To The Post "I Miss the Old Days..."
I am posting this because an answer is too long.
I have watched Politics since I was a kid in the 60s. I remember getting ready for school and watching the conventions on television before grade school. It was fascinating.
I've done alot of researching and it seems that alot of the changes that have hurt both parties began in the 1970a. From the Powell letter, to the gop backroom powers (Usually millionaire businessmen) building a media and misinformation infrastructure, to the politicization of the evangelical community, to our own democratic party turning away from New Deal politics and building up the DLC and Neoliberal economic thinking.
It seems the roots of all the things that have taken our country from a powerhouse that was always Can Do, Reach for the Stars, and moving forward to one that on the Democracy Index was recently downgraded to Flawed Democracy.
All the things we blame today like conservative media like Fox and Rush, ect., are just symptoms.
The real culprits were the wealthy businessmen who strategized how to take down the New Deal and Unions and regain their positions of the true ruling class as it was pre-New Deal.
They wanted to take down labor and its power, destroy the unions and wipe out the protections for workers, as well as their getting paid so well.
In the late 70s and early 80s you heard alot about De-industrialization. Taking America from an industrial society to a service economy. Even at 20 I knew that was a bad idea as I knew in service jobs the pay stunk. I knew that was trouble. As well as the taking down of Unions, beginning with Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers.
But, with the Tax Cuts for the millionaires and big business, you had the real culprit that made much of the agenda possible.
As the money and salaries began to stagnate for the middle class, windfalls were given to the Kochs and Merciers. And many of these millionaires, now becoming billionaires, wanted to play in politics even more. They wanted to decide the laws and what was and was not to happen. They stop legislation from happening and making a congress do nothing. They could dictate the running of the country according to their whims. From bad Trade deals to Voter Suppression to destroying public schools.
And they decided the politicians. Those to primary. Which caused many of them to go from intelligent adults to clowns and goofy legislation to harmful bills that would hurt millions of everyday people.
They funded the media that pushed their message like so many talking heads like Rush to Conservative Newspapers to Blogs. Look at Bannon. His war against establishment republicans is partly because of his wacked ideas but, its also because he is being funded by the wackjob Merciers. All because Princess Rebekka Mercier wants to play in politics.
The democrats have been unable to really fight all this since they decided to jump into the 'Me Too' game of courting big money, cozying up to Wall Street and Silicon Valley. When they turned their back on the New Deal to embrace Neoliberalism they lost the high ground in which to fight back. So, they lost their voice and much of their fight.
= new reply since forum marked as read
They've known the GOP plays dirty & since 2000 they've known the GOP cheats. We saw it again in 2004, but got complacent when Obama's numbers couldn't be hacked. Still, we lost all those state house seats & governorships, during his term - where the congressional districts will be drawn. We could lose the House for a second decade in a row. And we have a SCOTUS that is one seat away from being extreme right wing for decades. I can't believe how quiet the dems were, while McConnell refused to grant Garland a hearing. What the fuck? A SCOTUS nom & the dems were like crickets. Then there was keeping quiet on the Russian collusion into our election. What the fuck? We're in a fight for our democracy because McConnell threatened to accuse Obama of politicizing that information? What the fucking hell? 
I think there was a lot of arrogance that HRC would easily win, so these things wouldn't matter. And now the GOP has their fucking boot on our neck. I vacillate between outrage and depression on a minute by minute basis.
