Great Depression

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head For Joe Biden

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Every President enters office wishing to deal with domestic policy and change.

But invariably, foreign policy rears its ugly head much too often!

Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1913, not expecting the First World War I to break out in 1914, and bring us into that war in 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to office in 1933, wishing to deal with the Great Depression, but also had to deal with the growing Fascist threat of Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and eventually, entrance into World War II!

Harry Truman came to office in 1945 to end World War II, but had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and send troops to Korea.

John F. Kennedy came to office in 1961, and had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson came to office in 1963, wanting to promote the Great Society, but also had to deal with the Vietnam War.

Every other President in modern times has had to face similar issues, and now, Joe Biden must deal with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran as major headaches, as he tries to resolve the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis!

The American Rescue Plan Act Of 2021 Hearkening Back To Strong Actions Of FDR And The New Deal!

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The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is seen by many observers as hearkening back to the strong actions of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal nine decades ago.

For sure, the present COVID 19 Pandemic and the economic collapse that has occurred due to this crisis, has created the most dangerous and worrisome moment in American government since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Before this, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 was the worst economic moment, with Barack Obama accomplishing the greatest economic revival over his eight years, that we have seen in American history.

But now, his Vice President, Joe Biden, is moving ahead to promote structural changes in the American economy and work to promote a major attack on poverty, unseen since the Great Society War On Poverty of Lyndon B. Johnson, six decades ago!

The Republican Party Heritage And Principles Are In Death Spiral after 167 Years

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The Republican Party was founded in March 1854 as a reform party, with the major principle at its founding being opposition to the expansion of slavery, and including abolitionists within its midst.

It was a Northern party which fought the Civil War and ended slavery, and for a generation, it was a party that inspired the majority of Americans.

Then, in the Gilded Age, it became corrupted by the power and influence of industrial capitalism, and conservatism reigned.

But then, Theodore Roosevelt and others who carried the name “progressive” with pride, promoted reform of the capitalistic system, but after TR’s death, while progressivism still existed in the party, it was taken over by conservatives, and the Great Depression undermined the national power of the party, as the Democrats became the majority party in the 1930s.

The battle for the future of the party was waged in the next half century liberal to moderate Republicans on one side, and hardline conservatives as their opponents, and Ronald Reagan ushered in a hard right conservatism, which became more extreme due to Newt Gingrich and other extreme conservatives since the mid 1990s.

And now we have come to a party that is in a death spiral, as we have conspiracy theorists who are taking over the party, and promoting hate, in the form of racism, nativism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and having wacky members who are advocating assassination of opposition Democrats.

So the Republican Party is now the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley,and many other right wing Fascists, but at the leadership is Donald Trump, and the party represents now:

Family Values gone, with the caging of immigrant children.

Deficit Hawks gone, with added massive deficits of tax cuts to the wealthy.

Free Trade gone, with massive taxes on foreign goods and bailouts of farmers as a result, adding to the national debt and consumer prices.

Limited Federal Government gone, with claims that what state governments report as election results should be ignored by the Congress.

Limiting the Imperial Presidency gone, with obedience by right wing members of both houses of Congress to the whims and desires of Donald Trump, even continuing as this author and blogger writes.

Mitch McConnell Has Conceded Democrats Control Senate With 50-50 Tie, A Major Step Forward!

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After five days with a stalemate in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell has conceded that the Democrats and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer control the Senate with a 50-50 tie, allowing the opportunity for progress, after standing in the way of approval of Cabinet members expeditiously.

The Donald Trump Impeachment Trial will start in two weeks, and work will begin on the COVID 19 Pandemic legislation, and the confirmation of all of the Cabinet appointees of President Joe Biden will now move forward rapidly.

Joe Biden wants a very activist first 100 Days, possibly the greatest since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the years of the Great Depression.

This is a time for optimism and hope as we move forward!

Domestic Terrorism At Its Peak As Inauguration Of Joe Biden Occurs Eight Days From Today

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America is living through a literal nightmare, after the right wing Trumpist Fascist attack on the US Capitol Building on January 6!

Nearly a generation after the September 11, 2001 Attacks by Al Qaeda, we now have domestic terrorism at its peak as the inauguration of Joe Biden occurs eight days from today.

There are reported threats not just on Washington, DC, but also on all fifty state capitals in the next week, with plans revealed for a major threat on this coming weekend, and increasing as January 20 comes upon us!

And we have a unhinged, mentally deranged President now facing a second impeachment, which is justified, but will incite ever more reaction by lunatic seditionists and traitors.

That is why this author and blogger advocates that the inaugural ceremonies be held inside a fortified US Capitol building, not outside, as is customary!

In 1985, Ronald Reagan, then the oldest President at an inauguration, now to be surpassed by Joe Biden, had his second inauguration inside the US Capitol due to the coldest Inauguration Day in American history, with the temperature being 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are reports that a multitude of right wing, white supremacist, and neo Nazi groups are targeting not just the inauguration but other locations, and already, the Washington Monument has been shut down, and a high unscalable fence has been built around the US Capitol site, and also the Supreme Court across the street.

Washington DC is becoming a place where security and protection is forever changing due to a multitude of plots by extremists even before this disastrous January 6, 2021 event, and this is a sad, depressing time for American democracy!

But our constitutional system of government is worth fighting for, to protect the republic that has survived Civil War, the Great Depression, and two World Wars!

Rating “First Ladies” Since 1933, And Now Dr. Jill Biden!

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The position of “First Lady” has become a role of growing significance in the past century since The New Deal years of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with all scholars agreed upon that Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest serving First Lady (1933-1945), was by far the most active and engaged of all First Ladies, and setting a standard for the century since the Great Depression.

We have had 13 First Ladies since Eleanor Roosevelt.

If one were to rank First Ladies in significance after Eleanor Roosevelt, the list, while debatable, would likely be in the following order:

Hillary Clinton
Jacqueline Kennedy
Lady Bird Johnson
Michelle Obama
Betty Ford
Barbara Bush
Rosalynn Carter
Nancy Reagan
Laura Bush
Pat Nixon
Mamie Eisenhower
Bess Truman
Melania Trump

And now, we have Dr. Jill Biden about to become First Lady, and assuredly would be high on the list, based on her past activities as “Second Lady” and her credentials as an educator, and a very supportive wife and mother.

One thing is certain, that the First Lady position, which has been in total collapse under Melania Trump, will be restored with dignity under Dr. Jill Biden, just as Joe Biden will restore the dignity of the Presidency, which has been in total collapse under Donald Trump!

First Joint Interview Of Joe Biden And Kamala Harris, With Jake Tapper Of CNN, A Homerun!

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The first joint interview of President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris occurred on Thursday evening, with Jake Tapper on CNN.

Both Biden and Harris came across as fully engaged and planning for rapid action on four issues, in the First Hundred Days.

These are the COVID 19 Pandemic; the Second Great Depression, worst since the 1930s Great Depression; the Racial Crisis in America; and the Climate Change Crisis, which threatens the planet.

It was wonderful to see their smiles, kind faces, and the sense of empathy and competence that they both have displayed all of their political lives!

What a change from the monstrous Trump Presidency, and waiting out the 47 days to Inauguration Day on January 20 feels like an eternity!

Barack Obama And Joe Biden Reach Their Rhetorical Best, As Presidential Campaign Winds Down

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Former President Barack Obama has kept his rhetoric down for much of the four years of his successor, but now, with only a week to go to the Presidential Election of 2020, he has utilized his great rhetorical gifts with a blistering, incisive, and at times, ridiculing, attack on Donald Trump, well deserved.

It is a pleasure to see Obama come out in full support and defense of his Vice President, Joe Biden, in such a dramatic and brilliant manner. Obama mocked Trump for saying that the leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea wanted him to win, and Trump’s complaint about Sixty Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, stating that if Trump cannot handle Sixty Minutes, how can he handle real crises such as the COVID 19 Pandemic, which Trump refuses to take responsibility for, and now has said cannot be dealt with, other than by a future vaccine.

At the same time, Joe Biden is fired up, and is at his best rhetorically, as well, as he campaigns vigorously in the battleground states. And his visit to Warm Springs, Georgia, the vacation home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, reminds us of a time nine decades ago when we faced a situation thought to be the greatest since the Civil War, but now surpassed by the challenge of not just a Second Great Depression, but also the worst health crisis since the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1920.

Donald Trump continues to sink in the polls, and soon, the American people will make a clear cut decision to remove this tyrant from office and hold him accountable for his multiple crimes!

Confirmation Of Justice Amy Coney Barrett Creates The Most Extreme Supreme Court Since 1930s!

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The confirmation last evening of new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett creates the most extreme Supreme Court since the time of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s Great Depression, just as we are entering into the Second Great Depression.

The right wing narrow minded view of Justice Barrett is perceived as more so than even her mentor, former Justice Antonin Scalia.

The fifth woman to serve on the Court, she is the anti Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a great woman who we could only wish had been able to live two to three more weeks, preventing an appointment before the election.

And had she lived until December, even a lame duck President could not have replaced her before January and a new President.

This only accelerates the dire need for everyone to vote, and for the Republicans to be resoundingly defeated next week for the White House and the US Senate, and add seats in the House of Representatives.

With a 6-3 extremist Court, the following areas of law are greatly endangered:

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in general
Women’s Rights
Abortion Rights
Gay Rights and Gay Marriage
Labor Rights
Voting Rights
Environmental Reforms
Consumer Reforms
Business Regulations
Separation of Church and State
Firearms Regulation

The answer must be to expand the Supreme Court to 11 members, adding two progressives or liberal voices to the Court, making for a slight 6-5 conservative majority, but promoting the concept that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch will, at times, side with the liberals.

It does not guarantee progressive and liberal ideas, but that has been that way for a generation, but once either Clarence Thomas (age 72) or Samuel Alito (age 70) leaves the Court, likely in the next four years, a moderate Court will be achieved. And if Stephen Breyer or Sonia Sotomayor were to leave, it would insure a Democratic President choosing their successors.

Voting for Joe Biden and a Democratic Senate insures that the right wing tilt of the Court will be short lived!

Presidential Egomania Led To Disaster Under Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, And Now Donald Trump

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The problem of Presidential egomania has led to disaster under a number of Presidents.

It caused Woodrow Wilson to promote civil liberties violations during World War I, and to refuse to negotiate with the US Senate over the Versailles Treaty and League of Nations. It also led to his paralytic stroke in the fall of 1919, which undermined the rest of his term, and his refusal to step aside for Vice President Thomas Marshall at a time of tumultuous internal events in the last 17 months of his term, including the infamous Palmer Raids (Red Scare) in 1919-1920.

It caused Herbert Hoover to refuse to adjust his view on laissez faire, causing the Great Depression to become much worse, and lead to his massive defeat by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. That economic disaster was made even worse by Hoover’s refusal of cooperation with the President Elect, adding another million people to the unemployment rolls before the 1933 inauguration of his successor.

It caused Lyndon B. Johnson to damage his domestic Great Society legacy by his insistence on continuing the war in Vietnam, and then finally being pushed out of the race for reelection in the spring of 1968, leading to the election of Richard Nixon.

It caused Richard Nixon, who had some real accomplishments in domestic and foreign affairs, to destroy his own Presidency by his own insecurities and desire to get his “enemies”, leading to the Watergate Scandal and his downfall less than two years after an overwhelming reelection victory in 1972.

So two Democratic and two Republican Presidents, all of whom had ability and intelligence, threw away their Presidencies due to egomania!

And now, we have Donald Trump, who is allowing the nation to be decimated by the COVID 19 Pandemic, politicizing face masks and social distancing, and therefore, responsible for the greatest loss of life in a short time in American history, and facing almost certain repudiation by the American people in ten days!

The difference is that Trump’s egomania and narcissism is far more dangerous than that of Wilson, Hoover, Johnson and Nixon, as he is the first one to indicate he will refuse to accept the election results and to leave office peacefully.

Trump is creating a massive political and social crisis as we have voter intimidation and threats already occurring.

The Republican Party is working to delegitimize the election count, already occurring in California, a state that the Republicans are insured of losing, but are brazenly taking illegal actions!