Sunday, May 24, 2009

What the GOP Used to be

It is strange how times change, and how the sensitivity of a pluralistic political system is not actually as plural as it appears to be on the surface. A few decades ago the delineation between republicans and democrats was clear. Such cannot be said so today. I think it may have actually died with Jimmy carter or earlier. I am not certain, but I do see a shift, that unlike the past, when it was a party of the people, for and by the common man, it has morphed into the new GOP and is merely the party of the large corporations.

It is now, just as Bush and his predecessor, the party of bailouts and handout and tax breaks for the wealthy. It is in bed with K-street equal to if not more than the Republicans. Truth be told I cannot see any distinction, from the handling of the war, to the economy, to gun control. Now true, I don’t support bailouts, or the purview that we must stabilize the economy or gun control, plus I am neither democrat nor republican. However I do see what has transpired and have been giving some thought to these changes and their impact on America, especially the regular mutha fucka. See a real democratic approach to the economy from my perspective would be to give each small business no matter what industry a check for 30,000 with no strings attached, they would buy from vendors and put the money in the banks (that are failing left and right) which would stimulate upward growth and allow banks to have capital on deck for lending.

The Democrat Party now only has a single moral obligation – avarice and money. They are just as dishonest as the GOP and have no moral fortitude or integrity. They are merely concerned with power and fame the way I see it. And don’t even mention middle east policy or the restriction of free speech. Yep, today the democrats are what the republicans used to be and it is sad for the Republican party is about to be a fossil and it will be a while before a new party comes to the forefront to claim what the Democrats used to be – that is if you asked me.

16 comments:

RiPPa said...

They are both factions of the same machine which would be corporate America, and the wealthy few who can buy my Black ass as well as everybody else's. You know how plutocracies get down kinfolk. If we ain't careful, they just might have poor Black and White folks picking cotton again.

Sista GP said...

politicians have to be whatever THEY think the people want them to be. There are so many levels of fluff in our political system, no one really knows what the people need/want.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

You know you get zero argument on this from me.

In all fairness, I think the 6 men of principle in the US Senate who voted 'NO' in vain on SR 1133, Obama's "Post-Partisan, Post-Racial, Post-Constitutional, Guantanamo Enabling And Ethnic Cleansing National Security Act Of 2009" deserve some applause:

DICK DURBIN
TOM HARKIN
PAT LEAHY
CARL LEVIN
JACK REED
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE

That is how pathetic and weak the Democratic Party is now. 6 senators with I can't even say "courage" really but just a sense of right and wrong.

Even progressives Feingold and Sanders bought into this monstrosity. So did fake libertarians Tester and Webb.

It's personally heartbreaking that every other Jew in the Senate besides Levin is so bought and paid for by AIPAC that they'd go along with affirming a CONCENTRATION/TORTURE/DEATH CAMP in their names. My impression was Feingold and Sanders didn't take Zionist blood money, but in the age of "friendly fascism" everything's possible.

I know how Lieberman, Schumer, Feinstein, Specter and Wyden vote. That part's not so hard to swallow. No secret they take lots of AIPAC money. That Carl Levin is the only Jewish senator with a cock and balls is a disgrace.

The rest might as well be Dachau kapos.

CraigJC said...

I honestly believe that they're the same party, just going after different money tracks. GOP going after the white and rich; Dems going after the middle class, poor of the other races.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

I think there is the makings of a serious 2nd party that has room for the true libertarian (not the "fuck you, go starve" cartoon) philosophy and the true progressive (get money efficiently and directly into communities most in need first, not the "tax and spend" cartoon) philosophy.

Seems to me that a social contract based around the maximum personal freedom in exchange for the maximum personal responsibility is simple and respectful of adult citizens. I also think that a non-confiscatory, non-bureaucratic tax-system, combined with real fiscal and monetary conservatism with an emphasis on peace and decriminalization of being human, will give enough budget room someday to pay for communities which are safe, healthy, interconnected, with a strong investment in seeing the system work. And if you have to go back to AFDC, well, that's a way more cost effective means of getting money into consumer hands than this fol-de-rol of Obama's using the IRS to do it.

This is the stuff Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul work on together on an issue by issue basis. It's not like some bizarre new thing for them. Quite the contrary. The few true libertarians like Paul, Rohrabacher, Flake, Jones, Porter, and Campbell often work with Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters, Mike Capuano, Pete Stark and a lot of great progressives on issues of personal freedom and peace.

To me, that's real "post-partisan" and "post-racial" politics. Not this K-street mush Obama's peddling.

I'm biased, of course, because I only go to open-minded blogs. I'm not interested in Red Versus Blue. Blue Versus Red. That idea worked real, real great in Compton and Long Beach. I'd laugh if the irony were not so caustic.

Both Bush and Obama have shut so many people out of the process that Americans can get apathetic and lose interest in their rights and freedoms.

I know having watched Russia emerge from the ashes of communism and the Latino democracies emerge from the ashes of fascist dictatorships how much people enjoy being trusted and respected by their government and participating as business people, community leaders, active voters, union organizers, etc. In Latin America and the FSU turnout is around 80% and there are 15 newspapers in all the big cities and the candidates are accessible to the voters, while the campaigns are issues-focused.

It doesn't have to be the 3-ring circus it is in the USA in order to have a functioning capitalist democratic republic.

The 1-party system has also choked off interesting cross-over politicians like Ron Paul from getting some alternative party which people enjoy participating in started. I can't emphasize this example enough. In Colombia 3years ago the Conservative and Liberal parties fused into one huge mega-party and immediately Carlos Gaviria put together the "Alternative Democratic Pole" to appeal to everyone, right and left, who felt alienated, unheard, disrespected, and disaffected.

In one year, he got enough people who felt left out to come together and agree to disagree on stuff but to stay together and strong where they did agree, so as to get 23% of the vote, finish second and force the Liberal Party back to its roots as an opposition party.

I know Babz sometimes gets peeved with Torrance and me for discussing Ron Paul's ideas on the show because they are so out of the mainstream, but I can't think of anyone else in politics whose appeal is so wide. The people who make fun of him just haven't bothered to listen to his message. It's not about a lawless cowboy society at all. It's about peace and freedom. He has also been very specific about his belief in small government but never at the expense of the alienated and unemployed. Rationalizing the crazy military and domestic control/prison spending is where he's focused on trimming government first.

At any rate, these kinds of movements will work if the people want them to.

JACK said...

Well the GOP still has the "O," right?

L'Artiste said...

true...
ur post are so educated.
mines are so not ...lol

s. douglas said...

My favorite president of all time, at least the "all time" during my life, is Gerald Ford.

Why?

Because other than pardoning Nixon,which I think was the right thing to do, I can't remember a fucking thing the dude did.

And that's the way it should be.

Fuck a bunch of liberals, and wingnuts.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

@ FAIRLANE: Gerald Ford did stuff. He ended the war in Vietnam. He had the most generous bottom-up social sector in American history normalized for time-value of money, GDP, etc.

Jerry Ford v Jimmy Carter was the only election I can think of in which both choices were good.

I loved your burn on that Obama/Sotomayor picture over Tengrain's gaff. I'm still laughing about it.

The Carebear done good here, man. This is the civil libertarian on the short-list and you know I hate Wingnuts and pity Liberals. La Borinquena is La Gota Lila-100%. As in the shit. Te lo juro. I swear.

Freedom of speech. Check.

Labor. Check.

Affirmative action. Check.

Due process in criminal procedure. Double-plus Check.

Those are her signature issues.

Tha BossMack TopSoil said...

Shit is wild peoples.

SjP said...

I get so sick and tired of hearing all the crap about Dems vs GOP. The only time/place politics matters is during elections and the Hill. These folks don't realize or care that we just want people in office who are truly public servants. The fact that they consider their career choice as being a politician tells it all. Just pisses me off that they play these games with my life and money!

clnmike said...

I will admit the Dems have disappointed me but only because they are steadily squandering the chances to makes some real policy changes. And they continue to joust with the GOP when there is no need.

The Single Black Woman said...

AMEN!

I was just having this conversation with a friend. I don't even bother to talk politics anymore...why? Folk are all the same...and neither side gives a damn about the little guy.

Sigh.

Until the vast majority of Americans get tired of this ish...it will remain the same.

A Big Butt and a Smile

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