I'm watching from another country and what's happening in the US is absolutely terrifying. I'm watching the same progression that Germany went through in the 30's, right down to the brown shirt action with the proud boys, boogaloo boys and too many other conservative groups. The GOP is running on bare faced lies and they have created their own Suicide Spreaders to keep a worldwide pandemic going ina country with free access to vaccines.
If you're not scared 💩less about the elimination of voting in red States, again, you should be. This is right out of the fascists playbook, right down to the brown shirts threatening the few voters they allow.
Y'all have a choice, either the current Gov't rejects corporate cash and actually does something now or start practicing your Bellamy salute because "the new nazis" will have won and have the largest military ever assembled.
Well said all around. I'm 70. Grew up in South Philadelphia (a 2 streeter). My mom was a waitress at The Melrose most of my life. Neighbors used to have pride in their property, modest as it was, and watch out for each other and each other's children. But hopelessness and a loss of self-worth have made this a dog eat dog country. There has been no forward progress in decades. I fear we are becoming a society of 'every man for himself'. We are being broken into tribes, and it is absolutely intentional. I'm hanging onto hope that the young in this country and around the world will re-evaluate and work towards and kinder, gentler and more equitable civilization.
I absolutely agree. The far right and corporate moguls use morality as a tool for self interest. The corporations pad the pockets of willing politicians to enact laws that protect them and increase profits. The politicians use it to divide and conquer to amass power. I just read Wisconsin Senate to lower the work age to 14 to get more workers. Rather than increase hourly wages they can keep them low by employing kids to do the jobs. They'll use children to maintain and increase profits, they have no morality. Time to call them all out.
I have watched with dismay as the Right has corrupted the language we use t speak about this: ie, an immoral "Moral Majority", Insurrectionists calling themselves "Patriots", and on and on. Orwell and Huxley wrote metaphors to warn us about the corruption of language but we didn't listen. Now, when we need to fight back, our language, the tool we need to fight, has been perverted, corrupted.
When scuba divers forget which way is up, they die. That's how I feel about us right now. Which way indeed is up? I think I know, but the majority of my fellow citizens appear to be confused. Scuba divers just have to watch the bubbles to see which way is up to survive. But what if the bubbles can no longer be trusted ?
When it comes to commenting on the highest level of morality, we should listen to one of our founding fathers, Thomas Paine: "The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."
It's terrifying! Our lawmakers/representatives definably are not representing what the majority of Americans want...they are in politics for personal gain. I'm ashamed of my government.
The lack of public morality is not a new thing. It first had its major start back in 1981 when Reagan became president and became so popular with the white working class even though his tax cuts for the wealthy didn't help them and many of them are still convinced they did. It was back then the rich first started to get their stranglehold on the country and it has grown progressively worse. Now in the Democratic party they even have Manchin and Sinema to do their bidding.
I wholeheartedly agree, I was personally offended when in the past they pronounced their supposed moral majority sloganeering. In fact, whenever they would claim their moral majority I would think or say to myself "Who the hell are you to tell me I am not moral." Mind you pushing this supposed empty saying while doing all the things that you mentioned and more or worse. In fact the juxtaposition of these false moral majority stances were/are a mere smoke screen leading to why we are where we are at in our country today. Including the perversion of the constitutional separation of church and state leading to the inserection. While Phyllis Schaply was roaming all over the country/world asspousing her holier than thou talking points one of which was women staying home with family she herself was never home doing her little Miss homemaker schict but loved telling others how to be one. I saw right through their/her bogus proclamations and nobody tells me how to be a mother, if I chose to stay home or not or how to be a family especially since she was being promoted and well paid to push her/their agenda and I was changing diapers, getting spit up on, never getting any sleep and everything else that comes with rearing children and not getting paid. I've done both and believe me working outside the home is easier. Mind you I will not even begin to discuss how all their moral majority crap was also being spewd while Dennis Hastert was doing what he did and being covered up by the same GOP supposed moral majority party also or all of the other things done of which are to many to mention on this forum. My point being is that all their phony moral majority holier than thou is nothing more than smoke and mirrors propaganda and if you don't know that by now you never will. Please do so though and quickly because not only their continual moral b.s. but more importantly their policies will be even more harmful to yourselves and our country.
What has been done is amoral, unconstitutional/illegal, immoral. The biggest problem is allowing utterly unqualified/criminal people to be seated in congress. We will not make much progress unless we change our entire election system. And we must make federal election laws uniform across all states.
This is the danger of negotiating and trying to seek middle ground where there should be none. Compromising has turned into a word that means give-in to right wing support of the wealthy & corporate rule.
We have rot in congress, police forces, etc. It’s far harder to get them out than keep them out.
As a majority, the Dems keep losing presidential elections even though we win the popular vote.
We need a lot of changes, we cannot start this until we show the world people are going to be held accountable for these outrageous actions.
I don’t know that you can separate public and private morals. They seem to grow from each other. What needs to be separate are actual morals from the desire to control others. The anti abortion laws have nothing to do with a moral stance. Coming from a heavily Quaker background, I have had to deal with the issue of pacifism my whole life. A moral stance against abortion would include concern for the mother and baby, and would be part of a wider concern including opposition to war, the death penalty, etc. Singling out a desire to control women is not a moral stance, it is simply a desire to control.
The founding fathers must have had an inkling that public morality would be tested at the highest levels of state and national governance. They inserted Section 3 into the Fourteenth Amendment to the U S Constitution providing for lifetime bans from holding office for those found to be involved or supporting insurrection and rebellion.
The application of this punishment for ALL those proved to be part of the January 6, 2021 catastrophe at the U S Capitol should go a long way to encourage a return to public morality.
Agree. Additionally, recently, there was an article in the Washington Post about Trump supporters opposing Biden with vitriol and profound disrespect. There are also the enraged parents who disrupt school board meetings and threaten school board members and teachers with violence for just doing their jobs. In my state, they are egged on by our state attorney general. Trump and his enablers, along with social media, have made uncivil behavior, including violence and threats thereof acceptable to many. This is also immoral.
I'm watching from another country and what's happening in the US is absolutely terrifying. I'm watching the same progression that Germany went through in the 30's, right down to the brown shirt action with the proud boys, boogaloo boys and too many other conservative groups. The GOP is running on bare faced lies and they have created their own Suicide Spreaders to keep a worldwide pandemic going ina country with free access to vaccines.
If you're not scared 💩less about the elimination of voting in red States, again, you should be. This is right out of the fascists playbook, right down to the brown shirts threatening the few voters they allow.
Y'all have a choice, either the current Gov't rejects corporate cash and actually does something now or start practicing your Bellamy salute because "the new nazis" will have won and have the largest military ever assembled.
We know how that played out in Europe. 😬
Well said all around. I'm 70. Grew up in South Philadelphia (a 2 streeter). My mom was a waitress at The Melrose most of my life. Neighbors used to have pride in their property, modest as it was, and watch out for each other and each other's children. But hopelessness and a loss of self-worth have made this a dog eat dog country. There has been no forward progress in decades. I fear we are becoming a society of 'every man for himself'. We are being broken into tribes, and it is absolutely intentional. I'm hanging onto hope that the young in this country and around the world will re-evaluate and work towards and kinder, gentler and more equitable civilization.
I absolutely agree. The far right and corporate moguls use morality as a tool for self interest. The corporations pad the pockets of willing politicians to enact laws that protect them and increase profits. The politicians use it to divide and conquer to amass power. I just read Wisconsin Senate to lower the work age to 14 to get more workers. Rather than increase hourly wages they can keep them low by employing kids to do the jobs. They'll use children to maintain and increase profits, they have no morality. Time to call them all out.
I have watched with dismay as the Right has corrupted the language we use t speak about this: ie, an immoral "Moral Majority", Insurrectionists calling themselves "Patriots", and on and on. Orwell and Huxley wrote metaphors to warn us about the corruption of language but we didn't listen. Now, when we need to fight back, our language, the tool we need to fight, has been perverted, corrupted.
When scuba divers forget which way is up, they die. That's how I feel about us right now. Which way indeed is up? I think I know, but the majority of my fellow citizens appear to be confused. Scuba divers just have to watch the bubbles to see which way is up to survive. But what if the bubbles can no longer be trusted ?
When it comes to commenting on the highest level of morality, we should listen to one of our founding fathers, Thomas Paine: "The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."
Thank you for the succinct message, today. One letter at a time, I am working on taking my life back. I will do what I can for democracy.
It's terrifying! Our lawmakers/representatives definably are not representing what the majority of Americans want...they are in politics for personal gain. I'm ashamed of my government.
The lack of public morality is not a new thing. It first had its major start back in 1981 when Reagan became president and became so popular with the white working class even though his tax cuts for the wealthy didn't help them and many of them are still convinced they did. It was back then the rich first started to get their stranglehold on the country and it has grown progressively worse. Now in the Democratic party they even have Manchin and Sinema to do their bidding.
Well done, Mr. Reich.
Believe me, this topic also concerns European communities and certain officials of European countries.
I wholeheartedly agree, I was personally offended when in the past they pronounced their supposed moral majority sloganeering. In fact, whenever they would claim their moral majority I would think or say to myself "Who the hell are you to tell me I am not moral." Mind you pushing this supposed empty saying while doing all the things that you mentioned and more or worse. In fact the juxtaposition of these false moral majority stances were/are a mere smoke screen leading to why we are where we are at in our country today. Including the perversion of the constitutional separation of church and state leading to the inserection. While Phyllis Schaply was roaming all over the country/world asspousing her holier than thou talking points one of which was women staying home with family she herself was never home doing her little Miss homemaker schict but loved telling others how to be one. I saw right through their/her bogus proclamations and nobody tells me how to be a mother, if I chose to stay home or not or how to be a family especially since she was being promoted and well paid to push her/their agenda and I was changing diapers, getting spit up on, never getting any sleep and everything else that comes with rearing children and not getting paid. I've done both and believe me working outside the home is easier. Mind you I will not even begin to discuss how all their moral majority crap was also being spewd while Dennis Hastert was doing what he did and being covered up by the same GOP supposed moral majority party also or all of the other things done of which are to many to mention on this forum. My point being is that all their phony moral majority holier than thou is nothing more than smoke and mirrors propaganda and if you don't know that by now you never will. Please do so though and quickly because not only their continual moral b.s. but more importantly their policies will be even more harmful to yourselves and our country.
What has been done is amoral, unconstitutional/illegal, immoral. The biggest problem is allowing utterly unqualified/criminal people to be seated in congress. We will not make much progress unless we change our entire election system. And we must make federal election laws uniform across all states.
This is the danger of negotiating and trying to seek middle ground where there should be none. Compromising has turned into a word that means give-in to right wing support of the wealthy & corporate rule.
We have rot in congress, police forces, etc. It’s far harder to get them out than keep them out.
As a majority, the Dems keep losing presidential elections even though we win the popular vote.
We need a lot of changes, we cannot start this until we show the world people are going to be held accountable for these outrageous actions.
In the current state of noise on the internet - I feel powerless and insignificant.
I don’t know that you can separate public and private morals. They seem to grow from each other. What needs to be separate are actual morals from the desire to control others. The anti abortion laws have nothing to do with a moral stance. Coming from a heavily Quaker background, I have had to deal with the issue of pacifism my whole life. A moral stance against abortion would include concern for the mother and baby, and would be part of a wider concern including opposition to war, the death penalty, etc. Singling out a desire to control women is not a moral stance, it is simply a desire to control.
The founding fathers must have had an inkling that public morality would be tested at the highest levels of state and national governance. They inserted Section 3 into the Fourteenth Amendment to the U S Constitution providing for lifetime bans from holding office for those found to be involved or supporting insurrection and rebellion.
The application of this punishment for ALL those proved to be part of the January 6, 2021 catastrophe at the U S Capitol should go a long way to encourage a return to public morality.
Agree. Additionally, recently, there was an article in the Washington Post about Trump supporters opposing Biden with vitriol and profound disrespect. There are also the enraged parents who disrupt school board meetings and threaten school board members and teachers with violence for just doing their jobs. In my state, they are egged on by our state attorney general. Trump and his enablers, along with social media, have made uncivil behavior, including violence and threats thereof acceptable to many. This is also immoral.
I only hope that discussion of public policy in moral terms leads to more USians recognizing how horrific GOP aims and means and techniques are. :(