the right's daily attacks on reason, truth and morals when in reality this is much bigger than any single player.

Trump is just a loud mouth bit-player in this evil long-term international scheme......

[pat_k]

12. Tragically, painfully, true.

Schemes bolstered by incredibly effective propaganda that reached new heights with the rise of right-wing talk radio and culminated in the ubiquity of Faux. Of course we have always had propaganda in one form or another, but the growth, and seemingly ever growing reach of the republican noise machine has been incredible.

I think the crowning achievement has been a destruction of the understanding that WE are the Government. By and for We the People. The reality, that it is up to us to shape the government we desire, has been undermined. Forget "We can do it!" Hopes are crushed before they can take seed with the so-called "realists" telling us how weak we are -- how impossible accomplishing "it" is (whatever good thing "it" may be) .

For far too many Americans, "government" is an alien monster to be destroyed. And for far too many others, "politics" is not something for them to be involved in -- it is to be left to the "professionals," not us ordinary people.

[dlk]

3. Even before Ronald Reagan, Republicans were the party of Joe McCarthy

And before McCarthy’s Red scare, Harry Truman made very clear he understood Republicans true agenda in his 1948 speech:

“I have discovered where the Republicans stand on most of the major issues. Since they won't tell you themselves, I am going to tell you.

Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of the United States must make a choice between two ways of living — a decision which will affect us the rest of our lives and our children and our grandchildren after us.

On the other side, there is the Wall Street way of life and politics. Trust the leader! Let big business take care of prices and profits! Measure all things by money! That is the philosophy of the masters of the Republican Party.

Well, I have been studying the Republican Party for over 12 years at close hand in the Capital of the United States. And by this time, I have discovered where the Republicans stand on most of the major issues.

Since they won’t tell you themselves, I am going to tell you.

They approve of the American farmer — but they are willing to help him go broke.

They stand four-square for the American home — but not for housing.

They are strong for labor — but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights.

They favor a minimum wage — the smaller the minimum the better.

They indorse educational opportunity for all — but they won’t spend money for teachers or for schools.

They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine — for people who can afford them.

They approve of Social Security benefits — so much so that they took them away from almost a million people.

They believe in international trade — so much so that they crippled our reciprocal trade program, and killed our International Wheat Agreement.

They favor the admission of displaced persons — but only within shameful racial and religious limitations.

They consider electric power a great blessing — but only when the private power companies get their rake-off.

They say TVA is wonderful — but we ought never to try it again.

They condemn “cruelly high prices” — but fight to the death every effort to bring them down.

They think the American standard of living is a fine thing — so long as it doesn’t spread to all the people.

And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.

Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life. But there is another way — there is another way — the Democratic way, the way of the Democratic Party.”

Republicans have been the greedy wolves in sheep’s clothing for a very long time. We can only hope that with the Trump debacle and all of its destruction, their true agenda will be impossible to ignore and Americans will finally wake up.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. K&R. Thanks for posting us some good 'ole Harry T. wisdom and wit.

Amazing how much of that applies today.......

[dlk]

10. I lived for a short time in Independence, MO, Truman's hometown

Dems might like revisiting our roots there. Republicans may have upped their marketing (and propaganda) game, however, in most cases, leopards don’t change their spots.

[pat_k]

13. +1

[Denis Enko]

6. Yes

But this symptom has broken into our house with several hand grenades. Which is why we've gotta get him out of our house ASAP!

[Cyrano]

7. We must take back the presidency and the senate. A reckoning is overdue

Ever since Watergate, the Republicans have been wolves and the Democratics have been sheep.

Most people think that justice just automatically kicks in. It never has and never will. It's up to decent people to act the first time injustice raises it's head. We Dems have spent the past 50 years letting them run amok and, piece by piece, destroy democracy.

Nixon was never made to answer for Watergate. Reagan was never made to pay for Iran-Contra, and Bush/Cheney were never made to pay for a phony war from phony "weapons of mass destruction," to opening up torture chambers.

All of this made Trump possible. And, once out of office, he must be tried for each and every crime that Mueller uncovered, as well as, worst of all, the kidnapping and caging of immigrant children at the Southern border. This is a crime against humanity.

If we win the whole enchilada this year, and don't hold Trump and his enablers accountable, a future Republican grip on power will be a horror beyond imagination.

[pat_k]

14. The most disastrous Democratic Party phrase: "Look forward, not back"

"Look forward, not back" is always invoked to rationalize failure to hold perpetrators accountable for their acts. And where there is no accountability, there is no justice. As long as we keep "looking forward" before confronting and holding perpetrators accountable, we will NEVER make progress in the right direction.

Refusal to use the power of impeachment when confronted with presidential abuses and high crimes against us. Refusal to stand up and say NO to war crimes. (The immorality of the quid pro quo that finally triggered action, does not compare to the immorality of torture in plain sight committed by Bush and Cheney. There are a lot of low points for the party, but refusing to impeach for torturing is perhaps the lowest. And now, DT and other evil men can joke about torture and get laughs.)

Our own party has to recognize and accept responsibility for our part in the dissent into our current circumstances. And we need to LEARN the lessons. Take a moment to look back, and really "get" our failures. And use that knowledge as we move forward with a firmer commitment to draw lines in the sand and stand firm for our moral principles, and hold perpetrators against those principles accountable for their actions.

[GusBob]

9. Yep I don't blame Trump. I blame those who voted for him

[central scrutinizer]

15. The Southern Strategy

For a century, the hard core racists in the south called themselves Democrats because of their hatred of Abraham Lincoln. But Nixon figured after a century, and the civil rights movement of the 60s, led by LBJ, a Democrat, that he could peel them off. We’re the party of white supremacy he told them and they have been ever since. They used to use dog whistles like stated rights, law and order, welfare queens.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. Yes, and my how we have evolved.

For me personally as a college student in TN in the late 60s, this was a key turning point and I'm still bitter to this day:

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gore_Sr.

(snip)

By 1970, Gore was considered to be fairly vulnerable for a three-term incumbent Senator, as a result of his liberal positions on many issues such as the Vietnam War (which he opposed) and civil rights. This was especially risky, electorally, as at the time Tennessee was moving more and more toward the Republican Party. He faced a spirited primary challenge, predominantly from former Nashville news anchor Hudley Crockett, who used his broadcasting skills to considerable advantage and generally attempted to run to Gore's right. Gore fended off this primary challenge, but he was ultimately unseated in the 1970 general election by Republican Congressman Bill Brock. Gore was one of the key targets in the Nixon/Agnew "Southern strategy." He had earned Nixon's ire the year before when he criticized the administration's "do-nothing" policy toward inflation. In a memo to senior advisor Bryce Harlow, Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield relayed the President's desire that Gore be "blistered" for his comment. Spiro T. Agnew traveled to Tennessee in 1970 to mock Gore as the "Southern regional chairman of the Eastern Liberal Establishment". Other prominent issues in this race included Gore's opposition to the Vietnam War, his vote against Everett Dirksen's amendment on prayer in public schools, and his opposition to appointing Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brock won the election by a 51% to 47% margin.

Taken down by a lying right-wing millionaire candy man.

KY.........