Progressivism

Jon Huntsman On Assault Weapons Ban: Not Acceptable To Democrats And Sane Independents!

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Former Utah Governor and former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman has been applauded by this blogger over the past few years as the only reasonable, sane candidate that the Republican Party possesses, with possibly the exception of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

But the disappointment at his recent statement that he would veto an assault weapons ban of any kind is therefore disturbing and disillusioning, and makes it clear that while Huntsman is very talented and intelligent, still the best of the Republican Party, he is not acceptable to someone who believes in progressivism and the need for gun regulations to cut down the high level of violence in this country!

The reality is that Jon Huntsman has close to no chance to be the GOP nominee in any case, but it is clear that the Republican Party cannot offer anyone the road to a future where the average American can be safe and secure, as long as we have the lack of political courage to realize the absolute, dire need for some kind of assault weapons ban–not absolute necessarily, but within reasonable limits of some sort.

The goal is not to deny the Second Amendment, but also not to give license to mass murders of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School; or to mass murder in movie theaters, or in shopping malls, or colleges, or any public place–with no regulation of who is able to acquire firearms, particularly assault weapons that should only be used in war situations or by law enforcement authorities. As things stand, Democrats and sane Independents cannot support any GOP nominee for President!

Two Different Directions: Wisconsin State Republican Party And Nevada State Republican Party

Ronald 6 Comments

The internal battle over the future of the Republican Party is in full swing, as we come up to the 160th anniversary of the Republican Party in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, which actually took place on March 20. with a formal organization in Jackson, Michigan, on July 6.

For a long time, the Ripon Society has existed as an organization for “liberal,” mainstream Republicans, but of course, there is no such thing anymore known as “liberal” Republicanism. Even those who might consider themselves “liberal,” avoid use of that term like a plague!

The Wisconsin GOP, which once included “Mr. Progressive” Robert La Follette, Sr., and his brilliant sons Robert La Follette, Jr. and Philip La Follette, now, however, has become an extremist group on the far right, under Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ron Johnson, and the proposal is to add to their state party documents the concept of the right of the state to promote “secession’ if felt necessary, a sign of the old, ugly language that led to the Civil War and the loss of two thirds of a million men in combat, the greatest single tragedy in the nation’s history!

At the same time, the Nevada State Republican Party has made the decision to remove from its platform for 2014 two issues that the Christian Right has been promoting since their rise in the party apparatus nationwide since the late 1970s—abortion and gay rights and marriage. No longer will the party promote government intervention in the lives of women and their personal decisions about their bodies and reproductive rights. And no longer will they get in the way of a person’s happiness, as to his or her basic human rights, including marriage, and the right to one’s sexual orientation without any discrimination by government!

In the long run, what Nevada Republicans are doing will, if pursued elsewhere, lead to a long term revival of the GOP, while if Wisconsin is followed, it is the death knell and demise of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike!

The Republican Party Battle Has Gone On For A Century!

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When the Republican Party was founded in 1854, it was an activist liberal oriented party, against the expansion of slavery as an official doctrine, and with many of its founders and followers also being against slavery itself, wishing to abolish it.

Under Abraham Lincoln and Radical Republicans, the Republican Party advocated freedom, citizenship and voting for African Americans, while at the same time promoting the growth of industrial capitalism.

But in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, the party lost its bearings, becoming a corrupt party, beholden to the top one percent of the nation. There was a need to reform the party, and Theodore Roosevelt came along at the turn of the century, and revolutionized the Presidency and promoted progressivism, and activist government, including labor rights, consumer rights, environmentalism, and the promotion of political reforms to bring direct democracy.

But after he left office, the party lost its bearings again and went into the darkness of the conservative 1920s, as Woodrow Wilson took on much of the progressive reform program, and set the Democratic Party on the road to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and a whole slew of domestic progressive and liberal reforms.

The Republican Party, by following the Gilded Age mentality again in the 1920s, helped to cause the greatest economic downturn in American history, and the Great Depression under Herbert Hoover put them in the wilderness, although revived by the moderate progressivism of war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s.

But then, they were again in the minority, and although Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford promoted some substantial reforms in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in the midst of the New Frontier-Great Society mentality. scandal emerged under Nixon, and the Vietnam War sapped the party, and they turned once again to conservatism and Ronald Reagan, who had a better persona than conservative Barry Goldwater, who had been soundly defeated by LBJ in 1964. Reagan appealed to the top one percent, and promoted fear of the white working class toward minorities, and the GOP dominated the next generation and more, with the Jimmy Carter respite very brief, and Bill Clinton being mildly progressive, not really the tradition of FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ. But that meant that the Republican Party was backing away from the traditions of Lincoln, TR, and even Ike! The middle class and the working were victims, without realizing it until very recently.

Here they are today in the era of the most progressive Democratic President since LBJ, and the Republican Party is what it was in the Gilded Age and 1920s and since the 1980s, a party that backs away from domestic reform, from compassion, from concern about the environment, from concern about working people, from concern about women and ethnic minorities and the vast majority of Americans. Instead, they are the party of the one percent, as they were in the Gilded Age and 1920s, and the attempt to move the party to the center, and return to the Lincoln–TR–Ike tradition is engaged in what seems clearly a losing battle!

That means that the Republican Party, 160 years old this year, is likely in its death throes, a party which has gone awry, a really tragic set of circumstances!

Other Than Hillary Clinton, What Woman Could Be A Viable Presidential Nominee In 2016?

Ronald 4 Comments

Hillary Clinton is considered highly likely to be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2016, and most think she will, ultimately, decide to run, although there are those who have doubts.

But if Hillary chose not to run, is there any other woman who could be seen as a viable candidate for the White House in 2016?

On the Republican side, really no one is ready and able to mount a serious race, as members of the House of Representatives have never been the nominee of a major political party, other than President James A. Garfield in 1880, and he was, tragically, assassinated in 1881, after serving only a few months in the Presidency.

Yes, there are a few Republicans women governors, but to believe that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley or New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez or Kansas Governor Mary Fallin can be considered serious Presidential candidates is to be delusional.

As far as women Senators in the Republican Party, there are the highly qualified Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, but neither seems interested or, really viable, as a Presidential nominee. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte might be interested, but is not seen by many as a heavyweight in the party apparatus, but rather a person who hangs around Arizona Senator John McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham more than is wise to do.

Of course, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is loved by the Tea Party Movement, but it is laughable to imagine her running, and she has absolutely no chance to win the nomination.

Condoleezza Rice is well qualified, but the former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under George W. Bush, has always turned down any pressure to run for high office!

So, realistically, if there is to be a woman President, and other than Hillary Clinton, it will have to be a Democrat–and realistically it would be a Senator–one of three, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, or Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Warren would be popular with the leftist base in the Democratic Party, but has been in the Senate only one year, and would be 67 in 2016, just two years younger than Hillary Clinton. She inspires many people, including this author, and would fight Wall Street, which few others would.

Gillibrand has been in the Senate since 2010, and is very active and inspiring, but she comes from a state where Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo compete for support, and it is hard to imagine her at age 50 in 2016, being able to mount a campaign for President in 2016. She has made the fight against sexual abuse in the military a major issue, which has been under the radar for much too long.

So that leaves Klobuchar, who has served in the Senate since 2007, and is regarded very highly for her state government experience as Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Attorney for eight years, and can appeal to the heartland of the nation in a way that neither Warren nor Gillibrand could do. Her personality and communication ability is just as good, if not better, than Warren or Gillbrand, and at age 56 in 2016, she is closer to the ideal age to run for President. She is someone with a great progressive record, who has been too often overlooked by news media and others who follow politics.

But one thing is clear: No one is as qualified or outstanding among women politicians as Hillary Rodham Clinton! She has her faults and shortcomings, but no one matches her credentials!

Dr. Benjamin Carson: Stick To Neurology, Not A Warped View Of Politics!

Ronald 8 Comments

Dr. Benjamin Carson is a renowned, and now retired, neurosurgeon, applauded for his great work with children, particularly for his accomplishment of separating conjoined twins joined at the head. Everyone should applaud his achievements, and his obvious genius, in the medical profession.

However, Carson has become the center of controversy ever since he decided to get involved in politics, and showed an extremist view of reality and public affairs.

Rumored to be thinking of running for President, the African American surgeon has taken stands for the past few years, which put him on the far right of the Republican Party, often sounding like the conservative talk show hosts that have undermined the historic, mainstream GOP.

The Tea Party finds Carson fascinating, and that alone should alarm any sensible thinking person.

Carson now says that progressivism, the Progressive Era, and everything that progressives and liberals believe, is similar to Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler! He also says ObamaCare is the worst thing since slavery!

This has been said before by right wing ideologues, but has no basis in truth and reality!

What Carson and his extremist believers are promoting is that the advancement of women, racial minorities, immigrants, labor, and the environment are a conspiracy against the American people, when in reality, this is simply code language for the exploitation by corporations and the top one percent, in the name of unbridled capitalism.

So the battles of the Progressives, New Dealers, and Great Society advocates of the 20th century against the backwardness and exploitation of the Gilded Age, is back in full swing with Benjamin Carson and others who speak for the ruling class, including the Koch Brothers, and many other multibillionaires, who could not care less about the middle class and the poor, and the oppressed groups among us!

The Greatest Rockefeller In Public Office, With The Least Fanfare!

Ronald 1 Comment

A long unsung hero in American politics and the US Senate is West Virginia’s former Governor Jay Rockefeller, who is retiring as Senator after thirty years of service at the end of 2014.

The only Democrat in the Rockefeller family political history has been an outstanding Senator for one of the poorest states, and will be remembered for how much he has done to promote the economic future of his state.

Jay Rockefeller could have replaced Senator Robert F. Kennedy by appointment of his uncle, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, in 1968, but refused the opportunity and moved to the poor state of West Virginia, with the intention of bringing reform and change to his adopted state. He also refused to allow his father in law, Illinois Republican Senator Charles Percy, to use his influence in any way.

Instead, Jay Rockefeller worked his way up the political struggles to become a member of the West Virginia state legislature, Secretary of State, Governor of the state for two terms, and now finishing five terms in the US Senate.

Unlike his more famous uncle, Nelson Rockefeller, who sought the Presidency three times and was Vice President under Gerald Ford, Jay Rockefeller was satisfied to have an influence on his state, and to promote liberal Democratic ideas. He is now also actively engaged in investigation of the Chris Christie scandal, and is unafraid of challenging the status quo and the establishment’s leaders, always having supported and promoted progressive causes.

Jay Rockefeller has turned out to be more significant in many ways than his uncle Nelson, hard to believe, and certainly more so than his other uncle, Winthrop, Republican Governor of Arkansas in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And his career has been much longer, without any interest in seeking the Presidency in his younger years.

So Jay Rockefeller will be much missed when he retires from his distinguished career in the Senate at the end of this year!

Pope Francis An Inspiration, But Like Barack Obama, He Will Have Major Critics Who Fear Change And Reform

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Pope Francis is a true inspiration to anyone who believes in the true teachings of Jesus Christ, concern for the poor, compassion for the sick, condemnation of materialism, and the understanding that all people, of whatever race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation, deserve equality and justice!

In so many ways, Pope Francis can be compared to Barack Obama, and just like Obama, he will engender hate and condemnation because he fights against prejudice and the evils of wealth, and the selfishness and greed which has arisen yet once again, on the basis of laissez faire capitalism and Social Darwinism, prevalent in the Gilded Age (late 19th century), the age of Imperialism, and resisted by the forces of change and reform in many nations in the 20th century.

But now, those evil forces have reared their ugly head again, and so the battle for progressivism is engaged in a great fight to combat those forces, within the Catholic Church, within organized religion in general, within the capitalistic economy which, in America, has no apparent problem , with the mounting acquisition of wealth by the top one percent, as poverty and the collapse of the middle class continually occur, with no conscience or concern by those who have the stack decked in their favor.

So the right wing forces, that include those who wish death on Barack Obama, will now focus also on the Pope, just as has always happened for those who promote reform and change, including in America, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and also Senator Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We should give thanks for the courage and compassion of our President, and even if we are not Catholic, the Pope, and pray for both men, that they will not fall before any attempted assassination threats of which Obama faces dozens every day!

We live in an age of great hate, and so much of it coming from so called “religious” people, who have no clue as to the true teachings of their faith, and are only out to enrich themselves!

HUGE Victory For Obama And Democrats In Reform Of Filibuster Use!

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Finally, after almost five years as President, Barack Obama can savor victory, knowing he will be able to get his nominees for all federal executive branch positions and federal judiciary, except for the Supreme Court, confirmed by the Democratic Senate. Majority rule will govern, as it should, and as it does, in the House of Representatives!

And because the Republicans shot themselves in the foot, not allowing the approval of three nominees for the DC Circuit Courts, they will now see the federal courts tip dramatically toward Democratic and more liberal judges!

At the moment, there are exactly 390 federal judges appointed by Republican Presidents, and an equal number of 390 federal judges appointed by Democratic Presidents.

If Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, had allowed the confirmation of those three judges that were just voted down by the use of the filibuster, requiring 60 votes to move a nomination, then the balance would have remained on the federal courts between Democratic and Republican appointments.

But now, that is not so, and the Democrats and Barack Obama will gain a potential total of 93 appointments for vacancies on the courts, making for a one sided Democratic control of the judiciary, which will last for years, as the judiciary are on the court for life, not limited terms.

So as the Republicans lick their wounds, and realize their abuse of the filibuster in the past five years, and their arrogance, have led to this moment, the Democrats have a lot to celebrate about, as nothing is more important than affecting the future of constitutional law, and the Republicans have given the Democrats a huge victory, which will reverberate for decades, and give those who believe in progressive reform and change, a sense of hope that there IS a future in America, for others than rich, white people!

Hope And Reform Possible For Georgia With Michelle Nunn And Jason Carter

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The state of Georgia has the potential to move into the Democratic camp for the offices of Governor and Senator in 2014, with the announcement that Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn (1972-1997), is running for Senator to replace Saxby Chambliss, who is retiring, and Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, is running for the Governorship that his grandfather held from 1971-1975 before his run for President.

Both are progressive oriented, and would humanize government again in Georgia, which has, sadly, fallen into disarray with the Republican dominance of the state government and Congressional delegation majority in recent years.

The growing Hispanic-Latino vote offers promise for Georgia to turn blue in the future, and quality candidates such as Nunn and Carter bring optimism to those who hope it can happen in 2014!

Five Year Anniversary Of Obama Being Elected President, And Low Point Today Of His Presidency!

Ronald 22 Comments

Barack Obama became our 44th President on this day five years ago, and on this fifth anniversary, he has reached his low point in public opinion polls, with 42 percent satisfied with his performance.

The likelihood is that Obama’s poll ratings will continue to go down, due to the total disaster of the inception of the ObamaCare website, plus the horrible mistake of Obama claiming that anyone could keep his health care plan if satisfied with it.

The glitches in the website are bad enough, but the fact that 5 percent, about 15 million Americans, are discovering that their health care plans are being canceled, and that the future of their health care is unsettled, and that many seem to be likely to pay a lot more for health care, if not resolved soon in a satisfactory manner, could destroy the signature achievement of the Obama Presidency.

Obama is shown to have lied, shown to be arrogant in refusing to listen to experts on the website matter, and to have thought that the fact that the purpose was to improve health care would, somehow, overcome the insecurity and uncertainty of millions of Americans suddenly having the health care plans they had taken away from them so abruptly.

It is said that millions of Americans will benefit from ObamaCare, but the fact that other millions are being victimized in coverage and cost, to fit the model that the government wants them to have, could destroy any chance of the long term success of ObamaCare.

This could ruin the long term legacy of Obama, and hurt the Democratic Party and those who believe in progressivism and liberal values.

So today is not a day to celebrate, but rather to hope that the disaster that has been occurring can be resolved very soon in a satisfactory manner, for those affected, and for the future of the concept that the federal government can do things right, as to promote anything else, means a return to abuses by private business interests without government oversight in the interests of the American people.