Showing posts with label Progressive Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Progressive Politics. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

This is what Progressives are all about



Barack Obama did a great job in the White House, considering he had the entire Republican Congress against him led by the scourge of the Senate, Moscow Mitch McConnell. Among his major accomplishments: The Affordable Care Act; doubled Pell grants; signed the Paris climate accords; negotiated a decent nuclear deal with Iran. On the other hand, Democrats have regularly maintained...
"right-wing policies with a friendlier face were the only way Democrats could win or maintain power, and prevent another Reagan-like figure from seizing control of the country."

In my mind, that is centrism at its worst. Salon sums up the last four years...

"Over the past few weeks, the Republican Party has proven itself hostile to freedom and democracy; its merciful incompetence the only thing saving whatever remains of our republic from the fascist insurrection of a con man. The absurdity of the cast members — from Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell to their incoherent Michigan "witness" and of course Donald Trump himself — have made the entire fiasco seem more like a satirical film than political reality."

Now that's what we should have been fighting during the Donald Trump nightmare, not creating animosity among ourselves, denying a large faction of liberals an equal input, which could have well won bigger numbers last November. With Progressives branded as Socialists, and many Americans afraid of this political philosophy, the leftist movement has not had its chance. But it will, and it very well could be during Joe Biden's administration. 

This is what The Nation has to say...

"Too many congressional Democrats are making a potentially fatal political miscalculation about the reason the party lost several seats in this year’s elections. And those incorrect interpretations of why Democrats lost at least 12 seats could lead to grievous missteps that will imperil their majority in 2022."

According to Data for Progress, although the overall positive attitude toward Socialism is less than half that of negative approval, those neutral are almost equal to the negative. There are several more interesting data in this article that seem to illustrate that the U.S. public is warming up to Socialism. And I want to emphasize that this is Democratic Socialism that supports change through legislation, not Socialist change through revolution which advocates violence.

Some defeated centrists claim that their association with Progressives, or any of their causes like Black Lives Matter, "damaged their contests this year." Not so says The Nation...

"The truth behind the unexpected losses, however, is exactly the opposite of what those members believe."

And the real reason is that...

"It was their failure to inspire progressive and Democratic voters to the same extent that Donald Trump galvanized his supporters to turn out in extraordinarily large numbers to defend him and his race-baiting presidency."

Progressives will not give up and the sooner Democrats learn this, the better off the Party will be.  


Friday, March 25, 2016

Is Elizabeth Warren "Cheering Bernie On ' just short of endorsement?



Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders 
Elizabeth Warren today said about Bernie Sanders, “He’s out there. He fights from the heart.” Then followed with, “This is who Bernie is, and he has put the right issues on the table for the Democratic Party and for the country in general. So I’m still cheering Bernie on.” And she is so right. You cannot find another candidate in the last century who has campaigned with the level of passion for his cause, and with an honesty in his presentation than Bernie Sanders.

In the past Warren has said, "Bernie's out talking about the issues that the American people want to hear about." And back in January a Fortune magazine headline blazed, "Elizabeth Warren Makes Bernie Sanders' Case Better Than He Does." Warren and Sanders make the same case for a Progressive way to improve the country we live in, although Bernie goes a bit further in his health care plan. The pair would make an unbeatable combination in the general election.

And if Elizabeth Warren did endorse Bernie Sanders, it would not guarantee a primary win but it would certainly beef up Bernie's support and most likely send his momentum skyrocketing. That may have already started with a new Bloomberg national poll out on March 24, showing Bernie Sanders at 49%, Hillary Clinton 48%. The Bern can compound on that with Washington state, Hawaii and Alaska caucuses coming up tomorrow. So get out and vote!

In 2009 ThinkProgress did a survey and found that 47% of Americans were Progressive/Liberal, 48% Conservative/Libertarian. Since then the U.S. has slowly but surely moved toward a more Progressive political philosophy which hasn't been evident due to the loud mouth Republicans and the Tea Party. Their thinking is if you scream the loudest, you must be the best. Donald Trump is now the epitome of this belief.

It's hard to say what Elizabeth Warren will do but today's kind of "almost" endorsement will go a long way.  

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

LIBERALS NEED TO WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING-3



Alterman asks, "Why do such smart guys say such stupid things?" He traces the answer back to the source of power in this country. The Koch Bros. who plan to spend $900 million on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who gave $150 million to the GOP in 2012. Rupert Murdoch with his networks and newspapers spreads malicious rumors like Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and undocumented alien who hates white people. Eric Alterman says in his The Nation article that conservatives don't even bother to offer ideas rather, "...they’re making calculated attempts to undermine our democracy, exploiting and manipulating a public that has decreasing resources for the kind of reliable information that would lead to a pragmatic 'liberal' response."

If this doesn't piss you Progressives off, nothing will, and if not we will go through 2016 just like past elections skipping the vote. 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says the NRA is insane… many of us agree


As have many other celebrities done, now Paul Krugman, from the field of economics, has pronounced his feelings about the leading U.S. gun lobby, the National Rifle Assn. (NRA).  They are an “insane organization,” he laments, in a situation where the pro-gun rights groups have suddenly been placed on the defensive.  Krugman didn’t say it but I will.  Wacky Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, is the craziest of them all with its President, David Keene, not far behind. 

 

Unfortunately these two gun fanatics are surrounded by a minority of the NRA membership that worships their weapons over human life.  This is no doubt what Krugman refers to when he says, “the craziness of the extreme pro-gun lobby has been revealed, and that has got to move the [gun control] debate and got to move the legislation at least to some degree.”   More alarming is the fact that he thinks the NRA “is pushing the country towards dystopia.”

 

See video where Paul Krugman calls NRA "insane:"

“What strikes me is we've actually gotten a glimpse into the mindset, though, of the pro-gun people…It's bizarre,” Krugman said, adding that the NRA believes “America cannot manage unless everybody's prepared to shoot intruders and that the idea that we have police forces that provide public safety is somehow totally impractical…”  The man is echoing the sentiments of most gun control advocates who see the NRA for what it is, a self-serving group protecting the profits of themselves and gun manufacturers.

 

Krugman is a liberal, ranked high in the field of economics and is rated as one of the most influential academic thinkers in the U.S.  That places the man way above the limited aptitude of a LaPierre or Keene, particularly their gun nut membership.  So it is no doubt that Krugman’s predictions would not impress them; that is considering they can even understand his logic.  In his book, “The Conscience of a Liberal,” Krugman proposes a “new New Deal” for America.  He takes American conservatism to task.

 

The gun rights movement and LaPierre’s combined interests of protecting his million-dollar salary and gun manufacturers’ billion-dollar profits is rooted in this brand of conservatism that, among other things, used fear to win elections.  Along the same lines, the NRA has constantly instilled fear in its membership to prime them to run out and buy more guns.  This keeps the gun companies happy and lets LaPierre maintain his lavish lifestyle.  This alone should wake up these clueless NRA members.

 

But Krugman is optimistic.  He feels the demographic trends, emphasizing race and culture and the conservative “overreach” of the Bush years, has created “a new center-left political environment and are slowly undermining the conservative movement.”  He wants to concentrate on social and medical programs, playing down national defense.  And Krugman confirms the rise of progressives in a political atmosphere where the term “liberal” was turned into a dirty word by conservatives.

 
Many will not agree, but I personally believe that the NRA, particularly Wayne LaPierre’s “absolutist” type, will soon lose its clout over Congress through those new progressives mentioned earlier going to the polls in 2014 and voting the bums out of office.  It’s hard to say if there will be a central character that breaks the backbone of the gun lobby, or if it will be the combined efforts of the staunch gun control groups.  The fact is that the momentum is on and we must take advantage of it.  Paul Krugman did his part.

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