The Onion: U.S. Senator Tom Carper- ‘My Vote is Not For Sale At These Prices’

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source: The Onion

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

Note: these views don’t necessarily reflect the views of Senator Tom Carper, even if he personally wrote this piece for The Onion himself or had a staff writer write it for him. Who knows, perhaps a paid lobbyist wrote this piece for Senator Carper. Which unfortunately wouldn’t be surprising for Congress.

“When I was first elected to represent the people of Delaware, I made a vow to hold myself to a higher standard. The voters had placed their trust in me, and I knew if I broke that sacred covenant, I’d never forgive myself. Which is why, 35 years later, when someone tries to sway my position on an issue by offering me a small favor or modest campaign contribution, I’m not afraid to put my foot down and clearly state that no, my vote is not for sale at a price that low.”

Source: The Onion: U.S. Senator Tom Carper- ‘My Vote Is Not For Sale At These Prices’

So I guess it’s okay for members of Congress who are being bought, if they’re getting their money’s worth. I mean what decent politician in his or her right mind would allow himself or herself to be bought off for a few hundred buck per vote. I mean if you’re going to be bought off by the oil and gas industry or by teacher unions, you might as well get your money’s worth.

This is how Congress is perceived in America. Why 1-2 American voters bother to take 30-60 minutes away from their daily and iPhone and reality TV viewing to go down to their neighborhood school and bother to actually stand in line or just walk up to the nearest voting machine after they’re checked in to bother to vote. Or why Congress on a good year has an approval rating about 20%, but generally make accident attorney’s and traveling salesman look popular in comparison.

Because the word politician is seen as an insult. Not just as an insult but a four letter insult. American politicians are viewed by average Americans like professional athletes who go from team to team during their careers simply looking to earn the most money possible. And in the politician’s case to get the most money for their campaigns and to win reelection as easily as possible. Because at the end of the day what are politicians actually in office to do?

Only two possible things. Either to get reelected or to win a higher office. Perhaps win a leadership position in Congress. If you guessed politicians serve in office to serve their constituents, well I won’t burst out laughing at you and ask you what you’re smoking or drinking, because you would actually be 1-4 right. They’re there to serve the people who financially backed their campaigns. Who without they would’ve struggled to raise enough money to buy a neighborhood lemonade stand by themselves.

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Washington Watch: BookTV Afterwords- Carlos Lozada Interviewing David Frum: Trumpocracy & The State of Western Democracy

Posted on March 4, 2018 by FredSchneiderUS

Source:The New Democrat

Maybe Trumpocracy is another way of talking about the new highly rated Washington reality TV show known as The White House, with Donald Trump. I say highly rated and not highly successful, because it’s not successful at least as far as far as how the American people think of it. Anytime 3-5 voters don’t like the politician that is supposed to represent them whatever the office is, that politician is not doing well. 3-5 Americans don’t like the job that President Trump is doing, don’t like him personally, and don’t trust him. He’s in Richard Nixon territory as far as how unpopular he is with the American people. But his new show and perhaps Amateur Night at The White House, would be a better name for President Trump’s latest reality TV show, is highly rated.

You can’t just look at Donald Trump by only looking at one aspect of him. You have to look at the narcissistic selfish gigantic sized personality. You have to look at his governing style, which he doesn’t seem to have at least from the outside looking in. You have to look at his policies. You have to look at his supporters which at this point are only little more than a third of the electorate, but were enough to at least get him the Republican nomination for President. And then you have to look to his appeasement of those voters. The salesmanship to be kind, the con game would be more accurate in how he appeals to blue-collar fundamentalist Christian voters especially in the Republican Party, but ins some cases in the upper Midwest the Democratic Party as well.

In 2016 we saw the John Birch Society/George Wallace/Ann Coulter/Pat Buchanan right-wing populist ethno-Tribalist-Nationalist presidential candidate, but with a personality, as well as great sense of humor and even likable at times in Donald Trump. And yes, Donald Trump is a very funny man ( even intentionally ) and even likable when he’s in small spaces and groups. This is a political faction in America that has been around since World War I at least in America that views conspiracy theories as real news like Vice President Lyndon Johnson ordering the assassination of President John Kennedy. And real news as fake and establishment news. Who don’t trust institutions especially non-partisan institutions like the CIA and FBI, simply because they can’t be controlled by partisans. And operate independently even from the President.

I view Donald Trump as wannabe dictator who picked the last country in the world to try to become a dictator in the United States of America. Sort of like a village idiot who tries to rob a bank with just a leaky water gun at 12 noon on a Monday and wonders what went wrong and how come people were just laughing at him instead of giving him their money.

President Trump knows he can’t shut down the private media because we have a guaranteed free press and his administration simply wouldn’t allow for him to even try that. So he calls them fake news at least when they report negative facts about him. Which is most of the time. He says his entire intelligence community is wrong when they say that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election. He accuses people that he personally appointed as being disloyal and part of the establishment when they don’t shut down the Russia investigation and even expand it when new facts and evidence come to light about the Trump Campaign’s involvement with Russia during the 2016 election. Because he’s smart enough to know he can’t control these investigations and what Congress does by himself. So he instead attempts to make them look corrupt. He’s a wannabe dictator in the wrong country and doesn’t like accountability and limited power.

In some ways Donald Trump is the worst nightmare and horror movie coming to real life and part of that is because he’s now the President of the United States. Literally the most powerful and most important country in the world, the greatest country in the world as far as how powerful and influential in the world. But part of why we’re so strong, powerful, and great, is because of our checks and balances, our accountability. Which was designed in case someone like Donald Trump ever became President. The reason why we’ve been able to avoid nationalist populist authoritarians from coming to power in America and why countries like Russia, Poland, Venezuela, haven’t, is because of our checks and balances. And is something that Donald Trump is learning the hard way.

Washington Watch: BookTV Afterwords- Carlos Lozada Interviewing David Frum: Trumpocracy & The State of Western Democracy

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Politics & Prose: Robert Reich- ‘The Common Good’

Posted on March 2, 2018 by kireschneider

Source:The New Democrat

In this long PBS style fundraiser marathon of a speech that Robert Reich gave in Washington about his book The Common Good, I got the sense that he was talking about what’s called the social contract. This idea that Social Democrats/Democratic Socialists and some Progressives push that government is there to make sure everyone is taken care and has what they need to live well in society. And Reich is probably using the New Deal from the 1930s and the Great Society from the 1960s, as his idea of what the social contract or the common good is.

As a Liberal I’m all in favor of a public safety net for people who truly need it. And if we’re going to continue to have a public safety net for people who are uneducated and under skilled, than that safety net should be used to empower people so they can get a good enough job to become economically self-sufficient and no longer need public assistance at all. Instead of just giving low-skilled workers and non-workers money that is produced by people who work hard for a living and don’t qualify for public assistance.

I’m all if favor of requiring people to who are on Welfare to go to work and even take the first job that opens up for them that they’re qualified for. As well as giving them child care assistance so they can go to work, if they have kids. As well as education assistance so they can go back to school and further and finish their education, so again they can get themselves a good job. That programs like Medicaid and Food Assistance, to use as examples, Public Housing would be another one, would be for low-income workers, instead of non-workers.

My idea of a safety net ( which I prefer over social contract or welfare state ) is a public social insurance system. There for people who can’t survive even in the short-term without that financial assistance. But also there to help those people get on their feet economically. Similar to auto insurance, or property insurance. You don’t use those insurances to pay your bills. You use them when your car is in an accident, or your house is on fire or gets flooded.

A safety net should be for people who lose their jobs, don’t have a good education, can’t afford health insurance, don’t make enough money to feed themselves, can’t afford housing. Not for people who simply don’t want to work in America.

Politics and Prose: Robert Reich- ‘The Common Good’

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John Birch Society: John F. McManus- Understanding Donald Trump

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Rik Schneider
Attachment-1-1850

Source: Inside JBS

Source:John Birch Society

If there is one group that you think would stick with a President like Donald Trump, it would be the John Birch Society. They’ve been talking about what he ran on for President and what he’s been trying to do as President like immigration and the so-called Cultural War, since the 1940s. Pushing this bogus ( to be overly generous ) idea that we’re losing America and America no longer looks like America because of non-European especially non-British immigration in America since the 1960s. Something that both Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter, have been talking about for a very long time. Maybe even further back than that. Maybe Newsmax, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly, will be the next people who abandoned President Trump. Something to look at.

To sort of speak up for President Trump and the next time I’ll do that might be the day I win the state lottery in five different states on the same day, but to sort of defend the President I would say the man is simply out of his element and unqualified to be President. Like an auto mechanic trying to perform brain surgery, it just doesn’t look right. The man is use to no limits where he can even push the limits of the law with his business ( perhaps even break the law ) with no one holding him accountable.

The President of The United States, is the last position where you want on the job training to be performed. Trying to perform brain surgery by yourself might be the second to last place where you want on the job training performed. Donald Trump finds himself in a place now where he can’t do whatever he wants with no consequences. Where even people around him if they don’t like what he’s doing or saying, positions he’s taking, they’ll make that clear to him, or at the very least make it clear to the public and leak what they don’t like about what the President is doing. Instead of acting like they’re participating in a bootlicking, or ass kissing contest.

Don’t know the man personally ( certainly not my loss ) but I imagine Donald Trump saw himself in New York as essentially a dictator. Who could literally do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants without any consequences. And his 2016 presidential campaign sort of reenforced that where he said the most insulting, hateful, and even disgusting things and never paid a price for any of that. Where the Access Hollywood tape from 2005 comes out where he’s caught on tape about how he can physically violate women and get away with it. If anything his popularity only went up after that.

America is the last country in the world where you can be a dictator. Where you can have dictatorial authoritarian leanings as a chief executive and head of government and believe you can get away with anything. Our checks and balances and form of government simply don’t allow for that.

And even with the President’s own National Security Adviser resigning or being fired last year, with own Attorney General recusing himself from the Russia investigation because he was part of a presidential campaign that had Russian allies and even worked with Russians to help defeat Hillary Clinton, where his own Deputy Attorney General appoints a special prosecutor to investigate not just the Trump Campaign, but Donald Trump himself , where a Congress that is controlled by his own party is looking into the Russia affect on the 2016 presidential election, where his own National Security Council and intelligence community acknowledged early on that Russia not only interfered in our presidential election, but did it successfully even though President trump denies that. At some point very early on a light would’ve gone on inside the head of an intelligent reality ( not reality TV ) based man that he can’t do whatever he wants.

That The White House Office of Legal Counsel and U.S. Justice Department, are not his personal law firms, that the FBI is not his personal private detective and security agency, that the U.S. Congress doesn’t personally work for him and can’t be fired by him. But that is not the mindset and world that Donald Trump operates in. He sees himself as King and anyone who disagrees with him is not only disloyal to him, but America as well and should lose their job if not be in jail as well. As much as Donald Trump might want to be the Vladimir Putin dictator of the West, our form of government and system simply prevents that from happening.

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The Atlantic: McKay Coppins- Is Trumpism The New Conservatism?

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Ederik Schneider
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Source: The Atlantic

Source:The New Democrat

To answer McKay Coppins question: no, Trumpism is not the new conservatism. And why do I say that? Well, because it’s true and if you want more of an explanation than that, I don’t blame you.

What is Trumpism? Trumpism by itself is not a political ideology. It’s really whatever reality TV addict Donald Trump says and makes it at any given time. The man does have nationalist-authoritarian leanings as President and in that sense is a strong cultural warrior. At least officially and when he’s talking to his supporters. But put him back in the real world where little things like facts matter, and arresting and locking up your political opponents, comes off as extreme even from your own fellow Republicans, where Latinos and Muslims, aren’t seen as invaders, women aren’t seen as property, ( and I’m thinking of Judge Roy Moore ) get Trump away from his political and cultural cult and in touch with real thinking people where again facts and reality matter and the man can actually come off as reasonable and even intelligent.

Return Donald Trump back down to Planet Earth and America where most Americans live, Big Don comes off as more reasonable. He can even come as a an intelligent thinking human being who doesn’t have a Breitbart/John Birch Society/Alex Jones worldview that is only shared by people who left Planet Earth for a better life on another planet that hasn’t been discovered yet. Talk about space cases, some Trump voters look like poster children for space cases.

On the other hand, Donald Trump’s supporters simply see things that aren’t there and that no intelligent person could possibly view as being reality. And yet they believe and say those things anyway. Like Barack Obama being an African-Muslim Socialist from Kenya, who is an illegal alien. And unfortunately that is just one example of how Trump voters are so far out of space from reality, it’s as if Charlie Manson’s Manson Family cult came back to life and they were part of that and managed to get some of the extra LSD that was left behind after the Manson Family soldiers were all arrested. Some Trump voters at least come off ass hardcore cult members, who’ve mentally left Planet Earth and have invested so much in there dear leader that everything the man says they treat as gold no matter what the man says.

Trumpism itself is not much more than a one-,man reality show who says whatever comes to his mind and at any given second. A lot of what he says is what the last person he spoke to told him to say or what Far-Right media like Breitbart and Fox News, is telling him to say. But nationalism is a political and cultural tribalist philosophy that puts one group of citizens in any given country, against everyone else. And people who disagree with them must be traitors. People who criticize the dear leader is a criminal who should be locked up. The fringe part of Donald Trump’s base that are in the South and rural America for the most part, are Nationalist-Tribalist’s who view Democrats as Un-American and as traitors. View the Democratic Party as a criminal organization that should be put out of business. Women as second-class citizens, non-European-Americans as Un-American and as traitors. The Alt-Right in America.

What I just laid out is not conservatism. Duh! Where in any part of The Conscience of a Conservative ( written by Mr. Conservative Barry Goldwater ) the unofficial if not official handbook as well as playbook, the definition of what conservatism is and what it means to be a Conservative, do you see any of these cultural war tribalist issues and this McCarthyite tactic of putting one group of Americans against the people they would call the real Americans as if not every American citizen is not a real American, against everyone else in the country. People who simply disagree with the McCarthyite’s or today the Trumpian’s. Conservatism is about limited government and conserving the U.S. Constitution and our individual rights. Not about putting one group of Americans against everyone else.

The Atlantic: McKay Coppins- Is Trumpism The New Conservatism?

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The Rubin Report: Dave Rubin: ‘Socialism Isn’t Cool’

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Derik Schneider

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Source:The Rubin Report– Dave Rubin, talking about socialism.

Source:The New Democrat 

“Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks about the problems with socialism. “The ideas of socialism, that the means of production, distribution and labor should be owned, controlled and regulated by the community as a whole are the worst sort of collectivist ideas which exist.”

From The Rubin Report

Dave Rubin makes one mistake about socialism up front which is common for people on the Right especially, but sometimes on the Left as well, which is to lump all Socialists into one political box. As if all Democrats fit into one political box, or all Republicans fit into one political box, or even all Libertarians fit into one political box.

There are Socialists and then there are Socialists. The Democratic Socialists and Social Democrats, the democratic wing of socialism. And then there are Communists, which make up the authoritarian wing of socialism.

Where Dave Rubin is right is that all Socialists have one thing in common. Which is what they view as the greater good and collective, is more important than the individual. That individual freedom is somehow bad and perhaps even racist, if it means that there are people who do very well economically and live well in society, when there are poor people who’s struggle just to survive. Perhaps skip meals so their kids can at least have something to eat that day.

What Socialists believe that what you should do instead is to see that all the recourses in the country are divided up equally so no one is rich and no one is poor. Even if that means putting strict limits on individual economic freedom and even individual personal freedom.

The title of Dave Rubin’s video is “Socialism Isn’t Cool” and yet he doesn’t mention why socialism is not cool, but instead just mentions the negative aspects of socialism and socialist countries like Venezuela. Tell that to the millions if not tens of millions of Millennial’s who voted for Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries for President and the perhaps hundreds of thousands of voters who voted for Jill Stein for President during the 2016 general election.

To hipster-leftists, socialism is the new awesome (or whatever) and anyone who is not a Socialist to them, must be a racist or a bigot or someone working to protect the man and keep women and minorities down. To them socialism is like totally awesome (or whatever) and anyone who is not a Socialist is not awesome.

My issues with socialism gets to what Dave Rubin laid out which is the collectivist nature of it. That it’s somehow unfair and selfish for individuals to get a good education and then take those skills to the private market and imply them and be rewarded handsomely for them.

But what Socialists may never understand is that once you discourage wealth, opportunity, success, and individualism, you get a hell of a lot less of it and leave yourself less resources to help people who for whatever reasons aren’t doing well in society.

You can also leave yourself with a lot less innovation and creativity, because people are left to wonder why they should do well in school and at work, when big government is just going to take most of their resources from then to subsidize people who aren’t doing well.

You want a free developed society with as many people as possible doing well in life, then you have to subsidize and promote the things that make freedom and success possible. Which is education, opportunity, equality under law, equal rights, success, and yes wealth.

These are the values that you don’t get in a socialist society whether it’s a communist society like Cuba and now Venezuela which essentially functions as a one-party, unitarian, communist state. Or a social democratic society like Britain where even when the Conservatives are in charge individualism and individual freedom, is discouraged and even punished for the sake of the collective.

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The Thinking Atheist: Seth Andrews Interviewing Dr. Michael Shermer: ‘Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things’

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Erik Schneider

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Source:The Thinking Atheist– talking to Dr. Michael Shermer.

Source: The New Democrat 

“Every day, we see intelligent people embracing unintelligent things. They’re skeptical in some areas of their lives, gullible in others. They seem to shift from logical to illogical at the drop of a hat.

Maybe this refers to another. Perhaps it describes ourselves.”

From The Thinking Atheist

In this conversation, Seth Andrews speaks with Dr. Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine about belief, intelligence, religion, conspiracy theories, and the brain.

Why smart people believe stupid things? Perhaps a better question would be do these smart people actually believe these stupid things, or are they ( pardon my French ) bullshit artists? People aren’t necessarily good or bad because they’re smart or even stupid. There not necessarily honest or dishonest because they’re smart or stupid. They’re Saints who are smart ( not necessarily in New Orleans ) and there Devils who are smart. ( Especially in New Jersey ) There are smart people who are honest like the late Dr. Martin L. King and there are smart people who are bullshit artists. Take cult leader and serial murderer Charles Manson.

There morons who are honest and where you know exactly what they think or don’t think all the time. Seem to have this hellbent desire and lifelong quest to broadcast to the world how stupid they are. Donald Trump, might be a good example of that at least when it comes to government and public policy and his lack of knowledge of those issues. And there morons who are also dishonest which really makes them dangerous. Because they not only know very little if anything that is important at least., but they lie about what they actually think about those issues that they’ve somehow managed to get themselves involved in. Perhaps they have friends who feel sorry for them and decided to bring into their fields. Again, Donald Trump would be an excellent example of this. At least when it comes to government and public policy.

President Trump not only has a horrible habit of saying things that aren’t true, but when he is clearly contradicted by people who even work for him, then he tries to deny and hide that he previously held stupid positions and made stupid statements before. Even when it’s obvious that he did. And not to pick on our dear President who I don’t view as a moron generally. But when it comes to public policy and government, it’s hard to name a time in the history of the world, at least in America where you had a President or public official who knew so little about what they actually spoke about and positions that they took and then lied so much about what they actually thought.

When you see smart people say stupid things, here’s a suggestion. Question whether they actually believe what they’re saying. Especially if they’re in politics either as a politician or as a candidate. Also look at the audience that they’re speaking to and at risk of being insulting look at the intelligence level of the people the politician or wannabe politician is speaking to. I don’t mean give everyone in the audience IQ tests. ( Unless you have way too much free time on your hands ) But look at what they believe and what they think, political and social positions that they’ve made in the past and take now.

Because the politician might believe the people they’re speaking to are morons and are dumb enough to believe him or her when they agree with the groups they’re speaking to. Which is how I look at Donald Trump. Not as someone who is a moron in general, but as someone who views his base as morons and as people who’ll believe whatever the hell he tells them. And who takes their side simply because he believes he needs their political support.

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The Film Archives: The Washington Journal With Brian Lamb- Camille Paglia & Bay Buchanan: On College Students, Education, Government, Women in Politics

Posted on February 24, 2018 by FredSchneiderUS

Source:The New Democrat

I like and respect Camille Paglia a lot, at least when I’m quick enough to understand what she’s saying, or at the very least catch every word that she says. She talks the way kitty cats run and Nascar cars race. You can write a book with her mouth in a few minutes. But when I am able to follow along she makes a lot of sense. Her politics at least up to ten years ago would put on the liberal-libertarian or classical liberal wing of the American political spectrum. ( The real Liberals )

She calls herself a feminist but I would put her on the classical side of that as well. That women shouldn’t be discriminated against based on gender, but that women shouldn’t be rewarded based on their gender. Unlike a lot of these so-called radical feminists today on the New-Left ( or Far-Left ) who think America should just be made up of women and gay men and that masculinity ( unless it comes from women ) is somehow a bad thing. That straight men at least Caucasian straight men, are inherently bad people and that straight men are ruining America.

Camille’s politics when it comes to liberalism and feminism, seems to be about choice. That women should be able to make their own choices in life and be able to think for themselves. That if they want to work, than that should be their choice. But if they decide to stay home and raise their kids which is also a job and a paying job at that, then that is what should be able to do. That women should be able to think for themselves and not be feel the need to look down at straight men and see them as evil. But if they want to believe that straight men are bad, then that would be their choice as a radical feminist.

That women shouldn’t be forced to be big government Socialists, who believe big centralized government has all the answers in life. Or they can be Conservative-Libertarians who don’t believe big government has many if any answers at all to solving problems in society. But that they should be able to think for themselves without radical feminists viewing them as sellouts to the feminist cause or a traitors who are in the laps and beds of straight men.

If there was a free market for women, it would’ve been created by the Camille Paglia liberal wing of feminism. That there should be choice across the board and not just when it comes to abortion and sexuality but in life in general. When and if they work, sexuality in general, how they should think, what their politics should be. Instead of being told by radical feminists and the Socialist-Left or the Christian-Right on what it means to be a real woman in America and how all women should be forced to live.

The Film Archives: The Washington Journal With Brian Lamb- Camille Paglia & Bay Buchanan: On College Students, Education & Women in Politics- In 1997

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Politics & Prose: John Leland: ‘Happiness Is A Choice You Make’

Posted on February 23, 2018 by kireschneider

Source:The New Democrat

I believe in the cliche life is a highway and then add Tom Cochrane’s line, I want to ride it all night long. On the highway of life ( to use a another cliche ) you make a lot of turns, stops, you accelerate, you stop for gas and just to get a bite to eat and get some rest.

Imagine driving from Washington to Los Angeles in a cross-country trip. Ordinary if you don’t run into bad weather, car trouble, have any major accidents, decide to go for a joy ride after getting loaded one night on one of your stops in St. Louis let’s say, and you’re a good driver, this cross-country trip should take you about 7-10 days. Well, imagine your life being a a cross-country trip or a trip around the world but it takes you about 80 years ( give or take ) instead and not because of car trouble or any of the other factors that I just mentioned.

That is what life is which is a very long journey if you live a normal life in years. And on that journey you’re going to have a lot of ups and downs. Richard Nixon once said that he wanted to die with at least one more victory than defeat. Well, hopefully life for you will be a lot better than that and the best thing about this is that you have complete control over your own life once you move out from your parents and start driving on your own highway of life with the ability and freedom to make your own decisions. But even before you move out from your parents as a young adult you still have a lot of freedom to make your own highway and ability to decide what that journey will be for you.

Do you finish high school, to use as an example. Do you do well in high school which allows for you do be able to go to college. If you go to college, do you do well in college. Do you stay out of trouble as a youth or get into trouble on a regular basis. These are all choices that we make as children, adolescents, young adults, full adults, and moving forward. It’s up to us to make either good decisions or bad decisions with our own lives and then we have to live with the consequences of our own decisions for good and bad, or for in-between.

In a free society like a liberal democracy like America, we all have choices that we make in life. The question is what kind of choices do we make. If you have not just a habit of making good choices like you just happen to be very lucky and perhaps you should take that luck to Atlantic City or Las Vegas, but you tend to make good choices and decisions because you’ve decided to based on good information and facts instead of flipping a coin, drawing straws, you’re going to be happy in life. At least compared with a screwup who acts on impulse, or doesn’t care about anyone other than them self, perhaps lost their brain somewhere and never went back to look for it.

To achieve happiness in life you have to figure out what makes you happy. What you’re good at and what you want out of life. And then make the right decisions to accomplish those things. Instead of sitting on your ass and expecting happiness to pick you up off your couch or getting lucky. The ultimate investment in life is your own life. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get back and the happier you’ll be. You only get out if your investments what you put in them.

Politics & Prose: John Leland- ‘Happiness Is A Choice’

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Patrick J. Buchanan: 1968: The Year The Silent Majority Was Born

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Rik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat

I believe you have to understand the 1960s and 1967-68 especially to understand the great political comeback of Richard Nixon and the rebirth of the Republican Party. Once you know what this time was and what it was about and how it benefited Richard Nixon you’ll also understand how brilliant of a politician and political strategist that Nixon really was. Nixon is in the same class as Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, when it comes to great politicians in American history. Perhaps smarter than all of then including FDR and Bill Clinton.

Where I agree with Pat Buchanan is that in 1967-68 America did feel like it was falling apart. The whole country seemed like it was pissed off. Riots and protests all across the country. Dr. King’s nonviolent civil rights movement seemed to be going out of style even within the African-American community with the rise of the militant socialist Black Panthers. Millions of Baby Boomers of all races and ethnicities coming of age in the 1960s and seeing an America they didn’t want and stood up to demand change across the country. People who tended to agree with Dr. King on the issues that his movement was addressing, but were primarily campaigning against the Vietnam War and what they saw was a self and racist American capitalist economic system.

By the time we get to 1968 the late 1950s is only ten years before 68 and yet America was and looked completely different as a country and not just because of color TV, but the music was not recognizable from the 1950s, the movies and the language and culture in the movies was completely different. Protesting and especially rioting in the streets and doing it in big cities like Detroit, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, just wasn’t done in 1957 or at any point in the 1950s for the very most part. But you also didn’t have a huge generation of angry Americans ( the Baby Boom Generation ) who were angry and wanted a different country and different system.

And during this whole period in the 1960s you had one political party in charge in America and in most of the country. Similar to what we have today but with large majorities in Congress. A Senate with 64 Democrats in 67-68, 243 or Democrats in the House, a Progressive Democrat as President in Lyndon Johnson. But with the angry Baby Boomers of all racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural backgrounds and the angry African-American community for good reasons, you also had the parents and grandparents of the Baby Boomers who were also angry, but they weren’t angry at America. Just the leadership and party in power, as well as the new Counter Culture that seemed to be taking over America.

What we would call Reagan Democrats in the 1980s and today, were Nixon Democrats in the 1960s and 1970s. Southern and Midwestern Democrats who voted Democratic most of their lives until 1966, 67, and 68 came around when they were looking for different political leadership. Back in 1968 the Republican Party even with their big gains during the 1966 Congressional midterms when they won 45 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate, was still primarily a Northeastern party, with some support in the Midwest and conservative-libertarian West.

And to get to why Richard Nixon was such a brilliant not just politician but political strategist which is just as important. Nixon understood that for the Republican Party to come back they were going to have to make gains in the Democratic Dixie South, while holding their ground in the Northeast, Midwest, and Mountain West. They were going to have to win over right-wing Southern Dixiecrats who opposed the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

It started in 1966 with Congressional Republicans winning back over 40 seats in the House and a lot of them in the South and winning back 4 seats in the Senate allowing Congressional Republicans along with Dixiecrat Democrats, to block partisan progressive legislation that was proposed by President Johnson and the Congressional Democratic Leadership. And in 1968 thanks to the Vietnam War and the socialist New-Left that emerged in the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party was a huge house that was hugely divided and their grand political coalition that kept them in power since the Hoover Administration in the late 1920s when they won Congress back finally broke.

With Richard Nixon again being the great politician and political strategist that he was being there to take advantage of that. Richard Nixon is a big reason why the Republican Party is southern and rural based in America. He’s also a reason why Republicans struggle to win in big cities and big metro areas, because they’re base is so dependent on right-wing Fat-Right in many cases Southern Anglo-Saxon Protestant aging men. But pre-1966 the Republican Party simply wasn’t big enough to compete nationally with the Democrats and Richard Nixon changed that.

Richard Nixon Foundation: Pat Buchanan- 1968: The Year The Silent Majority Was Born

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