Governing through Reason
Open Mic June 22
Kepler 36b, or Jerry Sandusky’s next stop?
This week, a lot happened in Jerry Sandusky’s child molestation trial. Democrats and California’s Governor Jerry Brown announced a budget deal. NASA announced a very strange planetary system. China had an under-reported triumph in space. Egyptian elections are beginning to look like Florida in 2000. Grover Norquist, who may be the de facto boss of the Republican Party, laid down the law.
But it’s your turn at the mic. What do you want to talk about?
Don’t see an article on a particular topic, but want to talk about it somewhere? This is Open Mic. Talk about whatever you want, but stay respectful.
We create a new Open Mic every week to give a clean slate, but feel free to add to this topic at any time.
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#102 written by rgbact 11 months ago
Thanks for acknowledging the conservative / Republican
desire to suppress voting. Few of your friends are honest enough to
admit that’s what Republicans are trying to do.I’ve said it before to you. I stated I feel “disenfranchised” by dumb voters, so suppressing the vote of people that say can’t identify the US on a map is fine by me.
“Being liberal generally means taking into account the possibility that you are totally wrong, ”
Max missed that day in Liberalism class
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I’ll support the will of the people.
The will of the “people” down South may still be in favor of slavery/segregation aside, as always, America gets the govt. it deserves.
And re: education er lack thereof ie MS/AL/AR/LA/OK/SC/TX/NE/WV/ID etc. as “they” always rank around the bottom in state education. Interesting these states are now solidly conservative. Go figure! And they are usually in the top ten as regards to obesity also … Congrats!
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#104 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“Education does, after all, have its failures (I’m thinking of MR, for example).…“
LOL, such a sad, small little man.…..can’t keep your sensitivities and insecurities corralled so you’ve gotta project your own shortcomings onto others, eh? Just keep lashing out if it makes you feel better. I’m glad I can be somewhat therapeutic for your miserable existence.
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I’ve said it before to you. I stated I feel “disenfranchised” by dumb voters, so suppressing the vote of people that say can’t identify the US on a map is fine by me.
I don’t think “disenfranchised” means what you think it means.
In any case, it’s a shame you don’t think people have rights under our Constitution. But, fortunately for you, we protect even the rights of people who want to take rights away from others.
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#106 written by DrFunguy 11 months ago
SC
And you are incorrect about them all being clonal. Many are, it’s true, but there are quite a few heirloom varieties.
Actually, heirloom apple varieties are clonal; they are perpetuated by grafting tissue (scion wood) from the source on to a rootstock (usually also clonal vegetative propagation by stooling). I don’t care for delicious either but that is a matter of taste preference not because they are produced by vegetative instead of sexual reproduction. GMO’s result from a fundamentally different strategy of human selected DNA from another organism being added to the genome of the target species. -
#107 written by Max 11 months ago
rgbact,
Being liberal generally means taking into account the possibility that you are totally wrong, ”
Max missed that day in Liberalism class
“At the same time, I do NOT hold that I am gnostic in all things. If you can trump my data with better, or more current information, then I can change a position without hesitation. But it’s got to be good stuff, not bullshit. And if our facts seem to be pretty equal, or allow for diverse viewpoints, we can agree to disagree.”
The fact that you don’t seem to be able to make a rational argument, perhaps not even to read and comprehend anything that you do not already believe, notwithstanding.
But, I can always hope you turn around! Another “liberal” concept.
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#108 written by shortchain 11 months ago
DrFunGuy,
I don’t regard grafting as clonal. There’s no manipulation of the genetic material. In the case of plants, the dividing line gets kind of blurry, as many propagate themselves by cuttings, but this is almost never done with annual crops.
And I’d say that, although it could be done, I think cloning (propagation by cuttings, etc) would create more problems than benefits (such as enhanced THC production). -
#109 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“And re: education er lack thereof ie MS/AL/AR/LA/OK/SC/TX/NE/WV/ID etc. as “they” always rank around the bottom in state education. Interesting these states are now solidly conservative. Go figure! And they are usually in the top ten as regards to obesity also … Congrats!“
Guess you missed the day in school where “ecological fallacy” was discussed.
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shortchain,
The dig at Mule was really unnecessary in the context.Mule,
Guess you missed the day in school where “ecological fallacy” was discussed.
While it’s possible that the correlation between state education stats and position on the political spectrum is merely an ecological fallacy, Occam’s Razor points in the direction of causality, doesn’t it?
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#111 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“The dig at Mule was really unnecessary in the context.“
Thanks, though, admittedly, given some of the nasty things I’ve said to both shortchain and AW over time, I can kinda see why they seem so staunchly opposed to chummy, light-hearted banter with me, even if the situation appears conducive to that kind of exchange. Was hoping to get to a point of some kind of reconciliation, but that may no longer be possible. We may just have to move forward and act as if the other one doesn’t exist. That’s a healthier direction to go than constantly resort to biting sarcasm/condescension.
“ Occam’s Razor points in the direction of causality, doesn’t it?“
Given such stark differences in demographics and socioeconomic conditions (income/wealth) from one state to another, I’d be very hesitant to draw many conclusions about ideology and state-level education statistics. Not to scapegoat the black community, but they make up a fairly large share of the population in most of the states that were listed. It’s well-known that blacks lag consistently behind other demographics in educational performance, and it’s also well-known that blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic. You really need to have a deeper understanding of which kids, exactly, are bringing down the average and which ones are excelling. It’s reckless, at best, to just say, “Well, Mississippi is consistently a red state and consistently ranks near the bottom in education. Looks like there’s a connection between conservatism and dumbassedness.” -
#112 written by shortchain 11 months ago
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% of African/American population:
AL ~ 26%
MS ~ 37%
LA ~ 32%
SC ~ 28%
AR ~ 15%
TX ~ 11%
OK ~ 8%
NE ~ 4.5%
WV ~ 3.5%
ID ~ 1%States w/conservative governors/legislatures currently making it harder for African/American, minorities, low income, etc. to vote, notwithstanding.
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Haley Barbour, former gov of MS which is at the bottom in nearly every statistical category as regards to standard of living, considering a run for the Rep presidential nomination was somewhat amusing.
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hmm, just goes to show what a great politician Bill Clinton was/is … and how truly out of touch George Herbert Walker Bush was in 1992, much like mittens.
I digress.
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Interesting tidbit:
“Social Security is the nation’s largest welfare program, although many Whites prefer to call it a retirement plan. The government writes retirement and disability benefit checks to 35.4 million recipients of whom 88.7 percent are White and 9.6 percent are Black. The reason behind this shocking disparity is perhaps the most lamentable of all: The life expectancy rate for Blacks is six years shorter than that of Whites, meaning Black workers spend years paying into a retirement system only to have White retirees reap the benefits for a longer time.
Welfare critics rarely search the Social Security rolls for “welfare cheats,” but train their sights on people getting Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Medicaid and food stamps, the relief programs with the most Black clients. Yet government figures show that Whites not Blacks make up the bulk of clients on these public aid programs; a fact that dispels the notion that Blacks are scheming for a free lunch courtesy of the American taxpayer.
Among the poorest of the poor–single mothers, living below the poverty line with minor children to support 39.7 percent of AFDC clients are Black single mothers and 38.1 percent are White women with children. Food stamp recipients are 37.2 percent Black and 46.2 percent White. Medicaid benefits are paid to 27.5 percent Black recipients compared to 48.5 percent White clients.”
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Mule,
It’s reckless, at best, to just say, “Well, Mississippi is consistently a red state and consistently ranks near the bottom in education.
Sure, but there are 49 other states to look at, plus the District of Columbia. More than enough to be able to tease apart the racial contribution from the political.
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Mule,
It’s well-known that blacks lag consistently behind other demographics in educational performance
I’d also dispute this assertion. There’s some truth to it, to be sure, but it’s a gross oversimplification. Remember that I lived and worked in Mississippi from 1989 to 2005 so I have some experience in this matter (as I know you do, since you are from neighboring states). -
Another tidbit: er answer to a Yahoo question.
“The countless whites who whimper about blacks on welfare as if it’s a black-only program when 1.) there are plenty of whites on welfare and whites have always been welfare recipients in the U.S.; 2.) for the majority of its existence, welfare has been a white-only program. Hate to burst bubbles but welfare was created for solely whites. News flash: blacks were denied all their rights 35 years ago and prior. One of those rights was access to welfare. It was only by the end of a grisly African American Civil Rights Movement did poverty-stricken African Americans finally become eligible for welfare along with whites. Thanks to African Americans fighting for the equal rights of all minorities, all poverty-stricken racial groups became eligible for welfare. [source: http://academic.udayton.edu/race/04needs… ]; 3.) even if welfare were a black-only program, whites would STILL be unjustified to whimper about it. If that were the case, it ought to be regarded as a small reparation for the 5 century long era of anti-black atrocities that ended 35 years ago. It’s as a result of that era that so many African Americans are impoverished. The entire African American community had to start out at the bare bottom and work their way up from scratch. In addition, it ought to be regarded as a small measure taken in respect to white privilege. (What are whites even doing on welfare considering white privilege and the fact that they weren’t enslaved from the 1500s to 1865, legally discriminated against from 1865 through the 1970s, then separated from society’s wealth in white flight)? News flash: today’s elderly blacks were treated like garbage and denied all their rights 35 years ago (that includes most jobs; all decent jobs; all decent salaries); consequently leaving today’s middle-aged blacks to start out impoverished, much like most of today’s younger black generation. Besides that, blacks have been doing the dirty work of whites for the vast majority of their time spent in the U.S., while receiving nothing but racial abuse from whites in return. 3.) middle-class African Americans like myself pay taxes and aren’t entitled to welfare even after wrestling our way out of poverty-stricken lifestyles whites have placed us in and we’re not whimpering about paying taxes everywhere you turn around like the white community is 4.) despite the fact that middle-class African Americans pay taxes, they receive no credit for paying taxes as the majority of whites whimper about it as if they’re the only people who pay taxes and aiding all blacks and only blacks — Much like affirmative action, welfare is in no way reparation for the black race like whites treat it as. Hell, it’s not even treated as reparation by whites, but worse: preferential treatment that solely blacks get over all races. The white race hasn’t done squat to make up for the era of anti-black atrocities. The only thing they’ve done is whimper AS IF they’ve done far more than enough. In addition to working for the white race with repayment of mistreatment, impoverishment, and zero reparations, blacks additionally have to deal with baseless welfare whimpering from whites.”
Emphasis mine …
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#117 written by rgbact 11 months ago
Another tidbit: er answer to a Yahoo question.
Hmmm, copy/pasting someone else’s blog post to make your own blog post. Don’t think I’ve seen that before. Keep us posted on the hot Yahoo forums, my friend. Maybe it’ll be my new spot for high level political discourse. Who knew.
Btw, Detroit schools have lowest graduation rate of 50 large districts in 2007. per Education Week. Must be the new GOP guv’s fault. Blacks are 40% more likely to be obese as whites in 2010, per HHS. And that includes the NBA. Must be the white CEO of Dunkin Donuts fault.
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rgbact, your continued irrelevant deflection jibberish aside, good to see you’re still payin’ attention.
Also good to see you’ve stopped your laughable defense of logarchism’s problem child, your buddy shilohbuster.
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Indeed, political blogging is mostly peeps repeating themselves or what others have said elsewhere ie nothing new under the sun. But let the record show rgbact did not disagree w/anything in post #113/#116.
And nobody disagreed w/anything I’ve said recently re: shilohbuster. Hey, It’s all true …
Again, repetition of the obvious!
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Supreme Court reverses the Montana campaign finance ruling with a summary judgment.
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Monotreme:
Wow. I see SCOTUS has basically held that Citizens United applies to state and local laws as well. States may not limit political advertising by corporations. In fact, the five conservative Justice refused even to hear arguments in the case.
State’s Rights advocates should be screaming bloody murder. But they won’t.
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#121 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“More than enough to be able to tease apart the racial contribution from the political.”
As I alluded to above, even after your control for the racial component, you would need to control for socioeconomic status as well. I’m sure black folk in Maryland perform much better than black folk in Alabama in terms of education, much of it owning to their wealth/income. Just as I’m sure white folk in Connecticut tend to out-perform white folk in New Mexico for much the same reason. It’s a little more complex than just, “These states tend to vote Republican; these states also tend to lag behind the others in educational achievement. Ergo, there’s an inherent connection between conservatism and substandard education.”
“.…but it’s a gross oversimplification.…”
Agreed. But as I said to Michael above, what shiloh did was also an over-simplification, and that’s what forms the basis of the fallacy. Yes, it’s not as simple as dismissing the substandard economic achievement because of the higher minority/poverty component, but it’s also not as simple as dismissing conservatism as anti-education because red states tend to rank low.
“.….Yet government figures show that Whites not Blacks make up the bulk of clients on these public aid programs; a fact that dispels the notion that Blacks are scheming for a free lunch courtesy of the American taxpayer.
Among the poorest of the poor–single mothers, living below the poverty line with minor children to support 39.7 percent of AFDC clients are Black single mothers and 38.1 percent are White women with children. Food stamp recipients are 37.2 percent Black and 46.2 percent White. Medicaid benefits are paid to 27.5 percent Black recipients compared to 48.5 percent White clients.”
The disparity in Social Security is a legitimate concern, I’ll give you that. But the rest of that stuff is just anti-white rambling with poor statistical interpretation (“bad math” to the lay person).Also, I’m always a little skeptical of people who unleash screeds where they assert the other side is assuming this — “that Blacks are scheming for a free lunch courtesy of the American taxpayer — or they play the “white privilege” card over and over. Veru few people actually believe blacks are just “scheming for a free lunch” but recognize there’s a real problem with poverty in the black community and, in many cases, it isn’t improving. And all the “white privilege” crap is just an empty talking point that applies to only a small portion of the white population and is wholly ignorant of this country’s history which shows there’s been very little “privilege” for the vast majority of white people. If you can’t understand where there are still improverished white people, than I’m sorry, you don’t have much credibility to be taken seriously when you go on a lengthy diatribe about racial disparities. Such glowing ignorance overshadows any good points that may be in there somewhere.
Back to the point above about “bad math,” are these guys seriously trying to scapegoat whites as the bulk of the problem when they say things like — “Food stamp recipients are 37.2 percent Black and 46.2 percent White. Medicaid benefits are paid to 27.5 percent Black recipients compared to 48.5 percent White clients.” Do they not understand that when whites account for nearly two-thirds of the population and blacks account for roughly 12%-13%, that means that blacks are “over-represented” on the rolls of these social programs and whites are “under-represented”? Again, not saying they’re “scheming for a free lunch,” but it’s obvious that poverty is more of an issue in the minority community, not the whtie community.
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#122 written by rgbact 11 months ago
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We had a discussion a few days ago about the “Fast and Furious” gunwalking program. As we learn more, it’s clear that Darell Issa is not questioning the legality of the program itself, nor is he claiming that anything improper was done in the execution of the program. So concerns that the Obama Administration had not been sufficiently concerned with safety were never at issue.
What Issa is complaining about is that the Justice Department was asked about the program and denied its existence. Months later, DOJ admitted the program existed, and supplied Congress with information about it (they’ve now supplied nearly 100,000 documents, so charges that they’re “stonewalling” seem absurd). Issa is alleging there was an attempt to “cover up” the program in the intervening months. That’s what his “investigation” is about.
Issa also admitted on talk shows over the weekend that he has no evidence whatever that there was any attempt to “cover up” the program. He’s trying to find such evidence, by fishing for it in internal Administration communications, of the kind that presidential Administrations never share with Congress.
He also admitted that Congress has had evidence all along that the gunwalking program was done by some rogue ATF agents, acting on their own, who didn’t inform DOJ of what they were doing. So when DOJ initially denied the existence of the program, it was because they didn’t know about it. And Issa has known this all along.
The “coverup” is being committed by Issa, who is engaging in a politically-motivated investigation that he knows is false and baseless, and he has known it is false and baseless since he started it. He’s been trying to hide the fact that he has known all along that “Fast and Furious” was committed by rogue ATF agents without any involvement from the Obama Administration.
But Issa said, when he took over the House Oversight Committee early in 2011, that he was going to engage in constant investigations of the Obama Administration. This is the best he could come up with.
And that’s how Republicans roll.
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#124 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“Social Security is the nation’s largest welfare program, although many Whites prefer to call it a retirement plan. The government writes retirement and disability benefit checks to 35.4 million recipients of whom 88.7 percent are White and 9.6 percent are Black. The reason behind this shocking disparity is perhaps the most lamentable of all: The life expectancy rate for Blacks is six years shorter than that of Whites, meaning Black workers spend years paying into a retirement system only to have White retirees reap the benefits for a longer time.”
I said above that I think there’s a legitimate concern here, and to a degree I still do, but after reading this further, there’s so much bad analysis (of the program) here that I’m not sure where to begin. I can summarzie, though, by saying the problem isn’t “whites reaping the benefits from what blacks have paid in” but that there is such a disparity in life expectancy. Also, there isn’t much detail of how much whites have funded the program versus blacks. That’s an interesting — and glaring — omission.
But if this person has such a problem with the program and really thinks whites are reaping the benefits from what blacks have paid in, they should be in favor of privatizing the program, correct? I mean, if people fund their own retirement/social insurance program for old age and can only draw off of what they’ve put in, what they described as a problem couldn’t happen, right? Something tells me they wouldn’t go fur that.…just a hunch.
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#125 written by rgbact 11 months ago
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Speaking of pundits w/a keen grasp of the obvious …
The SC AZ immigration decision is the worst possible outcome for mittens ie he said the AZ law was the model of what a state immigration law should be and the conservative activist court struck down (3) provisions, but upheld the papers please provision which really, really pisses off Hispanics ie AZ is totally in play for Obama
this November.Oh yea, there are “many” Hispanics in NV, CO, VA and FL also. And they are the fastest growing ethnic group in NC …
Bingo.
Again, rgbact totally agreeing w/shilohbuster lol.
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#127 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
Funny that the author acknowledgest this —
Although the numbers show that Whites get the biggest chunk of public aid dollars, welfare critics still charge that Blacks shouldn’t collect 33 percent of welfare benefits when they only make up 12 percent of the general population. They say the imbalance proves their case that Blacks are too busy complaining and blaming racism for their plight to look for a job.
- but makes no attempt at explaining or elaborating the over-representation of blacks on the rolls of social welfare programs.That’s about as piss-poor of a statistical analysis as I’ve ever seen.
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shilohbuster, the author also correctly argues:
What are whites even doing on welfare considering white privilege and the fact that they weren’t enslaved from the 1500s to 1865, legally discriminated against from 1865 through the 1970s, then separated from society’s wealth in white flight)? News flash: today’s elderly blacks were treated like garbage and denied all their rights 35 years ago (that includes most jobs; all decent jobs; all decent salaries); consequently leaving today’s middle-aged blacks to start out impoverished, much like most of today’s younger black generation.
take care
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#130 written by rgbact 11 months ago
What are whites even doing on welfare considering white
privilege and the fact that they weren’t enslaved from the 1500s to
1865,
Not sure if the guy realizes–some people’s families haven’t been here since 1865. My ancestors from the Soviet Union didn’t have a party growing up. FWIW, everyone was denied rights equally. -
rgbact:
I don’t believe freedom of speech can be decided state by state. FWIW,
Neither do I. But I have heard some Tenther extremists insist that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to states — that is, states can, they say, establish religion or restrict the right to assemble, or even the right of free speech or of the press — because, after all, the First simply says Congress shall make no law… It doesn’t say a word about preventing the states from making such laws.
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SCOTUS is busy today — In another 5-to-4 decision, it is unconstitutional to send juveniles to prison with no possibility of parole, even for the crime of murder.
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A fascinating (and mercifully brief) article on the current state of the current Court. Well worth a read.
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rgbact,
My ancestors from the Soviet Union didn’t have a party growing up. FWIW, everyone was denied rights equally.
I’m afraid you are mistaken on that front. I presume you’re aware that Animal Farm was written about the Soviet Union? It wasn’t an accident that Orwell had the farm’s equality statement evolve to “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
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#137 written by rgbact 11 months ago
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No rgbact, your personal anecdote aside, MW totally understood your post.
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being atrocities in many places besides the US.
Then your post is/was an irrelevant deflection as “this” discussion is only about America.
btw rgbact, continuing your deflection meme, what was the African/American population % in Russia/Soviet Union in 1865 and what is it currently?
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#139 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“What are whites even doing on welfare considering white privilege and the fact that they weren’t enslaved from the 1500s to 1865,”
No, whites weren’t enslaved as a whole, but many whites during that time period were endentured servants, which is de facto slavery, and the vast majority of whites during that time period suffered through economic conditions that were only a small step up from slavery.
“legally discriminated against from 1865 through the 1970s,”
Yes, this was a terrible time period, but it ignores a) the many forms of legal discrimination against whites NOW to make up for that and b) it was, get this, THE GOVERNMENT that protected those forms of discrimination, the same government that liberals have conned generations of blacks to vociferously defend.
“.…then separated from society’s wealth in white flight)?”
LOL, now you know they’re desperate with this hail mary pass that’s devoid of content. If anything, this makes the other side’s point. White people of means, deciding to live where they want (a form of legal segregation, if you will), moved to neighborhoods and towns they were more comfortable with, and blacks that remained in the city struggled to pay the bills on their own when the tax base diminished.
This person rants and raves about blacks working their way up from scratch but then openly admits that, when left to themselves, the black community couldn’t take care of business. That’s too funny.
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#140 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
“Bingo.”
rgback,
So when do you expect to see an article or a big campaign about blacks voting against their own self-interest?
I think the hypocrisy on the left has hit a new high (or is it low?). Rip (white) conservatives to shreds for supposedly trying to dismantle social programs, or at least restructure them to where individual reward is contingent more upon individual contribution. Then rip (white) conservatives to shreds for reaping all the benefits of these social programs at the expense of black people. This the probably the biggest howler I’ve seen in quite some time.
Epic. Logic. Fail.
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THE GOVERNMENT that protected those forms of discrimination, the
same government that liberals have conned generations of blacks
to vociferously defend.Indeed yes. “The government” responded to changing and evolving opinions of The People, which is exactly what a democratic government is supposed to do. Is there some other meaning to the first three words of the Constitution?
Did some other institution enforce the end of slavery? Is there some other institution with the power and resources to protect minority rights? What are the alternatives?
We’ve seen what happened before We the People decided to make laws to protect minority rights.
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… restructure them to where individual reward is contingent more upon individual contribution.
The problem with that idea is that these programs (food stamps, AFDC, evn Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid) were never intended to “reward” anyone for anything, and most particularly they were not designed to give rewards to the people who could afford to make the biggest contributions. Exact opposite, really.
They were intended to help (not “reward”) the people who most needed help, which usually means the people who can least afford to make large contributions. The people with lots of excess cash, it’s assumed, can take care of themselves, and don’t need additional “rewards” for being so rich.
What privatizing does is defeat the purpose of a social program. It ensures that only those who can easily afford something — medicare care, retirement, food — can get it.
Now, maybe that’s a Good Thing, and we can certainly discuss whether there really are people who merit our mercy and assistance. I do recall one philosopher saying something about giving to “the least of our brothers,” but that was a long time ago, and perhaps humanity has moved past the need to do that. It is a legitimate topic of discussion. My point here is simply that privatization does, and is intended to do, something very different from what are the purposes of the existing programs.
It is, therefore, also legitimate to point out that privatization proposals are intended to dismantle and re-purpose what we have now. Privatizing Social Security or Medicare, for example, would effectively end those programs, and return us to where we were before they were created. Maybe that’s the right thing to do, maybe not. But we should be honest enough to admit it, so we can discuss the merits of doing so.
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#144 written by Mule Rider 11 months ago
DC,
Fair enough point in comment #141. I didn’t mean to insinuate that only “government” was to blame for slavery, just that government can and does get it wrong sometimes, and it shouldn’t be treated as a cure-all that we can lean on as it seems some are being taught.
Regarding comment #142, thanks, and I apologize if it appeared I was lumping “all liberals” together on the issue. I realize what shiloh shared is more of an extreme/fringe opinion.…
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#145 written by rgbact 11 months ago
So when do you expect to see an article or a big campaign about blacks voting against their own self-interest?
Not sure about that but I would definitely use it as a selling point for private accounts.…basically saying rich whitey doesn’t bother to save since he knows he gets to spend all the money not going to the black dude since he died early.
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… just that government can and does get it wrong sometimes …
Oh, I agree with you there. (Citizens United and Scott Walker are examples I’d give of things government gets wrong. I bet you can furnish plenty of your own examples!)
I don’t think government is infallible. I do think it is potentially a necessary counterweight to other powerful interests (such as big corporations). I also think that our form of government, while far from perfect, is by design and intent something that acts in accord with the will of the people (which is precisely why it often makes mistakes), and that’s more than can be said for, say, corporate interests.
So no, government is not perfect. But it’s the best we’ve got.
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1st president to support woman’s suffrage ~ Woodrow Wilson 1918
Truman integrates the military in 1948 w/an executive order against overwhelming opposition from said military.
LBJ passes voting rights legislation and civil rights legislation protecting minorities.
Obama, a benefactor of LBJ’s legislation, is the 1st president to support gay marriage.
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Indeed, as has been discussed ad nauseam, LBJ signing civil rights legislation knew, being astute politically, that said civil rights legislation would give the South over to Reps for several generations up to present day as “they” are still fighting the Civil War down there …
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And of course currently, Reps are in the process of making it harder to vote ie disenfranchising African/Americans, minorities, etc. who are mainly a liberal/Dem voting block.
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Yea, just listen again to the Rep 2012 debates ie booing a gay soldier serving his country in Iraq, booing a birth control question, cheering executions, booing when Gov. Perry says he is trying to help young “illegal” Hispanics who are seeking college degrees, etc.
The yin and yang of liberals and conservatives re: basic human rights!
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Lawrence O’Donnell once again corrects the “media” re: the SC immigration decision. Summing up, a 100% victory for Obama and a 100% defeat for Reps/conservatives/Brewer.
Indeed, America’s sweetheart, Jan Brewer is clueless re: her own law.
ok, ok, in defense of America’s sweetheart
even Harry Reid didn’t understand the SC decision. -
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Which, in spite of the mouthings of many on the right concerning freedon and liberty and “We the People”, fails to meet their political agenda so they are perfectly willing to ignore their own “beliefs”. The fact is that the government we have is the government the people have consistently voted IN FAVOR OF!
And the right, and many on the left, just can’t STAND it!