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(28,784 posts)The Republicanization of the United States: Becoming a Can Do Nation Again
by Milt Shook at Please Cut the Crap
http://pleasecutthecrap.com/the-republicanization-of-the-united-states/
In the past 34 years, the Republican Party has brought us a brand of cynicism that should have no place in government, whereby the people who work for us talk about the cost of everything and the value of nothing. They constantly pretend to cut the budget to the bone, when theyre actually diverting the money from programs that help the average American to contracts that line the pockets of those who put them into power, especially when it comes to their baby, the Department of Perpetual War. One of the worst legacies of the Democratic Party-dominated period has to be the Vietnam War, but the Republicans actually topped that by starting three preventable wars in the last 34 years, and turning two of them into major quagmires that lasted longer than Vietnam, and which did little more than line the pockets of defense contractors, to the tune of $2 trillion.
Republicans have also deregulated everything they could get their dirty little hands on. They cut regulations that were created to prevent another Great Depression, and they slashed regulations designed to keep markets fair and equitable. They have continually chipped away at regulations designed to keep workers safe on the job, as well as those intended to keep the environment safe. They even loosened regulations on food safety, and they virtually destroyed the regulations designed to ease our oil addiction. As one of his first acts, Reagan went so far as to take the solar panels off the White House roof in a sign of defiance. Thats put us more than 30 years behind the rest of the world in developing solar and wind power, which are not only the future of energy, but which are also the next global economic boom.
Republican rule has transformed this young, vibrant nation from a nation that once believed it could do anything, into a nation that believes its broke and cant afford to do anything. Think about it; everything we discuss doing these days is through the frame of how much it costs and whether or not it will make money, which is not rational. While we are still the richest nation in the world, with Republicans in charge especially the current crop we wont be for long.
The level of cynicism that courses through this government these days is not worthy of the United States. The steps we took to build this nation after World War II are largely being abandoned.
from this link - http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024355383
tech3149
(4,452 posts)I've bookmarked the site to review on a regular basis.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)you could go to the link at the bottom of my post, above, and kick applegrove's so more people will see it. She brought this to DU. I agree, it's good stuff.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)could do anything, into a nation that believes it is broke and can't afford to do anything."
I agree 99%. The 1% comes in the wording of her statement.
Most of "our" once, fiery Democrats, are now democratic branded republicans. That is waaay unacceptable.
In fact, our very best and best documented "Democrat" is an Independent that is a self-described Democratic Socialist named Bernie Sanders.
All of our past, "best Democrats" and quite a few pre-Reagan republicans, IMO, would carry that same label today. That is why I no longer vote by party. What was once a great (FDR styled) Democratic party has (for the most part) been blinded by GREED, and currently view the world through the squinty eyes of the republican party. Sadly, since there is no truth in advertising (especially in politics) we have become a corporate run, democratic party that is barely different than republicans. We can no longer afford to vote a straight democratic ticket.
IF we hope to turn this colossal mess around, we must stop putting party first and vote for the person whose track record proves their
"people first", Progressive beliefs. we get democrats (and republicans) that lie through their teeth as candidates and prove so if they are elected.
I refuse to vote for "the lesser of two evils" (it is still evil) anymore.
If Bernie Sanders wants my vote, he has it. The same goes for any Progressive who has PROVEN their loyalty to the majority (Progressives) of the people. Campaign promises are not proof of anything.
In short, if you can show that you represent the majority of Americans (no matter which party you are in), you have my vote. That is the way to turn America around IMO....
RainDog
(28,784 posts)that could get me to vote for them.
They have aligned themselves with the backward ass haters in this nation and offer nothing, NOTHING, to me, worth voting for.
If you refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils - your choice.
My philosophy for social issues of just about any sort is "harm reduction" and personal freedom to create your own life and, hopefully, a better world along the way.
Even the libertarians... one time this libertarian woman was trying to convince me that it would be great to not have a public school system and let churches step in for education. I looked at her that she was nucking futz.
I don't want my children to be indoctrinated by the idiots who think the world is 6000 years old, and I'm CERTAINLY not going to vote for the party that coddles them.
LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)he was so ahead of his time. He would be a great President today, I believe. Donahue is also in the video, and I think a lot of people owe that man an apology. He had a lot of influence while he was on the air, though, so I guess he didn't have it as hard as Carter did for a long time. Still, MSNBC totally fucked him over, and I'll never forgive them for that. They showed just how craven and faux-liberal they were when they canned him.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Carter wasn't ahead of his time - it's the voters who put Republicans in office, and have continued to do so, who are living in the fucking 19th century.
LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)the future, but Americans didn't want to hear it, at least the majority didn't seem to want to. He was Pres. when I was 7-11 years old, and he's the first Pres. I remember very well. I remember him talking about conserving energy and using different forms of energy rather than oil. He stressed nuclear energy in particular, and I still feel ambivalent about that. Of course, the oil companies wanted none of that, and the media made fun of him in his sweater, and too many Americans followed along and jeered him.
We might have implemented some of his plans, but the Hostage Crisis happened, and I also remember that very clearly. It was at the top of the news every day, 350 days, 351 days, etc. I think it was the failed rescue that really sealed Carter's fate. It's a shame, but that crisis had a horrible effect on America for the next 30 years. Unintended consequences are a bitch.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Last edited Mon Jan 20, 2014, 01:56 AM - Edit history (1)
...and, true to form... he was spying on them! LOLOL... because the FBI was worried "Earth Day" would start a populist uprising. What I mean to say is that Carter was in step with the scientific community, DEMOCRATS, and the rest of the world's democracies, while the powers-that-be were not - including the media... which is a lot like it is today. Same as it ever was.
The launch of Earth Day in 1970 raised suspicions in Washington, D.C., according to former Representative Pete McCloskey, one of the organizers of the first Earth Day.
The annual event was launched as a national teach-in on April 22, 1970, by former Senator Gaylord Nelson, McCloskey and others. Earth Day galvanized a political movement that led to some of the country's most significant environmental legislation, including the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.
According to McCloskey, "...John Ehrlichman at that time...an environmental lawyer, called me after Earth Day he was laughing as hard as I'd ever heard, and he said, 'Pete, I've got this report from [FBI Director] J. Edgar Hoover to deliver to the president tomorrow,' because the president was so paranoid that Earth Day was going to be a bunch of anti-war kids gathered that he had put them under surveillance by the FBI," McCloskey said.
Though the report was benign, its effects were not. On April 14, 1971, Nelson and former Senator Edmund Muskie, both Earth Day organizers, released copies of the FBI reports, revealing the surveillance. The reports were the latest in a series of stolen or released documents detailing FBI surveillance of U.S. citizens through a program called COINTELPRO. After the resulting Senate hearings, Hoover said he would severely curtail such FBI surveillance.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)It's the South that put Carter in office. He was a "good ol boy".
Vietnam became Nixon's war and the Republican's too since they backed his decisions. Watergate and, contrary to the Beltway myth, the pardon by Ford poisoned the public from Republicans. Inflation was the big issue as prices nearly doubled on everything and the only solution Ford offered was to claim it was the publics fault for failing to shop. He suggested we all wear "WIN" buttons which stood for "Whip Inflation Now". To this day the Republicans talk about the economy as if it's all about psychology and not math. All through Carter all we heard was "All politicians are crooks, Nixon just got caught".
Then the Republicans spent the whole time trying to claim Carter was at fault for the economy to the point where Ford's gas lines are remembered as happening under Carter.
After Reagan got in he spent eight years blaming Carter for his failed policies and so did Daddy Bush. I swear, I ran into a Republican once who blamed Carter for "losing Vietnam".
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Last edited Sun Jan 19, 2014, 11:59 PM - Edit history (1)
He was elected because people thought he was honest and moral.
He was a governor, so he didn't reek from the stink of national political ratfucking.
His appeal was "the gentleman farmer," the decent man, who had to admit that, yes, he thought about women other than his wife, even tho he knew it was a sin... he admitted to "lust in his heart." (eta to clean up my language...in context)
Believe me, that's not a "good ol boy" statement.
I do agree, however, that Ford's pardon was a bad move...that he had to make because that's why he was appointed in the first place... that was "the deal."
And I agree that trickle down has been the greatest joke Republicans pulled on white Americans since, or until they decided to name their dupes "teabaggers."
fwiw: Ronald Wilson Reagan=666
just sayin'
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Sure it is. Then there was Billy hosing down the runway.
Ford was seen as the 'out of it' but lovable beer drinking football fan who might have won but for the pardon. The rest of the country thought the South and New York had given us an absolute Hayseed. After Carter got in he was constantly portrayed as being in over his head,....especially with the USSR.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)..at least in my understanding of distinctions in the south about this or that.
All southern white males are not "good ole boys."
It's like bar-b-que. All southerners bar-b-que, but not all bar-b-que sauce is the same. Vinegar vs. sugar, etc... it's all sauce, but there are distinct flavors.
The accent makes it hard to hear some of those differences if you don't speak the cultural dialect.
I didn't know that the rest of the country thought Carter was a hayseed. That's funny to me, considering what an intellectual midget and all around yes-man that Ford seemed to be. That's what everyone wanted? Or do you mean in the primaries?
George Wallace, Robert Byrd, (worse- outright segregationists in the too-near past), Henry Jackson, the magnet for the rise of the neo-cons (who moved to the Republican Party), or Humphrey (is that LBJ's agent Orange I smell... tho, sure Humphrey had liberal cred, from the newsreels I've seen from him when he was a leg.
Frank Church - his committee didn't make too many people happy, tho, did it. He stated, btw, that he was afraid he was going to be assassinated by the Gordon Liddy faction. I think he made too many military contractors angry.
Jerry Brown? I think the Democrats were afraid of another McGovern showing.
Ted Kennedy, no matter how much the Democrats who loved him deny it, and he was a great legislator - he was never going to be able to get past that affair and accident.
It's funny that people thought Carter was over his head when he had been a naval officer while Reagan had no military experience at all.
It just goes to show you how much of politics is about perception, not actual achievements (which we see daily now with Obama.)
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)In the General. People weren't as fixated on party back then. Most Americans didn't CARE if someone was a Republican or a Democrat. They actually listened to debates and had specific issues and listened to solutions to those issues from each side. This was before Republicans claimed America was perfect and didn't need to be changed and Democrats were commie demons who wanted to take away your freedom and take away your guns to give to the terrorists so they could kill your God.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)LOL.
Arkansas in the 1950s.
Texas in the 1960s.
two famous examples. but, at the same time, you had people like John Seigenthaler Sr., a newspaper editor, who aligned with the civil rights movement. He was an important voice in the south when John Lewis (D-GA) was a student sitting in at lunch counters in the same city.
I think it's just the same old same old in this nation. Those who want to think about the issues will, and those who want to just knee-jerk react will do the same. I have a friend that recently moved to NC from a place with a lot of political activism and leadership from academia on local and state issues. My friend said, on the campus where he is now... almost crickets in reaction to "Moral Mondays" and the teabagging destruction of a beautiful state. People think of Jesse Helms as North Carolina, but the same state has had more progressive legislation on things like mj than many northern states.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)The parties played musical chairs in DC after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act but there were still segregationist Dems at the state level well into the 70s best represented by the likes of George Wallace.
This was part of why Americans weren't as partisan as each party was a mixed bag.
These days it seems every vile thing that can be named is represented by Republicans.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Here's the thing that white liberals can learn from African American liberals - and that is voting for the lesser of two evils - because that is, sometimes, the only strategy you have, even at the federal level. I guess if you're part of a group that didn't have the privilege of a vote for a long time, you don't take it for granted, and you're willing to vote strategically with a view of a longer-term goal.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)was seen as a positive, and highlighting Martin Luther King Jr and his Non-Violent way of sending a huge message to the world .
RainDog
(28,784 posts)MLK's father spoke in his church and he questioned Kennedy because he was a Catholic. In the south, Catholics were a religious minority, while MLK's protestantism aligned with the majority southern baptist population. So, we all have our biases.. or political strategies.
Kennedy courted the African American vote by calling Coretta King - and that conversation resulted in MLK's release from prison when his family was afraid he was going to be killed there.
Kennedy said he wanted to focus on foreign policy - but things happen because the American people make them happen via activism and collective work.
The civil rights movement will be remembered in the history of this nation as one its greatest moments - because of its citizens - African American... and a minority of white Americans, at least in terms of putting in skin in the game. But some did.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They wanted JFK to ARREST him.
I'm reminded of that every time I hear Republicans claim "talking with our enemies legitimizes them".
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)in a open way, not esoteric like the ' Good Ol boy ' network .
tblue37
(64,979 posts)Carter was in office frm 1976 to 1980, so the gas lines *did* occur during his time in office, though they were not his fault.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)At the time Carter was applauded for Middle East peace not because Americans gave a damn about the killing. They only cared about their ability to take the family on a Sunday Drive. (Remember those?)
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)the stage for that and the Medicine for profit via HMO's, we enjoy today .
valerief
(53,235 posts)prairierose
(2,145 posts)many of us did support Jimmy Carter and his ideas. If Reagan and his henchmen had not made that deal with Iran to keep those people hostage until after the election,I believe, Reagan would never have been elected.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)played his part in Poppy's Pappy's, NWO .
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)the Olympics .
Skittles
(152,964 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)undeterred
(34,658 posts)I could say the same for Al Gore.
spanone
(135,633 posts)was the word used at the time, I believe.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)a much better President than Ronald Raygun! He obviously worked harder, and his policies were well ahead of his time. We need someone just like him in the worst way now, but they would never get elected.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)Guess that makes me a dork too.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)MerryBlooms
(11,728 posts)BlueMTexpat
(15,349 posts)I was outraged that the Dem machine was so listless during the whole of the 1980 election cycle.
The whole country has paid for it. Had Carter been re-elected President in 1980, this would have been a much kinder and gentler world, not simply a kinder, gentler nation.
But it was not to be then. So, let us NEVER, EVER be caught napping again. Please.
pam4water
(2,916 posts)Shampoobra
(423 posts)I don't remember anyone thinking, "What a dork!"
I remember everyone except the most hardened, corrupt Republicans thinking, "So Nixon covers up all these felonies, refuses to pardon his co-conspirators because that would 'send the wrong message,' resigns the office to avoid impeachment, and is then pardoned by his unelected Republican successor. And here comes this Jimmy Carter guy, whose worst moment is when he admits to Playboy magazine that he has occasionally looked at women with lust in his heart."
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)He was absolutely unable to articulate his ideas in a soundbite.
Or articulate his ideas at all really.
So....Reagan.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)In What Galaxy?
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)Hard to do when the electorate is drowning in the self-indulgence of a bling induced haze and spending spree hang over.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)If they do not do that they are a lost voice in the wind.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)An unarticulation?
What was Jimmy Carter running on in 1980.
Tell me NOW.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)You are Not owed anything.
A leader who cannot lead is not a leader.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)"Ooooohhh nooooes> Wimpy wimpy moisty facy They Didn't LISTEN! Gasp!
That is ridiculous.
A leader must have the ability to LEAD.
Jimmy Carter had near ZERO ability to lead.
Which lead directly to Reagan.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
meanit
(455 posts)and many bought into it. Carter was not the best speaker and he said what people did not want to hear. Reagan on the other hand was an actor, promised pie in the sky bullshit and people bought it.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Carter would have made a great Secretary of State. He lacked the spine for President.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)That's how we got here, aggression and a forceful image, while dispensing cowardice and Lies .
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Carter says " LESS FOR 80'S " In order to pay down the deficit, that economists latter said would of happened years before President Clinton's administration. Now and Then people consumed with Narcissistic Fibrosis, don't want to hear it, they just Want more .
mbperrin
(7,672 posts)He encouraged solar power, putting a demonstration project on the White House. He wanted the release of the hostages in Iran without starting a war.
And the Ronnie Raygun camp made a deal with the Iranian terrorists to hold those hostages until after the election. Which matched up perfectly with their later Contra and other illegal moves.
I voted for Carter - twice. I still damn Raygun to hell.
In addition, Carter is our best former President - from housing to election watching, he's great. The rest? Not so much.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)meanit
(455 posts)as were most politicians before Reagan. Reagan was a trained professional actor who basically followed a script. Times had been tough and many people bought this shit hook, line and sinker. Not to mention the Iranian hostage situation that had dragged on well past any logical reasons for continuing.
Those hostages were held purposely until after the 1981 inauguration of Reagan.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)And now....we are where we are.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)What The Corporate Oligarchs And 1% Are Doing Today
How Corporate Oligarchs And The 1% Have Systematically Undermined US Democracy And The Middle Class
How The Liberal Class Sold Out To The Corporate Oligarchs And 1%
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)meanit
(455 posts)Not to mention a (Democratic) congress that was continually fighting with Carter, a challenge from Ted Kennedy in the primaries and having John Anderson in the general election.
Reagan's "there you go again Mr. President" bullshit was unprecedented at the time. Most people had no idea that politics was devolving into dishonest, acted, sound bite garbage. Most still believed that "they would never do that".
And now....we are where we are.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Charisma cost us big time in 1980 recreating 1955 .
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)he always called for , while beginning the end of labor leverage in this and the next millennium, still we couldn't see .
tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Country's never been the same.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Grammy23
(5,808 posts)And proud of it.
Thirties Child
(543 posts)When what seemed like all the Republicans in Georgia put "Don't blame me. I voted Bush" bumper stickers on their cars, I saw one of the best I've ever seen: "Don't blame me. I voted Carter".
Deep13
(39,154 posts)orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)that eventually got their way .
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)might get a chance to watch it.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Most people chose the 1980 election as the one they would have most liked to have gone the other way.
No surprise who would rather have had McCain beat Obama.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x761367
Sid
polynomial
(750 posts)My research in some mathematics leads me to a pdf file that has a reference to Jonathan Tennenbaum. For many out there my personal passion is studies in mathematics concepts but this guy Tennenbaum is in a story connected to the famous Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. which just makes me say wow I have a lot to learn about politics.
I do not know much about LaRouche but it turns out our military policies have been derived from him. He was arrested for credit card fraud. No bailouts in those days uh. After watching a few videos in this era where President Ronald Reagan added the military policies of LaRouche while Kissinger was complicit with the Soviets is a wild ride in right wing political assassination of the Swedish prime minister in 1986. Here is the kicker all these eight years with ray-gun Vice President Herbert Walker Bush former CIA type guy was in the background likely wheeling similar power Cheney worked with Dubuya the decider. The words like neo fascist floated around then. We know that the Bush family supported the Nazi in WWII, but how in the world did Bush get elected baffles me.
Our mainstream media should be ashamed in an endless rant it amazes me that Americans can-not see the crime and corruption that flows like the radiant sun shine in a clear day. Our mainstream media besides our corrupt Congress brought America to where we are now. Here, Americans are told Congress is going to cut jobs in government at the same time cut unemployment is insane. Then call those on unemployment lazy because they can-not find jobs all the while ditching any jobs bill in Congress. Maybe it is time for a clause in the Constitution for public political psychiatric analysis before anyone is put on the ballet. The politics is insane.
Dirty Socialist
(3,248 posts)He is America's Dork of Economics.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)That's not entirely his fault, either. He was just overpowered by an era that about zapped America's confidence in its government. Had Ford won in '76, and the Democrats almost certainly win in '80 - with no Reagan Revolution. In fact, I'd wager Carter winning, in the long game, actually hurt because he was the sacrificial lamb to bring the right back around again. The fact he was daunted by issue after issue made it actually nearly impossible to win in '80. He was always going to lose to Reagan.
Was Carter a good president? I think he had good ideas - but I don't think he was effective. He entered office with a larger majority in the Senate than Obama and couldn't really get a domestic agenda going. With that said, his appointment of Paul Volcker to the Fed is the real reason behind the economic expansion seen during Reagan's presidency. Unfortunately, Reagan stole all the credit and it happened far too late for Carter to take any.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)I had a close relative who had a good chance of competing in the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but was denied the opportunity when Carter pulled the US out of the games.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)Ironically, his own Party abandoned him.
Lifelong Protester
(8,421 posts)the only President whose hand I have shaken.
Yep, he was not 'media savvy'-very plain spoken, you had to pay attention to what he was saying, not the MSM 'spin'.
ananda
(28,783 posts)I voted for him, and now I admire him greatly.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)I loved him. Still do. He is a brilliant man and great humantarian. He just wasn't very adept at the DC gladiator games.
seattledo
(295 posts)really took a painfully long time to finally get around to making a point.
northoftheborder
(7,566 posts)....making fun of Carter's religion, his plain speech, his sweaters, unsophisticated ways etc...
The media is always looking for shallow thought to quote so they don't have to research to report something; they like daily controversy, naughtiness, "stories" to spin.
Carter is a brilliant, wise, knowledgeable man, but from what I have read since then, he didn't know how to work Congress to get his policies through. He didn't know how to make friends with the "press". There are disadvantages to governors being elected President, because they don't have a Congressional background of allies to work with.
Just my 2 cents. The worst President of my lifetime was George W. Bush, who was not even elected the first term, and doubts remain about the results of the second. Worse than "Raygun" who was pretty awful.
This is an interesting thread with lots of interesting viewpoints. And without the mind piercing stupid & insulting back and forth disputes I see often on this blogsite.
benld74
(9,888 posts)delrem
(9,688 posts)I never thought he was a dork! But I'm not an American so I don't know the half of MSM propaganda Americans were subjected to, that they would defeat this man in favor of bedtime for bonzo, a fucking *actor*. And that they'd elect the actor *twice*.
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)His family continues to do good deeds as far as I've seen.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)and in the age of media as the medium that's Everything .
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)But it seems he was the best person for it.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)Especially in the arena of clean water and sanitation in Africa. I give him kudos. He's definitely walking the walk.