Poor Emanuel Yarborough. He has made a habit out of loosing to smaller opponents. Size it seems, is seldom superior to technique.Originally Posted by JohnMc82
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Poor Emanuel Yarborough. He has made a habit out of loosing to smaller opponents. Size it seems, is seldom superior to technique.
Obvious enough. The GOP had a liberal wing in 1948; it has none now. The House majority would love to establish itself as the only relevant Party in America for an indeterminate time (that is, until the system is overthrown in revolution or massive defeat) with some Party boss dictating what legislative agenda is possible and calling any dissident an ingrate at best and a traitor at worst.
Little quirks of history can repeat themselves under vastly-different circumstances. It is easy for me to see the GOP attempting to preserve 3T economic norms and establish one faction of American life as the only legitimate source for moral guidance for the rest of us -- whether we like it or not. Complete dominion of the GOP could lead to strikes and riots against a government unresponsive to all but its own core constituencies because it would be out of touch eventually with the majority -- especially if the GOP succeeds at paring the electorate and concentrating economic power in fewer hands.
The Tea Party has shown what a right-wing America would look like, at least in ideology. Can it convince us that we need a unified purpose behind which almost all Americans align themselves and that that purpose is a Corporate and (fundamentalist Protestant) Christian State? It may have bitten off more than it can chew.
Like Truman, President Obama recognizes that his success as a President depends upon either the other side giving in some (it hasn't -- it still demonizes him) or getting a majority likely to help him most of the time. He will run against Congress.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
2016 will have a bunch of right-wing Republican senators in moderate-to-liberal states who will either be approaching the end of the line (Arizona, Iowa), or winners of the 2010 wave election (Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) who will be vulnerable in a high-turnout election with few opportunities for R gains that year. If political gridlock remains the norm through the summer of 2016, then that election could put an end to it.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Haha, how was that determined? Ron Paul is far more libertarian than he is right leaning I think. And I would move Obama and Romney closer the authoritarian center.
More like a one-party corporate-security state. Here's the analysis from the political compass:
Remember, the Political Compass is based on the European ideals of these four poles. To a European, a libertarian should have a broad-based position to be very far from center. Paul is opposed to legal abortion, and has no sympahy for legalizing drugs either. He is also less than libertarian on gender identity and sexuality. His libertarian chops are all on the money side of things. So he gets a few more points than he loses, but that's all.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Democrats Gaining in Battleground and Ryan Budget Could Finish the Job
Overview
Last month, virtually all House Republicans voted for Paul Ryan’s latest budget plan (“The Path to Prosperity”)—and according to the latest battleground survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund, they will pay the price in November.[1] In this survey of 1000 likely voters in the 56 most competitive Republican-held districts, the climate has shifted in favor of the Democrats. Voters view the Democratic Party more favorably than the Republican Party, the President is viewed far more favorably than Mitt Romney, and both the President and congressional Democrats have made gains on the ballot since last September.
Democratic incumbents in the 23 most competitive seats appear poised to do very well in their races. Democratic incumbents have hit the critical 50 percent mark on both job approval and on the ballot.
The President is not quite back to where he was in the Obama-Republican districts, but he is now more than half way back.
Just 41 percent support the Ryan budget without any description. Amazingly, after hearing information about the budget and a debate on both sides, the congressional vote flips in favor of the Democrats.
The Republicans’ vote margin in the battleground congressional districts is unchanged and still falls far short of the margins they enjoyed in November 2010. At the outset, these Republican incumbents edge their generic Democratic opponents by a 6-point margin, 49 percent to 43 percent. They lose after voters hear the debate around the Ryan budget.
http://www.democracycorps.com/strate...inish-the-job/
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
What are you talking about? Paul wants to legalize drugs. His stance on abortion is that he doesn't like it, and would rather the states decide instead of the Federal government. Nevertheless he has stated he has no interest in over-turning Roe v. Wade. And where did you get the idea that he's less libertarian on gender identity and sexuality?
Last edited by Gianthogweed; 04-19-2012 at 12:26 AM.
Oh how I wish Bernie Sanders was running for president. sigh
Bernie Sanders: Congress spends day and night worrying about the wealthy
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/1...t-the-wealthy/At a congressional summit Wednesday about the Citizens United decision, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said the U.S. Congress was only concerned about the “wealthy and powerful” because of the influence of campaign contributions.
“This country faces enormous problems, the middle-class is declining, poverty is increasing, we’re worried about global warming, we’re worried about health care, we’re worried about education,” he said, “and the American people are looking to Washington and saying, ‘What’s going on? We have enormous problems, and you’re not addressing those problems.’”
“One of the reasons that Congress is not addressing those problems is the power of big money in terms of campaign contributions and in terms of lobbying,” Sanders continued. “Working people are trying to keep their heads above water, and here on Capitol Hill all kinds of money is flooding into this institution so that Congress spends day and night worrying about the wealthy and powerful, and forgetting about the middle-class and working families.”
He blasted the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, which held that limiting corporate campaign spending violated the First Amendment. The ruling gave rise to super PACS, which can raise an unlimited amount of money to influence federal elections as long as they do not directly coordinate with a candidate’s campaign, allowing campaign spending by outside groups to skyrocket.
“Bank of America, Citigroup, Exxon Mobile, just like you and me, they can go into their corporate treasury and spend as much money as they want in campaigns to buy politicians and to buy elections,” Sanders claimed.
"The only Good America is a Just America." .... pbrower2a
Here is the Ron Paul Issue Portfolio. I see no referrence to the War on Drugs or gender issues of any kind, but a lead-off on Right to Life. I was a bit surprised by the Worker's Rights tableau, until I clicked the link.
This is all Right Wing babble, wrapped in a libertarian diaper. You might be able to find an obscure line in an equally obscure speech tha agrees with you, but it isn't the face Paul wants to project.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Hm, obscure speeches like all of the primary debates, FOX & CNN appearences, etc...? Ron Paul's opinion that the federal war on drugs is a failure is no big secret.
However, his campaigns' media department is also definitely running hard to the right - a lot more so than it did in 2008. This means ignoring the issues that would upset Republicans and focusing on the ones they like. He's trying to win one of the most conservative primaries ever held, after all.
"I never thought heroin would get applause here in South Carolina!"
Those words, "temperate and moderate", are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
'82 - Once & always independent
Saying the WoD is a mistake is not the same as saying lets legalize drugs ... not by a long shot.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
No, it isn't exactly the same, and he would definitely leave the states with power to regulate these things.
Marijuana laws should be set at the state, not federal, level, Reps. Ron Paul and Barney Frank argued in a bill they introduced Thursday. The goal of the bill, HR 2306, is not to legalize marijuana but to remove it from the list of federally controlled substances while allowing states to decide how they will regulate it.
But that's still a lot more libertarian than post-campaign Obama laughing at legalization advocates and sicking the DEA on medical marijuana dispensaries that are legal under state laws.
Meh, if you ask me they're all too far to the right and too authoritarian - but that is kinda why a crisis sucks, after all!
Last edited by JohnMc82; 04-19-2012 at 04:09 PM.
Those words, "temperate and moderate", are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
'82 - Once & always independent
I am in favor of drug decriminalization to put the drug cartels out of business.
-I am not a drug user ( other than coffee).
Drug decriminalisation: Blunt talk | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democ...riminalisation
..."Drug decriminalisation, in contrast, has been a success everywhere it has been implemented. At some point this has got to become a fully recognised fact of public discourse, and perhaps some time after that it will penetrate through to a policy level. Unfortunately, America's massive investments over the past 40 years in building up the machinery of the war on drugs have created powerful constituencies that have so far been effective in sabotaging moves in this direction."...
Oh, I had a very intense workout today -- pushups, squats, plank. I'll be popping that ibuprofin tonight and maybe tomorrow!
I want people to know that peace is possible even in this stupid day and age. Prem Rawat, June 8, 2008
PA is going to elect one Democratic and one Republican senator for some time. Toomey finally got up enough momentum to topple Specter, so Specter switched parties and then looked like an idiot and then immediately lost to Toomey.
Santorum lost to Casey, a pro-life Democrat, who is a legacy.
And Santorum lost because he's unable to even feign empathy with his voters.
To understand PA, it helps to have lived in PA.
It's not exactly like any other state.
I grew up in the "Alabama" part of PA.
The future always casts a shadow on the present.
The tea party is more economically rational than anything else. It exists because it is composed of the creditors of the government.
From David Goldman:
"In fact, the Tea Party is a triumph of economic rationality over lack of talent: its reason for being is so compelling and so clear that it has succeeded despite the silliness of some of its candidates. One top Republican pollster thinks that the "I am not a witch" message aired by losing Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell in Delware was the single worst piece of advertising in political history.
Elite commentators tend to dismiss the Tea Party as a mob of engaged boos. On the contrary, pollster Scott Rasmussen, reports, the Tea Partiers tend to be older than 45, married, wealthier and better educated than the general population, and concerned first of all with federal spending and deficits. The most important thing to know about such people is that there are more of them than ever before in American history.
Young families with small children borrow money from older people who have finished raising families. Most Americans begin adulthood heavily in debt and become lenders as they approach retirement. The changing proportions of young and old Americans has enormous bearing on political outcomes."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/LL07Aa01.html
The future always casts a shadow on the present.
Agreed, from someone who lives on the border between Pennsyltucky and Pennsylvania--they literally are two radically different states of mind. I've heard it alternatively called Pennsyltucky and Pennsylbama--Pennsylbama mostly on the web, and Pennsyltucky in "real life".
~Chas'88
"There have always been people who say: "The war will be over someday." I say there's no guarantee the war will ever be over. Naturally a brief intermission is conceivable. Maybe the war needs a breather, a war can even break its neck, so to speak. But the kings and emperors, not to mention the pope, will always come to its help in adversity. ON the whole, I'd say this war has very little to worry about, it'll live to a ripe old age."
Ironically I met more bigots in the Alabama part of PA, then here in NC.
Born in 1981 and INFJ Gen Yer
KKK meetings openly occur in the "Tucky" part of Pennsylvania. Not that people shouldn't be free to express their opinions, but they're open and active.
~Chas'88
"There have always been people who say: "The war will be over someday." I say there's no guarantee the war will ever be over. Naturally a brief intermission is conceivable. Maybe the war needs a breather, a war can even break its neck, so to speak. But the kings and emperors, not to mention the pope, will always come to its help in adversity. ON the whole, I'd say this war has very little to worry about, it'll live to a ripe old age."
According to Colin Woodard in American Nations, there are three nations within Pennsylvania: Yankeedom (Northern Tier), the Midlands (SE and along the Middle Tier), and Greater Appalachia (lower Central-SW). Pennsyltucky would primarily be associated with the Appalachian part of the state. Maybe even some of the counties just on the outside of its national boundaries could be considered Pennsyltucky.
Generation: Millennial (Gen Y)
The Poconos and surrounding environs are typically IMO just a more rural extension of the North Jersey/New York City Suburbs. However Philly has been slowly working at reclaiming that part of the state (starting with reclaiming Allentown).
~Chas'88
"There have always been people who say: "The war will be over someday." I say there's no guarantee the war will ever be over. Naturally a brief intermission is conceivable. Maybe the war needs a breather, a war can even break its neck, so to speak. But the kings and emperors, not to mention the pope, will always come to its help in adversity. ON the whole, I'd say this war has very little to worry about, it'll live to a ripe old age."
I grew up in this region, and I would sadly have to agree that it's home to some bigoted people. Further, where you find bigots in North Carolina probably depends on where you are looking.
Generation: Millennial (Gen Y)
Also recall that the South had a tradition of politeness. While the North has a tradition of inserting its foot into its mouth.
~Chas'88
"There have always been people who say: "The war will be over someday." I say there's no guarantee the war will ever be over. Naturally a brief intermission is conceivable. Maybe the war needs a breather, a war can even break its neck, so to speak. But the kings and emperors, not to mention the pope, will always come to its help in adversity. ON the whole, I'd say this war has very little to worry about, it'll live to a ripe old age."
Or to put it another way, the Political Compass "libertarian" is what the Nolan chart would call "social freedom" and what they call "right" is what the Nolan chart would call "economic freedom." On that basis, Ron Paul is right where he should be -- in the lower right quadrant, but much more right than lower.
On my own Political Archetype chart (there's an old thread), Paul is in the top of the chart, neither particularly left nor right. He favors concise rules (rather than comprehensive rules) and is neither deferent nor challenging to claims of authority. He leans a bit more to the right (slight bias toward deference to authority) though, so I would put him on the boundary between the true top and the upper right.
Last edited by Kurt Horner; 04-21-2012 at 06:03 PM.
