Being 71, I watched all this happen but it's edifying to read the complete history. Thank you for this article. I'm definitely going to spread it around.
You would think the Churches would rise up and roar about these abuses of the principles of Jesus. Think again since these abuses are mainstream. Yes lots of good Churches for sure. But the pervasiveness of these church going Jesus haters simply is unbelievable. More than one day of reckoning.
Part of the Republican "platform" of widespread misery is based upon the oligarchs trying to undermine any restraint upon their manifestation of greed. Basically they oppose any collective action (government isn't the solution, government is the problem). After WW2 and the New Deal, the oligarchs went after the Socialist Part of America and the labor unions (Roosevelt threatened the fat cats with both to get his 100 marginal tax rate). The social Part is no more and unions have been defanged. That left government as the only social institution left with the power to oppose the greed of the oligarchs. So, the "small government" movement began, ignored when the Repubs were in power, of course, but the idea is demean and castrate all government control over business, etc. Of course, ordinary people are caught in the crossfire, but they are expendable, they will always be with us, no?
I hope and pray that the American people with any ability in critical thinking or common sense rise en mass and vote these dark forces out of office this November.
What is the difference between “forcible rape” as in your list, and rape?
As someone who lived through the changes described in this article, I can only say, spot on.
Mike Pence wrote in a 2000 op-ed, “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill.” Oh really? 40 years as a physician seeing patients and reading the medical literature says different, Mikey.
As one of those empathetic care giver types, my heart breaks for the red states. The rank and file in those states really do have a more difficult time. Why do they continue to vote for the hand that slaps them down? I have come to see that it is sort of like boiling a frog by slowly increasing the temperature. I don’t know if the people in those states know what hit them.
The "taproot" of Rs is, w/out question, race hate. Period. End of story.
Goldwater was an atomic-bomb loving, African American hating nutjob.
Now, as for the "Greed is Good" bimbos in corporate America, well, not unlike an AIDS enabled opportunistic disease, they spotted an open bar-tab in the Rs, a tab they could jump on for some free booze, so to speak.
Booze in this metaphor meaning freedom from all taxes and rules;. Following Ayn Rand to hell, or wherever the heck she was leading them. . . . Greenspan's bedroom??
It comes down to this: Republicans are bad for your health when it comes to guns and obesity and maternal health and climate change and sustainable energy and expanding medical benefits for low income residents. Hearing loss in red states correlates to higher rates of gun possession. Cutbacks by parsimonious Republicans results in lead contaminated water in Flint Michigan and contaminated food that can be traced back to FDA cutbacks during the Bush administration.
My question now is who will they crawl in bed with next?! As you have aptly pointed-out, they have ticked the boxes for the worst---despots, fascists, and religious creeps. Is there someone they have lurking in the shadows, or are the psychopaths the pinnacle?
I always loved it when Representative Grayson gave the Republican Health Care Plan on the House floor:
1) Don't Get Sick
2) If You Do Get Sick...
3) Die Quickly
Their version of for-profit, take-your-house-away, and let-insurance-companies-run-the-show idea of health care told me long ago they are all for death and suffering. It's part of the religious ideology. They want to give you a ticket to heaven, not a fulfilled, healthy long life.
Some of this is self reinforcing in that when people become challenged in various way they are more likely to move to a red state because the cost of living is lower.
Greed and willful ignorance and a lack of conscience have combined to create an army of evil zombies!
The zombies look and act like everyday normal people, but don't care about anyone but themselves. The zombies ride the shirt tales of the uber rich in the hope that they will be thrown a few crumbs that they have stolen from their fellow Americans. They will never see those crumbs though. The zombies even hate the downtrodden, the ones who were raised by them and their values of, unlimited greed is good, religious indoctrination of children is even better, while raising children up in the family unit where their needs are not met is even the best.
The zombies don't like the successful people who are not very rich either. They are jealous and envious of their happiness and joy, love of good and God and truth.
The zombies are allergic to the truth, reality and good and God! They must live in a world of ignorance and darkness, for the light shows them the truth. The zombies don't like other zombies or truthseekers. They just hate thy neighbors and love thyselves.
With the rich not paying much if any taxes, the liberals can no longer feed them and the zombies procreate faster than the responsible also.
Reasoning with the unreasonable is impossible. The humans must prepare to defend all of their stuff in the event the zombies take over!
Here in Red Az. we have MAGA Nextdoor, as I'm sure many of you do. I usually don't go near because my BP goes up about a million points. Anyway , something unfortunately grabbed my attention and I read that "it was unfortunate that they raised the minimum wage because corporations can't afford to pay that , so that's why we have robots delivering our food."
Let's move on from that little gem! Having done a lot of fieldwork over the years in rural red Az. and places like Apache Junction, I still believe that most of them believe that they can't have nice things because all that stuff is given to " illegal immigrants" and "lazy" people of color. I heard that from a huge percentage of people that I interviewed for a Medicare study. And of course, a lot of them died of covid because they "didn't want anyone to tell them what to do".
Thom, after reading books about public schools and what started developing after Brown vs. Board I would say that event also had a big part in this.
Being 71, I watched all this happen but it's edifying to read the complete history. Thank you for this article. I'm definitely going to spread it around.
This is eye opening, yet not surprising. Thank you.
You would think the Churches would rise up and roar about these abuses of the principles of Jesus. Think again since these abuses are mainstream. Yes lots of good Churches for sure. But the pervasiveness of these church going Jesus haters simply is unbelievable. More than one day of reckoning.
Truman was right; the only good Republicans are pushing up daisies.
Part of the Republican "platform" of widespread misery is based upon the oligarchs trying to undermine any restraint upon their manifestation of greed. Basically they oppose any collective action (government isn't the solution, government is the problem). After WW2 and the New Deal, the oligarchs went after the Socialist Part of America and the labor unions (Roosevelt threatened the fat cats with both to get his 100 marginal tax rate). The social Part is no more and unions have been defanged. That left government as the only social institution left with the power to oppose the greed of the oligarchs. So, the "small government" movement began, ignored when the Repubs were in power, of course, but the idea is demean and castrate all government control over business, etc. Of course, ordinary people are caught in the crossfire, but they are expendable, they will always be with us, no?
If people can’t work it’s cheaper, more profitable to have them die quickly and as cheaply as possible.
I hope and pray that the American people with any ability in critical thinking or common sense rise en mass and vote these dark forces out of office this November.
A question and two comments:
What is the difference between “forcible rape” as in your list, and rape?
As someone who lived through the changes described in this article, I can only say, spot on.
Mike Pence wrote in a 2000 op-ed, “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill.” Oh really? 40 years as a physician seeing patients and reading the medical literature says different, Mikey.
As one of those empathetic care giver types, my heart breaks for the red states. The rank and file in those states really do have a more difficult time. Why do they continue to vote for the hand that slaps them down? I have come to see that it is sort of like boiling a frog by slowly increasing the temperature. I don’t know if the people in those states know what hit them.
The "taproot" of Rs is, w/out question, race hate. Period. End of story.
Goldwater was an atomic-bomb loving, African American hating nutjob.
Now, as for the "Greed is Good" bimbos in corporate America, well, not unlike an AIDS enabled opportunistic disease, they spotted an open bar-tab in the Rs, a tab they could jump on for some free booze, so to speak.
Booze in this metaphor meaning freedom from all taxes and rules;. Following Ayn Rand to hell, or wherever the heck she was leading them. . . . Greenspan's bedroom??
"Now you know the rest of the story." I like what you did here, Thom! 😊 (I'm old enough to remember my parents listening to Paul Harvey on the radio.)
It comes down to this: Republicans are bad for your health when it comes to guns and obesity and maternal health and climate change and sustainable energy and expanding medical benefits for low income residents. Hearing loss in red states correlates to higher rates of gun possession. Cutbacks by parsimonious Republicans results in lead contaminated water in Flint Michigan and contaminated food that can be traced back to FDA cutbacks during the Bush administration.
My question now is who will they crawl in bed with next?! As you have aptly pointed-out, they have ticked the boxes for the worst---despots, fascists, and religious creeps. Is there someone they have lurking in the shadows, or are the psychopaths the pinnacle?
I always loved it when Representative Grayson gave the Republican Health Care Plan on the House floor:
1) Don't Get Sick
2) If You Do Get Sick...
3) Die Quickly
Their version of for-profit, take-your-house-away, and let-insurance-companies-run-the-show idea of health care told me long ago they are all for death and suffering. It's part of the religious ideology. They want to give you a ticket to heaven, not a fulfilled, healthy long life.
Some of this is self reinforcing in that when people become challenged in various way they are more likely to move to a red state because the cost of living is lower.
Nicely done, Thomas and team. The explanation of that hand in pocket is real and not out imagination. Citizen United gets worse every year!
Greed and willful ignorance and a lack of conscience have combined to create an army of evil zombies!
The zombies look and act like everyday normal people, but don't care about anyone but themselves. The zombies ride the shirt tales of the uber rich in the hope that they will be thrown a few crumbs that they have stolen from their fellow Americans. They will never see those crumbs though. The zombies even hate the downtrodden, the ones who were raised by them and their values of, unlimited greed is good, religious indoctrination of children is even better, while raising children up in the family unit where their needs are not met is even the best.
The zombies don't like the successful people who are not very rich either. They are jealous and envious of their happiness and joy, love of good and God and truth.
The zombies are allergic to the truth, reality and good and God! They must live in a world of ignorance and darkness, for the light shows them the truth. The zombies don't like other zombies or truthseekers. They just hate thy neighbors and love thyselves.
With the rich not paying much if any taxes, the liberals can no longer feed them and the zombies procreate faster than the responsible also.
Reasoning with the unreasonable is impossible. The humans must prepare to defend all of their stuff in the event the zombies take over!
Here in Red Az. we have MAGA Nextdoor, as I'm sure many of you do. I usually don't go near because my BP goes up about a million points. Anyway , something unfortunately grabbed my attention and I read that "it was unfortunate that they raised the minimum wage because corporations can't afford to pay that , so that's why we have robots delivering our food."
Let's move on from that little gem! Having done a lot of fieldwork over the years in rural red Az. and places like Apache Junction, I still believe that most of them believe that they can't have nice things because all that stuff is given to " illegal immigrants" and "lazy" people of color. I heard that from a huge percentage of people that I interviewed for a Medicare study. And of course, a lot of them died of covid because they "didn't want anyone to tell them what to do".
Thom, after reading books about public schools and what started developing after Brown vs. Board I would say that event also had a big part in this.