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In reply to the discussion: Centrism Is A Corporate Scam. DON'T FALL FOR IT. [View all]Faryn Balyncd
(5,125 posts)33. Economically, "centrism" is far, far more corporatist than Eisenhower.
...and trust-busting Theodore Roosevelt, who dismantled the Northern Securities railroad monopoly, would be considered a communist by today's standards.
When TR broke from the Republican Party, and ran on a Progressive Party platform in 1912 that included this:
Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people.
From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.
The deliberate betrayal of its trust by the Republican party, the fatal incapacity of the Democratic party to deal with the new issues of the new time, have compelled the people to forge a new instrument of government through which to give effect to their will in laws and institutions.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/progressive-platform-of-1912/
... he was speaking as a former president who had had the wherewithal to take on and defeat corporate power, even at the cost of antagonizing those in his own party, and one economically far to the left of today's "centrists".
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Which Republican policies do you think are better than the Democratic alternatives? n/t
Fumesucker
Nov 2013
#85
All I can say is, if Hillary is the Democratic candidate, DU is going to be..... interesting. (nt)
Nye Bevan
Nov 2013
#26
Dems expecting pro union pro living wage progressives to go with the flow are dillusional...
L0oniX
Nov 2013
#38
I think there are 2 wings, a body, a leg and a head that are the corporate 'wing',
pangaia
Nov 2013
#44
If cutting the throats of the poor and middle class while cutting taxes for the rich is centrist,
JoeyT
Nov 2013
#15
PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS!!!!! This is the only way out of the mess that we are in!
Dustlawyer
Nov 2013
#17
Our government has been in control of the Plutocracy for some time. They write the laws, fund
Dustlawyer
Nov 2013
#37
Centrists call including the problem as part of the solution, "Pragmatism"
AgingAmerican
Nov 2013
#21
We get ideas like this because the conservatives invest so heavily in think tanks.
gtar100
Nov 2013
#22
While I totally get what your saying, there is a fundamental flaw to your comment...
Veilex
Nov 2013
#30
They can have it, I don't even recall anyone describing themselves as Centrist more than
TheKentuckian
Nov 2013
#34
Centrists are to liberals/progressives what leeches are to blood flow.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Nov 2013
#49
You know when its only you that figures it all out, maybe, just maybe its you that's wrong.
rhett o rick
Nov 2013
#64
Then maybe the "Democratic leaning Centrists" should lean a little harder, so to speak.
nomorenomore08
Nov 2013
#89
I think the difference between progressives and *genuine* moderates is more in tactics than policy.
nomorenomore08
Nov 2013
#90
Centrists are Moderate Republicans that abandoned their wack-a-doodle party.
rhett o rick
Nov 2013
#66
I read that Hillary thinks there's not enough "unity" in DC. She is a reason why we're at this bad
blkmusclmachine
Nov 2013
#84
"Today, the "centrists" try to define centrism as this notion that we must cut taxes...
On the Road
Nov 2013
#97