you reap what you sow: The Rep’s have been courting the far right since Reagan (good ploy on his part, but…). Now that they have some power they want to control everything. Never mind that they represent a MINORITY of the population.
Memory plays tricks on you. So many conservatives believe there was this wonderful time when all the things they liked were in force, but in which nobody suffered for it. A couple of hours spent reading The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible. It’s a detailed, in-depth, well-researched antidote for nostalgia.
For instance, do you want to live in horse and buggy days? Then be prepared for streets that are filled with ammonia-scented hay and straw that gets beat into a fine powder under hooves and wheels, and it then can blow into any house, no matter if the windows are open or not. Cars were welcomed with open arms as the solution to this daily mess.
Education, transportation, race relations, living conditions… every aspect of life that the nostalgia-addled clamor for was a cesspool (often literally) of toxic surprises. Consumers were sold food that was little better than poison. And this is what they want to return us to.
There’s a Kansas legislator that wants to return all foster parents to “Leave it to Beaver” days; he doesn’t want foster parents to be eligible if they smoke or drink (moderately). Somebody pointed out to him that Ward Cleaver did in fact smoke, and was shown drinking (moderately, we presume). Then again, the next Kansas legislator that has his facts straight will be the first one……….
Look carefully, the Repubs seem to want to go back to the early ’50’s. You know – Happy Days. Blacks didn’t have the right to vote, women “knew their place” we just won the Big One. All was right for the he white middle class male.Those guys are 60-70-80 now, the world has left many of them behind and they don’t want to move forward, computers confuse many etcd. etc. – hence the tea party.just had a Repub legislator in SC call a fellow legislator (a woman) “a lesser cut of meat”. Keep ’em barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen is the GOP motto. Oh yes – and uneducated.
Eisenhower was the president that brought back from WWII, the interstate highway system based on the autobahn he saw in Germany. Our interstate system made modern travel across America possible and stimulated the growth of our auto industry. And yet, he was accused of being a communist by many in the radical right, the John Birchers, founded by Robert Welch, the candy manufacturer and Fred Koch, the oil industrialist. They took the name John Birch to imply the martyred christian hero’s endorsement of their cause. However, Jimmy Doolittle who met John Birch, wrote in his autobiography, he was certain that he would not approve of his name being used that way.Fred Koch authored the book, “A businessman looks at Communism.” He wrote that “The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America” and characterized welfare as a secret plot to attract rural blacks and Puerto Ricans to Eastern cities to vote for Communist causes and “getting a vicious race war started.” (Wiki)William F Buckley, during the Goldwater campaign, made it his mission to keep the “looneys”, the Birchers, from taking over the GOP. He said that Welch’s and the Birchers’ influence was far removed from common sense and urged their purging from the Republican Party, he was afraid that the far right ideology would lead to fascism. He devoted his beloved National Review to this effort to keep the radicals from control of the ship. Before he died he admitted that the looneys had taken over. After his death, his son Chris was fired from the magazine, to emphasize that William Buckley’s control of the soul of the party was finished.………………………………….The TEA Party is the renamed John Birch Society, the looneys, the radical rightwing that worried Buckley.
feverjr: A friend of mine was OSS behind the lines in China, a couple of provinces over from Birch. He knew him casually personally and by reputation extensively. His summation was: “He would drink anything that was bottled and [rape] anything that walked.” (This was not considered pejorative by those in that field.) “He would preach a sawdust trail sermon to a Chinese prostitute after employing her the night before.” (Considered rather hypocritical by his buddies.) My friend considered him to be a fake.
Until we, the people, can force a major, fundamental overhaul of our election system by taking donations (money) out of the process, we will not have a congress which tend to the interests of the nation as a whole. With television, the internet and other social media, and perhaps a small amount of money made available to each viable candidate from tax dollars, it can be done. Somehow, it is up to US to push it through.
Dtroutma about 9 years ago
His first good idea.
moderateisntleft about 9 years ago
you reap what you sow: The Rep’s have been courting the far right since Reagan (good ploy on his part, but…). Now that they have some power they want to control everything. Never mind that they represent a MINORITY of the population.
Kip W about 9 years ago
Memory plays tricks on you. So many conservatives believe there was this wonderful time when all the things they liked were in force, but in which nobody suffered for it. A couple of hours spent reading The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible. It’s a detailed, in-depth, well-researched antidote for nostalgia.
For instance, do you want to live in horse and buggy days? Then be prepared for streets that are filled with ammonia-scented hay and straw that gets beat into a fine powder under hooves and wheels, and it then can blow into any house, no matter if the windows are open or not. Cars were welcomed with open arms as the solution to this daily mess.
Education, transportation, race relations, living conditions… every aspect of life that the nostalgia-addled clamor for was a cesspool (often literally) of toxic surprises. Consumers were sold food that was little better than poison. And this is what they want to return us to.
Godfreydaniel about 9 years ago
There’s a Kansas legislator that wants to return all foster parents to “Leave it to Beaver” days; he doesn’t want foster parents to be eligible if they smoke or drink (moderately). Somebody pointed out to him that Ward Cleaver did in fact smoke, and was shown drinking (moderately, we presume). Then again, the next Kansas legislator that has his facts straight will be the first one……….
JohnHarry Premium Member about 9 years ago
Look carefully, the Repubs seem to want to go back to the early ’50’s. You know – Happy Days. Blacks didn’t have the right to vote, women “knew their place” we just won the Big One. All was right for the he white middle class male.Those guys are 60-70-80 now, the world has left many of them behind and they don’t want to move forward, computers confuse many etcd. etc. – hence the tea party.just had a Repub legislator in SC call a fellow legislator (a woman) “a lesser cut of meat”. Keep ’em barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen is the GOP motto. Oh yes – and uneducated.
Godfreydaniel about 9 years ago
People who want to return to Victorian values should remember that the two primary Victorian values were hypocrisy and hypochondria.
feverjr Premium Member about 9 years ago
Eisenhower was the president that brought back from WWII, the interstate highway system based on the autobahn he saw in Germany. Our interstate system made modern travel across America possible and stimulated the growth of our auto industry. And yet, he was accused of being a communist by many in the radical right, the John Birchers, founded by Robert Welch, the candy manufacturer and Fred Koch, the oil industrialist. They took the name John Birch to imply the martyred christian hero’s endorsement of their cause. However, Jimmy Doolittle who met John Birch, wrote in his autobiography, he was certain that he would not approve of his name being used that way.Fred Koch authored the book, “A businessman looks at Communism.” He wrote that “The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America” and characterized welfare as a secret plot to attract rural blacks and Puerto Ricans to Eastern cities to vote for Communist causes and “getting a vicious race war started.” (Wiki)William F Buckley, during the Goldwater campaign, made it his mission to keep the “looneys”, the Birchers, from taking over the GOP. He said that Welch’s and the Birchers’ influence was far removed from common sense and urged their purging from the Republican Party, he was afraid that the far right ideology would lead to fascism. He devoted his beloved National Review to this effort to keep the radicals from control of the ship. Before he died he admitted that the looneys had taken over. After his death, his son Chris was fired from the magazine, to emphasize that William Buckley’s control of the soul of the party was finished.………………………………….The TEA Party is the renamed John Birch Society, the looneys, the radical rightwing that worried Buckley.
Crabbyrino Premium Member about 9 years ago
Very well stated…I just hope I can recall this as the argument with my tea party neighbors continue.
hippogriff about 9 years ago
feverjr: A friend of mine was OSS behind the lines in China, a couple of provinces over from Birch. He knew him casually personally and by reputation extensively. His summation was: “He would drink anything that was bottled and [rape] anything that walked.” (This was not considered pejorative by those in that field.) “He would preach a sawdust trail sermon to a Chinese prostitute after employing her the night before.” (Considered rather hypocritical by his buddies.) My friend considered him to be a fake.
moosemin about 9 years ago
Until we, the people, can force a major, fundamental overhaul of our election system by taking donations (money) out of the process, we will not have a congress which tend to the interests of the nation as a whole. With television, the internet and other social media, and perhaps a small amount of money made available to each viable candidate from tax dollars, it can be done. Somehow, it is up to US to push it through.