Progressives

Conservative Right Wing Attack On The Constitution: The Threat Of Another Constitutional Convention Wiping Out Constitutional Amendments!

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The Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution, admitting in the process that there would always be room for improvements, so made clear that amendments were appropriate over time.

So we have had 27 Amendments, including the first ten that make up the Bill of Rights.

When one looks at the amendments, particularly those that came after the Bill of Rights, one realizes that the vast majority of them were “progressive” in tone, designed to expand democracy in America, or else, amendments dealing with the office of the Presidency.

So the “progressive” amendments included the 13th (ending slavery and involuntary servitude); the 14th (promoting due process and equal protection and making African Americans citizens); the 15th (guaranteeing the right to vote for African Americans and others which had been denied that right); the 16th (providing for a federal income tax to raise revenue to deal with mounting social and economic issues); the 17th (granting the people the right to elect their two United States Senators by popular vote); the 19th (guaranteeing women the right to vote); the 23rd (guaranteeing residents of Washington, DC the right to vote); the 24th (preventing a poll tax for voting); and the 26th (guaranteeing young people 18-21 the right to vote).

So nine of the seventeen amendments after the first ten of the Bill of Rights promote progressive change, while the 12th, 20th, 22nd and 25th deal with the office of the Presidency.

The only amendment that was ever passed to limit the freedom of Americans was the 18th (prohibition of liquor), but later repealed by the 21st Amendment.

Now we have the real threat by right wing conservatives, including the Tea Party Movement, who want a new Constitutional Convention to wipe out these “progressive” amendments!

They do not like voting rights for African Americans, other minorities, women, residents of Washington DC (mostly African Americans) and young people; and they are unhappy that African Americans are considered equal under the law, and if they had the ability to do so, they would love to re-enslave poor people, which by corporate power is occurring in an informal way for many minorities, as well as white lower class people struggling every day to survive!

And they wish they could restore the US Senate elections to the corrupt state legislatures, taking away the popular vote. Finally, they hate the federal income tax, even though many of them avoid substantial taxation by having investments, rather than working for a living like most of us do. So they would prefer a sales tax, which is regressive, and would hurt the middle class and the poor much more than the wealthy elite!

But that is exactly the extremist right wing intention—to restore the “good old days” when they were in charge, and everyone had to kowtow to them!

We must not allow such a threat to develop, so the battle for progressivism is never ending, as a result!

Cocky, Arrogant, Smug, Smirker Bill Kristol Gets Comeuppance On THIS WEEK On ABC News!

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Bill Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard, one of the leading conservative journals of opinion, and a leading Neoconservative, who advocated intervention in Iraq a decade ago, is always willing to promote US military intervention all over the world, as long as he does not, himself, have skin in the game.

A true “chicken hawk,” Kristol is one of the most obnoxious of all necons, being extremely cocky, arrogant, smug, and a smirker with an attitude that he knows it all. Watching him makes one wish he could wipe the smirk off his face!

On ABC’s THIS WEEK on Sunday, Kristol finally got his comeuppance, when Katrina Vanden Heuvel, the publisher of The Nation,which is one of the leading progressive-liberal journals of opinion, and Matthew Dowd, who was an aide to President George W. Bush, both went on the attack against Kristol and other necons, and effectively shut him up, although it is clear Kristol does not wish to listen or to learn, as he has all the answers, with his intellectual snobbery!

Vanden Heuvel suggested that if Kristol really believed in further military intervention in the Middle East, that he enlist in the military, and put his own skin in the game, to which Kristol had no answer.

It is amazing how many necons, including the most infamous, former Vice President Dick Cheney, never served in the military, but are only too willing to send the sons and daughters of others to war!

Barack Obama And Executive Orders: The Truth, Rather Than Myths!

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Conservatives and the Republican Party constantly lie about Barack Obama’s use of executive orders, stating that he has issued more than 1,000 such orders!

Obama has made it clear that he will override Congressional inaction where he can, and he is absolutely correct in such assertions, but he is far from overusing the concept of executive order.

Somehow, when a Republican President uses executive orders aggressively, that is seen as alright, and even positive!

The fact is that any President will use executive orders to promote his agenda, and he has a constitutional right to do just that, and it has been done by all Presidents!

News in the past two days that Obama will use executive orders to promote LGBT employment rights, and to declare a large area of ocean off limits to mining and fishing, therefore protecting the environment, is in support of goals that Congress has been unwilling to take action on, after five years, so Obama is asserting his Presidential authority to do what should be done!

In reality, Obama has issued approximately 180 executive orders up to this point, while George W. Bush used 291 in eight years; Bill Clinton a total of 364 in eight years; and Ronald Reagan a total of 381 in eight years. At the same time, Gerald Ford used 169 executive orders in just two years and five months in office; Jimmy Carter a total of 320 in four years; George H. W. Bush a total of 166 in four years; Richard Nixon a total of 346 in five and a half years; Lyndon B. Johnson a total of 325 in five years; John F. Kennedy a total of 214 in three years; Dwight D. Eisenhower a total of 484 in eight years; Harry Truman the very high total of 907 in almost eight years; and Franklin D. Roosevelt the overwhelming total of 3,522 in twelve years!

But even Theodore Roosevelt used a total of 1,081 in seven and a half years in office; William Howard Taft a total of 724 in four years in office; Woodrow Wilson a total of 1,803 in eight years in office; Warren G. Harding a total of 522 in two years and five months in office; Calvin Coolidge the high number of 1,203 in five and a half years in office; and Herbert Hoover the high total of 968 in four years in office.

So both conservatives and progressives, Republicans and Democrats, have used executive order in large numbers, and Barack Obama is definitely on the low side of usage after five and a half years in office!

But do conservatives and Republicans care to speak the truth? The reader knows the answer to that question!

“Fishing” Expeditions Mount As Republicans Lose On ObamaCare!

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The Republican Party is so desperate to find an issue to attack the Obama Administration, now that ObamaCare is working, and polls indicate growing support for the landmark legislation that twenty years ago the Republicans supported, and which Mitt Romney put into play in Massachusetts eight years ago, now shown by statistics and research to have saved many lives in that state.

So now the Republicans are engaging in another attack on the Benghazi terrorist tragedy in Libya, despite the fact there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

And they also have cited Lois Lerner for using her Fifth Amendment rights in the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting political organizations who want tax exempt status, even though progressive groups, as well as conservative groups, were investigated as to their right to a tax exemption.

Also, there is heat being brought against Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, over the problems in providing health care for veterans, even though the GOP has no problem with trying to deny millions of poor people the opportunity to have health care through Medicaid expansion!

The hypocrisy of the Republican Party is beyond belief, and the American people need for the Democrats to fight back in clear terms, and make all voters know the truth about the GOP strategy, so that they do not reward them for their lies and deceit in the upcoming Midterm Elections of 2014!

New Reality: Foreign Policy Will Matter More Than ObamaCare In 2016 Presidential Election!

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It is becoming clear, as a result of recent events involving Russia and Ukraine, that the foreign policy issue will matter more in the Presidential Election of 2016 than domestic policy, including ObamaCare.

This is NOT what many progressives and liberals would prefer, as there are many domestic problems that need attention on the agenda, and President Barack Obama has been trying to deal with many of these issues, despite obstructionism and stalemate caused by the Republican control of the House of Representatives.

But national security and defense, and the possibility of armed conflict in Europe, related to NATO and the European Union, may force the hand of President Obama and his successor to focus more on foreign policy in the next Presidential term of office.

In a way, it reminds us of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, able to run for a third term, and seen as the only legitimate person to be our President in the midst of an international crisis, the victory of the Axis Powers in Europe and Asia, at that time. Alternative possible candidates, such as Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas, and Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana, were all isolationists, the wrong viewpoint at the time. When Wendell Willkie came along as a surprise opponent of FDR, it was clear that on foreign policy, they had an agreement, which was good for the nation as it faced the likelihood of engagement in World War II.

Now, of course, an experienced and wise President in foreign policy, not rushing into conflict, and using his diplomatic skills, is ineligible to be President for another term, so it becomes extremely important that the proper person be elected to succeed Barack Obama.

When one looks at the cast of characters on the Republican side, and the alternatives on the Democratic side, it is clear that ONLY three potential future Presidents meet the need for appropriate foreign policy experience in a delicate and dangerous time, as we may now be entering. Not only is there the threat of war in Europe over Ukraine or other Russian attempt at advancement west, but also the looming threat of Iran and North Korea, as well as the Syrian Civil War and its effect on the entire Middle East, and the growing influence of China.

So reality tells us ONLY Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Jon Huntsman fit the bill to be our Commander in Chief, based on their experiences, expertise, and skills!

There are other Democrats who have positive aspects, but do NOT have the diplomatic experience of Clinton, Biden and Huntsman.

On the GOP side, it is literally horrifying to imagine a Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, or anyone else as Commander in Chief, with many of them purely ignorant, or bullyish, or extreme in their rhetoric, or in the case of Rand Paul, a flaming isolationist! Only Jeb Bush, conceivably, due to his intelligence and connection to his dad, but not his brother, MIGHT be otherwise acceptable, but not with the same sense of confidence in Clinton, Biden and Huntsman!

So the best we can hope for is a Clinton-Huntsman or Biden-Huntsman race for the security and safety of our nation, because we would know that any one of them could perform well as our 45th President, and do the best we can hope for in the area of foreign policy!

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio: Major Screw Up, Time To Apologize And Change!

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New York City’s new Mayor, Bill De Blasio, is rapidly making enemies in his handling of snow emergencies.

Failing to get out in front of snow cleanup in upper class neighborhoods; failing to close schools simply because of historic stupidity that New York City schools hardly ever close; blaming the Weather Bureau, rather than taking responsibility for your own blunders; and then closing schools early, forcing hourly wage workers who are struggling as it is to live in New York City to pick up their children; are all signs of arrogance and forgetting not only common sense, but also acting in a way that will only undermine the progressive agenda, and make many feel that progressives are no better than conservatives in showing concern and good judgment in governing the American people!

Al Roker, the meteorologist for NBC, was engaged in a Twitter war with De Blasio, and Al Roker won, and he might be right: Bill De Blasio, unless he apologizes and learns, will be a one term Mayor of New York City!

Inspirational People Of 2013

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In any year, there is so much to be discouraged about, so much to be shocked about, so much to be unhappy about, as we see so many examples of selfishness, greed, hatred, and prejudice in the world, not just the United States.

The concept of fairness, compassion, justice, equality, freedom is always being fought against those individuals and forces that would deny all of these basic principles of human advancement.

So on Christmas Day, it is an appropriate time to point out who has inspired liberals and progressives in the year 2013. In no special order, they include the following:

The late South African President Nelson Mandela
Pope Francis, Vatican City
New York City Mayor-Elect Bill De Blasio
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy
Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Delaware Senator Chris Coons
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley
MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow
MNBC talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell

There are others who could make this list, but this is an even dozen, a great start to a list of principled, and inspiring, people who have changed our lives in a positive fashion!

Paul Ryan Calls For Military Pension Cuts: Unbelievable!

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Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, the Vice Presidential running mate of Mitt Romney in 2012, seemed to be on the road to understanding what compromise was all about, when he made a budget deal with Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a sign of progress against the Tea Party Movement, which opposed it in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, but was unable to stop it.

But no sooner than Ryan doing something sensible, now he is saying that military pensions must be cut, rather than say that the defense industries need to take cuts in government buying of unnecessary weapons, all highly inflated, as the defense industries are constantly getting billions of dollars that could be called “waste, fraud and abuse”, but have the Republicans in Congress In their “hip pocket.”

So veterans who have sacrificed for the nation now must expect benefit cuts, an outrageous, disgraceful concept!

This must be bitterly opposed by all progressives, who appreciate the labors and sacrifices of our veterans, of any period in our history, from World War II to Korea to Vietnam to the Persian Gulf War to Iraq and Afghanistan!

The Democratic Presidential Race Has Begun With Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer Comments!

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Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has fired the first shots of the Democratic Presidential race, making us realize that the concept that, somehow, Hillary Clinton would win the nomination without challenge, and by default, is a dream that is not going to happen.

Schweitzer, who served two successful terms as Governor of the fourth largest state in land area, but eighth smallest in population, gained a reputation as a western populist, and has been critical of “corporatists”, which in his mind include Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who are too cozy with Wall Street, and have not promoted the idea of pursuing indictment of Wall Street leaders for the Great Recession of 2008.

This is one issue on which many liberals and progressives have had trouble with President Obama, who relied on Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner and other icons of Wall Street, in making his economic policies.

So the left of the Democratic Party, including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, and Schweitzer, among others, have been critical, and while Warren has said she is not running for President, and Sanders says only that he is considering it, Schweitzer has been out front in criticism on economic matters.

Additionally, Schweitzer has thrown a shot across the bow at Hillary Clinton and other US Senators who supported the Iraq War intervention, which he made clear he thought was a major mistake.

So without formally announcing, Schweitzer has hinted strongly that he will enter the race, if nothing else than for the reason that, even assuming Hillary has the edge and might be the nominee of the Democratic Party, that competition is good, and that it would make Clinton a better candidate, than one who is treated with kid gloves and is not ready to fight for the nomination and the Presidency in full combat gear.

Right now, however, the odds that Schweitzer, or anyone else, other than maybe Vice President Joe Biden, can stop Hillary Clinton from being the nominee of the Democratic Party, is highly speculative, but it makes the upcoming primaries and caucuses two years from now a lot more interesting and exciting than it might have been.

So, former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, welcome to the fray!

Republican Infighting Rising!

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It is now clear that the Republican Party is imploding rapidly!

Witness the condemnation by right wing groups of the budget deal arranged by Congressman Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, which helps to avoid another government shutdown, and attempts to provide a stable economic environment for the next two years. As Ryan said it, it is essential for some compromise, while not giving up one’s core principles. The deal is far from great, and will require payment of some retirement contributions by people in the military, and higher airline fees for passengers, but it is a step forward to avoid more economic chaos.

But various right wing groups have opposed the deal, and it is likely that Speaker John Boehner will have to count on Democratic votes to get the package approved later this week, before Congress takes a holiday break, possessing the worst record for performance of modern Congressional history! Boehner has already expressed his annoyance at conservative groups, and so the the infighting continues, as Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Tom Coburn have already denounced the agreement.

One outcome of this agreement is likely the death knell of a Paul Ryan campaign for President, because after all, he was willing to “compromise”!

But this is not the only infighting going on, as Newt Gingrich and Ted Cruz had the “gall” to issue statements complimentary of Nelson Mandela, infuring the far Right, as if Gingrich and Cruz are not part of that group. It is the crazy loonies attacking the mere crazies.

For progressives, it is a fun time, and all that one needs is some soda and popcorn, and sit and enjoy the lunatic fringe acting more looney by the moment!