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.
Trump may be the Orange Antichrist and has support from many evangelical churches if not the the Council of Bishops, but at least on paper, the IRS considers political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate.
However some religious groups promote the "social gospel" and have a political presence. https://www.votecommongood.com/ They sometimes publish Thom's op eds.
Once upon a time, by default I represented the Amish community in a couple of townships in Pa. ALL ALWAYS vote Republican. I have asked the DNC to meet with the bishops in Lancaster County who dictate Amish policy internationally. Crickets in 2016, 2020 and so far this year.
Along those lines -- the League of Women Voters has always prided itself on being nonpartisan: it encouraged voter registration, civic engagement and education, youth participation, making it easier to vote, etc. Now the League's principles overlap heavily with the Democratic Party platform and are nowhere to be found on the Republican side (the GOP no longer has a real platform) -- but it's not because the League has become "partisan," it's because one major political party no longer supports those things.
I went looking for evidence that Truman said anything like that. Didn't find it -- could you provide a link? I did find this line in his acceptance speech at the 1948 Democratic convention: "The reason is that the people know that the Democratic Party is the people's party, and the Republican party is the party of special interest, and *it always has been and always will be.*" I emphasized that last bit because "always has been" is 100% wrong.
The bit about the Democratic Party being "the people's party" is also dubious: In 1948 in the Old Confederacy, it was the *white* people's party.
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.
Oh they know it Bob, they just don't care. They have a single minded agenda, white male Christian hegemony, and Trump is their means, tool, of achieving that agenda.
They will ignore and overlook everything he does, illegal,immoral, grifting, because he is pushing their agenda.
Trump doesn't believe in anything except himself and his needs. He was a Democrat, he was for abortion, he was never a patriot, but holding himself out as one and adopting and promoting the agenda of the white, male, Christian right, served as his springboard to power.
Perhaps the only genuine thing that he has in common with the fascists is racism.
About "rape" and "forcible rape" -- my first thought was of "statutory rape," which used to be applied when the victim was beneath the age of consent. (I'm not sure if the term is still widely used.) But there are degrees of rape that involve the threat of force or other kinds of coercion rather than physical force. I just found this Washington state law firm's website that defines rape and the various degrees of it according to Washington law. Other states will have different definitions, but this might be helpful: https://vindicatelaw.com/sex-crimes/rape-defense/rape-first-second-third-degree/
Thank you for this information. I understand the difference between statutory rape and rape. In my opinion, all rape involves force. Statutory may be the exception, tho not always.
My understanding (and IANAL) is in law that "force" generally means physical force. There are forms of coercion that stop short of physical force but still rob the victim of agency, i.e., the ability to consent to sex.
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.
That is a good thing. I definitely encourage anti vaxxers. As Paul Weyrich said, a decrease in the voting population is an increase in Republican victories.
With Antivaxxing the tables are turned, the more anti Vaxxers the less idiots to vote for Republicans, No Labels, or whatever RFK Jr is running on.
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.
Wish that were true. All Puerto Rican SSI recipients living on the mainland because it is unavailable on the island, might relocate to sparsely populated the Dakotas and Wyoming where they could get 6 senators, three House members, and vote in Puerto Rican statehood. Same for DC..
Similarly, Democrats in South Carolina, other red states can relocate to flip any of several states.
Good point Daniel. Unless one is wealthy or has a transportable job, people don't relocate easily.
People need money to obtain food, clothing, shelter at a minimum.
Money is obtained by producing or selling a good or service. If not on your own, then as an employee.
If one owns a home, then they have to sell it, pay for the transportation of accumulated goods, and be able to buy a replacement.
Social circles. knowing the neighborhood, the environment, the neighbors and being able to speak the language (brogue, accent, dialect) without being questioned or ridiculed is important.
When I was 6 my mother relocated from the south to Philadelphia, and the kids taunted me about my accent, calling me Tex and deriding me, until I finally lost the accent.
These days people will peg me as being from Phillie, because of the way I say coffee, roof and other words. but my native tongue is ya'll with a deep southern drawl.
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.
Trump may be the Orange Antichrist and has support from many evangelical churches if not the the Council of Bishops, but at least on paper, the IRS considers political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate.
However some religious groups promote the "social gospel" and have a political presence. https://www.votecommongood.com/ They sometimes publish Thom's op eds.
Once upon a time, by default I represented the Amish community in a couple of townships in Pa. ALL ALWAYS vote Republican. I have asked the DNC to meet with the bishops in Lancaster County who dictate Amish policy internationally. Crickets in 2016, 2020 and so far this year.
Docs against Republican policies. They may have 501 C 3 status but the AMA, American Medical Association has become a leading voice opposing GOP policies on everything from abortion and transgender care to gun rights and climate change. And Republicans are firing back with charges that the 176-year-old physicians’ organization is practicing “wokeism.” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/30/how-the-culture-wars-are-fueling-a-rift-between-the-gop-and-the-doctors-lobby-00119211
Along those lines -- the League of Women Voters has always prided itself on being nonpartisan: it encouraged voter registration, civic engagement and education, youth participation, making it easier to vote, etc. Now the League's principles overlap heavily with the Democratic Party platform and are nowhere to be found on the Republican side (the GOP no longer has a real platform) -- but it's not because the League has become "partisan," it's because one major political party no longer supports those things.
Voterizers register Democrats.https://voterizer.org/
Truman was right; the only good Republicans are pushing up daisies.
I went looking for evidence that Truman said anything like that. Didn't find it -- could you provide a link? I did find this line in his acceptance speech at the 1948 Democratic convention: "The reason is that the people know that the Democratic Party is the people's party, and the Republican party is the party of special interest, and *it always has been and always will be.*" I emphasized that last bit because "always has been" is 100% wrong.
The bit about the Democratic Party being "the people's party" is also dubious: In 1948 in the Old Confederacy, it was the *white* people's party.
When a mob is running at you with pitchforks and firebrands, do you say stop it is the fault of your leaders?
Of course not. The mob was motivated in the first place. Humans aren' t lemmings, although it certainly does appear that way.
Believers, especially those that act on their beliefs are not victims, they are enthusiastic volunteers.
The hatred was always there, only now their leaders have given them permission to act out, without restraint.
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.
Why?
1. Racism.
2. Peer pressure.
3. Ignorance. If only they knew that Trump ats dogs. Stole from kids with cancer.
There is way more stuff that they do not know then what they really know..
Oh they know it Bob, they just don't care. They have a single minded agenda, white male Christian hegemony, and Trump is their means, tool, of achieving that agenda.
They will ignore and overlook everything he does, illegal,immoral, grifting, because he is pushing their agenda.
Trump doesn't believe in anything except himself and his needs. He was a Democrat, he was for abortion, he was never a patriot, but holding himself out as one and adopting and promoting the agenda of the white, male, Christian right, served as his springboard to power.
Perhaps the only genuine thing that he has in common with the fascists is racism.
About "rape" and "forcible rape" -- my first thought was of "statutory rape," which used to be applied when the victim was beneath the age of consent. (I'm not sure if the term is still widely used.) But there are degrees of rape that involve the threat of force or other kinds of coercion rather than physical force. I just found this Washington state law firm's website that defines rape and the various degrees of it according to Washington law. Other states will have different definitions, but this might be helpful: https://vindicatelaw.com/sex-crimes/rape-defense/rape-first-second-third-degree/
Thank you for this information. I understand the difference between statutory rape and rape. In my opinion, all rape involves force. Statutory may be the exception, tho not always.
My understanding (and IANAL) is in law that "force" generally means physical force. There are forms of coercion that stop short of physical force but still rob the victim of agency, i.e., the ability to consent to sex.
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.)
I use to listen to Paul Harvey on the radio.
He was worse than Fox.
And that is the rest of the story.
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.
Plus more Republicans reject vax, die from COVID.
That is a good thing. I definitely encourage anti vaxxers. As Paul Weyrich said, a decrease in the voting population is an increase in Republican victories.
With Antivaxxing the tables are turned, the more anti Vaxxers the less idiots to vote for Republicans, No Labels, or whatever RFK Jr is running on.
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.
Wish that were true. All Puerto Rican SSI recipients living on the mainland because it is unavailable on the island, might relocate to sparsely populated the Dakotas and Wyoming where they could get 6 senators, three House members, and vote in Puerto Rican statehood. Same for DC..
Similarly, Democrats in South Carolina, other red states can relocate to flip any of several states.
Good point Daniel. Unless one is wealthy or has a transportable job, people don't relocate easily.
People need money to obtain food, clothing, shelter at a minimum.
Money is obtained by producing or selling a good or service. If not on your own, then as an employee.
If one owns a home, then they have to sell it, pay for the transportation of accumulated goods, and be able to buy a replacement.
Social circles. knowing the neighborhood, the environment, the neighbors and being able to speak the language (brogue, accent, dialect) without being questioned or ridiculed is important.
When I was 6 my mother relocated from the south to Philadelphia, and the kids taunted me about my accent, calling me Tex and deriding me, until I finally lost the accent.
These days people will peg me as being from Phillie, because of the way I say coffee, roof and other words. but my native tongue is ya'll with a deep southern drawl.
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.
In this case dead people do tell tales.
I bet it's the culture, more than economics. Try "Trump stole from kids with cancer."
The GOP not getting vaccinated gave the governorship and the attorney general's office to the Democrats here in Arizona. Too many of them died off!