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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!

America At Crossroads On Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Class

Ronald 10 Comments

After recent events in Florida on racial profiling; in Texas and other states on abortion restrictions; in Arizona and other states on legislation regarding undocumented immigration; the push for theocracy by the Religious Right; the move in many states to allow discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment; and the growing chasm between workers and management regarding labor rights and conditions, it is clear that America is at a crossroads on issues of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and class!

African Americans, women, Latinos and Hispanics, those for separation of church and state, gays and lesbians, and the middle class and the poor face constant attack on their basic rights and their quality of life, as the Right is moving to curb advancements that have been made over the past 60 years since the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower onward by the Supreme Court, Congressional action on civil rights and civil liberties, and courageous Presidents of both parties who have seen the need to lower the barriers on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and class!

We are at a crossroads in the constant struggle for American democracy and fair play, as even when progress is made, there is aggressive action to reverse the progress, trying to wipe out what has been accomplished!

The country is changing, but we have negative elements who are trying to return America to what it was many generations ago, and the fight for continued progress and advancement to a “more perfect Union” is a never ending one, and no one can give up their participation in the struggle, as that only advances the movement toward negativism, regression, and reversal!

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!

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!

The Ten Most Heroic Members Of The Senate: Committed To Reform And Decency!

Ronald 4 Comments

The US Senate is an exasperating legislative body, very slow to take action, and having too many members who cause one to roll his or her eyes and to sigh!

But it has its heroes and heroines, those members one knows are truly committed to reform and decency, and care about the middle class and the poor.

The “Honor Roll” of its ten most heroic members would include by last name alphabetical order the following, all Democrats:

Barbara Boxer of California
Sherrod Brown of Ohio
Chris Coons of Delaware
Al Franken of Minnesota
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Ron Wyden of Oregon

The “Honorable Mention” list of five other Senators would include four Democrats and one Republican:

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Jeff Merkley of Oregon
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Susan Collins of Maine (the only Republican)

The author welcomes commentary on these selections!

Death Of Senator Frank Lautenberg A Sad Moment: Cared Deeply About Jewish Issues And Middle Class And The Poor

Ronald Leave a comment

The death of Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey this morning at age 89 is a loss for the Jewish community worldwide, and reminds us that a wealthy person (the person who began ADP, the payroll system), can really care for the middle class and the poor, rather than for his own class!

Lautenberg served nearly five terms, and was a critic of the alcohol and tobacco industries, and worked to support the AMTRAK transportation system that became so important for the Northeast Corridor in particular.

He was a crusader for good ideas, and a man who spoke his mind, and he will be missed.

The question now is who will replace him, and will it be by appointment, or by election, and it opens up the possibility that Newark Mayor Cory Booker might be able to gain a Senate seat sooner than he had planned, which would have been the 2014 elections, when Lautenberg had decided to retire.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Banks, And Student Loan Rates

Ronald Leave a comment

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is a treasure to behold, and the legislation she has just introduced, to give college students the same low loan interest rate that the big banks get from the Federal Reserve when they borrow money, is a wonderful idea!

Instead of a doubling of student loan interest rates from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, Warren suggests that the rate be what Wall Street gets from the Federal Reserve–0.75 percent!

Why not, as the big Wall Street banks have caused the Great Recession of 2008, and are still victimizing mortgage holders and credit card owners with outrageous rates, and also forcing many into bankruptcy by intimidation and manipulation?

The big banks need to be put under tight regulation, but of course the Republicans in the House refuse any such thought, and if this is not enough to convince sane people that the GOP is out for the wealthy alone, then what will?

Warren should be applauded for her effort on student loan rates, and fight for fairness, even though it is a long term battle!

And if Hillary Clinton decided ultimately not to run for President, then Warren needs to become the alternative female candidate for President of the United States! She would be an inspiring leader for the American middle class and the poor!

As Rosa Parks Statue Is Unveiled In The US Capitol, Voting Rights Act Comes Under Review By Supreme Court!

Ronald 7 Comments

This morning, a 9 foot statue of Rosa Parks, the “Mother” of the Civil Rights Movement, for her heroism in allowing herself to become the center of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956, was unveiled in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol Building.

This is a wonderful event to commemorate the greatest human rights movement in American history, and the excitement over how far we have come, with President Barack Obama leading in commemorating the event, and the feeling of satisfaction that we have gone far enough in the half century since 1955, that we have an African American President in his second term in office!

But at the same time, ironically, a challenge by the state of Alabama, which arrested Rosa Parks for refusing to change her seat on a bus in Montgomery, is arguing a case before the Supreme Court today, which if successful, will negate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires nine Southern states and portions of seven other states, which have been shown to be discriminatory in voting regulations in their past, to have to submit any voting law changes to the Justice Department before they can be put into effect.

The argument is that the law is outmoded and no longer necessary, but that is not the case, as last year, there were attempts in many states to make it more difficult for African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, young people, the elderly, and the poor to be able to register and or vote, plus restrictive days and hours of voting, designed to help Republicans and Mitt Romney gain an unfair advantage in the elections.

Just because Alabama claims the law is no longer needed is belied by history and recent events, and the Congress has renewed the Voting Rights Act multiple times, and it should not be the right of the Supreme Court to repeal a law in effect for nearly a half century!

But this conservative Court just might do that, which would be a miscarriage of justice, and another example of how the Court has started to get out of control of promotion of true justice! Their decision on this case, along with the move to make Citizens United just the beginning of special interest investments to fix elections, and the gay marriage case, will make the Court’s decisions in the next few months extremely significant, and worrisome for those who believe the John Roberts Court is reckless and dangerous, with its conservative majority put on it by Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush!

Paul Krugman And Robert Reich: Sages On The Economy Too Much Ignored!

Ronald Leave a comment

We have two brilliant, courageous educators who have promoted the understanding that the only way to get out of the economic downturn we have been in, is to do more stimulus spending, and have proved by what is going on in Europe that austerity is a disastrous policy, but they are too much ignored by many people, who choose to believe the conservative and Republican mantra on the economy, which is to do more of the same economic policies that have failed, those of George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan before him.

Paul Krugman of Princeton University, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and columnist for the New York Times, is a brilliant economist, and has called for a budget package that does not destroy the middle class any more than it is already!

So has Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, and Professor of Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley, who has advised policies that make sense, but is also ridiculed by those who do not understand our history, and the economic cycle!

To promote austerity is seen as wrong headed, and would lead to a disastrous downturn in the economy, something Great Britain’s government has discovered, and both men advise us NOT to follow the same course!

The future of the middle class and the poor is at stake, and we would be wise to respect and follow the advice and counsel of both Krugman and Reich at this delicate time!

Tea Party Nasty, Mean Spirited Conservatism Lost Big: The Republican Party MUST Change Or Be Replaced!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Tea Party Movement of 2010 has lost BIG in 2012, and the nasty, mean spirited conservatism it represents must be overcome by the Republican Party, which MUST change or be replaced!

Congressman Allen West of Florida, Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, Senate nominee Todd Akin of Missouri, and Senate nominee Richard Mourdock of Indiana headline those who lost.

Never again can the Republican Party try to dictate to women about their reproductive lives; never can the GOP attack Hispanics and Latinos in a nasty, mean spirited way and expect to gain their support; never can the party of 2012 allow itself to let religious extremists to control its destiny and dictate religious doctrine to the nation at large; never can they promote foreign wars and aggression as the neoconservatives did under George W. Bush; never can they promote lack of concern for the middle class and the poor, as Mitt Romney made clear in his “47 percent” speech; never can they allow themselves to become the captive of billionaires such as Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers; never can they allow Donald Trump and other jerks like him to take control of their public message: never can they allow racists and talk show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh, and other extremists and hate mongers to dictate to them—and in many other ways, they must liberate themselves from their demons, or become part of the dustbin of history!

They must become more like the Conservative Party of Great Britain, which is far to the left of the present Republican Party, but still to the right of the Labour Party of Great Britain!

It is up to them, and purging and house cleaning must begin in earnest!