Dear Republicans: We Tried Your Way and It Does Not Work
hartmannreport.com
Their "Reaganism" sales pitch was effective, and we’ve now had 42 years of the so-called Reagan Revolution: It’s time to say out loud that it hasn’t worked
Again Thom thank you for a concise review of everything the GOP proposes to force the majority of us to live with in this country. I am a California native so I had to put up with Reagan as governor and despised him as a blowhard double talking traitor to us working class residents. After he decimated California’s mental health system and raised tuition fees on community/state colleges many of us were struggling to go to school and work to better our lives. Then he denigrated people on welfare by mocking those who needed help to survive. I couldn’t believe he was elected president. (We know how that turned out). To be honest I don’t trust any thing Republicans say or do. I also truly believe we need to tax organized so-called religious organizations especially since conservatives want to force their corrupt view of religion on the rest of us.
The Time article gives this more meaning by reporting that this looting averaged $297,000.00 per household.
Also, this "movement conservative" began after the Brown vs Board of Education decision by SCOTUS - see Who Stole the American Dream by Hedrick Smith, Democracy In Chains by Nancy MacLean and How the South Won The Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson. Their first attempt to take over our federal Executive branch was in 1964 with Barry Goldwater and their first significant impact on Congress was in the 1966 midterms when they got voters to reject LBJs Great Society.
Another wedge toward ending the for-the-people efforts of FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, and Nixon was the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4kvUxQIJlA. This act opened the Congressional Committee meetings to the public for the first time. A good thing, but this act also led to thousands of new career opportunties for those wanting to become a corporate lobbyists:
- "Late 1970s—Business mobilizes politically [Inspired by the 1971 Powell Memo]. The number of companies with Washington lobbying offices grows from 175 in 1971 to 2,445 a decade later. Along with 2,000 different trade associations, businesses have a combined Washington staff of 50,000, plus 9,000 lobbyists and 8,000 public relations specialists. Business lobbyists and advocates now outnumber members of Congress by 130 to 1." - circa 2012 from Hedrick Smith's book Who Stole the American Dream, http://hedricksmith.com/timeline-who-stole-the-american-dream/.
Thank you for observing that the "Powell Memo" is a point of origin for much of the trouble we are in today. I believe it is extremely important to understand how our present day problems with Scotus would not have been possible were it not for the Republican's Long Game of Court Packing, with the first of two seats staying in Republican control since 1958!
Powell's memo served as the starting point for the Republicans Rigging of Scotus by Court Packing. The Court Packing technique is the "Strategic Retirement'' cited by many, though it really is outrageous cheating and hoarding. Powell set the stage for the Long Game. In his memo Powell wrote, "Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change."
Soon after the memo Nixon appointed Powell to Scotus. ...And then the packing began, resulting in the hoarding of 2 seats by Republicans across over half a century.
Seat #1: Potter Stewart, the Republican colleague of Powell who was appointed by Eisenhower in 1958, and after having served under several Democratic and Republican presidents, chose to wait until after the exit of Carter and the inauguration of Reagan to retire in 1981. Reagan put Sandra Day O'Connor on the high court. Years later, she famously was very upset at the apparent victory of Al Gore. Not by coincidence, she chose to appoint Republican Bush, so she could do as she desired and retired under him.
Bush appointed Sam Alito as her replacement, who continues to rule today.
That seat has been in Republican control since 1958! That's 64 years and counting.
Seat #2: Powell was appointed in 1972, who also served until retiring under the Reagan administration. Reagan selected Kennedy as Powell's replacement in 1987. Kennedy served for about 30 years, retiring under Republican Trump, who appointed Brett Kavanaugh as his replacement, who continues to rule to this day.
That seat has been in Republican control since 1972! That's 50 years, and counting.
Had there been Term Limits over the years, as proposed by former AG Eric Holder, none of that would have happened. We might even not had to suffer under George W. Bush, or Trump. McConnell would not have been able to push Gorsuch and Barrett onto the bench. If Trump had still served a term, he'd appoint only 2, not 3 justices.
It's pretty obvious that the court is severely broken, and does not represent or even serve the American people. Repairing it requires Court Expansion, and I'd consider adding 4 seats to total 13, which for whatever it's worth matches the number of Federal district courts. And the appropriate Term Limit would thus be 26 years - a virtual "lifetime appointment", and henceforth in each 4 year presidential term, 2 justices retire, and 2 are hired - as AG Eric Holder discusses in his book.
To get there, Democrats desperately need a wider margin of seats in congress, to be followed immediately by making Washington DC a state, adding 2 more seats to the majority.
Then, the court can be repaired. We'd have a chance to reverse the partisan, ideological and idiotic rulings by the Roberts court. And also a chance to deal with all the other insanity forced upon America by the Republican party.
When I was in college in the early 1980ies "all" the professors ( I was in a special class of only heads of departments, real professors at U of M ) warned and demanded that any and all papers turned in for credit had to have footnotes from the original source of record. This extra burden was because large publishing companies had been purchased by for profit company control. These companies were changing the boards of directors from academic scholars to "for profit" idea-logs that wanted to change history for the benefit of political and economic power. The lies of Reaganomics has been proven both economically and by the destruction of public and higher education born true by the failures of the pandemic and the failure of just in time supply chain in manufacturing small towns are dying or dead. local communities are struggling to be able to afford paying workers. Local is democracy!!! both economically, socially and in nature! just watch a flock of birds. democracy rules. if your are a micro biologist watch the growth of successful cultures. In Nature everyone gets to vote race, privileged and wealth have say because they lead to death.
McConnell sees the writing on the wall and it says UVALDE. In a quote reported by NBC, he said "And so I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre." McConnell said that the goal is to "come up with a proposal, if possible, that’s crafted to meet this particular problem."
More bullshit, because all he really cares about is the election and getting back the Senate. He has realized that people are exhausted by the killing EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME. He also knows what the Republicans are going to look like during the committee hearings right around the corner. They will look exactly like what Thom has laid-out for us in this Report.
Republicans do not represent the good will of the people of this nation. They don't care about anyone's well-being or mental health. They bitched about locking down and keeping kids at home for their own good during covid. Now they want to lock them up in a school and let them be sitting ducks! McConnell gets what the voters will be thinking, especially the ones that have recently graduated from their school/prison.
A caller identifying as an evangelical asked about literature that might enlighten religious people about some of the issues discussed on the program. I recalled the book from 2007, which to the best of my recollection had attempted to bridge the gap, which I found on my shelf. The book is “The Great Awakening” by Jim Wallis, with a foreward by none other than Jimmy Carter. I don’t recall much about the book and I didn’t find it personally persuasive as a religious awakening, however I did attempt to get religious relatives to read it for the helpful insights and reasonableness.
The book by Susan Jacoby from 2008 entitled, “The Age of American Unreason”, also on my shelves came to mind as well, although it might be a little too liberal or challenging for most evangelicals. It’s worth looking at for certain.
There are plenty of others if one is willing to spend some time scanning Amazon’s pages. I remember discovering quite a few when looking up a book awhile back. I believe that book was “The Progressive Revolution” by Michael Lux. That one would really knock some socks off. It may have been mentioned on the show before and would be a great one to read from on the air in the future.
Other callers had talked about demanding that pictures of the children’s bodies from the school shootings be shown in the media. I don’t believe that will ever fly and I couldn’t bear seeing them having buried my own child after an accident. But I’m wondering if it would be possible to have an artist’s rendering with graphic drawings such as are used when pictures and recordings of court proceedings are portrayed.
With regard to today’s piece, I’m surprised that the tantrums on the right about the removal of school prayer from official or routine classroom sessions was not mentioned. That was right up there with desegregation and separate is unequal driving the reactionaries to desperation. Again, I must state that students who truly knew anything and had any meaningful comprehension about our government and civics were always the exception to the rule and in most cases learned from parents or an extraordinary teacher. The big STEM push might have been misguided, but the problems in our schools were legendary (see “The Great School Legend” by Colin Greer) and long preceded the 1970’s or 1980’s. The baby boomers have hardly distinguished themselves as scholars, or as people who know much about civics, history, or government, with the exception of 18 of the listeners of the Thom Hartmann show.
Do I ever hope you are correct! With the religious (autocratic) mindset taking over government for the big moneyed outfits it looks a bit discouraging right now. Getting everyone to vote their interests is tough with the GOP disinformation network controlling all news/info to an uneducated audience.
There is one thing the Republicans may be right on, and that is this issue of "dependence". Here's the sentence in your Report that caught my attention: (because, Republicans said, feeding, educating, or providing healthcare to people made them dependent).
Helping people who are in dire circumstances is the loving, democratic thing to do, but it comes with a risk - that those being helped will form a dependent attitude. Being dependent on anyone, whether it be for finances, or in an intimate relationship, can sap an individuals virility and vitality. Having a strong spirit of independence can keep one from falling into this trap, but I can assure you that many of those who have become "dependent" on others don't have this characteristic. It becomes the easiest route, to just settle into that state of dependency. I think this is what the Republicans, and other people of means who have a kind heart and want to help others, are expressing a concern about. It's a delicate balance, and unfortunately has become a subject that both sides take to extremes - by those either for or against helping others. America, for me, has always stood for independence, and I hope it can stay that way, because a strong, independent nation that has a heart will always be willing and able to help those in need.
The great irony is that we really do need to "Make America Great Again!", and if there is any question as to when that really was, read the beginning paragraphs again. It was the time before the right wing republicans got a hold of and destroyed the mental framework of the American people to buy into their self serving deceptions and loot the wealth of 'We the people'.
Again Thom thank you for a concise review of everything the GOP proposes to force the majority of us to live with in this country. I am a California native so I had to put up with Reagan as governor and despised him as a blowhard double talking traitor to us working class residents. After he decimated California’s mental health system and raised tuition fees on community/state colleges many of us were struggling to go to school and work to better our lives. Then he denigrated people on welfare by mocking those who needed help to survive. I couldn’t believe he was elected president. (We know how that turned out). To be honest I don’t trust any thing Republicans say or do. I also truly believe we need to tax organized so-called religious organizations especially since conservatives want to force their corrupt view of religion on the rest of us.
For more details on the looting of $50 trillion by the one percent:
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
The Time article gives this more meaning by reporting that this looting averaged $297,000.00 per household.
Also, this "movement conservative" began after the Brown vs Board of Education decision by SCOTUS - see Who Stole the American Dream by Hedrick Smith, Democracy In Chains by Nancy MacLean and How the South Won The Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson. Their first attempt to take over our federal Executive branch was in 1964 with Barry Goldwater and their first significant impact on Congress was in the 1966 midterms when they got voters to reject LBJs Great Society.
Another wedge toward ending the for-the-people efforts of FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, and Nixon was the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4kvUxQIJlA. This act opened the Congressional Committee meetings to the public for the first time. A good thing, but this act also led to thousands of new career opportunties for those wanting to become a corporate lobbyists:
- "Late 1970s—Business mobilizes politically [Inspired by the 1971 Powell Memo]. The number of companies with Washington lobbying offices grows from 175 in 1971 to 2,445 a decade later. Along with 2,000 different trade associations, businesses have a combined Washington staff of 50,000, plus 9,000 lobbyists and 8,000 public relations specialists. Business lobbyists and advocates now outnumber members of Congress by 130 to 1." - circa 2012 from Hedrick Smith's book Who Stole the American Dream, http://hedricksmith.com/timeline-who-stole-the-american-dream/.
Thank you for observing that the "Powell Memo" is a point of origin for much of the trouble we are in today. I believe it is extremely important to understand how our present day problems with Scotus would not have been possible were it not for the Republican's Long Game of Court Packing, with the first of two seats staying in Republican control since 1958!
Powell's memo served as the starting point for the Republicans Rigging of Scotus by Court Packing. The Court Packing technique is the "Strategic Retirement'' cited by many, though it really is outrageous cheating and hoarding. Powell set the stage for the Long Game. In his memo Powell wrote, "Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change."
Soon after the memo Nixon appointed Powell to Scotus. ...And then the packing began, resulting in the hoarding of 2 seats by Republicans across over half a century.
Seat #1: Potter Stewart, the Republican colleague of Powell who was appointed by Eisenhower in 1958, and after having served under several Democratic and Republican presidents, chose to wait until after the exit of Carter and the inauguration of Reagan to retire in 1981. Reagan put Sandra Day O'Connor on the high court. Years later, she famously was very upset at the apparent victory of Al Gore. Not by coincidence, she chose to appoint Republican Bush, so she could do as she desired and retired under him.
Bush appointed Sam Alito as her replacement, who continues to rule today.
That seat has been in Republican control since 1958! That's 64 years and counting.
Seat #2: Powell was appointed in 1972, who also served until retiring under the Reagan administration. Reagan selected Kennedy as Powell's replacement in 1987. Kennedy served for about 30 years, retiring under Republican Trump, who appointed Brett Kavanaugh as his replacement, who continues to rule to this day.
That seat has been in Republican control since 1972! That's 50 years, and counting.
Had there been Term Limits over the years, as proposed by former AG Eric Holder, none of that would have happened. We might even not had to suffer under George W. Bush, or Trump. McConnell would not have been able to push Gorsuch and Barrett onto the bench. If Trump had still served a term, he'd appoint only 2, not 3 justices.
It's pretty obvious that the court is severely broken, and does not represent or even serve the American people. Repairing it requires Court Expansion, and I'd consider adding 4 seats to total 13, which for whatever it's worth matches the number of Federal district courts. And the appropriate Term Limit would thus be 26 years - a virtual "lifetime appointment", and henceforth in each 4 year presidential term, 2 justices retire, and 2 are hired - as AG Eric Holder discusses in his book.
To get there, Democrats desperately need a wider margin of seats in congress, to be followed immediately by making Washington DC a state, adding 2 more seats to the majority.
Then, the court can be repaired. We'd have a chance to reverse the partisan, ideological and idiotic rulings by the Roberts court. And also a chance to deal with all the other insanity forced upon America by the Republican party.
When I was in college in the early 1980ies "all" the professors ( I was in a special class of only heads of departments, real professors at U of M ) warned and demanded that any and all papers turned in for credit had to have footnotes from the original source of record. This extra burden was because large publishing companies had been purchased by for profit company control. These companies were changing the boards of directors from academic scholars to "for profit" idea-logs that wanted to change history for the benefit of political and economic power. The lies of Reaganomics has been proven both economically and by the destruction of public and higher education born true by the failures of the pandemic and the failure of just in time supply chain in manufacturing small towns are dying or dead. local communities are struggling to be able to afford paying workers. Local is democracy!!! both economically, socially and in nature! just watch a flock of birds. democracy rules. if your are a micro biologist watch the growth of successful cultures. In Nature everyone gets to vote race, privileged and wealth have say because they lead to death.
Wright On, Thom !
McConnell sees the writing on the wall and it says UVALDE. In a quote reported by NBC, he said "And so I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre." McConnell said that the goal is to "come up with a proposal, if possible, that’s crafted to meet this particular problem."
More bullshit, because all he really cares about is the election and getting back the Senate. He has realized that people are exhausted by the killing EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME. He also knows what the Republicans are going to look like during the committee hearings right around the corner. They will look exactly like what Thom has laid-out for us in this Report.
Republicans do not represent the good will of the people of this nation. They don't care about anyone's well-being or mental health. They bitched about locking down and keeping kids at home for their own good during covid. Now they want to lock them up in a school and let them be sitting ducks! McConnell gets what the voters will be thinking, especially the ones that have recently graduated from their school/prison.
A caller identifying as an evangelical asked about literature that might enlighten religious people about some of the issues discussed on the program. I recalled the book from 2007, which to the best of my recollection had attempted to bridge the gap, which I found on my shelf. The book is “The Great Awakening” by Jim Wallis, with a foreward by none other than Jimmy Carter. I don’t recall much about the book and I didn’t find it personally persuasive as a religious awakening, however I did attempt to get religious relatives to read it for the helpful insights and reasonableness.
The book by Susan Jacoby from 2008 entitled, “The Age of American Unreason”, also on my shelves came to mind as well, although it might be a little too liberal or challenging for most evangelicals. It’s worth looking at for certain.
There are plenty of others if one is willing to spend some time scanning Amazon’s pages. I remember discovering quite a few when looking up a book awhile back. I believe that book was “The Progressive Revolution” by Michael Lux. That one would really knock some socks off. It may have been mentioned on the show before and would be a great one to read from on the air in the future.
Other callers had talked about demanding that pictures of the children’s bodies from the school shootings be shown in the media. I don’t believe that will ever fly and I couldn’t bear seeing them having buried my own child after an accident. But I’m wondering if it would be possible to have an artist’s rendering with graphic drawings such as are used when pictures and recordings of court proceedings are portrayed.
With regard to today’s piece, I’m surprised that the tantrums on the right about the removal of school prayer from official or routine classroom sessions was not mentioned. That was right up there with desegregation and separate is unequal driving the reactionaries to desperation. Again, I must state that students who truly knew anything and had any meaningful comprehension about our government and civics were always the exception to the rule and in most cases learned from parents or an extraordinary teacher. The big STEM push might have been misguided, but the problems in our schools were legendary (see “The Great School Legend” by Colin Greer) and long preceded the 1970’s or 1980’s. The baby boomers have hardly distinguished themselves as scholars, or as people who know much about civics, history, or government, with the exception of 18 of the listeners of the Thom Hartmann show.
Do I ever hope you are correct! With the religious (autocratic) mindset taking over government for the big moneyed outfits it looks a bit discouraging right now. Getting everyone to vote their interests is tough with the GOP disinformation network controlling all news/info to an uneducated audience.
Actually, it has worked - for the wealthy and corporate, mostly Republicans.
There is one thing the Republicans may be right on, and that is this issue of "dependence". Here's the sentence in your Report that caught my attention: (because, Republicans said, feeding, educating, or providing healthcare to people made them dependent).
Helping people who are in dire circumstances is the loving, democratic thing to do, but it comes with a risk - that those being helped will form a dependent attitude. Being dependent on anyone, whether it be for finances, or in an intimate relationship, can sap an individuals virility and vitality. Having a strong spirit of independence can keep one from falling into this trap, but I can assure you that many of those who have become "dependent" on others don't have this characteristic. It becomes the easiest route, to just settle into that state of dependency. I think this is what the Republicans, and other people of means who have a kind heart and want to help others, are expressing a concern about. It's a delicate balance, and unfortunately has become a subject that both sides take to extremes - by those either for or against helping others. America, for me, has always stood for independence, and I hope it can stay that way, because a strong, independent nation that has a heart will always be willing and able to help those in need.
The great irony is that we really do need to "Make America Great Again!", and if there is any question as to when that really was, read the beginning paragraphs again. It was the time before the right wing republicans got a hold of and destroyed the mental framework of the American people to buy into their self serving deceptions and loot the wealth of 'We the people'.