“Minorities”

The Destruction Of The Middle Class And The Working Poor By The Republican Party

Ronald 8 Comments

Republicans and conservatives do not want to admit it, but since the age of Ronald Reagan, they have effectively decimated the middle class, and heaped scorn on the poor.

This is reprehensible, particularly when they profess belief in God and call themselves “good Christians” as they work to slash food stamps for single mothers, children, the disabled and the working poor; oppose any rise in the minimum wage; support exporting of jobs to third world nations by greedy corporations; undermine respect for women and their basic human rights; and promote nativism and hate for ethnic minorities, as they try to survive in a nation rapidly becoming less white and Protestant by the day!

As it is, they are still able to convince struggling whites in the South and the hinterland to vote their fears, and blame all their troubles on the poor and the minorities, and progressive initiatives to help the working poor and the middle class.

But in the long run, this is a losing strategy, as now the GOP, allowing the KNOW NOTHING Tea Party Movement to have growing influence, are totally alienating the young, women, minorities, labor, gays, and educated people who care about their fellow man and woman.

So the Republican Party is rapidly becoming a dinosaur, and Ted Cruz and his buddies in the libertarian movement and the Tea Party crowd are destroying any hope of a future for the party of Lincoln, TR, and Eisenhower. They are rapidly becoming part of the dustbin of history!

State Run Health Exchanges Working Better Than Federal Health Site: Republican Run States Are Helping To Damage ObamaCare By Refusal To Cooperate

Ronald 7 Comments

It is an interesting development that those states which have decided to cooperate on ObamaCare by working on promoting the plan through state websites are having success in people being able to access information, and knowing their state governments are trying to help them succeed in their quest for health insurance.

Meanwhile, however, the vast majority of states, mostly run by Republican Governors, have put barriers in the way of cooperation, forcing the federal government to take care of millions of insurance seekers without any desire of the state governments involved to promote health care for their citizens who do not have it.

This is unconscionable, and demonstrates how the GOP is working to undermine any chance of success by their refusal to cooperate for the betterment of their less fortunate populations, much of it poor people, single mothers and children, minorities, and low paid workers of all races.

If the ObamaCare program fails, it will NOT be because of the glitches involved, but the immoral and unethical refusal of Republicans to care about their own populations that they govern, and it may just succeed in many states, as politics, and refusal to allow a success of the signature program of Barack Obama, is the priority over human lives and health, sad to say!

The Growing Democratic Party Suburbs: The Death Knell Of The Republican Party!

Ronald 1 Comment

Traditional views of American politics tell us that the cities, the urban areas, are overwhelmingly Democratic in loyalty; that the suburbs, which blossomed after World War II, are Republican, as people escape the city and urban problems, and are heavily white; and that the exurbs, those areas much further away from the cities, are Republican, along with the widespread land we consider rural areas.

So as long as the Republican Party wins the suburbs, the exurbs, and the rural areas,a they can be competitive and win national elections.

But it is now apparent by statistics that the suburbs are rapidly turning Democratic, as they have become no longer white “flight” havens, but instead have become a mix of Americans of all races and religions and cultures, and sadly, poverty has come to the suburbs, in some ways almost as badly as in the cities, due to the Great Recession.

The Republican refusal to accept that poverty is not the fault of citizens, but of circumstance, and rejection of the concept that everyone should be entitled to health care, is having a long range effect on Americans living in the suburbs.

It is not just economic factors, but also social factors, such as the issues of gay marriage, abortion rights, labor rights, concern about the environment, education, and the recognition of the need to adjust to a changing American society, which is also helping the Democrats, as the Republicans come across as mean spirited, biased, prejudiced, uncaring about anyone except the wealthy, and refusing to recognize the demographic changes that have developed in suburbs, as well as the cities.

So a political party that thinks it can survive and prosper on the basis of winning the exurbs and the rural areas is a party in total denial, as while there are massive land areas where these people live, the percentages of population living in those areas is miniscule, compared to the larger population numbers in the suburbs, as well as the cities.

While many Congressional districts can be gerrymandered and give the Republicans greater influence than they should rightfully have in the House of Representatives, their agenda and public persona of their leadership insures that the cities and the suburbs will be majority Democratic for a long time, giving the Presidency and the Senate to the Democrats. In the long run, this guarantees that the future Supreme Court , and even the lower courts, will be heavily influenced by Democratic Presidential appointments, which are considered and approved by the Senate, where Democrats need to fight to keep control so that they can promote the agenda of Democratic Presidents, and resist a Republican House majority based on artificial conditions, that can eventually be turned over to a Democratic Party majority over time.

The Supreme Court Has Set America Back On Basic Fairness And Justice!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Supreme Court of the United States is a much revered body, but sadly, in recent years, under Chief Justice John Roberts, the concept of America as a nation based on fairness and justice has suffered setbacks!

There is much evidence of this, but two key developments demonstrate how much the Supreme Court has set back progress!

The Citizens United Case of 2010 has allowed the rise of tremendous corporate spending and that by religious and social conservatives, leading to the rise and influence of the Tea Party Movement, and allowing the creation of stalemated, gridlock government under President Barack Obama, with the first time ever situation of a Republican House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate, with the GOP controlling the purse strings of government, and blocking all attempts to create jobs or promote legislation which advances the American nation. Instead, our government is being influenced by anarchists, couched in libertarianism, with the Koch Brothers and other wealthy corporate interests having undue influence on the deterioration of the rights of women, minorities, gays, and labor, along with attacks on any government regulation of the environment!

And the decision in June of this year, negating part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has now allowed many Republican state governments to pass legislation, taking away the basic right of voting on the false concept that voter fraud has been present and widespread, a total lie!

So the rights of minorities, the elderly, poor people, and college students are being curbed, and that is why the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder is bringing laws suits under the curbed Voting Rights Act, trying to reverse the discriminatory legislation on voting in many Southern states, Midwest States, and Great Plains States, all designed to fix the results so that likely Democratic voters will be denied the basic tenet of democracy, the right to vote for one’s government leaders!

It took until the early 20th century under Theodore Roosevelt to gain legislation to take power over government away from the corporations of the Gilded Age, and it took until Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s to gain legislation so that all Americans could vote without discrimination!

Now in just three and a half years, the Republican dominated Supreme Court has rejected what TR and LBJ worked so hard to accomplish!

So the battle to overcome the Supreme Court right wing direction is on, and we cannot afford to allow the Court to take away our democracy–a government of, by, and for the people!

Republican Factions And Hatred Of President Barack Obama

Ronald 40 Comments

The Republican Party is creating a history they will not be proud of, when the history books are written on the times we live in!

Yes, every President has opposition from the party out of power in the White House!

But the level of hate against Barack Obama is beyond all sane limits!

One faction, the establishment Wall Street Republicans, hate Obama for the gall that he has, expecting that after years of lack of regulation of Wall Street and the oil companies, and years of massive tax cuts for the top two percent, that he dares to promote regulation, and higher taxation of the wealthy!

Another faction, the Tea Party radicals, are out to return America to the 19th century, condemning everything the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ have done to promote equity, fairness, and justice in America in the past century, and they see Barack Obama as the inheritor of those highly popular and successful programs! Instead, they want to put labor, women, minorities, and the poor back to the times that existed in the Gilded Age and early 20th century, a time of laissez faire capitalism and Social Darwinism. And much of the Tea Party Movement resembles the old South of the Confederacy, longing for a return to the pre Civil War mentality, as well! And therefore, the average middle class person is being exploited by the right wing groups led by the Koch Brothers and other corporate interests, who see a way to manipulate public opinion for their own selfish, greedy desires to dominate and increase their acquisition of wealth at the expense of 98 percent of the population!

And then, there are the Christian conservatives, who want to control our private lives and impose a theocracy on America, denying the Founding Fathers’ promotion of separation of church and state. In so doing, they wish to cause more control over our lives, while rejecting economic regulation and pushing social regulations, and they see Obama as a threat to their agenda!

The fact that we have been experiencing the effects of the Great Recession has allowed these groups to exploit the situation, and allow them to make it seem as if Barack Obama has created these conditions, when these groups are simply acting demagogic in their desire for control, and advancement of their own agendas, against the interests of the American people at large!

Republicans In Congress Reach A New Low With Elimination Of Food Stamp Program In House Vote!

Ronald 6 Comments

So now the Republican Party in Congress, specifically in the US House Of Representatives, have decided that the Food Stamp Program should be eliminated. They have decided that basic needs for food and nutrition among the poor and the disadvantaged are not something government should be engaged in! They have decided that children, the elderly, veterans, the disabled should shift for themselves, if they happen to be disadvantaged! They think it is God’s will that all fetuses be born, but once here, it is not the job of government even to make sure people have adequate food and nutrition!

What could be lower than this vote, with only 12 Republicans having the decency to vote with all of the Democrats in the House of Representatives against legislation that has zero chance of being reconciled with the Senate bill in conference committee?

What kind of message do Republicans feel is being sent by their vote? Does it indicate that the party has any concern for anyone who is not wealthy and powerful? What is wrong with their heads and their hearts? How indecent can any group that calls themselves “legislators” become? The GOP should hang its head in shame, and Speaker John Boehner should denounce his own caucus and announce his resignation, as he will not be party to the total destruction of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan!

The few moderates that remain in the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives and those reasonable, sane members of the party in the Senate, and those Republicans in the states who realize what the Tea Party lunatics have done, need to stand up now, and demonstrate their principles and renounce what has happened, and that they are ready to form a new political party based on the respectable Republican Party of the past.

This is a new civil war for the future of American democracy, against the power of the religious Right and the extremists, who hate immigrants, minorities, women, labor, and the middle class that they have helped to decimate in the name of a false patriotism!

The Republican Delusion That They Can Win The Presidency And Majority Status Just By Having More Whites Voting!

Ronald 6 Comments

The Republican Party is truly delusional in their belief that they can win the Presidency and majority status in the future as long as they can convince more whites to vote, than did so in the Presidential Election of 2012.

With the percentage of whites in the population declining, and with the reality that it will continue to decline, this is a losing strategy in so many ways.

Not all whites would vote Republican, even in the South and Great Plains and Mountain West, GOP strongholds, and certainly NOT in the Northeast, New England, Midwest, and Pacific Coast, and in parts of the Mountain West.

Not all whites would wish to back the right wing policies of Republicans toward women, minorities, labor, and on other issues, such as the environment and science.

Not all whites would endorse the social conservatism of the religious right, particularly with a decline in religiosity among younger whites and voters generally.

A majority of whites who vote Republican are old, and once they pass the scene, many younger whites will have a greater influence on elections, and combined with those who are social liberals, female, and minority background, will NEVER vote Republican because they know that the Republicans are trying to ignore them, if not undermining their right to vote!

With their backward, regressive, vindictive policies toward the middle class and the poor, along with their anti women, anti labor, anti environment, anti minority viewpoints, the GOP will insure that they will be dinosaurs, looked back upon as a historical curiosity as to the issue of how they self destructed despite many warnings as to their self suicide by refusal to adapt!

The “Bully” Governors Continue Their Attacks On Women, Labor, And Minorities

Ronald 2 Comments

The ranks of “Bully” Republican Governors who are doing everything possible to promote restrictions on the right of women, labor, and minorities continues, and includes utterances as well as actions.

So we have Governors in the South, but also in the heartland and also northern New England who are demonstrating just how mean spirited they are, and their willingness to take away basic rights and impose state government restrictions on many of their own citizens, while condemning the federal government for what they claim are abuses of power! These Governors need to look in the mirror!

Among these Governors are the following:

Bob McDonnell of Virginia
Nikki Haley of South Carolina
Rick Scott of Florida
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana
Rick Perry of Texas
John Kasich of Ohio
Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania
Rick Snyder of Michigan
Scott Walker of Wisconsin
Paul LePage of Maine

So we are seeing all kinds of restrictions on women’s health, attacks on labor rights, and moves to create new barriers to voting in all of the above states, and even others controlled by Republican legislatures and Governors.

The real abuse of power is going on at the state level, while the national level is working to advance the rights of these above named groups, and others, as well!

Proud Day Of Civil Rights 49 Years Ago, And Now Backtracking On Lyndon B. Johnson!

Ronald 4 Comments

49 years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson had his proudest moment in office, signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and then following up with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Finally, the tragedy of the years after 1877, the end of Reconstruction, was being rectified, 88 and 89 years after African Americans in the South were abandoned by the Republican Party in preference to an alliance with big business and industry committed to economic aggrandizement, and political insensitivity to not only African Americans, immigrants, women, children and even native born men that made up the industrial labor force, exploited until the Progressive Era started to rectify the worst evils of industrial capitalism!

And now, a half century later after Lyndon B. Johnson, it is the Republicans on the Supreme Court who are allowing unbridled capitalism to be seen as “people”, and in the process corrupting the system again, including victimizing all of the groups above, and negating the protection of minorities, the poor, elderly and college students in the states that had a long history of discrimination in voting rights, and now will have open access to do it once again, as if the civil rights era never occurred!

The Supreme Court majority is attempting to negate the Warren and Burger Courts in the great progress they made toward social justice and legal equality for oppressed groups, and this is a tragedy that will continue to emerge until and when Democratic Presidents can select more members of the Court to replace aging Justices, including Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.

But sadly, the impact of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the legacy of the two Bush Presidencies, is likely to continue for the long haul, and set back the nation on so many issues over the years to come!

Bill Maher On Ronald Reagan Two Weeks Ago: Right On The Mark!

Ronald 18 Comments

Comedian Bill Maher is famous, and infamous, for stating outrageous opinions, and sometimes, he states opinions through humor that one can find unacceptable, or disagree with.

But other times, he is right on the mark, and such case occurred two weeks ago, when he dared to challenge the mythology around President Ronald Reagan.

The Republican Party and conservatives tend to worship the ground that Ronald Reagan walked on, and while interpretations of Reagan will continue to evolve, both positive and negative, what Maher had to say about Reagan in a negative way, makes a lot of sense!

Maher said that Reagan, by his comments and his actions, fit the following profile:

That Reagan was the forerunner of the Tea Party Movement, that he was anti government, that he believed in busting unions, that he was anti abortion, that he was insensitive to gays on the issue of AIDS, that he was anti intellectual, that he cut the taxes of wealthy people while raising taxes on the average middle class person, that he worshiped the military industrial complex, that he believed Medicare was Socialism and that senior citizens were waiting for handouts on the program, that he promoted states rights, that he spread the myth of the welfare queen in Chicago who was black, and that minorities were waiting for the government to support their needs, described the New Deal as Fascism, said that unemployment compensation was a prepaid vacation for freeloaders, that he had no concern for the poor, that he said trees cause pollution, that he promoted hate of government, and that he is the man most responsible for our decline since the high point of the economy and wages in 1973!

Can anyone deny that all of the above is true and factual, based on what Reagan said and did, in and out of the Presidency?