‘Hardcore History’ host: Justice Roberts told America to accept plutocracy or revolt

[Katashi_itto]

“Common Sense” and “Hardcore History” host Dan Carlin blasted Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday for his “breathtaking” decision in the McCutcheon v. FEC case, warning it was pushing Americans towards radical action.

The court last Wednesday struck down the aggregate limit on federal campaign contributions that had been in place since 1974. Political donors had been limited to giving a total of $123,200 to candidates, national party committees and political action committees during the federal two-year election cycle.

But Carlin was far more concerned that Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to believe the very idea of campaign finance reform was wrong. Roberts wrote in his ruling that the government had no legitimate reason to regulate money in politics, besides outlawing a very specific and narrow type of corruption.


“No matter how desirable it may seem, it is not an acceptable governmental objective to ‘level the playing field,’ or to ‘level electoral opportunities,’ or to ‘equaliz[e] the financial resources of candidates,’” the chief justice wrote.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/07/hardcore-history-host-justice-roberts-told-america-to-accept-plutocracy-or-revolt/

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. Hardcore history is one the best podcasts

for history buffs. His Punic War series were informative and entertaining.

Robert's decision is a travesty and even illogical and just a power grab for the one percent.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. I am a regular listener to Dan Carlin

He is an outstanding analyst of history.

I am currently listening to his discussion of WW1 and HIGHLY recommend his four part series Ghost of the Ostfront which discussed the German/Soviet Eastern Front. His podcasts are highly informative and thought-provoking.

[independentpiney]

8. The WW! series is excellent

I missed the Ostfront series, I may have to break out my wallet for it.

[Kelvin Mace]

9. It is worth it.

It is a very "unAmerican-centric" view of the war.

[sammythecat]

10. I listened to that 4 or 5 years ago

I learned a lot about the eastern front that I was never taught in school. Details like that was pretty much where the outcome of the war was decided. WWll was even worse than I ever knew. The sacrifice and suffering on the Eastern front was almost unimaginable. I wanted to listen to it again about a year ago but membership was required. Bummer. He's an entertaining storyteller though and I second your recommendation.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. You can buy the story for a couple of

bucks. Well worth it and you help support the podcast.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. It is building, but that will be the end result

we will see revolt. Those who prevent peaceful change... and that is a truism that Chief Justice Roberts and his friends do not understand.

[Octafish]

4. Far more concerned that Roberts seemed to believe the very idea of campaign finance reform was wrong

Yeah. Evil.

[pscot]

6. John Roberts is a narrow little man

with a narrow little understanding of Democracy.

[colsohlibgal]

5. He's Either A Liar Or Oblivious - I'm Guessing Bald Faced Liar

I was astonished he was dismissive of any "quid pro quo" with money in politics. I almost fell over when I heard this.

As Brian Schweitzer says, it's hard for a congressional member to vote against company A on Thursday when that member got cash from company A on Monday. The same thing applies all the way up to the White House - why do you think no Wall Street Fat Cats spent any time in prison for massive blatant financial fraud which ruined lives and brought the nation to it's knees. Instead a lot of them got 500 million dollar golden parachutes. Welcome to the new Robber Baron era.

[pa28]

7. 'The middle class are where the poor have always been The upper class is next.'

It will be interesting to see what happens when the bottom half of the one percent begins to be treated with the contempt that used to be reserved for minorities, the poor and finally the middle class.

They are going to be righteously pissed and I'll have a hard time feeling sorry for them.

[pokerfan]

12. I just discovered Dan Carlin

My grandfather fought in the First World War but never talked much about it except that gas shells sounded different than normal explosive ones. He's gone now but I still have his uniform, helmet and medals from that war. What with the centenary approaching, I was digging around on the Internet and discovered Hardcore History and was blown away.

He calls it Blueprint for Armageddon:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/dancarlinhh/dchha50_Blueprint_for_Armageddon_I.mp3
http://traffic.libsyn.com/dancarlinhh/dchha51_Blueprint_for_Armageddon_II.mp3

With more to follow...

I've downloaded all the Hardcore History that 's freely available and will probably be buying the rest.

Dan Carlin is an American political commentator, amateur historian, and podcaster. Once a professional radio host, Carlin eventually took his show to the Internet, and he now hosts two popular independent podcasts: Common Sense and Hardcore History. Carlin broke into the television news business in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. He has worked as a television news reporter, an author, a columnist, and for the last dozen years, a radio talk show host. No longer broadcasting on terrestrial radio, Carlin has achieved recognition in internet radio, podcasting, and the blogosphere. Currently, he hosts two popular podcasts, both of which are frequently among the highest-ranked podcasts on review sites such as Podcastalley and iTunes.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/500722.Dan_Carlin

And regarding recent events...

Historian explains ‘unsavory realities’ about Crimea: Putin is Russia’s Ronald Reagan

Russia isn’t acting any differently than the United States would by taking control of the Crimea in Ukraine, according to the host of a popular history podcast.

“If you look at this from a Russian perspective, we haven’t exactly been non-provocative since the Soviet Union fell,” Dan Carlin recently said on his Common Sense podcast.

While the United States wasn’t entirely to blame for the situation, U.S. foreign policy certainly encouraged a backlash from Russia by carelessly expanding NATO, Carlin said.

“It is so funny to hear John McCain and people like that when they wouldn’t put up with that being done to us for two bloody seconds,” he remarked. “Total inability — or lack of desire, because I think these people have the ability, I just don’t think they want to — to see it from the perspective of how we would view a similar situation. There are some really not so savory aspects to all this concerning the fact that there are realities from the previous world, and by that I mean from the 20th Century until cave-man times, that haven’t gone away to the degree we all assume they have.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/25/historian-explains-unsavory-realities-about-crimea-putin-is-russias-ronald-reagan/