Tin Man
Dirt's Childhood Playmate
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2015
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Left-most politics has its acolytes, for sure. Before they "felt the Bern," some took to disrupting Sanders' speeches and rallies. Ah, but American leftists pale compared to the right.
The right has sinned, sinned again, and sins some more, but they do not hesitate to throw stones. Acolytes of the howler monkeys of talk media mimic their bombastic belligerence, caustic chauvinism, and callous disrespect for all who do not surrender reason, volunteer for ignorance, and parrot their disposition. Alas, the right has abandoned any moral underpinnings while simultaneously claiming moral high ground, projecting the unsubstantiated confidence of certainty. If you have lived long enough, you would lament the loss of true conservatism along with me.
Reagan is still lionized by right wingers to this day (No Republican since has produced any inspiration). People conveniently forget that 138 members of Reagan's administrations were indicted for high crimes & misdemeanors (more than any administration before or since), and that after chiding Jimmy Carter for championing a budget that ran a $79 billion deficit, Reagan presided over larger deficits than any precedent, more than trebling the national by the end of his two terms. Also left out of glossy memories of Uncle Ron are the legacy of his campaign tactics - encouraging Americans not to think about the challenges facing our nation, but rather to feel good about themselves and express pride in their country, the southern strategy (looking the other way in the face of systemic unspoken racism), and the leveraging of then fledgling talk radio's focus on the first of these.
How does the Republican party end up with the presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump? Look to Reagan to see the beginnings of the path to today.
Division in our society isn't Obama's doing, and to say that he has encouraged it for political purpose can only be politely describe as disingenuous. Obama is a left leaning Democrat of the FDR mold, and his requests of Congress reflect that, unmistakably. However, faced with a financial crisis and deep recession, he sought to form a unity government, placing more members of the opposition party in his administration than any president before him. He urged Congress to pass legislation of the scope on which both sides of the isle could agree, legislation which would help the citizenry. In response, the past four congresses have chosen to retreat into political extremes and do less than any preceding them.
Folks, you don't have to be a political scientist or historian to see things clearly and recognize them for what they are. You're not sacrificing your sociopolitical point of view by acknowledging the truth, even if it isn't in lock step with your ideology. Independence of thought and the messiness that comes with it is about as American as it gets.
The right has sinned, sinned again, and sins some more, but they do not hesitate to throw stones. Acolytes of the howler monkeys of talk media mimic their bombastic belligerence, caustic chauvinism, and callous disrespect for all who do not surrender reason, volunteer for ignorance, and parrot their disposition. Alas, the right has abandoned any moral underpinnings while simultaneously claiming moral high ground, projecting the unsubstantiated confidence of certainty. If you have lived long enough, you would lament the loss of true conservatism along with me.
Reagan is still lionized by right wingers to this day (No Republican since has produced any inspiration). People conveniently forget that 138 members of Reagan's administrations were indicted for high crimes & misdemeanors (more than any administration before or since), and that after chiding Jimmy Carter for championing a budget that ran a $79 billion deficit, Reagan presided over larger deficits than any precedent, more than trebling the national by the end of his two terms. Also left out of glossy memories of Uncle Ron are the legacy of his campaign tactics - encouraging Americans not to think about the challenges facing our nation, but rather to feel good about themselves and express pride in their country, the southern strategy (looking the other way in the face of systemic unspoken racism), and the leveraging of then fledgling talk radio's focus on the first of these.
How does the Republican party end up with the presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump? Look to Reagan to see the beginnings of the path to today.
Division in our society isn't Obama's doing, and to say that he has encouraged it for political purpose can only be politely describe as disingenuous. Obama is a left leaning Democrat of the FDR mold, and his requests of Congress reflect that, unmistakably. However, faced with a financial crisis and deep recession, he sought to form a unity government, placing more members of the opposition party in his administration than any president before him. He urged Congress to pass legislation of the scope on which both sides of the isle could agree, legislation which would help the citizenry. In response, the past four congresses have chosen to retreat into political extremes and do less than any preceding them.
Folks, you don't have to be a political scientist or historian to see things clearly and recognize them for what they are. You're not sacrificing your sociopolitical point of view by acknowledging the truth, even if it isn't in lock step with your ideology. Independence of thought and the messiness that comes with it is about as American as it gets.
