Nazism

1914 And 2014: Are The Scenarios Similar, Meaning A Potential World War III?

Ronald 11 Comments

A century ago, misjudgements, emotion, nationalism, and extremism led to the outbreak of the First World War, wrongfully called the “Great War,” leading to tens of millions of dead and wounded all over Europe, and causing the demise of empires, and the rise of Communism, Nazism, and Fascism, and the eventual coming of the Second World War.

After the Second World War, the Cold War evolved, and for nearly a half century, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States created the danger of another world war, which, however, was avoided, despite tremendous crisis after crisis, with the super powers going to the brink, and then stepping back from the precipice.

But now, a quarter century after the Cold War ended, Russia’s move into Crimea, taking sovereign territory away from Ukraine, has created the biggest international crisis since 1989, and to the possibility of a scenario where extremism, nationalism, emotions, misjudgements by leaders, and the actions of a few could lead to the outbreak of a massive war, that would be called World War III!

This is very worrisome, and statesmanship, and commitment to avoid war is essential, or else we could reach a new precipice, that we might not be able to back away from, and would destroy the world we live in!

Second Term Presidencies Taken Over By Foreign Crises: Will It Happen Again Now?

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Three American Presidents in the last hundred years have been faced by foreign crises leading to war, and disrupting their domestic intentions for their second term of office. All three hoped to accomplish much more internally, but were distracted and diverted by major wars they could not avoid.

Woodrow Wilson had accomplished the most domestic reform in American history of any President until his time, but then World War I intruded, and his second term was dominated by the war and its aftermath.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had surpassed Woodrow Wilson in domestic accomplishments in his first term with his New Deal, but his second term became one of growing concern over the threat of the Japanese Empire to our territories (Hawaii, Guam, The Philippines) in the Pacific, plus the growing threat of Fascism and Nazism represented by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in Europe—leading to concern of its effect on our traditional European friends if not formal allies, Great Britain and France. Although America would not enter World War II until FDR’s third term, the threat of war was ever present, and divided this nation in a massive way between internationalists and isolationists.

Harry Truman had a much more difficult time domestically, and had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but hoped to promote a Fair Deal in his second term, but instead had to deal with the Korean War.

Now, Barack Obama faces the growing threat of real war with two nations who have lunatic leadership, and are capable of provoking major wars, emboldened by their nuclear intentions—Iran and North Korea.

Iran moves ahead on nuclear development, unaffected by the major nations bringing pressure and economic sanctions on them, and still seen as potentially able to threaten the survival of Israel, and cause a major cut off of oil in the Straits of Hormuz. While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leaving in June, it is clear that the Ayatollah Khamenei and the extremist Shiite Muslim leadership really dictates policy, and that anything is possible, including war.

North Korea, under its new young (30) leader, Kim Jong Un, has now declared that the truce agreement which ended the Korean War sixty years ago is null and void; has been testing nuclear weapons against international outcry, including China; and has threatened this past week that it might launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on South Korea and the United States. This all seems bluster, but who can say for sure?

So our need as a nation to face the possibility of war with two international outlaws makes the whole budget issue much more complex, and makes the odds of more domestic reform activities all the harder to accomplish.

Much like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, Barack Obama may face being a war President against his will, and his Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will be sorely tested over the next four years in their hope to avoid a war, just as we are trying to exit a war in Afghanistan, after having done just that in Iraq!

The Extreme Right Wing Vs Barack Obama: The Winner Is Obama!

Ronald 11 Comments

Three months after the resounding victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential Election of 2012, the extreme right wing is still attacking the President, and they are rapidly marginalizing themselves.

We are hearing hysteria that Barack Obama is destroying this country by issuing some innocuous executive orders on gun regulations, and that he is undermining the nation’s security by promoting immigration reform. And we are seeing an African American President compared to Hitler, causing the Anti Defamation League to protest.

We are seeing Rush Limbaugh flailing about in anger that Obama will be around for the next four years, while his audience declines.

We are seeing Fox News Channel decline rapidly in the key 25-54 demographic, as more people realize that they are a station that constantly lies, misleads, deceives,and distorts, and the realization that one learns less about what is going on news wise by watching that channel, than if one watches no news at all!

We are seeing Glenn Beck promoting a separate community that would operate as a haven for those who, like him, claim to be terrified by the government being controlled by a Hitler for the next four years, meanwhile confusing Nazism, Fascism, Socialism, and Communism as one and the same.

The common thread of all these characters is that they are exploiting ignorance and prejudice, and becoming extremely wealthy at the expense of gullible listeners and watchers. They are charlatans who gain by their unwarranted attacks on the President, and they have no ethics, morals, and scruples, and one has to wonder how anyone with any brains in their head could possibly believe a word they say!

But a vast majority of Americans want gun regulations, and a substantial majority want immigration reform, and Barack Obama has 60 percent support in a poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, , despite all of these vicious attacks on him as a threat to the Republic.

So there is real hope that the days of manipulation and deceit are declining rapidly, and that these extremists face a future of being seen for what they are—a menace to American values and decency!

The Parallel Universe Of Republicans And Conservatives On America’s Presidents Since Theodore Roosevelt

Ronald 2 Comments

The modern Republican Party and the conservative movement are working in tandem to distort American history, particularly regarding our Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama, and in the process, are promoting the Big Lie technique, that if you repeat a falsehood enough times, people who are gullible and poorly informed and educated, will come to believe it!

So let’s survey the thoughts of these “mind control” advocates on our Presidents in the past century. Realize that what is said below is myth and propaganda, not to be believed and accepted as factual, which it MOST certainly is NOT!

Theodore Roosevelt was a so called Republican, but he created a monster, the beginning of a powerful, assertive Presidency. He interfered in labor negotiations in the coal industry; started interference in business through lawsuits and federal regulatory laws; and started the modern environmental movement, and in so doing created the nightmare of land being taken away from economic development and private ownership. He also utilized the word “progressive”, the beginning of modern socialism and communism in America! (Really whacko viewpoint of TR)!

William Howard Taft, often called a conservative, was no such thing, as he advocated the direct election of US Senators (17th Amendment), the hated “progressive” federal income tax (16th Amendment), and promoted anti trust laws suits on a greater scale than TR, and also more effective regulation of the railroads! (Not conservative enough for today’s Republicans)!

Woodrow Wilson was a further expander of progressivism, with the hated Federal Reserve Banking system, the Clayton Anti Trust Act, and the Federal Trade Commission; along with labor regulation on the national level for the first time. He also created “Big Government” bureaucracies during the First World War! (An overly one sided view of Wilson)!

Warren G. Harding has been criticized unfairly, as he was the President who worked to limit federal government, and has, therefore, been mistreated by historians, to be the worst President of the century, an unfair assessment. (Of course, in reality, totally false)!

Calvin Coolidge was the “best” President of the century, as he worked to continue Harding’s lessening of Presidential power, and prosperity reached its peak under him, and he has been unfairly blamed for the Great Depression, which began months after he left the White House. (Also totally false in reality)!

Herbert Hoover abandoned conservatism, raised taxes, moved toward deficit spending, and was the forerunner of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. His policies made things worse for Americans, and ushered in similar policies by FDR! (A distortion of the truth, in reality)!

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a Socialist, a Marxist, a Communist, a Fascist, and a Nazi all at the same time, creating an all powerful Presidency , making the Great Depression much worse and longer, creating programs and policies called the New Deal, which were the undermining of America, and remains part of our existence today, but which conservatives and Republicans are determined to eliminate in the future! He also promoted the expansion of the Soviet Union by his corrupt deals in World War II! (A great distortion of the truth by conservative haters)!

Harry Truman continued and expanded the New Deal with his Fair Deal, and refused to fight Communism adequately in the Korean War! He also interfered with states rights by his decision to promote civil rights in the military and in Washington, DC, and also promoted labor rights against the attempt of Republicans to undermine labor unions. (A distortion of the truth again)!

Dwight D. Eisenhower became part of the great Progressive “conspiracy” by accepting the New Deal, expanding federal government intervention, and having the “nerve” to intervene in the civil rights crusade on the side of “extremists”, and undermining the South and its tradition, still held a century after the Civil War, in states rights! ( A view not taken seriously by any reputable expert on Ike)!

John F. Kennedy worked to expand the welfare state set up by FDR, Truman and Eisenhower, and further intervened in the South on the civil rights issue, using the National Guard as Eisenhower had done. Kennedy refused to confront the Soviet Union adequately, instead negotiating an agreement with the enemy, rather than start a nuclear war! (Part of the great distortion of JFK by conservative critics)!

Lyndon B. Johnson further expanded the New Deal with his Great Society, making Socialism, Marxism, Communism, and Fascism advance further, and taking away freedom by civil rights legislation, the war on poverty, and the “terrible” Medicare and Medicaid programs, two more welfare programs, similar to FDR’s Social Security. He also failed to win the war in Vietnam, caving in to the Communist enemy! (Part of the bitter attack on LBJ by the far Right)!

Richard Nixon made deals with the hated Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China, and failed to win the war in Vietnam, which could have been won. He also became a traitor by promoting “progressive” programs such as Affirmative Action, the Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Occupational Safety and Healthy Administration, and the greatest advocate for the environment among American Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt! (Forget his real faults with Watergate, as these are more important, according to conservative critics)!

Gerald Ford was too moderate and accommodating, and his wife Betty Ford, was a radical feminist as First Lady! Ford stopped the advancement of conservatism by defeating Ronald Reagan for the Presidential nomination in 1976, and had Nelson Rockefeller, the hated “liberal” as his Vice President!(Oh, and Ford was too centrist, and for social moderation)!

Jimmy Carter was a terrible President with no redeeming values,and is “rightfully”attacked on a regular basis by Republicans and conservatives. He undermined the nation’s foreign and domestic policies! He had no worthwhile accomplishments at all! (A total distortion of reality!)

Ronald Reagan was a “great” President, with no shortcomings or faults, and we need a President of his insights and courage in the future. Those who claim Reagan was other than perfect are to be ignored! (A total interference with reality and truth!)

George H. W. Bush was a moderate who compromised with Democrats, raised taxes which undermined the country, and failed to overcome Iraq’s leader in the Persian Gulf War, because he worked with the United Nations on the war effort! (An unfair assessment, trivializing him)!

Bill Clinton had many faults and shortcomings, but despite his being impeached, and the vicious attacks on him, now is the time to talk about how much better he was than Barack Obama, because he made some deals with Republicans, after first resisting them in the battle over shutting down the government in 1995. (An amazing rewriting of history, unbelievable)!

George W. Bush cannot be blamed for September 11 and the War on Terror, but he was too willing to bust the budget, and his spending was too much out of control. (An attempt to write Bush out of blame for much of what America has to deal with today)!

But, of course, the fact that we are in an economy which is the worst since the Great Depression is not due to Bush or Republicans or conservative philosophy, but because we have in office now a black guy named Barack Obama, who was actually born in Kenya, and is a Socialist, Communist, Marxist, Fascist and Nazi, and is the greatest threat to American freedom since—well—-TR, Wilson, FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ, Carter and to some extent, Clinton—-and all those Republicans Presidents who actually were “progressives” in some way—Taft, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, and both Bushes!

If only we could eliminate all these Presidents except Harding Coolidge, and Reagan–this nation would be in fantastic shape! Right?

This is the deluded, nutty beliefs of many Republicans and conservatives–a great conspiracy by both Democratic and Republican Presidents against freedom and liberty and the best interests of the American people!

This is the “Know Nothingism”, the ignorance, the stupidity that intelligent people must fight against!

As Rick Santorum, the former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, and Presidential candidate, said recently—the smart, the intelligent people will not support the Republican Party–and FOR GOOD REASON!

American World Commitment Now 95 Years And Counting: A Time For Reassessment!

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This first week of April marks an important milestone, as 95 years ago, during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson, who had entered office committed to domestic progressive reforms, he ended up becoming a war time President.

Wilson accomplished his domestic reforms, becoming the most active domestic President in American history, but later to be surpassed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

But also, after much delay and attempt to avoid entrance into war, he felt forced to go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Turks, and in support of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Russia, in what was then called first the Great War, then the World War, and then ultimately the First World War.

America had conducted trade with all nations, had gone to war against Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, had intervened in Latin America under Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, and had engaged in diplomacy with Europe and Asia, particularly under TR.

But the thought of committing troops to a continental war was beyond conception of Americans before the first week of April 1917. On April 2, Wilson delivered a war message, and four days of fierce debate began, with the final vote to go to war on April 6, by a margin of 373-50 in the House of Representatives, and 89-6 in the US Senate.

Since 1917, the United States has been engaged in SEVEN wars–World War I (1917-1918), World War II (1941-1945), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1964-1973), Persian Gulf War (1991), Afghanistan War (2001-Present), Iraq War (2003-2011).

Additionally, this nation has been involved in military actions too numerous to list, or even to have an accurate count, including many secret interventions with special forces and intelligence agents in the CIA and other intelligence agencies, many of them secret in nature.

America has involvement in close to 160 countries in some form or manner, and we have become an imperial nation, the leader of the “free world”, first against Fascism and Nazism, then against Communism, and now against terrorism, which is an open ended commitment with no seeming end date.

This nation had a military draft in 1917-1918, in 1940-1947, and 1948-1973, but since, it has been the National Guard and the regular military forces that have borne the brunt of war. It has been easier for many in America to ignore our war involvement, since there is no longer mass participation in war. And that has affected the poor treatment of veterans who commit themselves to war, and now are surviving injuries in greater numbers, but often have mental issues not so easily addressed.

We now have very few members of Congress who have served in the military or in a war zone, and very few children of members of Congress who do the same. And now we will have a Presidential election with neither major candidate having served in the military, the
first such case since World War II.

This commemoration of our entrance into the First World War 95 years ago this week is a good time to stop and reflect and reassess what we are doing, and whether we can afford and also wish to keep spending so much blood and treasure on warfare, which is in many ways undermining our economic present and future.

We have become a security state, that is unwilling to face the reality that we cannot control the world, and think it will not harm our domestic tranquility and agenda. We are becoming a nation that can be compared to other empires that ultimately fell, including the Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, and the British Empire.

The next President, whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, must get beyond the rhetoric, and seriously review the reality of what we are doing, and come to the conclusion that our national security is not helped by a constant state of war, and military spending getting out of control, and undermining our education, health care, and so many other programs and needs that will have to be pushed aside, if we do not stop the mad dash toward total, endless state of war!

The Republican Party Again Doing What They Are Best At: Self Destruction!

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The Republican Party has suicidal tendencies since the years of the Great Depression.

When the Great Depression began in 1929, the party in Congress refused to abandon laissez faire economics, and some even fought President Herbert Hoover’s attempt to provide some public works projects and federal aid through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

During the New Deal years of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party stood in the way of reform and change and continued to decline.

As World War II came on, most Republicans were isolationists who failed to see the threat of Fascism and Nazism.

As World War II ended, Republicans set out to to weaken labor unions and set back the New Deal, and after two brief years in control of Congress in 1947-1948, they lost control and saw Harry Truman stage an upset victory in the Presidential campaign.

The party pursued the Joseph McCarthy anti communist agenda in the late 1940s and early 1950s, undermining America’s effort in the Korean War, but with a popular World War II general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, they were given another chance in 1952, and won back control of Congress, but with their conservative agenda, lost control again after two years.

From that point on, the party failed to gain control of Congress for 40 years in the House, and 26 in the Senate, and after six years of a divided Congress under Ronald Reagan, lost the Senate again in 1986 and for the next eight years.

Despite Eisenhower’s personal popularity, it did not transform into party control after two years, and while Richard Nixon won over a divided Democratic Party in 1968, he could not translate his victory into a Republican majority, and Watergate damaged any hope again of a soon to occur change in party loyalties and success.

Ronald Reagan managed a divided Congress with Republican control of the Senate for six years, but again it did not change party loyalties and success in the long run, and the party was bitterly divided during the administration of George H. W. Bush, with Pat Buchanan helping to divide the party and lead to the defeat of Bush in 1992.

Then in 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress for the next twelve years, but Bill Clinton, despite personal problems leading to impeachment, was able to control much of the political agenda.

After the Republicans won the battle over Florida’s electoral votes with George W. Bush in 2000, it seemed as if finally they had become the majority party, but September 11, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic collapse of 2008, took away any gains it seemed that the party had made.

While they won the House of Representatives in 2010, the emergence of the Tea Party Movement has now destroyed any chance of Republican success, as again they are seen as obstructionist in so many ways, and public opinion polls still see the party as to blame much more for the economic recession we are suffering through, rather than to hold Barack Obama accountable.

With an image of negativism, concern only for the rich and powerful special interests, isolationism, corruption, and obstructionism, the Republican Party is again in the process of committing political suicide, and relegating itself to minority status in American politics!

66 Years Since FDR’s Passing: The New Deal Legacy

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On this day, April 12, in 1945, the second greatest President in American history, Franklin D. Roosevelt, passed away after 12 years and 39 days in office!

The President during the Great Depression and World War II, FDR saved the country from dictatorship and perpetuated democracy; saved the American capitalist system; promoted a sense of hope and faith in the American future; gave people dignity and a sense of optimism; provided millions of Americans with employment and income; promoted thousands of public works projects; gave American labor rights to collective bargaining; revived American agriculture; provided a sense of security for the elderly through the establishment of Social Security; provided public housing and electricity to millions of poor people; and convinced the American people that big national government could be responsive and successful as compared to incompetent state governments!

FDR also saved the country during World War II in the fight against Fascism, Nazism, and Japanese imperialism; advocated the concept of an international organization called the United Nations to promote world peace and cooperation; and promoted American becoming the leader of the free world!

Of course, there are criticisms that can be made of FDR and the New Deal and World War II policies, but despite those, FDR offered so much good service as President, and gave America the future it would have in the next two thirds of a century!

Now, sadly, the Republican Party is starting an assault on the New Deal, as well as Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, but liberals, progressives, and the Democratic Party must continue to fight, and not give in, to the reactionaries who wish to return us to the 1920s and Gilded Age mentality!