We knew this would happen, but who knows how to stop it. When I was driving home from Louisiana this weekend I saw the following billboard:
We all saw Sen. Graham's comments earlier and that alone was a cup of cold water to the face. The Republicans have held the White House for 20 of the past 30 years. Many think Bill Clinton was more pro-business than most Democrats, so if you include him you see that Obama is up against 28 years of pro-business rule. Believe it or not, Barack Obama has always been a moderate and he understands history. He understands that incremental change is the only lasting change. We got here over nearly three decades of decay of regulation.
Historians have already had their say on Reagan. They compared him to Zachary Taylor. George W. Bush will have his date with historians soon and it won't end well. The problem is a perception problem. Average people don't pay attention to historians and they assume we are all liberal anyway. When you look at the economic meltdown, increasing debt and deficit, and environmental disaster, who do you blame?
The midterm elections are going to be a referendum on how the Democratic congress have helped relieve the economic woes of the nation. With most of the health care bill's effects taking place beyond 2010, that isn't going to help immediately. The stimulus has run its course and some economists believe we have some more bad times on the horizon. So, who do we pen the blame on?
The Republicans are banking on the proposition that the problems can't be fixed. This helps them in two ways. First, they can pin it on Obama. Secondly, they can claim that liberalism is a failure. 2008 was a referendum and it appears that the referendum is continuing. It's funny, but it seems that they are more interested in assigning blame than they are in fixing the problem.
Funny, but the billboard above says more about the Republicans than it says about the Democrats. It tells us where their ideas are coming from. They are committed to the argument that the last 30 years have been good for America and if it wasn't for Democratic obstruction it would be even better. The Democrats are fighting a two-front war yet again. They have to preach patience in a political environment where there is none and they have to continue to inform the public about how the last 30 years have been bad for America. It will be more difficult than we can imagine.
You're preaching to the choir there. It's about why it is what it is instead of the way it should be. Unfortunately, a lot of people are not aware of who they are. The problem is that if I admit that I am middle class then I may never be anything more than middle class. Personally, I am okay with this. I don't know how many people are.
If I associate myself with successful people then I can convince myself I am successful. I can convince myself that whatever success I don't have can be blamed on those that suck from the tit of the welfare state. The key is to convince people that success does not have to include a sack full of money.
I have nothing against people wanting to be rich. Heck, I'd love to be rich. What I object to is the cards being so totally stacked against those of us not born to great wealth. And people over and over and over again voting against their own self-interests. And then wondering why they got screwed.
As Marvin Zindler always said, "It's hell to be poor".
I blame the lifestyles of the rich and famous. People became to vote Republican because they wanted to see themselves as rich. They got enough with that factor and the religious factor. Don't forget that. It's a tenous group to be sure but it has worked.
The chron Delete Fairies have morphed into Duplicate Fairies here. It's a glitch in the platform. We're working on it.
OK I have NO idea why that posted twice. Strange...
What really annoys me is the evident total lack of ability on the part of the GOP and their followers to connect the dots between what happened then and what is still happening NOW.
The financial meltdown we are still in the midst of is a DIRECT result of "Reaganomics". The direct result of deregulation of every single industry. The DIRECT result of outsourcing and offshoring of industry. They've shipped all the jobs out of the country and allowed the corporations to get away with everything. It's all about the bottom line for the corporations.
Trickle down economics, my ass. Give the tax breaks to the wealthy and they'll create jobs for the poor. That's the mantra (ie, bullshit) we were fed.
Nope. Sorry, that doesn't work in real life. Human nature and greed say otherwise. Give the tax breaks to the wealthy and they just get richer.
Break the unions (ala the air traffic controllers) and the unions get weaker. The middle class dies.
Over the last 30 years, you can track the growth of CEO income vs the employees' income. It used to be, what....30 times the lowly peons' income? Now it's up in the range of 300 times!
How can any group of people continually keep voting against their own interests is beyond me. That must be some powerful brainwashing techniques they are using.
My hometown used to be (as I've said here before) a thriving city of 75,000 people. Most of whom were employed in industries. Not just GM although GM was the major employer. We had many other manufacturers. We had a wonderful little city; a place we loved. We had three high schools, several middle schools and elementary schools. It was a place to be proud of. The damn place (which I still love) is practically a ghost town now. Abandoned houses. Potholed streets. GM was allowed to outsource all their jobs to Mexico, China, Canada, India. 35,000 jobs LOST since the late 1970's. How can this be right?
The middle class? Gone gone gone. Let's face it, back in the day when we had strong unions, we had a strong middle class. What do we have now?
F*** all, that's what.
Reagan was an ACTOR. And a damn good one because his followers are still wanting to practically sanctify him. I remember the outcry over Nancy Reagan consulting her astrologers. Where is the outcry over the results of his policies NOW?
i'm starting to think the democratic party consists primarily of voters of the same caliber who voted mr. green into the primary in south carolina. as for saint reagan, my theory is the majority of republicans suffering from RRDD (ronald reagan delusional disorder) were overfed ketchup as a school lunch veggie back in the 80's. i know this must be true of my own brother.
part of the problem, Scott, is we have allowed the way corporations are run to infect the way democracy is run - they are 2 different enterprises, and this new study from Rice partly explains why:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/the-more-ceos-make-the-wo_n_636606.html
the attitude has been reinforced as the 'wealth philosophy' has taken root in mega-churches that used to preach " you are your brother's keeper " instead of " everyone has the same opportunity, so the poor have brought things upon themselves ".
Well said indeed, which is why I continue to say, "There's something wrong with them people!"
Air Traffic Controllers remember real change.
Reagan was bad, real baaaad.
"They are committed to the argument that the last 30 years have been good for America and if it wasn't for Democratic obstruction it would be even better."
Well said.