I was thinking back over the past 30 or so years and what I have seen happening to the political landscape in this country. The state of political discourse appears to approach the sort of shenanigans you might have expected to see in the early 19th century where duels were common and an occasional congressman walloping another with walking stick was not uncommon. Name-calling and fear mongering similar to the 1950s' Red scares seem the norm and the presence of a moderating press has seemingly disappeared in the quest for ratings on TV. I grew up in the Vietnam era and it was not pretty. I lived through Reaganomics and the Republican dismantling of Wall Street regulations. I have watched the tax code evolve to a focus on providing the wealthy the tools required to insure their own wealth and prevent the poor from intruding on their success. In short a part of my lifetime story is seeing the kind of government envisioned by people like L. B. J. and FDR dismantled where it was built and redirected form where it was going.
There is no perfect government, particularly in a democracy. Ideally, everyone benefits to a degree and everyone loses out sometimes. It is a price you expect to pay for living in a pluralistic society. Citizens United has disrupted that interplay to provide people with a voice equal to their net worth. We have an oligarchy! It amazes me to see this in my lifetime. How did we let this happen? I decided to post the following as an illustration of the kinds of change that plagues me on a daily basis. If it is not obvious from what I have been writing then "let me make this perfectly clear": I am a progressive, liberal humanist with real fears about the direction the US has been following and where it seems to be going. The current level of dysfunction in our Congress makes me think of the Keystone Kops and not a government. Since this my first post it may not be as on point as I would like but it feels like an okay start. Sorry for any rambling.
See below the S for some surprising quotes from old school GOP stalwarts. You may be shocked. These people sound like today's liberals. They couldn't get in the party today, let alone be nominated for office as Republicans. Where are people like these now? People you could disagree with but still respect?
Rita: You think Einstein walked around thinkin' everyone was a bunch of dumb shits?
Pvt. Joe Bowers: Yeah. Hadn't thought of that.
Rita: Now you know why he built that bomb.
Idiocracy <2006>
The GOP, Then and Now
Then
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.
Harry S Truman
When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
Harry S Truman
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.
Theodore Roosevelt
The government is us; we are the government, you and I.
Theodore Roosevelt
If our political institutions were perfect, they would absolutely prevent the political domination of money in any part of our affairs. We need to make our political representatives more quickly and sensitively responsive to the people whose servants they are. More direct action by the people in their own affairs under proper safeguards is vitally necessary.
Theodore Roosevelt
Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly.
Theodore Roosevelt
Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.
Ulysses S. Grant
The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a nation. If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence,
Ulysses S. Grant
Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.
William McKinley
The success of our popular government rests wholly upon the correct interpretation of the deliberate, intelligent, dependable popular will of America.
Warren G. Harding
Freedom requires that government keep the channels of competition and opportunity open, prevent monopolies, economic abuse and domination.
Herbert Hoover
The GOP Now
[Gay Marriage] is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last 30 years. I am not understating that!
Michele Bachmann
I support intelligent design, what I support is putting all science on the table and then letting students decide. I don't think it's a good idea for government to come down on one side of scientific issue or another, when there is reasonable doubt on both sides.
Michele Bachmann
Just because a majority of the Supreme Court declares something to be 'constitutional' does not make it so.
Rand Paul
So let me be clear, Collective bargaining isn't a right, it is an expensive entitlement. Once and for all, we are giving the taxpayers a voice in this debate. We put the power back in the hands of the people.
Scott Walker
But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies.
Sarah Palin
The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession or even another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias.
Lamar Smith
You know what, evolution is a myth….Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?
Christine O’Donnell
People now don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things.
Chris Collins
The Great Flood is an example of climate change. And that certainly wasn't because mankind overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.
Joe Barton
The middle class. Since when in America do we have classes? That's Marxism talk.
Rick Santorum
I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.
Mitt Romney
I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.
George W. Bush
Facts are stupid things.
Ronald Reagan