conservatives

Lyndon B. Johnson And Medicare: 58th Anniversary!

Ronald Leave a comment

It has been 58 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare Act, a pathbreaking turning point in health care, after much resistance for a half century.

Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, as the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party Presidential nominee, was the first President to suggest health care should be a national commitment.

His distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, considered the issue, but had enough of a battle over Social Security being legislated into law in 1935, as part of his “New Deal”.

Harry Truman promoted, as part of his “Fair Deal”, the consideration of some sort of national health care, but it went awry in the divisive politics of the “Red Scare” and the Cold War.

John F. Kennedy also pushed the issue, but did not have the clout to get it past House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas.

Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the issue of national health care as part of his “Great Society”, and got it done, and it has been a godsend to millions of elderly people and disabled people, and added to the following year by the adoption of Medicaid.

Most Republicans opposed it then and since, and continue to call it “Socialism”, and ten states, including Texas and Florida, refuse to expand Medicaid, denying the poor the care they need, and this by a party that claims to be “Pro Life”! 🙁

And Barack Obama, in promoting the Affordable Care Act or “ObamaCare”, expanded health care, and it continues to survive despire blistering Republican and conservative attacks!

So this is a time to salute LBJ, as the savior of the promotion of national health care!

Republicans, Conservatives, And Disrespect For Immigrants: Infuriating!

Ronald Leave a comment

America is a nation of immigrants, and all of us are “immigrants”, in the sense that our ancestors, if not us, migrated to America, and found the only true “natives”, native Americans, whose land and resources were taken from them by European settlers.

America, historically, has mistreated native Americans in a horrible, horrendous fashion, and still do so when they decide to do mining on native lands, one of the major reasons why organizations, such as the Conservation Lands Foundation, exist, to promote proper treatment of the “original” Americans.

But America is also a nation that constantly, throughout history, has treated various groups migrating to North America, in a totally unacceptable fashion.

This has occurred to the Irish; the Italians; the Polish; the Jews; the migrants from Japan and China and elsewhere in Asia; people from Latin America; and of course the treatment of people of African origin, both slaves and those who have migrated since the end of the ugly institution of slavery!

It is infuriating when Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes the comment about the horrendous gun murders in Cleveland, Texas, referring to the victims as “illegal immigrants”, as if their status matters, as if their lives do not matter!

Immigrants come to America to excape persecution, bloodshed, discrimination, looking for a better life, as generations of immigrants have done, and they contribute their talents and skills to their adopted nation.

Just because they speak a different language, are possibly of different skin color and religion, does not make them inferior or unworthy of our sympathy, empathy, compassion, and to be treated with respect!

People like Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, and others who are bullies and have no regard for human life, unless it is white European Christians, need to be drummed out of office by demand of decent Americans, who do not want such despicable people to govern us!

It is past time for Republicans and conservatives who are only pro-life on fetuses, but not for gun regulation, or women’s rights, to be repudiated, and allow American to move forward in a positive fashion, and stop promoting hate!

Facts: States With Weak Gun Laws And High Gun Ownership Lead In Gun Deaths!

Ronald 1 Comment

In the midst of the endless number of gun massacres occurring daily in America, and with children being the primary victims, statistics demonstrate the reality that Second Amendment advocates do not want to acknowledge.

States with weak gun laws and high gun ownership lead in Gun Deaths.

The six highest states in gun deaths are Mississippi, Wyoming, Louisiana, Alaska, Missouri, and Alabama, all with lax gun laws!

The five states with lowest gun death rates, all of which have strong gun control regulations, are Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New York!

Notice that it is Southern states which primarily have high death rates from guns, while Northeastern, highly urban states have low death rates from guns!

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, leading a Congressional hearing in New York City yesterday to go after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg due to prosecution and indictment of Donald Trump, comes from the Columbus, Ohio area, which has THREE times the crime rate of New York City!

Fox News Channel pedals lies and deceit, but it is clear that having stronger gun laws helps to lead to lower death rates, particularly among children!

It is clear that one major reason why Republicans, conservatives, Fox News Channel, and the National Rifle Association has no concern about death rates from guns, particularly among children, is the reality that many more African American children are victims than are white, Latino, or Asian children.

This is part of the continued racism and lack of concern, including police abuse against African American youths, so quick to shoot and kill, as compared to white youths!

13 Year Anniversary Of Obama Care (Affordable Care Act)!

Ronald 2 Comments

We have reached the 13 year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care), which despite vehement Republican opposition, and multiple attempts to repeal the legislation, survives today.

It has transformed the lives of millions of Americans whose lives have been saved, despite their being poor and low income.

And North Carolina has just become the 40th state to expand Medicaid, the program begun by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, but with 10 states, including the megastates of Florida and Texas still resisting helping the poor and disadvantaged to be able to acquire health care.

Conservatives and Republicans have no concern about human life, other than fetuses being born, but they still promote denial of health care, and promote expansion of gun violence, by refusing to support any gun regulations, a true outrage!

And today, we had another mass loss of life in an attack by a woman against a religious elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, as the number of victims of gun assaults multiply daily!

Any intelligent, caring human being understands that conservatives and Republicans, if they had their way, would obliterate not only Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, but also Medicare and Social Security!

The Republican Party Has Gone Fully Racist, Nativist, Misogynistic, Homophobic, And Willing To Ignore Anti Semitism In Its Midst!

Ronald Leave a comment

In the past, we had elements of racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, and anti Semitism emerge among some members of both political parties.

But now, as the Republican Party is about to take control of the House of Representatives in January, the party that once was graced by Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H W Bush, has gone fully racist, nativist, misogynistic, homophobic, and ignoring elements of anti Semitism in its midst!

What used to be veiled and secretive is now openly displayed, with no sense of shame or embarrassment!

This shows up every day by the utterances or actions of those who admire Donald Trump, and Republican politicians who overlook his extremist behavior and promotion of hatred and violence and inciting domestic terrorism!

Members of the Republican Party in Congress and in many states accentuate their narrow mindedness and willingness to ignore the Constitution and Bill of Rights!

As things stand, the party is in its death throes long term, as those who are conservatives but have decency in their veins, are abandoning what has become an extremist right wing party!

So we have individuals such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Larry Hogan, and a small number of others in the party who still uphold common decency.

But the cancer of Donald Trump and his supporters permeate the party, and the disaster of Kevin McCarthy as the likely Speaker of the House, or being replaced by someone even more horrendous, make clear that the party, as we once knew it, is in its death throes.

It must be replaced by a respectable, dignified Conservative Party, that does not promote as part of its plaform the evils of racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, and anti Semitism!

Republican Party Will Follow Liz Truss Lead, And Cause Economic Crisis!

Ronald Leave a comment

British Prime Minister Liz Truss will go down in history as the shortest lasting government in British history, 45 days, and now, there is talk of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was a true disaster, and too much like Donald Trump, might come back to office.

The Conservative Party of Great Britain is in free fall, but they do not have to call for a new election for two years, so difficult times are ahead, whether or not Johnson returns to power!

But yet, the Republican Party in American politics seems ready to go down as the British equivalent of an economic disaster, if they gain control of either or both houses of Congress in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

Liz Truss tried to follow the old “supply side Economics” of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, copied by former President Ronald Reagan. The goal was to lower taxes on the wealthy, and cut social spending, and it hit the middle and lower classes in both Great Britain and America hard in the 1980s.

The national debt tripled in America, and there was lots of corruption in the Reagan Administration, but it is glorified by conservatives, who also loved when George W. Bush and Donald Trump gave even more massive tax cuts to the wealthy.

So if Kevin McCarthy and his ilk gain control, they will promote more tax cuts to the wealthy, while setting out to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans’ benefits.

So while there are troubles with inflation, if the American people vote in a Republican Congress, they will discover the disaster that Great Britain is now experiencing!

Republican And Conservative Advantage In House, Senate, Electoral College System, Despite Popular Vote Advantage For Democrats

Ronald 1 Comment

The American political system is in bad straits, in what seems like a losing battle for popular vote to determine who runs our government.

The system has become stacked to favor Republicans and conservatives.

Republican legislatures in many states promote gerrymandering, which hurts Democrats massively, not only in the state governments, but also in setting up House of Representatives seats. An example is Florida, which used to have four Congressional seats that favored African American representation, but now has been halved to two such districts.

Fewer people regularly vote nationally for Republicans, but they have near to a majority even before the election in 2022 for the House of Representatives, and it is likely they will control the lower house of Congress despite having fewer total popular votes nationally.

Also, the US Senate has a situation in which Republican Senators, presently half the Senate, are elected by a population of about about 142 million Americans, while Democrats, presently the other half of the Senate, are elected by a population of about 184 million Americans!

So 60 percent of the nation’s population is being underrepresented, while 40 percent is overrepresented.

The idea that Wyoming has two US Senators with only about 600,000 people, while California with nearly 40 million peoples has two US Senators, is an abomination, but simply has evolved that way over time, so the US Senate is anti democracy to the extreme!

Additionally, the Electoral College favors the small, mostly Republican states, this despite the Democrats winning the national popular vote seven of the last eight Presidential elections, from 1992 through 2020, with the one exception of 2004!

So the idea of democracy is under attack, and the right wing Federalist Society has managed to “fix” the Supreme Court, with a strong 6-3 margin, with only Chief Justice John Roberts able to be considered, most of the time, as “moderate”.

So a constitutional crisis exists, with white supremacists working to insure that American democracy fails completely as we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026!

Republican Attacks On Social Security And Medicare Arise Again: They Never Give Up!

Ronald Leave a comment

Social Security has been under attack by Republicans and conservatives ever since its passage in 1935 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Medicare has been under attack by Republicans and conservatives ever since its passage in 1965 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society.

The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) has been under attack by Republicans and conservatives since its passage under Barack Obama in 2010!

Most recently, George W. Bush promoted privatization of Social Security, which failed to occur in 2004-2005, luckily so, as the Great Recession of 2008 would have destroyed those who invested in the stock market, rather than having the guarantee of Social Security.

Also, Mitt Romney proposed privatization of Medicare during his Presidential campaign in 2012.

Now, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are the biggest backers of phasing out Social Security over five years! Also, Arizona Senatorial candidate Blake Masters has backed this idea!

If the Republicans were to win both houses of Congress and the Presidency by 2024, a great tragedy would occur!

As it is, Rand Paul and Ron Johnson face reelection this November, and every effort possible should be mounted to defeat these two horrendous US Senators! And Blake Masters needs to be defeated in his quest to be elected to the Senate!

Joe Biden Hits A Homerun With Student Loan Debt Forgiveness

Ronald 1 Comment

Joe Biden has hit a homerun with his decision to give all college students with a family income under $125,000 a forgiveness of $10,000 of their college student debt, and $20,000 to those who have Pell Grants, given to students who come from families with lower income.

Who cares what conservatives and Republicans say, as they had no issue in giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy in 2017 under Donald Trump’s Presidency, and gave many Republican politicians and corporate entities PPP loans (Paycheck Protection Program) that have been forgiven, with so much corruption and stealing going on, but fine with the right wing fanatics!

Education should be a priority, and no one should have grievances over giving college students and college graduates a chance to come out from under debt, and make it easier to have people marry, have children, buy a home, and have dreams of better times.

It is not as if Joe Biden gave all students total cleaning of their debt, but a hand up, a lift to the future, so he should be commended for that!

April 4 Commemorations: NATO Formation And Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination

Ronald Leave a comment

Today is an historic day more than just normal.

It is the 73rd anniversary (1949) of the formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), an alliance that began as 12 nations and is now 30 nations, formed in opposition to the Soviet Union, to defend democracy in western Europe, but now also including the former Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe as well.

In this itme of the horrors of the Russia-Ukraine War, NATO is even more important, and may soon be engaged in World War III, if any of the NATO nations are being attacked.

It is also the 54th anniversary of the tragic death by assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968, a loss that has had a dramatic effect on the issue of race and civil rights in America, and more of a crisis yet again in the time of Republican and conservative attacks, including the Supreme Court, on women, immigrants, racial minorities, and the gay, lesbian, and transgender communities.