As a result of participating in this forum, I've become persuaded that The Constitution needs amended to:
1. establish federal primacy in the conduct of federal elections, that is, de-fang the 10th amendment concerning the conduct of federal elections,
2. abolish the electoral college,
3. provide for run-offs in presidential and senatorial elections to accommodate 3rd party bids - that is - dismantling the 2 party system in federal elections, and
4. move to proportional representation
I ALMOST FORGOT to include:
5. establish by constitutional law that private money or services - for instance, exclusive private sector media "town hall" broadcasts for a particular candidate - is bribery,
6. establish an election fund taken as a percentage of federal tax revenue, to be distributed equally among federal candidates.
7. establish by constitutional law that any federal elected official can be prosecuted as they serve, and
8. establish by constitutional law that no >convicted< felon may hold or serve in a federal elected office.
AS SUGGESTED IN A REPLY:
9. establish a "campaign season" limited to 60 days for any federal office.
The connection with why so many voters are attracted to maniacs is the idea of taking the phenomenon as a given while "diluting" and undermining its propagation and influence on election outcomes - at least at the federal level. That's so states that have managed to gerrymander nut-jobs into office at the state level can be circumvented at the federal level.
10) Send ALL criminal politicians to a FEDERAL BLUE COLLAR PRISON. Do you think most would commit crimes if the knew "Big Bubba" was going to use them as a chewtoy when they get caught? . . . Bunkerboy would, but I think most would not.
Totally agree...it's wrong to allow 'white collar' criminals (like Manafort and his ilk) to go to a country club while most criminals became nothing more than a 'product' cash crop that enriches private 'for profit' prison corporations. Equal justice under the law.
In point of fact, NO "blue collar serial killer" has ruined even CLOSE to as many lives as the white collar ones! I get "This Day in History" in my daily inbox, and I think the most kills attributed to someone was roughly 26.
How many died from lack of affordable healthcare due to rightwing lobbying? Roughly one hundred MILLION Americans???
See item #5 " private money or services . . . is bribery. That would open up legislation to do just that. That's the point of item 5. You don't need an amendment to specify the penalties when legislation can do the job more precisely. That's what I think some people here don't get about amendments.
IMHO corporations are nothing more than legalized irresponsibility: protecting corps from accountability for the consequences of poor decisions and actions while they shift the burden for harms done to others [usually government] and simultaneously bleeding communities dry of all assets, wealth, and benefits. They're basically leeches upon society, especially at those at the top. They've basically replaced the monarchs and royalty of bygone centuries; the imperial powers of today. Amoral, often immoral, and usually without conscience.
Yeah! The final holdover of that policy is the charitable {tax exempt} corporation that supposedly still has to show a public benefit to deserve a tax exemption. That’s going the way of the dinosaur, too, if you notice. Those political tax exempt organizations that are allowed to collect unlimited money, exempt not only from taxes but also from revealing their donor base, required to perform a public service with their activities but prohibited from actively coordinating programs with any official campaign for a particular entity…. Oh! Ha ha ha. None of that is actually in place. 501(c)4s get to do anything they want, including raise money on false premises and promises and spend it any old way they like. Hooo-haaa. Let’s get real people. Money talks. Absolutely everything else walks.
It’s probably off the topic, but thinking about this erosion of the obligation to show a public benefit that was required for someone to earn the right to incorporate and be protected from a great many jeopardies in business — I remember when TV and radio, too, were required to earn their right to license public airwaves [frequencies for transmitting], and cable companies financed local access stations in return for the use of public infrastructure on which they ran their wiring. Ostensibly, these licenses and uses are still in play, but they are disappearing, too.
Providing a public benefit to use public resources is what lead to so many daytime kid’s shows back in the early days of TV, especially those aimed at being educational. And every evening, we had at least fifteen minutes of news programming, sans advertising. Then the networks turned the news into a profit center, and it became entertainment … And that whole “public good” idea went away — quaint idea, that, thinking the public had a right benefit when somebody used up the commons that way.
People don’t know what you mean when you talk about “the commons” anymore. They don’t know what it is, and they don’t know that they should protect it. They think protecting what the people own, like parklands and waterways and airwaves … They think that is “the government” restricting business, or pushing people around [remember the Bundy’s using public land to graze their cattle?].
But protecting the commons — including natural resources — is US using law and the government to protect what belongs to all of us.
People don’t know that. And it goes away. We never get it back.
Right there with you! It's these same groups that doing their best to destroy LGBT rights in Uganda and other AF nations right now. These folks have no right to tax breaks IMHO!
Do you really think that's what the Dutch East India Company did? Those with money and clout got granted land, sometimes as much as an entire state. The poor and needy? They got to be bondspersons - or in the colonizing of Australia - prisoners. And of course eventually they also had slaves, just like I.G. Farben, the last drug cartel created less than 100 years ago in Germany, which many American industrialists (and fathers of presidents) were also criminally involved in. Are there any corporatists, industrialists who would turn down slave labor if they could get it? When do we get to say that great wealth in any era is a sign of mental illness?
Sounds like we all agree with the basic ideas of that RFK Jr is pulling for. The difference is he's willing to speak this to people who don't agree with him. He's been holding corporations accountable for 40 years. He's not against safe vaccines, just sloppy or untested vaccines or proven unsafe ones. He knows how all our federal regulating agencies are guided by the industries they were supposed to regulate based on documented proof and will take them on.
It would be like catching nothing. Corporations do not exist a a person. That is a figment of a demented politician's imagination. Only an idiot would claim that a corporation has person-hood.
I think the Supremes have said that corporations have more rights than humans. The corp. is immortal and has immunity to the consequences we humans face.
No public office for private gain, meaning ethics laws with real teeth spelling out disclosure and recusal requirements, including non-monetary personal interests. And by teeth I mean up to and including forfeiture of office.
We're reaping what we have sown. We've been taught to be consumers and voyeurs, including in entertainment, while we sit passively and watch. Time to turn this around. Get involved in our lives, communities, governing, and making the world a better place. Let's turn the 'cults of celebrity' into 'principles over personalities'!
Yes. We have a hobby farm where we can grow our own industrial hemp and sainfoin pasture with grass. Hemp is the true green movement when it becomes legal at the federal level.
by the way, this wannabe is suing DailyKos, a progressive website, for reporting on several of the things that Dr. Reich mentioned in his article today. All they did was report his words and actions - no accusations were made.
Laurie, it seems like the greedheads are rapidly taking over. I’ve lived in the East Bay Area most of my life and, probably due to the pandemic, many of my favorite small stores and restaurants have closed. (Including my favorite consignment clothing store-sob.) The next thing I know, POOF! There’s a new Target or Walgreens or Starbucks or franchise business of one sort or another in its place.
The effing Kardashians (or any other useless 'influencer') could probably win on that if they ever decided to run in this totally effed up 'populist' land.
Open Primaries with Rank Choice Voting will give voters back their voice. This process allows for ALL voters to vote in primary elections and opens the second round to three candidates, or more. Some good amendments. Hope we can get a Congress and Senate in that would consider these.
I think that would be worth its own amendment, riding alongside language requiring, or at least permitting a legislated code of ethics for the SCOTUS if necessary. Bring them under the same purview as all other federal justices - not permitting them to pose as some half-assed, allegedly self-regulating judicial nobility. The way it stands, the checks and balances upon which the federal government is required to operate appears not to apply the SCOTUS, while the Senate should be able to veto presidential pardons to some extent, and sustained in the House. Yep! That's a whole 'nother amendment's worth!
But you forgot one thing on your amendments. Limit the amount of time that election campaigning can sicken the American public. How about a 60 day maximum window for campaigning for any public office ,period.
I would add that any candidate with an adequate number of signature insuring that he or she is a serious candidate get the right to free political adds in newspapers, social media , radio and television. After all, who owns the airwaves? WE DO!! Anyone using them has to be federally licensed. So make the users of these airwaves give free ad time to viable candidates. Corporate America will raise holy hell over this because they own the legacy media and now much of social media as well. And they charge obscene amounts for ads precisely so our politicians have to turn to Corporate America for the millions it takes to get and to stay in office. So guess who pour politicians have to keep happy! Corporate America! The game is rigged in front of our eyes and we do nothing about it.
Twenty states have approved holding a Constitutional Convention to amend the Constitution to fix the problems with our government. Your ideas should definitely be considered. Still need 14 more states to approve, but the process is well underway.
“Fix the problems with our government” means one thing to the right wing, and something different to people who want the government to support a level playing field and votes for people, not corporations.
I'd worry about how a Constitutional Convention would turn out in the current climate. I've changed my views on things like the electoral college, but not on a Constitutional Convention - for at least a generation. Can you imagine the kind of damage a delegation of MAGAts who have bullied their way into the convention would wreak on the proceedings? Can you imagine the kind of abomination such a delegation's influence would produce? I don't think we can possibly move forward until the MAGAts are relegated to the same dustheap as the "know nothings."
So tell me how the blue states are any better than the red states? I've never voted for a republican in my life - and I'm pretty old. I used to vote for democrats - the ones known as "the people's party" - of course, that was after they had been the party of Jim Crow. I used to vote, I thought, for the party that supported unions, worker's rights, fought against agencies like HUAC. A long time ago, that party really ceased to exist and we had instead political opportunists like Clinton who pretty much destroyed our free press and then Obama who worked to silence the people and had no moral qualms about executing those he considered enemies - enemies of what and who - well, I'd say basically the ruling class. Sold out to Big Pharma and went after whistleblowers for exposing gov't crime - including Assange. The turnabout of dem voters was so sudden, I felt like the girl in The Exorcist - my head couldn't stop spinning it was so fast that the "left" went from being a progressive movement in support of the working class to what can only be described as a fascist network, completely erasing the advances made by women over the last 50 years, releasing the hounds of hell on anyone who dared to disagree with the elitist agenda while the ones fighting the elitist agenda turned out to be the republicans. And then of course, this business of dismissing as "crackpots" anyone who dares to disagree, talking about "disinformation", meaning opinions not part of the indoctrination. And of course the right, who I now find myself in agreement with on both the war being conducted against women and the jab that' we're the guinea pigs to determine it's safety and efficacy for which it fails on both counts. The right wants to control medical decisions for women, but unlike the dems, at least they acknowledge that we exist. So I personally am done with both right wing parties. We need a revolution of consciousness - we need a population that actually hears what others have to say and acknowledges that disagreement does not make each side a "crackpot" to the other side, wo sides with no capacity to understand the actual meaning of the word "democracy", or the ability to comprehend that there's something beyond the two sides of the capitalist part. We need an evolution of consciousness. Then we need a revolution.
They would definitely have state legislaturees deciding president. The state legislators would continue gerrymandering, which would again increase the power of state legislators, and so on, til there was no such thing eventually as a meaningful vote, and so on
How about setting a limit on the necessary approval percent for Judges? At 50% the judicial system is subject to being influenced by politics. The only reason not to raise it is that judges would not be approved by one party or the other.
If that doesn't work, maybe a rule that 50% of the judges must be appointed by each party?
I mentioned something like that in a previous discussion. Keep in mind that the point of the lifetime appointments was to keep SCOTUS justices above politics. I think this is a knotty problem that needs much more consideration. However, this is a place to start the discussion.
Hi Bill - good to see you on this thread. I offered a comment above that may not be well received by fans of Dr. Reich, but I was called to speak my truth. The COVID moment could have been an initiation into a more evolved consciousness about authoritarian systems, yet fear is ushering in an age where corporate occupation of the public sector is so normalized it's indistinguishable from "democracy." The regulatory capture of public health agencies by the pharmaceuticals will be ignored at our peril, because the Davos class will manipulate the fear into a totalitarian digital nightmare.
Hi Thomas — nice to hear from you again too! I couldn’t find your earlier “controversial” comment but, responding to this one …
I tend to cut CDC/Fauci/et.al. a little slack since they were pressured to do something quickly to respond to a crisis that was apparently killing thousands per day. That’s bound to have missteps, but the image by some of jackbooted stormtroopers holding citizens down and forcibly vaccinating them on the government’s orders seems an overreaction.
But as to the larger issue, I always go back to blaming capitalism — especially in its final death-throe stage where profit and ever-increasing wealth for the few effectively eclipses all other considerations. (Even decades ago, it struck me that the medical industry’s worst nightmare is a healthy population.) That’s when Mussolini’s fascism definition (marriage of state and corporate power) seems to come into play.
After all the iterations of my activist philosophy, I’ve concluded that the solution is really pretty simple: tax away excessive public and private wealth on a progressive basis. (It’s not spite — there are sound economic reasons for doing so.) 95% of human-caused evil seems to tie back to some person or group trying to hoard wealth beyond all need or reason. Remove the incentive to be a bad actor and I suspect we could make a literal heaven of earth.
It's kind of you to cut some slack to public health bureaucrats with massive budgets. In Dr. Fauci's case, I think the personal animus toward him in RFK Jr.'s book was a big mistake. The two men have history that goes back decades, and neither of them has freed himself from the mentality of war and "defeating the enemy." Yet a podcast Charles Eisenstein had with RFK Jr. a couple of weeks ago suggests a softening in the personal attacks and en emerging embrace of situationism and unity.
I'm a situationist myself - I think the effects of acculturation are far more powerful than most people are ready to consider. To judge another person is to say that, "If I were born with your abilities and lived your experiences, I would do better." I've come to call this stance into serious doubt. Still, when more than $1.4 billion of a public health agency's budget goes to "gain of function" research (bioweapons), what is the true nature of our culture's sense of "public health?" Many red flags populate the landscape of the US response to Covid, and now that public health matters fall neatly along political party lines, authoritarianism is wringing its hands with glee.
I admire your idealism, Bill, and want to share it. Yet the accelerating occupation of the US government by a 1% factor of global private equity investors, board members and executives calls me to place my attention and trust on a massive shift in human consciousness, and the capacity of humans to inhabit a shared sense of solidarity and say "No" in unison. That's simple, too — it just requires more people to practice and reinforce the consciousness of Interbeing in greater numbers.
For me, optimism comes from recognition that there is a matrix of causality that doesn't operate by force. The power of the mind — as underrated as situationism — far eclipses the power dreams of a "dead world" mentality. Nature bats last.
Yes, when the stakes are high and consequences have such a global impact, it's often hard not to let extreme emotion overwhelm the response. (I have to rein it in myself on a regular basis.) Hopefully Charles can bring benign focus to the RFK effort.
But I think we are on parallel paths. It’s just that I try to follow the Bucky Fuller admonition not to waste too much energy resisting the reigning paradigm. (I thought the “Resist” meme during the Trump years was a misguided organizing principle. It widened the divide, implying a more powerful “enemy” who must be fought against.) I routinely delete without reading progressive e-mails urging me to help “fight” for this or that cause — however worthy. It’s just the wrong energy, and plays into the hands of those (on both sides) who benefit by the current paradigm.
The second half of the Fuller remark is about building the new model that renders the old obsolete. That’s where I’d hope we could put 95% of our energy. Both Charles and RFK Jr resonate with the more “beautiful world that we know is possible” concept. Let’s begin crafting that vision.
A key aspect of that would be a system in which the fundamental aspects of living do not need to be monetized and transacted (and thereby controlled). We need no longer live in the world of scarcity which necessitated that. A good start on that vision might be contained In Mathew Holten’s recent book “Moneyless Society” (… and Facebook group of the same name).
I found out Fauci was the one who messed up when AIDS came about, something about it being a gay disease or particularly virulent, resulting in lack of support and isolation for victims or funding for treatment. I never knew Fauci's name though, at the time.
Thanks for that. The snag is that I've spent a lifetime running >from< office! LOL! Besides, I'm just an armchair amateur pundit hoping I have something of value to say that will be put to good use in the right hands.
In Canada, we have a few of these policies in place already, such as election funding rules and the approx. 60-day limit for campaigns. They make Canadian elections almost sleep-inducing compared to any in the USA, but people still do come out and vote. Our advance polls for elections are nearly as popular as yours!
Agree with most, except for: the electoral college was instituted to allow for equal representation for lesser populated states. Third parties have diluted elections in the past. Remember what happened when Ralph Nader ran against Bush and Gore? Prosecuting an official while they serve, will throw those offices into disarray and paralysis, and won't be of any help to their constituients --- however, pressuring them out of office like Gov. Cuomo was is a good way to get rid of bad apples.
That's the point of abolishing the 2 party system with a proportional system in Congressional elections, and runoff elections where there's no clear winner who garners over 50% of the votes cast in presidential elections, along with establishing ranked choice voting - which I didn't mention on my list because I couldn't think of what it was called until prompted later.
As far as the electoral college is concerned, I don't buy the alleged original thinking. Consider the states whose total population was mostly counted as 3/5 of a person and where most of the land mass was dedicated to vast plantations. >That's< who the electoral college was meant to serve. States with an already low, and still undercounted population and waaaay fewer >qualified< white, land owning, male voters - i.e. the equivalent of today's billionaires who >owned< most of those waaay low >voting< population states (including >all< the undercounted part of the population, as well!), who later became the Confederacy. For example, according to a historian I knew and worked with in Virginia - a U of VA history grad - apparently the Lee plantation once extended all the way across NoVA to the Ohio territory. It's plausible, since the part that became W VA became a Union state - they seceded from VA - in the Civil War. Whether or not that's all true, I'll buy that it extended all the way across the No Va to at least >Leesburg!< Check out the distance from Arlington VA to Leesburg VA on a map, for example, and consider the quantity of landmass involved. It's effectively the whole of Northern Virginia. The electoral college >wasn't< particularly established for the benefit of Delaware and New England!
Yes, rank choice voting is a consideration. However, what happens if the country, as a whole, starts to skew towards a political point-of-view that may not be the best for the country/global community (think Nazi Germany, with all the brainwashing that went on after what transpired after WWI). Look at how social media is presently being used to manipulate the masses into destroying corporate profit by people who don't agree with a company's stance. It's people with buying power, and the ability to pull their support by selling their stocks, who now have the power to pressure a company to do their bidding.
You might as well be asking "What happens to the country as a whole if one party goes fascist, manipulates voting laws to wrest and maintain control of states, >>>decides it has the power to approve its own slate of electors,<<< stacks the SCOTUS to legitimate their views, turns public media platforms into a brainwashing machine, then nullifies the Constitution outright?" We're not talking about Nazi Germany, here! Talk about skewing to a political view that's not best for the country/global community! Capishe?
BTW: That's what vice presidents are for - taking over for when for some reason the president is unable to serve. That's the 25th Amendment. That's why I don't buy the "throw those offices into disarray and paralysis" apologetic.
The problem with that is that we may be at the mercy of someone who is a lame duck vice president or worse. Most people see the VP as being part of a package deal. Why castigate the public with someone who is a smooth talking fanatic or someone who allegedly has been involved in questionable activities? However, yes, the 25th Amendment is such, and so perhaps an undesirable VP may manage to keep things together until the next election. If not, there is always the Speaker of the House....we survived Nixon and the aftermath of Agnew and Ford. So, there's that....
Because people are under educated, lack critical skills. If you notice these people are mostly seniors and younger men who for some reason want to go back to the 50's. Also they are from rural areas where industry has died. They are tunnel visioned and only have one track minds. They have been born and raised in a town, small city so because they never really left it they have no experience in how the US has changed. Now when they see it it's not their America. These maniacs step in and tell them what they want to hear. You can't stop progress and you can't turn back the hands of time. Junior could have done so much good with that name. He tarnishes that name and would be a big disappointment to his father and uncle. He's also not a Democrat and should be running in the Republican party. As for trump it's a cult but basically with the same people that would vote for Jr.
Alexis, please reevaluate your position on seniors! Many of my friends 60 and older have college educations the minimum being a bachelors degree. We live through the 50s we have no desire to return to that time frame. That was still the time of duck and cover so I remember as a child doing duck and cover under our chairs. We have not always stayed in the same town so we were live facing. We moved around the country observe the changes that were going on and when we were not happy about the changes we saw verbalized our complaint (consider trump). So, please think before you speak/spread inaccurate information!
Yes, and we remember what things were like pre-Roe, the treatment of anyone not a white, Protestant (for the most part), able-bodied male, etc. We are painfully aware of the myths about Happy Valley!
Alexis is correct in that of Americans over 65, 49% of them voted Republican and 48% voted Democrat in the last presidential election. Forty nine percent of seniors ARE part of the problem. I am one so it pains me to say that it is MY generation that is mucking it all up; throwing their money into the trump pot, complaining about Biden without any factual base or true comprehension of all he has accomplished, whining about immigrants and the “chaotic” border or just generally deeply dissatisfied with just about everything. Forty nine percent of us are a bitter, spoiled lot and I observe in dismay (these are well appointed boomers who have a comfortable retirement AND education) their stubborn, arrogant and self involved attitudes. The younger generations are giving up on us and waiting for us to die; move on old, unproductive, opinionated fogies. Who can blame them?
So what is the problem? We're not voting the way you want us to? It seems to me that for many people Trump has taken on the mantel of Emmanuel Goldsteing in 1984. We have WEF and WHO just waiting to spring their conspiracy FACT on us and all our attention is focused on someone with no power? I suspect that many people voted for him basically because he WASN'T a politician and they rightly realized that none of the politicians represent the interest of the people. Their souls are already bought and paid for by the corporations and billionaires. Trump managed to convince them, despite his claim to billionaire status, that he was one of them. Ludicrous for sure, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. When a people live with an "either/or" mentality they assume not liking one side of the capitalist party means you like the other. Trump is a vulgarian, but Biden is a snake and as Ralph Nader said "The lesser of two evils is still evil". I'm just not sure which one of them is the lesser evil. If you can't figure out why
Biden is a snake, you must be oblivious of his vile 40 year record. As Mark Twin said so long ago "If voting really made a difference, it would be made illegal". Sorry to disappoint your expectations, but I voted for neither. A saying so common in the mid-20th century I can still remember it: "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Now replaced with "If I disagree with what you say, I will do everything I can to censor your right to speak and belittle your motives."
When you throw out that Biden is a snake you're should have sources and facts to back that up. You just throwing things out to see if they stick. So because you don't deal in facts I'll present them to you of what Biden has achieved.
1. The American Rescue Plan in response to COVID-19
2. A bipartisan infrastructure bill
3.The first major gun-safety bill in decades
4. Building semiconductors at home through the CHIPS Act
5.The Inflation Reduction Act
6. Support for Ukraine's defense against a Russian invasion
7. 11 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office – including 750,000 manufacturing jobs. The unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, and a record number of small businesses have started since President Biden took office.
That's only a few accomplishments and not the most current ones. of his presidency . You are pitifully ignorant. So I'll ask you again. Why is Biden a snake?
I also looked up his achievements in the 47 years he's been a politician. The good he did outweighs the mistakes he. Just remember that many politicians voted for the same mistakes he made and at the time these were thought of as the right thing to do. You actually sound like a trump follower, Now for my sources I'm hoping for the links you actually get them and read them. I have many more. Next time you write a comment make sure you have sources not just innuendo
I have no expectations. People are who they are. You have every right to your opinion as do I. What I do have is absolutely no time for disjointed accusations, preposterous and far flung comparisons to trump or manufactured crisis.
I am an old fart myself. Screw the young people. I lived my life. I was young. I went to Vietnam as a 19 year old. I did my bit. I was too busy just trying to earn a living to save the world. Let them save it.
Thank you for your service. I watched my cousins get called up to Vietnam, one giving his life while his wife carried their first child. It sounds like you are ready to pass the baton. However, we do a disservice to our youth if we do not graciously prepare/guide them along the way. Part of human purpose is to pave the way for the best future possible; not hand over the reins after defecating on it all.
Maureen....We are handing them a real mess just like my elders passed me a mess. My government defecated on my entire family. I lived in poverty growing up. What do I owe the upcoming generation? They would not even listen to me if I had something profound to say to them which I don't.
Great question except there is no “correcting” half of the baby boomers’ behavior. The forty eight percent of us left need to remain diligent, awake (yes I’m woke) and model what it looks like to be resilient, tolerant, lovers of diversity, warriors for the less fortunate, seekers of equality for all, protectors of children our most precious resource, defenders of our planet, critically discerning in our research/info gathering, proud participants in our civic responsibilities, proponents of a free and financially supported public education and staunch advocates for our constitutional rights. I write a lot encouraging politicians, hard working teachers, brave activists taking a stand, companies who honor individual rights, those working for the common good, writers/journalists who print the truth and young people questioning everything. Lots to do Katherine. Join me.
(ie. exceptionalism, socialism, magic of the marketplace, confederate monuments, reagan revolution, voter fraud) - [READ: Myth America ed. by Kruse/Zelizer]
...that we need to do the difficult work of "looking in the mirror" to confront
the FANTASIES that have become the "culture wars" of (so called) "christian" nationalists!
David, yes, we do seem to cling to the myths of life even in the face of the truth. Scary because it means all one needs is a media megaphone and one can sell nearly anything to the American people, or at least a significant portion of us.
Why I cringe whenever I hear Biden, or any other 'centrist/bipartisan' Dem pol claim that the American people are "not stupid, and can figure out and see things for what they actually are".
David, the American people are not stupid. Overworked, over-stimulated, over-committed, overwhelmed, underestimated, undervalued, under-informed would be more accurate. Our social media, run, of course by mostly rich white men who have an agenda of power, accumulation, and abuse are partly at fault, but so are employers who underpay and under-appreciate the workers and state governments that deliberately keep them in need. The very rich are doing just fine because they have milked nearly everything they can get from the poor and working-class people. They have been permitted to do that nearly with impunity: pay-day lenders, cutting federal assistance programs, not financing work training programs, charging higher prices than is warranted, regressive sales taxes, etc. It seems to me that when a group of mostly white people are being told they are about to be replaced by THOSE people, and noticing the massive changes that are overtaking them, on top of all the other challenges they face, I am amazed that more of them are not trying to grasp at things we know are untrue, harmful, and even self-defeating. It works for a lot of people to put down the Trumpers and Trumpettes, but right now, they feel that Trump, child-man that he is, is all they have. They like the rah rah, the insults, and ignore the blatant lies (they have learned over time that those who are loudest and most insulting must be strong, real men (a lie of course, but they can't bear to take time to reason that out. They might see the lies and can't afford to acknowledge that). It seems to me one way to address this very real problem is to keep doing things to help make life better for those people: make sure their roads are usable, they have clean water, affordable electricity and broadband, their children can attend good clean, well-staffed schools, their local newspapers still operate to bring them honest news of local events and people, they have a hospital closer than 100 miles from their home, and they can afford life's basics. Then it must be made clear over and over in case they miss it the first, second, and third times, who it is that has helped them get those things. It is worth a try for reaching these people because what has been going on clearly has not worked, and we all know what it is to keep doing the same things over and over expecting a different outcome.
I like the respectful sensibilities of your post, Ruth. From March of 2020, I became more afraid of the polarization than I was of contracting COVID, and I'm a 71-year old male with asthma.
By then it is WAY WAY WAY too late, especially since as I always hear "They (the fascists) have ALL of the gunz."
I hate using the verb/adverb/whatever and playing into the hands of Il DOUCHEBAG Mussolini wannabe DeSatan and his war on WOKE! WOKE! WOKE! WOKE!, etc., ad nauseum, but yeah, those "Americans" who still desire democracy over autocratic despotism had better effing WAKE UP, 'right quick'. ;)
Many people are not given much chance because of their environment, and we help no one. It has little to do with actual intelligence. It is more about parenting, economic factors, and why the rich stay rich as they have power.
Alexis, I believe you are right about the less-well educated small town and rural folks supporting the crack pots. I find it interesting that while they were working in those plants, their health was not great, their family members who worked in those factories, often died within a couple of years of age 65 retirement, and ended up with terrible pollution over which they had no control, still long for those days. I understand that the jobs paid well, but not well enough in my view to make up for the pain and suffering, but I guess we can tell ourselves anything and believe it if we color it brightly enough with the lies we tell ourselves. The folks who are drawn to the crackpots are hoping the crap they are selling could be real and that it really is THOSE OTHER PEOPLE who are causing their discontent: immigrants, migrants at the border, women wanting abortions, people who don't speak English as well as they do, folks pushing vaccines, LGBTQ people who are grooming our kids, and the rest, and if those people were gone, everything would be fine again. They don't even need evidence beyond the words of the crackpot to prove their feelings are right. I saw some of this in a town near mine when a huge steel mill closed down and moved elsewhere. Things have improved in the past 50 years for them, but they still long fondly for their days in the dirt, heat, and almost complete whiteness of the old plant. Those folks mostly vote Democratic, but would they turn to an RFKennedy, Jr.? I don't know.
Alexis, Please reconsider your comments about seniors. We lived through the 50's and have no desire to return to that time. Many of my friends age 60 and older are college educated with a minimum of a bachelors degree. We may have been born in small towns but we were employed by organizations that required our skill sets and moved around the country and out of CONUS in many cases. We watched the changes our country went through and have been very verbal concerning changes for the worst, (consider trump!) I agree that Junior could have chosen a different path but he did not. What can we do to change his perspective on politics? Do you have any suggestions?
Laurie, yes, isn't it disgusting that our media pumps candidates up, even candidates totally unfit for office as though they really have this nation's people at heart. They are working hard to do it for Ron DeSantis, an unpleasant, mean-spirited self-promoting, everyone but him hating jerk. They are pushing Chris Christie who is sort of doing a mea culpa, "humbly" blaming himself for hiring the "Bridge Gate" perpetrators (when, I suspect he nudged them into doing the job - I guess he paid them enough to make up for their public shame and pain). Then there's Pence and the rest of the Republican field, none of whom have any positive proposals for this nation's future. I suspect the rabid base will go for whoever is the most "out there" with their ideas, their hatred of Republican-targeted groups, and their hooded racism, misogyny, and craving their fix of money and power. The media loves this as though they are the orchestrators of the election. I don't see what the media's end game is. Maybe it's just the doing that counts for them as they tell themselves they are just "covering the election." "Rubbish!" as Prof. Reich would say.
I had to deal with that shit filled beach ball the last time I lived in Joyzee (before being back now), and it was a horror show.
That 'Saint Ronnie' RayGun style rightwing ARROGANCE and pomposity was ALL that smug f**k was about!
He could be dangerous IF he was actually electable by the Q'aNAZI base, since he does have at least a slight bit more intellect than the SCUMp SHITler he now 'flip-floppedly' claims to despise.
The SCUMP SHITler loathes bright blue areas (like most of Joyzee) soooo much now it makes me wonder if it will ever sell it's whole Bedminster course and compound to stay 100% of the time in mostly fascist Florida.
Most likely not, since now it will be able to host top level tournaments there (to partially satiate it's Universe sized megalomaniacal EGO with it's putrid name on it) since his Saudi pals now are part share owners of the unified, total SELL OUT PGA. :(
Amen and The Noise from the crackpots should be muted, not enhanced by Oan, Fox, etc. etc.
Having grown up in rural America on a family farm, having a radio and fewer tv stations, my mom would make comments on what we heard or we kids would and Discussion would follow. We didn’t all have the same opinion but we certainly Respected reasoned thought with facts guiding the ideas. And we didn’t hate or fear a different perspective- it made us think!
I now appreciate What A Gift my mom and those discussions really were. We need more of Those kinds of conversations and I have no clue how we can have more of that kind of discourse.
Paul Harvey, playing on the radio in the car, while I rode with my Dad from farm to farm for his work. We'd talk about the stories and how people dealt with the situations.
We had three tv channels at home, and the network news stations all had REAL newsmen who told us what happened, but didn't tell us what we were supposed to think about it. For that, we talked to Mom and Dad, and when we got a little older, we had Civics and Problems of Democracies classes, with intelligent teachers who encouraged discussion and awareness of current events.
By the way, I grew up, and still live in rural America. #JustSayin'
First, it's not just Americans. But why Americans ?
Ask yourself what else has radically changed over the past 10 or 20 years ?
The rise of social and other media where companies make huge profits providing platforms that spread misinformation, conspiracy theories, junk, chaos. It's an environment promoting the superstar, the bizarre, maniacs, mayhem clickbaitand disparagement of experts. How many times have I seen an ad about what Elon Musk reads ? Like, why would I or anyone care ? Google and Facebook etc have siphoned off money from the traditional newspapers which have shriveled up. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58950736-the-chaos-machine
If RFK Jr. is right when he claims that hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been averted by preventive and early-stage treatment, the American public has been deceived. The US leads the world in Covid deaths per capita for a reason. A public debate that can't happen in today's media environment should happen, and Kennedy's presidential run could provide this.
RFK Jr supports Israel. That's no different than any other neoliberal fascist. He'd better change that, and run as an Independent or change the Democrat stranglehold on elections before the primary.
I'm with you, Steve and Jane. The Covid moment de-platformed thousands of dissenting scientists and doctors whose voices should have been heard, including Peter McCullough (NOT a right-winger) and Robert Malone (inventor of the mRNA technology that produced the C-19 vaccines).
I'm not saying that REF Jr. is right about everything, or that I agree with him on every issue. The red flag I see is the wholesale erasure of dissenting voices, and the uncomfortable fact that anyone who dissents from the official story of Covid has to go to right-wing media figures like Elon Musk or Tucker Carlson to get an interview. I don't agree with demonizing Dr. Fauci either, yet his nearly $8 billion dollar budget could end the career of any dissenting doctor, scientist, principal investigator, or research hospital. We have emails from Dr. Fauci to tech titans that tell a tragic story about his media influence, and the universal reliance on pharma revenues in the corporate media is worse still.
Though Russ Baker at whowhatwhy.com has been fair enough to address a handful of footnotes from "The Real Anthony Fauci," his website doesn't name his funders. Baker uses skillful rhetorical methods, such as cherrypicking the least credible among RFK Jr. supporters to vilify him, ad hominem attacks, and fear-based scare tactics about siphoning off votes from President Biden. If democracy sends us another Trump presidency, is the solution to abolish democracy? How DARE those pesky voters...
No one who I'm aware of has addressed the main point in the first 100 pages of RFK Jr.'s book. Kennedy cites numerous studies to show that Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are safe, cheap (off-patent), proven-effective antiviral medications. To me, the evidence points to regulatory capture of public health by pharmaceuticals as explanation for the US strategy — mask up, socially distance, and wait for the vaccines.
As a lifelong fool, after reading this article I was reminded of this line from Lear's fool:
""I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are: they'll have me whipped for speaking true… I had rather be any kind o'thing than a fool and yet I would not be thee." King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4
There are many ways to be a fool. The Americans who are attracted to maniacs, per the original proposition, are another kind, the followers of Don Quixote kind. Keep in mind, Don Quixote is the archetype of a delusional leader, a maniac.
I have spent years studying the Tarot and Jungian archetypes. I love what this video/article has to say about the Fool. It wonderfully explains why many of us prefer to go over the news and current events with our favorite nighttime comedians, for me it's Stephen Colbert and I'm bereft without him during this writer's strike. I consider it a badge of honor that Trump is suing him. Fools speak truth to power. Thank you for sharing this.
Did you catch the ornament that it's a double-edged blade? It also explains why people are attracted to nut-jobs - Don Quixote, for example. In current politics, the MAGAts, who couldn't care less about facts?
Toxic families and abusive situations generate toxic adults One Trumpist interviewee stated that he was whipped regularly and that he turned out okay…says he…smh.
Daddy Frederick (Friedrich?) was most likely an attendee at the big Nazi gathering in Madison Square Garden in 1939, put on by Fritz Kuhn at the first SHITler's behest, so there's that. ;)
Many of the supposed centrists, and even DEMS who pulled the lever for that rancid orange sack of shit in 2016 maybe did not know this about that megalomaniacal despot.
Those of us living in the greater N.Y./N.J. Metropolitan area were quite familiar with the sack of shit's exploits already, and some reused to even watch it's BS reality show which the duped rest of this land voraciously devoured, and then proceeded to put their 'firing asshole boss' into power.
I'm a long ways from NY. The first time I ever heard of this (unprintable) excuse for a human being was the news about Central Park Five and that horrible ad he took out for their execution. Pretty clear what he was at that moment.
First time I was exposed to Trump back in the 1980s, it was obvious to me he was an untrustworthy jerk & conman. Can't see how it's not obvious to everyone else
Let that brain dead MAGAt dolt go to the gates of Guade-A-Nogo and see just how "like her" their putrid orange fuehrer really is, and see if they let her into the 'compound'. ;)
Some of us do those self destructive things. Others of us do not. These self destructive habits are artifacts of despair and grief. Per the CDC, 41.9% of us are obese. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html. And obesity is class-determined. Non-Hispanic Black adults (49.9%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanic adults (45.6%), non-Hispanic White adults (41.4%) and non-Hispanic Asian adults (16.1%). The obesity prevalence was 39.8% among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.3% among adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 41.5% among adults aged 60 and older.
As for tobacco smoking, about 12% of us do it. And again, the data show the gender/class/age and education determinants.
Current cigarette smoking was highest among people with a general education development (GED) certificate and lowest among those with a graduate degree.***
Nearly 31 of every 100 adults with a GED certificate (30.7%)
About 20 of every 100 adults with some high school (no degree) (20.1%)
About 17 of every 100 adults with a high school diploma (17.1%)
About 16 of every 100 adults with some college (no degree) (16.1%)
Nearly 14 of every 100 adults with an Associate degree (13.7%)
About 5 of every 100 adults with an undergraduate degree (5.3%)
Would be interesting to cross-reference "abusive(self destructive)" behaviors with the proclivity to vote against ones' self interests LOL LOL LOL LOL !!!
Let's unpack the idea that a group of people vote against their self-interest.
1. I define your self-interest. I say your self-interest is excellent public education which instills the knowledge and value of democracy, the ability to earn $100,000/year and have savings and investments, excellent public health, a clean environment with easy access to nature, public libraries, strong community that fosters creativity. I give you and your state money in federal funding, without which you and your state would be as roadless and school-less and flood-prone as 19th century Louisiana.
2. You define your self-interest. You say your self-interest is your version of Christianity, your community of people who share your values, a steady job or reliable jobs with the usual employers in your area, a high school education, a clinic, a public hospital, and strict control of the values and rules that run your life. You know perfectly well that you will never earn $100K/year, have investments, excellent health, and all those white liberal elite benefits. You are resentful of me.
I'm not a libertarian. According to the Libertarian Party's definition, libertarianism is the advocacy of a government that is funded voluntarily and limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence If you want to ignore the information, you are free to do so.
So the question becomes, do people engage in self-destructive behavior because they're poor, uneducated and disaffected, or do the poor, uneducated and disaffected live in areas that make it hard to access healthy foods and good support for improving life style choices? Why does the federal government subsidize corn growing, but not broccoli growing?
The fast food industry certainly contributes to the weight problem in the USA. They spend lots of money on research to make their meals as tasty as possible to maximize business, and they have wildly succeeded. There were much fewer fat people when I was young before the fast food industry took off in the 1960s.
The US gov. subsidizes corn production, thus the widespread use of corn syrup as sweetener in everything and so-called "corn fed" beef - which means the poor beasts are force fed corn, which isn't their natural diet, because it's so cheap. Fast food joints are easily reached in poor areas, which are healthy food waste lands - no food grocery stores.
Why no food grocery stores? Poor people need food groceries too! Something is keeping Kroger, Food Lion, or Walmart from operating in poor areas. I read that many shop in convenience stores which mostly sell sugary junk food snacks.
When I was a kid growing up in the 1960s we had one or two overweight (not obese, just slightly overweight) kids in my class of 35 or so. Those poor kids were looked at as freaks and ridiculed (by us stupid, mean spirited kids). I distinctly remember one of the unfortunate overweight kids telling us he was just "big boned."
Nowadays that fat kid would be right around the mean average for the U.S. population.
I was in the army in the late 60's. You should have seen what they did to fat kids after they were drafted. They put them in special detachments and treated them worse than dirt. They treated us like *&^% but the fat guys were really dogs.
The amount of sugary foods that are sold in low income areas is staggering. On Halloween I was in Sacramento and we had huge crowds in our street. People had sacks with candy. We had more than 1500 children come to our door and we ran out of candy. Where did all the parents with their children come from? Obviously the poorer areas. People get fat and they need sugar to keep themselves happy.
Being fat prevents women from getting well paying jobs. For men it is not as much of an issue. This is one of the main reasons for the gender gap in incomes.
Poor people aren't poor because they want to be. Many factors conspire against them moving out of poverty. Often engaging in self-destructive behaviors is also a part of the poverty cycle reinforced by socioeconomic forces.
Poor eating practices - "Socioeconomic factors contribute to obesity on an individual and community level, and any viable approach to sustainably addressing the obesity epidemic must take these factors into account. Socioeconomics of Obesity ",Curr Obes Rep. 2020 Sep;9(3):272-279.
Smoking - "Studies have suggested that this may be the result of reduced social support for quitting, low motivation to quit, stronger addiction to tobacco, increased likelihood of not completing courses of pharmacotherapy or behavioral support sessions, psychological differences such as lack of self-efficacy, and tobacco industry marketing." Socioeconomic and smoking: A review, Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Feb;1248:107-23
My mother came from Ireland. You talk about poor white people! Even in the 70's the cities like Belfast looked like something from Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist". Lots of poor white people here in Florida but they don't live in South Beach or Palm Springs. Poor people don't worry so much about what they eat as long as they eat.
You mean maniacs like this? From Kennedy's website:
"A democratic government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people. But government institutions have betrayed our trust. The intelligence agencies spy on our own people. Government and tech platforms conspire to surveil and censor the public. Regulatory agencies have been captured by those they are supposed to regulate: Wall Street controls the SEC. Polluters and extractive industries dominate the EPA and BLM. Pharma controls the CDC, NIH, and FDA. Big Ag controls the USDA. Big Tech has captured the FTC. No wonder trust in government is at all-time lows. It’s time to earn it back."
Have you read Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste”? I believe that her conclusions on why our country is so screwed up and a tragic outlier in the developed world are spot on.
Because people who think for themselves and do deep investigations, which they document thoroughly, are intelligent, honest, and not supposed to run for political office aren't maniacs but outsiders who aren't bought and paid for by Big Pharma—which supports mainstream media with revenue from 75% of their advertising—and other corporations with enormous lobbying power. Kennedy is not against vaccines, btw, he is for safe vaccines and truthful communication.
I think that the answer lies in a clear understanding of fascism and the very methodical ways that is fostered and promoted by fascist thinkers. There have been so many discussions of this on this thread and on many others. I still find Madeleine Albright’s book on the topic most compelling.
I agree with you Steve. What is the federal minimum wage...? Is it even ten bucks an hour? An adult cannot live on $400 bucks a week where I live. The 1% owns 50% of the wealth in the country. Are we living in Pre-Revolution France? Where will this inequality lead us? To fascism or revolution perhaps?
The angry mobs are much better armed than pitchforks and are handles. The media is much better equipped to direct that ire away from their elite benefactors and toward the marginalized group de jour. We're already seeing the results on many fronts. The next phase? People demanding order in any form, which will lead to your first option. The machinery is already in motion.
I am a Board member of Technocracy Inc., since 1933 a NPR membership organization that offers positive alternatives to our wasteful, environmentally unsustainable, and inequitable society.
I'd say it is mostly name recognition that has him polling where he is at. A good portion of that 20% probably has no idea what his positions are. The sad truth of it that will still be true right up to
election day, and he could indeed be a spoiler. In fact, Im pretty confident that is exactly the intent of his candidacy to begin with.
If you will read his brief autobiography, which is free online, you'll see that he can't win. He ridicules his wife for hanging herself, unable to last even three days alone when he;d left her. If that book isn't withdrawn, it should show something about him that will be creepy enough for everyone to cross him off their list.
I wish I believed that this were 100% true. Because while you ... and many others on this platform ... are sane, fairly well educated, and reasonably well informed ... I challenge you to apply these same adjectives to a depressingly large slice of the electorate in this country.
And the irony of all this is that these angry, poorly educated, fearful & actually very vulnerable men and women are yelling at, refusing to vote for, and attacking the very people who are most likely to be advocating for and/or passing legislating that’s in their best interests. And those of “Us” at whom they’re yelling ... would be the very people that would actually step forward and try to help one of them if s/he needed something that we had an ability to give.
Talk about “Bite the Hand that Feeds You.” We’re in a tricky moment in history. The Left needs to peel off as much of the “Left & Middle portions of the Middle” in the GOP that are capable of reasonl, and figure out how to demonstrate - in some concrete manner ... why Good Government Matters & What It Can Deliver. We might reach & begin to persuade roughly 35% of the GOP - a minority - but the majority only wants to feel entitled to Blame & to Hate. I don’t believe that they can be reached by either words or even deeds. That hard core, arguably clinically insane segment of the GOP, is “Lost to Us” now, and for several years going forward. Biden could get legislation passed that materially improved each and every one of their lives, and they would still reflexively HATE him. Oh Yeah, he already did that. And they did that. Go Figure.
help them in a one on one situation, and collectively by trying our level best to help them individually in a one on one situation, by advocating for policies that would improve their lives, and electing Public Servants who would
I agree. Any Republican that has not been convinced by their own eyes and ears, the attack on the Capital and evidence presented by the J6 Committee and the current and ongoing evidence presented in court cases, will not be convinced. We must concentrate on the Independent and traditional Republican voters, who may still have the ability to reason. Also, to rally new young voters and get them to the polls.
I read an interview with Barbara Kingsolver who's from a super poor part of Kentucky where people are so cut off from what we think is American life. I guess those are the people we think of-or I think of- as the extremely destructive Trump people who defy whatever is healthy in the country and believe lies just for mischief. This hasn't been how I viewed Trumpists in the past. It's hard for me to change my view from total blame and hatred to a group who are justified in feeling so outside of it all that they see in Trump at least a thread of something they can recognize as belonging to them. Very hard, because I'm so angry.
That’s awful. Of course, a lot of TFG’s behavior and obvious contempt for other people should have disqualified him from the Oval Office in the eyes of the public, and yet...
One would have thought that what most of them know the orange, megalomaniacal POS from the most, (it's BS reality TV show) ALONE would have been enough of a non-starter to begin with.
Did they REALLY love it when THEIR own bosses called them into the office, or wherever, and arrogantly told them "You're FIRED!"?!?
Or did they somehow see it as their future fuehrer being 'strong', and 'firing' everyone in Washington D.C. which they loathe, once they put it into power??
That’s a plus to many of them, not a negative. The meaner and more brutal, the better. And that lack of compassion can be extended to transgender people and gays. Any empathy gene is lost in their overall selfishness.
I had an ex-best friend of mine opened up about his dad leaving his family when he was 10? His father never came to see him and would send a birthday card here and there (sounded like the song "Father of mine"). I had no reason to doubt the story. He lived a hard life growing up with his mother the sole provider for him and his sister. I believe some social assistance was involved. I had empathy for him as bad things do happen to kids when a parent(s) dissappear. My exfriend used my empathy to draw me closer and to build his image as a self made man who survived adversity and drug addiction (to a certain extent also true). He used these truths and also a whole bunch of lies to constantly extort money from 100s of people. All done simultaneously. This allowed him to support him and his family (he lied and robbed from them too). His robbery of probably over a million dollars from clients came to light. He lost his business (he wasnt paying his employees though still was paying himself) started going to court and eventually got kicked out of his house and divorced with a drug habit. His wife and son survive without him and are doing seemingly better that his oppressive presents is gone. I thankfully ended my obeiance to him once Covid hit. He stole a lot of money from me and a lot of my dreams too. I had sympathy for him then and it screwed me royally. The best I can say is empathy is very important. Be guarded with that empathy a malignant narcissist can use that to manipulate you and will have no qualms about doing so. This RFK Jr certainly seems like he is in that narcissist range. Do I feel bad that his bad experiences led to narcissism yes. I am angered by his action more than my sympathies for him. No matter how he got like he is. He needs to atone for his behaviour.
True compassion and empathy is acceptance and seeing the best in others while not allowing them to feed psychically, financially, or otherwise off others. To allow it hurts both parties.
I'm sad you experienced this abuse from a malignant narcissist. I've had my share of painful experiences such as you describe. They forced me to grow up, forgive myself, see my part in the situation, take responsibility for poor choices,and avoid allowing toxic people to harm me again.
Some of my greatest gifts have come wrapped in toilet paper. Hurt people will continue to hurt people, unless we find ways to hold them accountable for their behavior. In my experience, the only way people will heal and grow is by taking responsibility to make right the harms they've caused others. People don't change because they see the light; they change because they are feeling the heat.
In reading the bios of RFKjr, TFG, and others, it seems there's been little opportunity for this kind of development. Humility and compassion are the byproducts of this work, and a rarity in our politicians today. The few who exude these qualities, like President Biden, know loss and pain and have learned from it. That makes them all the more powerful and what we need in our leaders today.
Finding that sweet spot with firm boundaries should allow a deep reservoire of empthy and compassion like I think you are talking about to the people who need it. Bobbe a friend has mentioned the same idea about mindfullness to me. If I could figure out how to have good boundaries I would persue more empathy. Poor boundaries I think is what has let people be victimized by the MAGA movement. Constant boundary violations, gaslighting and manipulation, all due to the victims having not so great upbringing and life experience, or as you say generational trauma. Which only seem to have compounded as peoples lives financially get tougher and tougher. How do we solve it? I dont know. I am willing to listen, maybe thats enough?
Lovely Bobbe: Thank you and Yea Verily. And it is actually possible for a “subsequent generation” to double back and heal trauma & pain in parents & grand parents. This is a time in which we are ALL being called upon to Heal Whatever We Notice NEEDS HEALING. There is a disproportionate number of Old Souls on the Planet at this precise moment, and one of the reasons for this would be precisely .... that purpose. And I think the other reason for that disproportionate number of Old Souls would be for any who feel called to do so ... to also do some work in concert to raise the overall/general level of Compassion, Generosity, and “Inclusion” in whatever group it is to which we each belong, and/or in whatever group it is in which we find ourselves from moment to moment. This last might be “situational,” and the first is most likely the task we “signed up to do.” It sure is an interesting moment on the Planet.
RFK Jr. is someone who everyone who values democracy and freedom should be very worried about. He doesn’t have any of his fathers core values and as far as I’m concerned, he’s more of a right wing radical . His father would be shocked and so ashamed of what his son has come to represent.
Good gosh.As though the Democrats have presented a continuing strong force for necessity of quality education through thought and deed. Obama's Arne Duncan in touting the privatization of education and teach by the standardized test and punishing public schools by withholding funds if their students' test scores didn't meet a certain threshold was a malignancy - both in spirit and deed. I taught in an urban school for immigrants, kids learning English many of whom were refugees - and learned first hand how irrational, oppressive and punitive his impact was on our kids. Democrats have had a history of being weak kneed (spirited) in the defense of public education, much less its defense against Big Money's slathering desire to commodify it for profit. Not holding Democrats to the fire for their part is a reflection of our own, the citizenry's and the educated citizenry's at that, laziness in defending quality public education and in materially supporting it. Teachers having to shell out money from their own pocket for teaching supplies for their kids never occurred in middle class communities during the '50's but is common practice today. As is big classes, onerous administrative requirements, and crappy pay (compared to other professions exacting the same level of professional training/education.).
Yes 40 years of attacking and defunding our public educational systems. But where the f.. were the democrats during these 40 years? Sure some spoke out, introduced counter bills. But they just weren't loud enough, forceful enough. They were all to comfortable addressing smaller issues they could win on. One can say democrates are winning small battles but loosing the war. The war against democracy and truths.
A large minority was loud and forceful with their support for a out spoken maniac. All awhile the majority of working class and privelaged were just laughing it off and remained silent. Well the laughter quickly ended when Hitler took full control.
We are at the same place today. We, the majority need to do better. The wealthy liberals need to be much more visible and forceful in their attacks against these extreme right wing fanatics. It's not enough to just throw money at campaigns. You need to form and lead groups, get loud, demonstrate all the time.
You need to fight hard and dirty if nessceary. like you would if someone broke in your house and threaten you and your family.
Just sitting around enjoying your wealth and discussing
amoung yourself what scum these R wingers are is a recipe for failure.
How did we get to a place where so many Americans are willing to follow crackpots with theories and lies that are unsupported by any facts whatsoever? If they just keep yelling it loudly enough, over and over, does it become fact?
Humans faced pied pipers, false messiahs, long before there was a US of A.
Historically, specious concepts like manifest destiny and exceptionalism were promoted as fact to achieve power. The 1st Amendment protects prosecution for promoting the big lie and anti vax BS.
However, if a physician advised patients to avoid vaccination tor say measles, and the patient, relying on that advice became infected, the patient would have a cause of action for malpractice. (In some states need another physician to say that the anti vax position does not meet a minimum standard of care.)
All stats show that vaccinations for measles usually work.
When I review Kennedy's track record, why (oh why) has Fauci not sued his ass? Was his book published in the UK? Canada? Mejico?
All nations use propaganda to promote agendas. In the US the imperialist propaganda has convinced people of our 'exceptionalism", that is as long as you are white, Christian, heterosexual, and it's better to be male. This works often because there's a suspicion of intellectualism and being "too educated". I also hold the Electoral College responsible, because it allows the smaller more rural states to have way too much power giving more air time to the nutcases than should be allowed.
Thank you, Secretary Reich. You have written a wonderful piece. I noticed that Dennis Kucinich, who I THOUGHT was a progressive (he once got single digits for his run as President on a 3rd Party ticket) is Junior’s campaign manager! Ugh! I remember RFK well and saw him once campaigning in my upper west side neighborhood (NYC) on the back of a truck to waving crowds. I was shattered, as were many of us, by his tragic assassination. May his son lose bigly.....
I didn't know that Dennis Kucinich was working with RFK, junior. That is disappointing, but Kucinich seems to have lost his way in several ways since his return to public discourse.
Maybe some kind of withering and dithering syndrome happens when people need the spotlight but can't find it by rational means.
Kucinich "has lost his way"? I don't think he's changed much since 2008. Why not listen to his 4/19/23 speech where he introduced RFK jr at the 4/19 Boston announcement? Isn't it better to listen to a primary source instead of 2nd hand gossip?
Thinking I was going to get enlightened by Kucinich's views of the political today, I shelled out $80 for his newsletter subscription. After maybe 3 or 4 months, I've been sent 2, maybe 3. I've tried to contact him. Without success. Telling.
Everything Dr Reich has said about RFK Jr is exactly what I have thought over the past few years. He is frightening - the fear is that his name is a draw, and unlike his heritage he is using it for all he can get out of it. I loved his father and to this day, think about what could have been. A truly inspired human being was taken from us. The opposite can be said about his namesake.
As a psychologist, I’m not real happy with people being called crazy or nut cases. we must distinguish between real major, mental illness, and underlying issues that may be mental illness, but it is really very much a put down for people who struggle with severe illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar and depression and anxiety. I can’t say much as far as diagnostics as I am a licensed, clinical psychologist in California, as far as the situation mentioned, it might be interesting to look up paranoid personality disorder, and cluster B personality disorders. Have a great day and please show more respect for those of us who truly suffer with what is a neurological illness falsely called major mental illness.
A very fair point. I cringe when I see people use “schizophrenic” to describe what is simply erratic behavior, not a diagnosis (especially considering that therapists take a lot of time and care before arriving at that diagnosis!). I suspect many of us have loved ones struggling with some form of mental illness, and the casual and inaccurate use of clinical terms does nothing to help the cause of advocating for real mental health treatment.
Alexia, normally a good point. But all morals & ethics go out the window when someone goes against the tribe. Anti-vax? Anti-mask? Anti-war? All bets are off. Ridicule, call them conspiracy theorists, wish them dead, it doesn't matter because they're sub-human, worse than slime.
100 million people are not named "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." If his name was, say, Michael R. Johnson, we would not be having this discussion and he would not be polling at all.
"...Sleepy Joe who's giving away what's left of the United States to massive numbers of illegal immigrants and the CCP." If you believe that nonsense, then maybe RFK Jr. is your guy (though RFK Jr.'s pro-Russia rhetoric in fact helps the Russia-friendly CCP far more than anything Biden has ever done). Or perhaps DeSantis or some other purveyor of absurd lies.
Instead of repeating fact-free right-wing talking points, maybe you should try actually paying attention to what Secretary Reich and other reality-based people have to say.
Well Troll Hunter, you must believe the plethora of lies being told by republicans. Nothing they say about what’s going on at our southern border is even remotely true. FYI Republicans have voted against every attempt to fix border issues since Pres. Obama was in office. In fact, their initial budget proposal just a few weeks ago actually partially defunded Border Patrol. So, gee- it must not be as bad as they say it is.
Troll: It's time to retire your own tiresome "Sleepy Joe" trope. He's always on the go. Even if Biden is not your favorite candidate, quit the cliches. Your "Sleepy Joe" characterization does not match Biden's activities and accomplishments. He's busy, and unlike most public officials these days, once they hit forty, Biden looks trim and fit.
I cannot even imagine what kind of amphetamine drugs (and steroids?) they have that rotund orange sack of shit on to be able to even walk up to it's lectern at it's Q'aNAZI MAGAt BUND meetings, and spew it's toxic, venomous fascist poison.
trolly schmuck, whites are all IMMIGRANTS in N. America, so enough of your racism. You just have to learn that we must accept justice, and equality for all, otherwise off with you to Russia, N. Korea, China or Saudia Arabia where you'll really have something to complain about !!
Thank you, Robert, for the excellent summary of the political life of RFK Jr, but it deeply saddens me. I will add his name to my ever-growing list of dangerous men and women.
Bobby Kennedy was America's Great hope. His namesake is an embarrassment. I think Biden should reach out before the primaries and tell RFK Jr. that if Biden wins re-election, Biden could name RFK Jr. head of the EPA. Kennedy would drop out, support Biden, then Biden could nominate him, but tell Schumer to make sure he doesn't get the votes.
Do you really think Biden would do such a lowlife, sleazy stunt like this? I think he is much better than this! This is the sort of thing one would expect from the MAGA Republicans.
No, Joe would NEVER do this - it was just my frustration getting the best of me! I think RFK Jr's presidential campaign is something that I think is supported by MAGAt himself. I'm a huge fan of the Kennedy family and it breaks my heart the RFK Jr. would even do this stunt; aside from his ridiculous stance on vaccines, he doesn't believe Sirhan Sirhan killed his father and supported his release over the objections of his mother, Ethel, and 6 of his brothers and sisters.
President Biden doesn't need this pest and I was just trying to create a plan, regardless of how evil it was! LOL!
If we could get Kennedy back to caring about the environment, a much worthier cause than what he's now focused on & a much more urgent crisis, that would be a good thing. He could be a very good director of the EPA.
What happened to the Robert Reich who offered full-throated advocacy for wealth equality and regulating corporate power over decades? RFK Jr. is still an environmentalist, and has litigated for corporate responsibility for decades. As someone who follows his thinking, I'm shocked by some of the rhetorical flourishes in this essay that misinterpret his actual positions. The corporate media mostly ignores "The Real Anthony Fauci," and when they do review it, it consists of ad hominem attacks, and puff pieces about how disappointed his family is in him. There are 2,194 footnotes in the book, and I have yet to read one mainstream review that refutes one fact or footnote on the merits, including this one.
Since when do we organize public health along political party lines? Since COVID. Corporate Democrats have nothing to offer that includes happy or free human beings, any more than Corporate Republicans. An honest reading of Dr. Reich's political analysis across decades reveals his own misgivings. Dr. Reich, please tell me that you remember the core message of your life's work, and haven't become a partisan corporate propagandist.
I would love to see Dr. Reich debate RFK Jr. I have a great amount of respect for Reich’s views, but it’s hard for me to read his characterization of Kennedy as a crack pot without hearing Kennedy’s rebuttal. I’ve watched numerous interviews of RFK Jr recently. Overall he handles the criticism of being antivax very empirically—with peer reviewed studies. But he’s not running on his vaccine skepticism, but instead on challenging the corporate take over of American democracy and bringing together Americans, including the far Right. He does this through respectful discourse and focusing on common ground. His political views are eclectic—some decidedly Right (distrust of government), some very much to the left (environmentalism and a woman’s right to choice). He is no more anti immigration than Biden—he wants to control our Southern border, but increase legal immigration of those escaping countries that we helped to denigrate. He is a boundary spanning agent. In my research theses are the kind of leaders needed to bring together competing values. He’s hard to listen to because of his vocal cord impairment, but his thoughts are at times quite profound. I find his candidacy intriguing.
Why are so many American voters attracted to maniacs?
As a result of participating in this forum, I've become persuaded that The Constitution needs amended to:
1. establish federal primacy in the conduct of federal elections, that is, de-fang the 10th amendment concerning the conduct of federal elections,
2. abolish the electoral college,
3. provide for run-offs in presidential and senatorial elections to accommodate 3rd party bids - that is - dismantling the 2 party system in federal elections, and
4. move to proportional representation
I ALMOST FORGOT to include:
5. establish by constitutional law that private money or services - for instance, exclusive private sector media "town hall" broadcasts for a particular candidate - is bribery,
6. establish an election fund taken as a percentage of federal tax revenue, to be distributed equally among federal candidates.
7. establish by constitutional law that any federal elected official can be prosecuted as they serve, and
8. establish by constitutional law that no >convicted< felon may hold or serve in a federal elected office.
AS SUGGESTED IN A REPLY:
9. establish a "campaign season" limited to 60 days for any federal office.
The connection with why so many voters are attracted to maniacs is the idea of taking the phenomenon as a given while "diluting" and undermining its propagation and influence on election outcomes - at least at the federal level. That's so states that have managed to gerrymander nut-jobs into office at the state level can be circumvented at the federal level.
9. Money is not speech.
10. Corporations do not automatically have the rights and privileges afforded natural persons.
I would add just ONE more:
10) Send ALL criminal politicians to a FEDERAL BLUE COLLAR PRISON. Do you think most would commit crimes if the knew "Big Bubba" was going to use them as a chewtoy when they get caught? . . . Bunkerboy would, but I think most would not.
Totally agree...it's wrong to allow 'white collar' criminals (like Manafort and his ilk) to go to a country club while most criminals became nothing more than a 'product' cash crop that enriches private 'for profit' prison corporations. Equal justice under the law.
In point of fact, NO "blue collar serial killer" has ruined even CLOSE to as many lives as the white collar ones! I get "This Day in History" in my daily inbox, and I think the most kills attributed to someone was roughly 26.
How many died from lack of affordable healthcare due to rightwing lobbying? Roughly one hundred MILLION Americans???
GREAT idea! :)
See item #5 " private money or services . . . is bribery. That would open up legislation to do just that. That's the point of item 5. You don't need an amendment to specify the penalties when legislation can do the job more precisely. That's what I think some people here don't get about amendments.
IMHO corporations are nothing more than legalized irresponsibility: protecting corps from accountability for the consequences of poor decisions and actions while they shift the burden for harms done to others [usually government] and simultaneously bleeding communities dry of all assets, wealth, and benefits. They're basically leeches upon society, especially at those at the top. They've basically replaced the monarchs and royalty of bygone centuries; the imperial powers of today. Amoral, often immoral, and usually without conscience.
Originally corporations had to show they provided a common good for society.
Wish we had that same requirement today. And a prohibition against contributing money to, or trying to bribe, buy, or otherwise influence politicians!
See item #5 " private money or services . . . is bribery
Yeah! The final holdover of that policy is the charitable {tax exempt} corporation that supposedly still has to show a public benefit to deserve a tax exemption. That’s going the way of the dinosaur, too, if you notice. Those political tax exempt organizations that are allowed to collect unlimited money, exempt not only from taxes but also from revealing their donor base, required to perform a public service with their activities but prohibited from actively coordinating programs with any official campaign for a particular entity…. Oh! Ha ha ha. None of that is actually in place. 501(c)4s get to do anything they want, including raise money on false premises and promises and spend it any old way they like. Hooo-haaa. Let’s get real people. Money talks. Absolutely everything else walks.
It’s probably off the topic, but thinking about this erosion of the obligation to show a public benefit that was required for someone to earn the right to incorporate and be protected from a great many jeopardies in business — I remember when TV and radio, too, were required to earn their right to license public airwaves [frequencies for transmitting], and cable companies financed local access stations in return for the use of public infrastructure on which they ran their wiring. Ostensibly, these licenses and uses are still in play, but they are disappearing, too.
Providing a public benefit to use public resources is what lead to so many daytime kid’s shows back in the early days of TV, especially those aimed at being educational. And every evening, we had at least fifteen minutes of news programming, sans advertising. Then the networks turned the news into a profit center, and it became entertainment … And that whole “public good” idea went away — quaint idea, that, thinking the public had a right benefit when somebody used up the commons that way.
People don’t know what you mean when you talk about “the commons” anymore. They don’t know what it is, and they don’t know that they should protect it. They think protecting what the people own, like parklands and waterways and airwaves … They think that is “the government” restricting business, or pushing people around [remember the Bundy’s using public land to graze their cattle?].
But protecting the commons — including natural resources — is US using law and the government to protect what belongs to all of us.
People don’t know that. And it goes away. We never get it back.
Right there with you! It's these same groups that doing their best to destroy LGBT rights in Uganda and other AF nations right now. These folks have no right to tax breaks IMHO!
Do you really think that's what the Dutch East India Company did? Those with money and clout got granted land, sometimes as much as an entire state. The poor and needy? They got to be bondspersons - or in the colonizing of Australia - prisoners. And of course eventually they also had slaves, just like I.G. Farben, the last drug cartel created less than 100 years ago in Germany, which many American industrialists (and fathers of presidents) were also criminally involved in. Are there any corporatists, industrialists who would turn down slave labor if they could get it? When do we get to say that great wealth in any era is a sign of mental illness?
I was speaking of the US only, where if a company wanted to incorporate, it was required to show a public benefit.
TRUE Jamie Ramirez!!
Sounds like we all agree with the basic ideas of that RFK Jr is pulling for. The difference is he's willing to speak this to people who don't agree with him. He's been holding corporations accountable for 40 years. He's not against safe vaccines, just sloppy or untested vaccines or proven unsafe ones. He knows how all our federal regulating agencies are guided by the industries they were supposed to regulate based on documented proof and will take them on.
Actually I believe the original thieves and colonizers of this land were corporations.
VERY well written Kate Bradford!!
Especially since they can't bleed, or get arrested and thrown in jail!
Laurie, I want to see a state like Georgia or Texas execute a corporation.
It would be like catching nothing. Corporations do not exist a a person. That is a figment of a demented politician's imagination. Only an idiot would claim that a corporation has person-hood.
Or the supreme court
George, sorry, I forgot to indicate that this was to be taken tongue-in-cheek.
Or, put a corporation in the stocks!
Or, put a corporation to work on a chain gang!
Isn't that what technically happened to Enron?
Yeh, whatever happened to harsh repercussions for corporate malfeasance? Does that only happen every 20-30 years?
And don’t have sense of smell or feelings, also can out live humans.
Idea: what is the life expectancy of a corporation? 80-90 years maybe. Then they die.
My wife once worked for a corporation that at this time was over 130 years old. So 80-90? Nah, many corporations are active far longer.
Mary, or they are swallowed up by another, larger corporation.
Yep, that is an all too common fate.
Damn. I knew there would be a catch.
Tell it to the Hudson's Bay Company - 350 years old in 2020 and still going strong!
Going strong? Hardly.
I think the Supremes have said that corporations have more rights than humans. The corp. is immortal and has immunity to the consequences we humans face.
John, where’s Theodore Roosevelt (or his doppelgänger) when we need him?!
See item #5 " private money or services . . . is bribery.
Thank you pilotusa!!
Please add:
No public office for private gain, meaning ethics laws with real teeth spelling out disclosure and recusal requirements, including non-monetary personal interests. And by teeth I mean up to and including forfeiture of office.
It’s the cult of celebrity name recognition — which helped Schwarzenegger win the governorship and Trump win the White House.
We're reaping what we have sown. We've been taught to be consumers and voyeurs, including in entertainment, while we sit passively and watch. Time to turn this around. Get involved in our lives, communities, governing, and making the world a better place. Let's turn the 'cults of celebrity' into 'principles over personalities'!
Yes. We have a hobby farm where we can grow our own industrial hemp and sainfoin pasture with grass. Hemp is the true green movement when it becomes legal at the federal level.
And celebrity is a media phenomenon.
by the way, this wannabe is suing DailyKos, a progressive website, for reporting on several of the things that Dr. Reich mentioned in his article today. All they did was report his words and actions - no accusations were made.
Of course, because wackos, like cockroaches can't stand the light.
DailyKos is part of the Democrat Party designed to curry favor for neoliberals like Hillary Clinton. The simp-in-charge is a Democrat operative.
What is the name of the Case, the Action Number & venue. Thx.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKKXxBvLKJGrnxZVqWZhTPRRQBFBpQMnKZrvHZkWpFFkBscKzbBhTcjRfjgWgdDNHPRB
this will get you to an article on their website
I did not know that. Thank you.
DZK ; owned by the wealthy greedheads.
Laurie, it seems like the greedheads are rapidly taking over. I’ve lived in the East Bay Area most of my life and, probably due to the pandemic, many of my favorite small stores and restaurants have closed. (Including my favorite consignment clothing store-sob.) The next thing I know, POOF! There’s a new Target or Walgreens or Starbucks or franchise business of one sort or another in its place.
The effing Kardashians (or any other useless 'influencer') could probably win on that if they ever decided to run in this totally effed up 'populist' land.
True IDIOCRACY in real life disfunction.
See my link on the psychology of the fool.
leo. n. holzer ; And with tRump. Russian help.
Unfortunately!
Supported by the press.
And Reagan
And about that SCOTUS.....a long list of major reforms.
Open Primaries with Rank Choice Voting will give voters back their voice. This process allows for ALL voters to vote in primary elections and opens the second round to three candidates, or more. Some good amendments. Hope we can get a Congress and Senate in that would consider these.
As long as it can dismantle the 2 party, winner takes all system, I'm good with it.
Eliminate Presidential pardon powers.
I think that would be worth its own amendment, riding alongside language requiring, or at least permitting a legislated code of ethics for the SCOTUS if necessary. Bring them under the same purview as all other federal justices - not permitting them to pose as some half-assed, allegedly self-regulating judicial nobility. The way it stands, the checks and balances upon which the federal government is required to operate appears not to apply the SCOTUS, while the Senate should be able to veto presidential pardons to some extent, and sustained in the House. Yep! That's a whole 'nother amendment's worth!
At least limit them, providing standards .
Eat the rich.
That wouldn’t be lean protein, sorry.
Fat and juicy.
I have a friend who is an anarchist and "eat the rich" was his bumper sticker.
It turns presidents into monarchs.
But you forgot one thing on your amendments. Limit the amount of time that election campaigning can sicken the American public. How about a 60 day maximum window for campaigning for any public office ,period.
Thanks for that. I like it. Consider it item number 9 on the list!
Ranked-choice voting would accomplish #3.
Thank you. >That's< the one I couldn't think of on writing. Ranked choice voting, indeed!
I would add that any candidate with an adequate number of signature insuring that he or she is a serious candidate get the right to free political adds in newspapers, social media , radio and television. After all, who owns the airwaves? WE DO!! Anyone using them has to be federally licensed. So make the users of these airwaves give free ad time to viable candidates. Corporate America will raise holy hell over this because they own the legacy media and now much of social media as well. And they charge obscene amounts for ads precisely so our politicians have to turn to Corporate America for the millions it takes to get and to stay in office. So guess who pour politicians have to keep happy! Corporate America! The game is rigged in front of our eyes and we do nothing about it.
Twenty states have approved holding a Constitutional Convention to amend the Constitution to fix the problems with our government. Your ideas should definitely be considered. Still need 14 more states to approve, but the process is well underway.
“Fix the problems with our government” means one thing to the right wing, and something different to people who want the government to support a level playing field and votes for people, not corporations.
I'd worry about how a Constitutional Convention would turn out in the current climate. I've changed my views on things like the electoral college, but not on a Constitutional Convention - for at least a generation. Can you imagine the kind of damage a delegation of MAGAts who have bullied their way into the convention would wreak on the proceedings? Can you imagine the kind of abomination such a delegation's influence would produce? I don't think we can possibly move forward until the MAGAts are relegated to the same dustheap as the "know nothings."
DZK, there being more red states than blue, I fear we’d have fascist government in a heartbeat.
So tell me how the blue states are any better than the red states? I've never voted for a republican in my life - and I'm pretty old. I used to vote for democrats - the ones known as "the people's party" - of course, that was after they had been the party of Jim Crow. I used to vote, I thought, for the party that supported unions, worker's rights, fought against agencies like HUAC. A long time ago, that party really ceased to exist and we had instead political opportunists like Clinton who pretty much destroyed our free press and then Obama who worked to silence the people and had no moral qualms about executing those he considered enemies - enemies of what and who - well, I'd say basically the ruling class. Sold out to Big Pharma and went after whistleblowers for exposing gov't crime - including Assange. The turnabout of dem voters was so sudden, I felt like the girl in The Exorcist - my head couldn't stop spinning it was so fast that the "left" went from being a progressive movement in support of the working class to what can only be described as a fascist network, completely erasing the advances made by women over the last 50 years, releasing the hounds of hell on anyone who dared to disagree with the elitist agenda while the ones fighting the elitist agenda turned out to be the republicans. And then of course, this business of dismissing as "crackpots" anyone who dares to disagree, talking about "disinformation", meaning opinions not part of the indoctrination. And of course the right, who I now find myself in agreement with on both the war being conducted against women and the jab that' we're the guinea pigs to determine it's safety and efficacy for which it fails on both counts. The right wants to control medical decisions for women, but unlike the dems, at least they acknowledge that we exist. So I personally am done with both right wing parties. We need a revolution of consciousness - we need a population that actually hears what others have to say and acknowledges that disagreement does not make each side a "crackpot" to the other side, wo sides with no capacity to understand the actual meaning of the word "democracy", or the ability to comprehend that there's something beyond the two sides of the capitalist part. We need an evolution of consciousness. Then we need a revolution.
>Exactly< my thoughts!
They would definitely have state legislaturees deciding president. The state legislators would continue gerrymandering, which would again increase the power of state legislators, and so on, til there was no such thing eventually as a meaningful vote, and so on
Fwiu, it opens EVERYTHING up to reworking. Considering who and what that would empower…yeah, no.
How about setting a limit on the necessary approval percent for Judges? At 50% the judicial system is subject to being influenced by politics. The only reason not to raise it is that judges would not be approved by one party or the other.
If that doesn't work, maybe a rule that 50% of the judges must be appointed by each party?
I mentioned something like that in a previous discussion. Keep in mind that the point of the lifetime appointments was to keep SCOTUS justices above politics. I think this is a knotty problem that needs much more consideration. However, this is a place to start the discussion.
DZK, *you* should run for office! :-)
Hi Bill - good to see you on this thread. I offered a comment above that may not be well received by fans of Dr. Reich, but I was called to speak my truth. The COVID moment could have been an initiation into a more evolved consciousness about authoritarian systems, yet fear is ushering in an age where corporate occupation of the public sector is so normalized it's indistinguishable from "democracy." The regulatory capture of public health agencies by the pharmaceuticals will be ignored at our peril, because the Davos class will manipulate the fear into a totalitarian digital nightmare.
Hi Thomas — nice to hear from you again too! I couldn’t find your earlier “controversial” comment but, responding to this one …
I tend to cut CDC/Fauci/et.al. a little slack since they were pressured to do something quickly to respond to a crisis that was apparently killing thousands per day. That’s bound to have missteps, but the image by some of jackbooted stormtroopers holding citizens down and forcibly vaccinating them on the government’s orders seems an overreaction.
But as to the larger issue, I always go back to blaming capitalism — especially in its final death-throe stage where profit and ever-increasing wealth for the few effectively eclipses all other considerations. (Even decades ago, it struck me that the medical industry’s worst nightmare is a healthy population.) That’s when Mussolini’s fascism definition (marriage of state and corporate power) seems to come into play.
After all the iterations of my activist philosophy, I’ve concluded that the solution is really pretty simple: tax away excessive public and private wealth on a progressive basis. (It’s not spite — there are sound economic reasons for doing so.) 95% of human-caused evil seems to tie back to some person or group trying to hoard wealth beyond all need or reason. Remove the incentive to be a bad actor and I suspect we could make a literal heaven of earth.
It's kind of you to cut some slack to public health bureaucrats with massive budgets. In Dr. Fauci's case, I think the personal animus toward him in RFK Jr.'s book was a big mistake. The two men have history that goes back decades, and neither of them has freed himself from the mentality of war and "defeating the enemy." Yet a podcast Charles Eisenstein had with RFK Jr. a couple of weeks ago suggests a softening in the personal attacks and en emerging embrace of situationism and unity.
I'm a situationist myself - I think the effects of acculturation are far more powerful than most people are ready to consider. To judge another person is to say that, "If I were born with your abilities and lived your experiences, I would do better." I've come to call this stance into serious doubt. Still, when more than $1.4 billion of a public health agency's budget goes to "gain of function" research (bioweapons), what is the true nature of our culture's sense of "public health?" Many red flags populate the landscape of the US response to Covid, and now that public health matters fall neatly along political party lines, authoritarianism is wringing its hands with glee.
I admire your idealism, Bill, and want to share it. Yet the accelerating occupation of the US government by a 1% factor of global private equity investors, board members and executives calls me to place my attention and trust on a massive shift in human consciousness, and the capacity of humans to inhabit a shared sense of solidarity and say "No" in unison. That's simple, too — it just requires more people to practice and reinforce the consciousness of Interbeing in greater numbers.
For me, optimism comes from recognition that there is a matrix of causality that doesn't operate by force. The power of the mind — as underrated as situationism — far eclipses the power dreams of a "dead world" mentality. Nature bats last.
Yes, when the stakes are high and consequences have such a global impact, it's often hard not to let extreme emotion overwhelm the response. (I have to rein it in myself on a regular basis.) Hopefully Charles can bring benign focus to the RFK effort.
But I think we are on parallel paths. It’s just that I try to follow the Bucky Fuller admonition not to waste too much energy resisting the reigning paradigm. (I thought the “Resist” meme during the Trump years was a misguided organizing principle. It widened the divide, implying a more powerful “enemy” who must be fought against.) I routinely delete without reading progressive e-mails urging me to help “fight” for this or that cause — however worthy. It’s just the wrong energy, and plays into the hands of those (on both sides) who benefit by the current paradigm.
The second half of the Fuller remark is about building the new model that renders the old obsolete. That’s where I’d hope we could put 95% of our energy. Both Charles and RFK Jr resonate with the more “beautiful world that we know is possible” concept. Let’s begin crafting that vision.
A key aspect of that would be a system in which the fundamental aspects of living do not need to be monetized and transacted (and thereby controlled). We need no longer live in the world of scarcity which necessitated that. A good start on that vision might be contained In Mathew Holten’s recent book “Moneyless Society” (… and Facebook group of the same name).
I found out Fauci was the one who messed up when AIDS came about, something about it being a gay disease or particularly virulent, resulting in lack of support and isolation for victims or funding for treatment. I never knew Fauci's name though, at the time.
Thanks for that. The snag is that I've spent a lifetime running >from< office! LOL! Besides, I'm just an armchair amateur pundit hoping I have something of value to say that will be put to good use in the right hands.
Well, "More powerful than the king is he who whispers in the ear of the king." -- Machiavelli
... except nowadays, it's hard to hear the whispers above all the noise!
In Canada, we have a few of these policies in place already, such as election funding rules and the approx. 60-day limit for campaigns. They make Canadian elections almost sleep-inducing compared to any in the USA, but people still do come out and vote. Our advance polls for elections are nearly as popular as yours!
Agree with most, except for: the electoral college was instituted to allow for equal representation for lesser populated states. Third parties have diluted elections in the past. Remember what happened when Ralph Nader ran against Bush and Gore? Prosecuting an official while they serve, will throw those offices into disarray and paralysis, and won't be of any help to their constituients --- however, pressuring them out of office like Gov. Cuomo was is a good way to get rid of bad apples.
That's the point of abolishing the 2 party system with a proportional system in Congressional elections, and runoff elections where there's no clear winner who garners over 50% of the votes cast in presidential elections, along with establishing ranked choice voting - which I didn't mention on my list because I couldn't think of what it was called until prompted later.
As far as the electoral college is concerned, I don't buy the alleged original thinking. Consider the states whose total population was mostly counted as 3/5 of a person and where most of the land mass was dedicated to vast plantations. >That's< who the electoral college was meant to serve. States with an already low, and still undercounted population and waaaay fewer >qualified< white, land owning, male voters - i.e. the equivalent of today's billionaires who >owned< most of those waaay low >voting< population states (including >all< the undercounted part of the population, as well!), who later became the Confederacy. For example, according to a historian I knew and worked with in Virginia - a U of VA history grad - apparently the Lee plantation once extended all the way across NoVA to the Ohio territory. It's plausible, since the part that became W VA became a Union state - they seceded from VA - in the Civil War. Whether or not that's all true, I'll buy that it extended all the way across the No Va to at least >Leesburg!< Check out the distance from Arlington VA to Leesburg VA on a map, for example, and consider the quantity of landmass involved. It's effectively the whole of Northern Virginia. The electoral college >wasn't< particularly established for the benefit of Delaware and New England!
Yes, rank choice voting is a consideration. However, what happens if the country, as a whole, starts to skew towards a political point-of-view that may not be the best for the country/global community (think Nazi Germany, with all the brainwashing that went on after what transpired after WWI). Look at how social media is presently being used to manipulate the masses into destroying corporate profit by people who don't agree with a company's stance. It's people with buying power, and the ability to pull their support by selling their stocks, who now have the power to pressure a company to do their bidding.
You might as well be asking "What happens to the country as a whole if one party goes fascist, manipulates voting laws to wrest and maintain control of states, >>>decides it has the power to approve its own slate of electors,<<< stacks the SCOTUS to legitimate their views, turns public media platforms into a brainwashing machine, then nullifies the Constitution outright?" We're not talking about Nazi Germany, here! Talk about skewing to a political view that's not best for the country/global community! Capishe?
Nevertheless....
How would rank-choive voting make all that worse?
BTW: That's what vice presidents are for - taking over for when for some reason the president is unable to serve. That's the 25th Amendment. That's why I don't buy the "throw those offices into disarray and paralysis" apologetic.
The problem with that is that we may be at the mercy of someone who is a lame duck vice president or worse. Most people see the VP as being part of a package deal. Why castigate the public with someone who is a smooth talking fanatic or someone who allegedly has been involved in questionable activities? However, yes, the 25th Amendment is such, and so perhaps an undesirable VP may manage to keep things together until the next election. If not, there is always the Speaker of the House....we survived Nixon and the aftermath of Agnew and Ford. So, there's that....
Ford was CIA. In the White House :|....
....and the country is still here.
Because people are under educated, lack critical skills. If you notice these people are mostly seniors and younger men who for some reason want to go back to the 50's. Also they are from rural areas where industry has died. They are tunnel visioned and only have one track minds. They have been born and raised in a town, small city so because they never really left it they have no experience in how the US has changed. Now when they see it it's not their America. These maniacs step in and tell them what they want to hear. You can't stop progress and you can't turn back the hands of time. Junior could have done so much good with that name. He tarnishes that name and would be a big disappointment to his father and uncle. He's also not a Democrat and should be running in the Republican party. As for trump it's a cult but basically with the same people that would vote for Jr.
Alexis, please reevaluate your position on seniors! Many of my friends 60 and older have college educations the minimum being a bachelors degree. We live through the 50s we have no desire to return to that time frame. That was still the time of duck and cover so I remember as a child doing duck and cover under our chairs. We have not always stayed in the same town so we were live facing. We moved around the country observe the changes that were going on and when we were not happy about the changes we saw verbalized our complaint (consider trump). So, please think before you speak/spread inaccurate information!
Yes, and we remember what things were like pre-Roe, the treatment of anyone not a white, Protestant (for the most part), able-bodied male, etc. We are painfully aware of the myths about Happy Valley!
I agree completely Kathrine.
Alexis is correct in that of Americans over 65, 49% of them voted Republican and 48% voted Democrat in the last presidential election. Forty nine percent of seniors ARE part of the problem. I am one so it pains me to say that it is MY generation that is mucking it all up; throwing their money into the trump pot, complaining about Biden without any factual base or true comprehension of all he has accomplished, whining about immigrants and the “chaotic” border or just generally deeply dissatisfied with just about everything. Forty nine percent of us are a bitter, spoiled lot and I observe in dismay (these are well appointed boomers who have a comfortable retirement AND education) their stubborn, arrogant and self involved attitudes. The younger generations are giving up on us and waiting for us to die; move on old, unproductive, opinionated fogies. Who can blame them?
So what is the problem? We're not voting the way you want us to? It seems to me that for many people Trump has taken on the mantel of Emmanuel Goldsteing in 1984. We have WEF and WHO just waiting to spring their conspiracy FACT on us and all our attention is focused on someone with no power? I suspect that many people voted for him basically because he WASN'T a politician and they rightly realized that none of the politicians represent the interest of the people. Their souls are already bought and paid for by the corporations and billionaires. Trump managed to convince them, despite his claim to billionaire status, that he was one of them. Ludicrous for sure, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. When a people live with an "either/or" mentality they assume not liking one side of the capitalist party means you like the other. Trump is a vulgarian, but Biden is a snake and as Ralph Nader said "The lesser of two evils is still evil". I'm just not sure which one of them is the lesser evil. If you can't figure out why
Biden is a snake, you must be oblivious of his vile 40 year record. As Mark Twin said so long ago "If voting really made a difference, it would be made illegal". Sorry to disappoint your expectations, but I voted for neither. A saying so common in the mid-20th century I can still remember it: "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Now replaced with "If I disagree with what you say, I will do everything I can to censor your right to speak and belittle your motives."
When you throw out that Biden is a snake you're should have sources and facts to back that up. You just throwing things out to see if they stick. So because you don't deal in facts I'll present them to you of what Biden has achieved.
1. The American Rescue Plan in response to COVID-19
2. A bipartisan infrastructure bill
3.The first major gun-safety bill in decades
4. Building semiconductors at home through the CHIPS Act
5.The Inflation Reduction Act
6. Support for Ukraine's defense against a Russian invasion
7. 11 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office – including 750,000 manufacturing jobs. The unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, and a record number of small businesses have started since President Biden took office.
That's only a few accomplishments and not the most current ones. of his presidency . You are pitifully ignorant. So I'll ask you again. Why is Biden a snake?
I also looked up his achievements in the 47 years he's been a politician. The good he did outweighs the mistakes he. Just remember that many politicians voted for the same mistakes he made and at the time these were thought of as the right thing to do. You actually sound like a trump follower, Now for my sources I'm hoping for the links you actually get them and read them. I have many more. Next time you write a comment make sure you have sources not just innuendo
https://www.taskade.com/d/RDAJckrsAvG7VZ6H?share=view&view=EmLeWi3oqvbvxWHN
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/01/1143149435/despite-infighting-its-been-a-surprisingly-productive-2-years-for-democrats
Alexis, THANK YOU!
Biden has more domestic blood on his hands than Trump, and he's had decades to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Meanwhile we're reaping what he sewed.
I have no expectations. People are who they are. You have every right to your opinion as do I. What I do have is absolutely no time for disjointed accusations, preposterous and far flung comparisons to trump or manufactured crisis.
I am an old fart myself. Screw the young people. I lived my life. I was young. I went to Vietnam as a 19 year old. I did my bit. I was too busy just trying to earn a living to save the world. Let them save it.
Thank you for your service. I watched my cousins get called up to Vietnam, one giving his life while his wife carried their first child. It sounds like you are ready to pass the baton. However, we do a disservice to our youth if we do not graciously prepare/guide them along the way. Part of human purpose is to pave the way for the best future possible; not hand over the reins after defecating on it all.
Maureen....We are handing them a real mess just like my elders passed me a mess. My government defecated on my entire family. I lived in poverty growing up. What do I owe the upcoming generation? They would not even listen to me if I had something profound to say to them which I don't.
What do you propose we doto correct the problem?
Great question except there is no “correcting” half of the baby boomers’ behavior. The forty eight percent of us left need to remain diligent, awake (yes I’m woke) and model what it looks like to be resilient, tolerant, lovers of diversity, warriors for the less fortunate, seekers of equality for all, protectors of children our most precious resource, defenders of our planet, critically discerning in our research/info gathering, proud participants in our civic responsibilities, proponents of a free and financially supported public education and staunch advocates for our constitutional rights. I write a lot encouraging politicians, hard working teachers, brave activists taking a stand, companies who honor individual rights, those working for the common good, writers/journalists who print the truth and young people questioning everything. Lots to do Katherine. Join me.
I agree with everything you said. I am not baby boomer. What plans do you have to achieve your objectives? KC R.N. retired
Thank you for this.
Furthermore, the 50s weren't exactly the 50s for most people here-the poor, the African Americans, the Latinos and women.
yeah, back to the TV 50's
THE TIME THAT NEVER WAS!!!
We have accepted so many "myths" ...
(ie. exceptionalism, socialism, magic of the marketplace, confederate monuments, reagan revolution, voter fraud) - [READ: Myth America ed. by Kruse/Zelizer]
...that we need to do the difficult work of "looking in the mirror" to confront
the FANTASIES that have become the "culture wars" of (so called) "christian" nationalists!
GOOOOOOOOOOD LUCK WITH THAT ONE
David, yes, we do seem to cling to the myths of life even in the face of the truth. Scary because it means all one needs is a media megaphone and one can sell nearly anything to the American people, or at least a significant portion of us.
Why I cringe whenever I hear Biden, or any other 'centrist/bipartisan' Dem pol claim that the American people are "not stupid, and can figure out and see things for what they actually are".
REALLY?!?!?
David, the American people are not stupid. Overworked, over-stimulated, over-committed, overwhelmed, underestimated, undervalued, under-informed would be more accurate. Our social media, run, of course by mostly rich white men who have an agenda of power, accumulation, and abuse are partly at fault, but so are employers who underpay and under-appreciate the workers and state governments that deliberately keep them in need. The very rich are doing just fine because they have milked nearly everything they can get from the poor and working-class people. They have been permitted to do that nearly with impunity: pay-day lenders, cutting federal assistance programs, not financing work training programs, charging higher prices than is warranted, regressive sales taxes, etc. It seems to me that when a group of mostly white people are being told they are about to be replaced by THOSE people, and noticing the massive changes that are overtaking them, on top of all the other challenges they face, I am amazed that more of them are not trying to grasp at things we know are untrue, harmful, and even self-defeating. It works for a lot of people to put down the Trumpers and Trumpettes, but right now, they feel that Trump, child-man that he is, is all they have. They like the rah rah, the insults, and ignore the blatant lies (they have learned over time that those who are loudest and most insulting must be strong, real men (a lie of course, but they can't bear to take time to reason that out. They might see the lies and can't afford to acknowledge that). It seems to me one way to address this very real problem is to keep doing things to help make life better for those people: make sure their roads are usable, they have clean water, affordable electricity and broadband, their children can attend good clean, well-staffed schools, their local newspapers still operate to bring them honest news of local events and people, they have a hospital closer than 100 miles from their home, and they can afford life's basics. Then it must be made clear over and over in case they miss it the first, second, and third times, who it is that has helped them get those things. It is worth a try for reaching these people because what has been going on clearly has not worked, and we all know what it is to keep doing the same things over and over expecting a different outcome.
I like the respectful sensibilities of your post, Ruth. From March of 2020, I became more afraid of the polarization than I was of contracting COVID, and I'm a 71-year old male with asthma.
Americans just don't want to be bothered until the shit hits the fan.
By then it is WAY WAY WAY too late, especially since as I always hear "They (the fascists) have ALL of the gunz."
I hate using the verb/adverb/whatever and playing into the hands of Il DOUCHEBAG Mussolini wannabe DeSatan and his war on WOKE! WOKE! WOKE! WOKE!, etc., ad nauseum, but yeah, those "Americans" who still desire democracy over autocratic despotism had better effing WAKE UP, 'right quick'. ;)
Many people are not given much chance because of their environment, and we help no one. It has little to do with actual intelligence. It is more about parenting, economic factors, and why the rich stay rich as they have power.
David, I think what you mean is "ignorant". They don't lack intelligence, but they choose not to know what they don't like.
About one-half of the population has an IQ under 100.
They are not stupid, they have been and are manipulated.
Education does not inherently make a person better at critical thinking or a more savvy decision maker.
I know plenty of exceptionally intelligent and educated individuals with extreme political views.
Alexis, I believe you are right about the less-well educated small town and rural folks supporting the crack pots. I find it interesting that while they were working in those plants, their health was not great, their family members who worked in those factories, often died within a couple of years of age 65 retirement, and ended up with terrible pollution over which they had no control, still long for those days. I understand that the jobs paid well, but not well enough in my view to make up for the pain and suffering, but I guess we can tell ourselves anything and believe it if we color it brightly enough with the lies we tell ourselves. The folks who are drawn to the crackpots are hoping the crap they are selling could be real and that it really is THOSE OTHER PEOPLE who are causing their discontent: immigrants, migrants at the border, women wanting abortions, people who don't speak English as well as they do, folks pushing vaccines, LGBTQ people who are grooming our kids, and the rest, and if those people were gone, everything would be fine again. They don't even need evidence beyond the words of the crackpot to prove their feelings are right. I saw some of this in a town near mine when a huge steel mill closed down and moved elsewhere. Things have improved in the past 50 years for them, but they still long fondly for their days in the dirt, heat, and almost complete whiteness of the old plant. Those folks mostly vote Democratic, but would they turn to an RFKennedy, Jr.? I don't know.
Alexis, Please reconsider your comments about seniors. We lived through the 50's and have no desire to return to that time. Many of my friends age 60 and older are college educated with a minimum of a bachelors degree. We may have been born in small towns but we were employed by organizations that required our skill sets and moved around the country and out of CONUS in many cases. We watched the changes our country went through and have been very verbal concerning changes for the worst, (consider trump!) I agree that Junior could have chosen a different path but he did not. What can we do to change his perspective on politics? Do you have any suggestions?
Intellectual laziness.
And very poor journalism.
Laurie, yes, isn't it disgusting that our media pumps candidates up, even candidates totally unfit for office as though they really have this nation's people at heart. They are working hard to do it for Ron DeSantis, an unpleasant, mean-spirited self-promoting, everyone but him hating jerk. They are pushing Chris Christie who is sort of doing a mea culpa, "humbly" blaming himself for hiring the "Bridge Gate" perpetrators (when, I suspect he nudged them into doing the job - I guess he paid them enough to make up for their public shame and pain). Then there's Pence and the rest of the Republican field, none of whom have any positive proposals for this nation's future. I suspect the rabid base will go for whoever is the most "out there" with their ideas, their hatred of Republican-targeted groups, and their hooded racism, misogyny, and craving their fix of money and power. The media loves this as though they are the orchestrators of the election. I don't see what the media's end game is. Maybe it's just the doing that counts for them as they tell themselves they are just "covering the election." "Rubbish!" as Prof. Reich would say.
Don't even get me started on Christie.
I had to deal with that shit filled beach ball the last time I lived in Joyzee (before being back now), and it was a horror show.
That 'Saint Ronnie' RayGun style rightwing ARROGANCE and pomposity was ALL that smug f**k was about!
He could be dangerous IF he was actually electable by the Q'aNAZI base, since he does have at least a slight bit more intellect than the SCUMp SHITler he now 'flip-floppedly' claims to despise.
It's a Joyzee thing.
The SCUMP SHITler loathes bright blue areas (like most of Joyzee) soooo much now it makes me wonder if it will ever sell it's whole Bedminster course and compound to stay 100% of the time in mostly fascist Florida.
Most likely not, since now it will be able to host top level tournaments there (to partially satiate it's Universe sized megalomaniacal EGO with it's putrid name on it) since his Saudi pals now are part share owners of the unified, total SELL OUT PGA. :(
I watch Free Speech TV because all the other news is just bullshit.
Christie is beneath the pit!
I would not even begin to label much (most?) of what passes for 'journalism' today as journalism.
More like directly targeted, fascist, racist, xenophobic, etc. propaganda. :(
Yes.
Decision fatigue
Amen and The Noise from the crackpots should be muted, not enhanced by Oan, Fox, etc. etc.
Having grown up in rural America on a family farm, having a radio and fewer tv stations, my mom would make comments on what we heard or we kids would and Discussion would follow. We didn’t all have the same opinion but we certainly Respected reasoned thought with facts guiding the ideas. And we didn’t hate or fear a different perspective- it made us think!
I now appreciate What A Gift my mom and those discussions really were. We need more of Those kinds of conversations and I have no clue how we can have more of that kind of discourse.
Paul Harvey, playing on the radio in the car, while I rode with my Dad from farm to farm for his work. We'd talk about the stories and how people dealt with the situations.
We had three tv channels at home, and the network news stations all had REAL newsmen who told us what happened, but didn't tell us what we were supposed to think about it. For that, we talked to Mom and Dad, and when we got a little older, we had Civics and Problems of Democracies classes, with intelligent teachers who encouraged discussion and awareness of current events.
By the way, I grew up, and still live in rural America. #JustSayin'
Yes! My childhood is full of listening to Paul Harvey! His mesmerizing voice and deep pauses..... "And now....The rest of the story."
THIS
Demagoguery.
Yes: it's the reality show superficial mentality.
Good question. I'll try to answer shortly,.
There appears to be a search for answers, thank you.
First, it's not just Americans. But why Americans ?
Ask yourself what else has radically changed over the past 10 or 20 years ?
The rise of social and other media where companies make huge profits providing platforms that spread misinformation, conspiracy theories, junk, chaos. It's an environment promoting the superstar, the bizarre, maniacs, mayhem clickbaitand disparagement of experts. How many times have I seen an ad about what Elon Musk reads ? Like, why would I or anyone care ? Google and Facebook etc have siphoned off money from the traditional newspapers which have shriveled up. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58950736-the-chaos-machine
If RFK Jr. is right when he claims that hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been averted by preventive and early-stage treatment, the American public has been deceived. The US leads the world in Covid deaths per capita for a reason. A public debate that can't happen in today's media environment should happen, and Kennedy's presidential run could provide this.
RFK Jr supports Israel. That's no different than any other neoliberal fascist. He'd better change that, and run as an Independent or change the Democrat stranglehold on elections before the primary.
Tommy you are going off the rails.
I'm with you, Steve and Jane. The Covid moment de-platformed thousands of dissenting scientists and doctors whose voices should have been heard, including Peter McCullough (NOT a right-winger) and Robert Malone (inventor of the mRNA technology that produced the C-19 vaccines).
I'm not saying that REF Jr. is right about everything, or that I agree with him on every issue. The red flag I see is the wholesale erasure of dissenting voices, and the uncomfortable fact that anyone who dissents from the official story of Covid has to go to right-wing media figures like Elon Musk or Tucker Carlson to get an interview. I don't agree with demonizing Dr. Fauci either, yet his nearly $8 billion dollar budget could end the career of any dissenting doctor, scientist, principal investigator, or research hospital. We have emails from Dr. Fauci to tech titans that tell a tragic story about his media influence, and the universal reliance on pharma revenues in the corporate media is worse still.
Though Russ Baker at whowhatwhy.com has been fair enough to address a handful of footnotes from "The Real Anthony Fauci," his website doesn't name his funders. Baker uses skillful rhetorical methods, such as cherrypicking the least credible among RFK Jr. supporters to vilify him, ad hominem attacks, and fear-based scare tactics about siphoning off votes from President Biden. If democracy sends us another Trump presidency, is the solution to abolish democracy? How DARE those pesky voters...
No one who I'm aware of has addressed the main point in the first 100 pages of RFK Jr.'s book. Kennedy cites numerous studies to show that Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are safe, cheap (off-patent), proven-effective antiviral medications. To me, the evidence points to regulatory capture of public health by pharmaceuticals as explanation for the US strategy — mask up, socially distance, and wait for the vaccines.
Tommy we hardly knew ye.
Wait.... Musk READS??? I mean, aside from Twitter.
You may find this instructive:
- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FOOL:
https://youtu.be/jLWpuLH3t6k
As a lifelong fool, after reading this article I was reminded of this line from Lear's fool:
""I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are: they'll have me whipped for speaking true… I had rather be any kind o'thing than a fool and yet I would not be thee." King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4
There are many ways to be a fool. The Americans who are attracted to maniacs, per the original proposition, are another kind, the followers of Don Quixote kind. Keep in mind, Don Quixote is the archetype of a delusional leader, a maniac.
YES, YES, and YES!!!
I have spent years studying the Tarot and Jungian archetypes. I love what this video/article has to say about the Fool. It wonderfully explains why many of us prefer to go over the news and current events with our favorite nighttime comedians, for me it's Stephen Colbert and I'm bereft without him during this writer's strike. I consider it a badge of honor that Trump is suing him. Fools speak truth to power. Thank you for sharing this.
Did you catch the ornament that it's a double-edged blade? It also explains why people are attracted to nut-jobs - Don Quixote, for example. In current politics, the MAGAts, who couldn't care less about facts?
Ex. Act. Ly.
As one MAGA lady in a silly outfit gushed, "We love him because he's just like us!" I think she was on to something.
Toxic families and abusive situations generate toxic adults One Trumpist interviewee stated that he was whipped regularly and that he turned out okay…says he…smh.
Daddy Frederick (Friedrich?) was most likely an attendee at the big Nazi gathering in Madison Square Garden in 1939, put on by Fritz Kuhn at the first SHITler's behest, so there's that. ;)
They had a huge image of George Washington. It was disgusting.
Yes, because ol' George, (even though of course, he had faults APLENTY!) was such an outright monarchy and fascism promotor. LOFL
Trump's grandpa was a pimp and his father stole from veterans.
Politicians shape themselves to their constituents' expectations. Tfg had some really good advice when he took on the mantle of White Nationalism.
He's always been a racist and everything else that goes along with it.
Many of the supposed centrists, and even DEMS who pulled the lever for that rancid orange sack of shit in 2016 maybe did not know this about that megalomaniacal despot.
Those of us living in the greater N.Y./N.J. Metropolitan area were quite familiar with the sack of shit's exploits already, and some reused to even watch it's BS reality show which the duped rest of this land voraciously devoured, and then proceeded to put their 'firing asshole boss' into power.
I'm a long ways from NY. The first time I ever heard of this (unprintable) excuse for a human being was the news about Central Park Five and that horrible ad he took out for their execution. Pretty clear what he was at that moment.
Yes, I forgot that was one of the Mango Mussolini's NATIONALLY reported exploits. ;)
First time I was exposed to Trump back in the 1980s, it was obvious to me he was an untrustworthy jerk & conman. Can't see how it's not obvious to everyone else
Like the lady said, he's just like them and they love him for it.
Don't hold back David.
Oh, I do not.
This is the only place where I get to 'vent'. ;)
Let that brain dead MAGAt dolt go to the gates of Guade-A-Nogo and see just how "like her" their putrid orange fuehrer really is, and see if they let her into the 'compound'. ;)
I guess it's the same reason why we smoke, drink and overeat...
Some of us do those self destructive things. Others of us do not. These self destructive habits are artifacts of despair and grief. Per the CDC, 41.9% of us are obese. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html. And obesity is class-determined. Non-Hispanic Black adults (49.9%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanic adults (45.6%), non-Hispanic White adults (41.4%) and non-Hispanic Asian adults (16.1%). The obesity prevalence was 39.8% among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.3% among adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 41.5% among adults aged 60 and older.
As for tobacco smoking, about 12% of us do it. And again, the data show the gender/class/age and education determinants.
Current cigarette smoking was highest among people with a general education development (GED) certificate and lowest among those with a graduate degree.***
Nearly 31 of every 100 adults with a GED certificate (30.7%)
About 20 of every 100 adults with some high school (no degree) (20.1%)
About 17 of every 100 adults with a high school diploma (17.1%)
About 16 of every 100 adults with some college (no degree) (16.1%)
Nearly 14 of every 100 adults with an Associate degree (13.7%)
About 5 of every 100 adults with an undergraduate degree (5.3%)
About 3 of every 100 adults with a graduate degree (3.2%)https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm
THANK YOU!
Would be interesting to cross-reference "abusive(self destructive)" behaviors with the proclivity to vote against ones' self interests LOL LOL LOL LOL !!!
Let's unpack the idea that a group of people vote against their self-interest.
1. I define your self-interest. I say your self-interest is excellent public education which instills the knowledge and value of democracy, the ability to earn $100,000/year and have savings and investments, excellent public health, a clean environment with easy access to nature, public libraries, strong community that fosters creativity. I give you and your state money in federal funding, without which you and your state would be as roadless and school-less and flood-prone as 19th century Louisiana.
2. You define your self-interest. You say your self-interest is your version of Christianity, your community of people who share your values, a steady job or reliable jobs with the usual employers in your area, a high school education, a clinic, a public hospital, and strict control of the values and rules that run your life. You know perfectly well that you will never earn $100K/year, have investments, excellent health, and all those white liberal elite benefits. You are resentful of me.
Spoken like a TRUE LIBERTARIAN...
thus, WE'RE ALL ON OUR OWN!!!
Problem NOT confronted - Problem SOLVED = god bless ameriKKKa!!!
I'm not a libertarian. According to the Libertarian Party's definition, libertarianism is the advocacy of a government that is funded voluntarily and limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence If you want to ignore the information, you are free to do so.
well if they want to keep that hospital they better start voting Democratic in Missouri.
This is also a huge gender issue. It is next to impossible for an obese woman to obtain a high paying job. For men it is much less of an obstacle.
Yes, we frown upon obesity.
So the question becomes, do people engage in self-destructive behavior because they're poor, uneducated and disaffected, or do the poor, uneducated and disaffected live in areas that make it hard to access healthy foods and good support for improving life style choices? Why does the federal government subsidize corn growing, but not broccoli growing?
The fast food industry certainly contributes to the weight problem in the USA. They spend lots of money on research to make their meals as tasty as possible to maximize business, and they have wildly succeeded. There were much fewer fat people when I was young before the fast food industry took off in the 1960s.
The US gov. subsidizes corn production, thus the widespread use of corn syrup as sweetener in everything and so-called "corn fed" beef - which means the poor beasts are force fed corn, which isn't their natural diet, because it's so cheap. Fast food joints are easily reached in poor areas, which are healthy food waste lands - no food grocery stores.
https://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/
Why no food grocery stores? Poor people need food groceries too! Something is keeping Kroger, Food Lion, or Walmart from operating in poor areas. I read that many shop in convenience stores which mostly sell sugary junk food snacks.
That is sooo true.
When I was a kid growing up in the 1960s we had one or two overweight (not obese, just slightly overweight) kids in my class of 35 or so. Those poor kids were looked at as freaks and ridiculed (by us stupid, mean spirited kids). I distinctly remember one of the unfortunate overweight kids telling us he was just "big boned."
Nowadays that fat kid would be right around the mean average for the U.S. population.
I was in the army in the late 60's. You should have seen what they did to fat kids after they were drafted. They put them in special detachments and treated them worse than dirt. They treated us like *&^% but the fat guys were really dogs.
We are also more sedentary now that 50 years ago.
The amount of sugary foods that are sold in low income areas is staggering. On Halloween I was in Sacramento and we had huge crowds in our street. People had sacks with candy. We had more than 1500 children come to our door and we ran out of candy. Where did all the parents with their children come from? Obviously the poorer areas. People get fat and they need sugar to keep themselves happy.
Being fat prevents women from getting well paying jobs. For men it is not as much of an issue. This is one of the main reasons for the gender gap in incomes.
@J. Nol, this is a great opportunity to research your questions. We look forward to your findings.
Poor people aren't poor because they want to be. Many factors conspire against them moving out of poverty. Often engaging in self-destructive behaviors is also a part of the poverty cycle reinforced by socioeconomic forces.
Poor eating practices - "Socioeconomic factors contribute to obesity on an individual and community level, and any viable approach to sustainably addressing the obesity epidemic must take these factors into account. Socioeconomics of Obesity ",Curr Obes Rep. 2020 Sep;9(3):272-279.
Smoking - "Studies have suggested that this may be the result of reduced social support for quitting, low motivation to quit, stronger addiction to tobacco, increased likelihood of not completing courses of pharmacotherapy or behavioral support sessions, psychological differences such as lack of self-efficacy, and tobacco industry marketing." Socioeconomic and smoking: A review, Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Feb;1248:107-23
My mother came from Ireland. You talk about poor white people! Even in the 70's the cities like Belfast looked like something from Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist". Lots of poor white people here in Florida but they don't live in South Beach or Palm Springs. Poor people don't worry so much about what they eat as long as they eat.
I done graduated the fifth grade like Jethro Bodine. I got a truck, shotgun, dog and last of all a wife. Wheee doggies.
Perfect example of the arrogance of the supposedly educated. I done read what you said.
You mean maniacs like this? From Kennedy's website:
"A democratic government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people. But government institutions have betrayed our trust. The intelligence agencies spy on our own people. Government and tech platforms conspire to surveil and censor the public. Regulatory agencies have been captured by those they are supposed to regulate: Wall Street controls the SEC. Polluters and extractive industries dominate the EPA and BLM. Pharma controls the CDC, NIH, and FDA. Big Ag controls the USDA. Big Tech has captured the FTC. No wonder trust in government is at all-time lows. It’s time to earn it back."
Yeah, I'll bet no one here understands what you're saying or cares to listen but I appreciate it man. Peace.
Have you read Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste”? I believe that her conclusions on why our country is so screwed up and a tragic outlier in the developed world are spot on.
I’m looking forward to reading it.
Because people who think for themselves and do deep investigations, which they document thoroughly, are intelligent, honest, and not supposed to run for political office aren't maniacs but outsiders who aren't bought and paid for by Big Pharma—which supports mainstream media with revenue from 75% of their advertising—and other corporations with enormous lobbying power. Kennedy is not against vaccines, btw, he is for safe vaccines and truthful communication.
To each, his own.
obviously because so many American voters are maniacs
BTW if you have read much about RFK Jr.'s family, you know that it's not just voters that are maniacs.
Also true.
I think that the answer lies in a clear understanding of fascism and the very methodical ways that is fostered and promoted by fascist thinkers. There have been so many discussions of this on this thread and on many others. I still find Madeleine Albright’s book on the topic most compelling.
I wish we knew, then we could fix it!
It all stems from economic inequity. Just follow the money up and down.
I agree with you Steve. What is the federal minimum wage...? Is it even ten bucks an hour? An adult cannot live on $400 bucks a week where I live. The 1% owns 50% of the wealth in the country. Are we living in Pre-Revolution France? Where will this inequality lead us? To fascism or revolution perhaps?
The angry mobs are much better armed than pitchforks and are handles. The media is much better equipped to direct that ire away from their elite benefactors and toward the marginalized group de jour. We're already seeing the results on many fronts. The next phase? People demanding order in any form, which will lead to your first option. The machinery is already in motion.
Don't morn, organize! We are soldiers fighting to free our children from the system we have slaved under.
I am a Board member of Technocracy Inc., since 1933 a NPR membership organization that offers positive alternatives to our wasteful, environmentally unsustainable, and inequitable society.
I have repeatedly donated to End Citizens United and signed their petitions. Is this organizing? I've yet to see results.
Make that axe handles.
We do know, actually. It's education, despair, grief, frustration, and man's search for meaning.
I think we do know but have not the will to fix it.
I'd say it is mostly name recognition that has him polling where he is at. A good portion of that 20% probably has no idea what his positions are. The sad truth of it that will still be true right up to
election day, and he could indeed be a spoiler. In fact, Im pretty confident that is exactly the intent of his candidacy to begin with.
Name recognition, certainly, rather than accomplishments.
If you will read his brief autobiography, which is free online, you'll see that he can't win. He ridicules his wife for hanging herself, unable to last even three days alone when he;d left her. If that book isn't withdrawn, it should show something about him that will be creepy enough for everyone to cross him off their list.
Yes. I remember reading about the way he treated his deceased wife, which should give pause to people supporting him.
Unfortunately, it didn’t give pause to people when trump revealed who he is.
...and CONTINUES to do so...
I wish I believed that this were 100% true. Because while you ... and many others on this platform ... are sane, fairly well educated, and reasonably well informed ... I challenge you to apply these same adjectives to a depressingly large slice of the electorate in this country.
And the irony of all this is that these angry, poorly educated, fearful & actually very vulnerable men and women are yelling at, refusing to vote for, and attacking the very people who are most likely to be advocating for and/or passing legislating that’s in their best interests. And those of “Us” at whom they’re yelling ... would be the very people that would actually step forward and try to help one of them if s/he needed something that we had an ability to give.
Talk about “Bite the Hand that Feeds You.” We’re in a tricky moment in history. The Left needs to peel off as much of the “Left & Middle portions of the Middle” in the GOP that are capable of reasonl, and figure out how to demonstrate - in some concrete manner ... why Good Government Matters & What It Can Deliver. We might reach & begin to persuade roughly 35% of the GOP - a minority - but the majority only wants to feel entitled to Blame & to Hate. I don’t believe that they can be reached by either words or even deeds. That hard core, arguably clinically insane segment of the GOP, is “Lost to Us” now, and for several years going forward. Biden could get legislation passed that materially improved each and every one of their lives, and they would still reflexively HATE him. Oh Yeah, he already did that. And they did that. Go Figure.
help them in a one on one situation, and collectively by trying our level best to help them individually in a one on one situation, by advocating for policies that would improve their lives, and electing Public Servants who would
Don't think many GOPers will come over. It's about getting independents and Dem turnout. Maybe discourage some R's from voting.
I agree. Any Republican that has not been convinced by their own eyes and ears, the attack on the Capital and evidence presented by the J6 Committee and the current and ongoing evidence presented in court cases, will not be convinced. We must concentrate on the Independent and traditional Republican voters, who may still have the ability to reason. Also, to rally new young voters and get them to the polls.
I read an interview with Barbara Kingsolver who's from a super poor part of Kentucky where people are so cut off from what we think is American life. I guess those are the people we think of-or I think of- as the extremely destructive Trump people who defy whatever is healthy in the country and believe lies just for mischief. This hasn't been how I viewed Trumpists in the past. It's hard for me to change my view from total blame and hatred to a group who are justified in feeling so outside of it all that they see in Trump at least a thread of something they can recognize as belonging to them. Very hard, because I'm so angry.
That’s awful. Of course, a lot of TFG’s behavior and obvious contempt for other people should have disqualified him from the Oval Office in the eyes of the public, and yet...
One would have thought that what most of them know the orange, megalomaniacal POS from the most, (it's BS reality TV show) ALONE would have been enough of a non-starter to begin with.
Did they REALLY love it when THEIR own bosses called them into the office, or wherever, and arrogantly told them "You're FIRED!"?!?
Or did they somehow see it as their future fuehrer being 'strong', and 'firing' everyone in Washington D.C. which they loathe, once they put it into power??
That’s a plus to many of them, not a negative. The meaner and more brutal, the better. And that lack of compassion can be extended to transgender people and gays. Any empathy gene is lost in their overall selfishness.
Do you happen to have the link to that Ms. Ginger?
Still searching Julio
I had an ex-best friend of mine opened up about his dad leaving his family when he was 10? His father never came to see him and would send a birthday card here and there (sounded like the song "Father of mine"). I had no reason to doubt the story. He lived a hard life growing up with his mother the sole provider for him and his sister. I believe some social assistance was involved. I had empathy for him as bad things do happen to kids when a parent(s) dissappear. My exfriend used my empathy to draw me closer and to build his image as a self made man who survived adversity and drug addiction (to a certain extent also true). He used these truths and also a whole bunch of lies to constantly extort money from 100s of people. All done simultaneously. This allowed him to support him and his family (he lied and robbed from them too). His robbery of probably over a million dollars from clients came to light. He lost his business (he wasnt paying his employees though still was paying himself) started going to court and eventually got kicked out of his house and divorced with a drug habit. His wife and son survive without him and are doing seemingly better that his oppressive presents is gone. I thankfully ended my obeiance to him once Covid hit. He stole a lot of money from me and a lot of my dreams too. I had sympathy for him then and it screwed me royally. The best I can say is empathy is very important. Be guarded with that empathy a malignant narcissist can use that to manipulate you and will have no qualms about doing so. This RFK Jr certainly seems like he is in that narcissist range. Do I feel bad that his bad experiences led to narcissism yes. I am angered by his action more than my sympathies for him. No matter how he got like he is. He needs to atone for his behaviour.
As a twig is bent, so grows the tree.
True compassion and empathy is acceptance and seeing the best in others while not allowing them to feed psychically, financially, or otherwise off others. To allow it hurts both parties.
I'm sad you experienced this abuse from a malignant narcissist. I've had my share of painful experiences such as you describe. They forced me to grow up, forgive myself, see my part in the situation, take responsibility for poor choices,and avoid allowing toxic people to harm me again.
Some of my greatest gifts have come wrapped in toilet paper. Hurt people will continue to hurt people, unless we find ways to hold them accountable for their behavior. In my experience, the only way people will heal and grow is by taking responsibility to make right the harms they've caused others. People don't change because they see the light; they change because they are feeling the heat.
In reading the bios of RFKjr, TFG, and others, it seems there's been little opportunity for this kind of development. Humility and compassion are the byproducts of this work, and a rarity in our politicians today. The few who exude these qualities, like President Biden, know loss and pain and have learned from it. That makes them all the more powerful and what we need in our leaders today.
Finding that sweet spot with firm boundaries should allow a deep reservoire of empthy and compassion like I think you are talking about to the people who need it. Bobbe a friend has mentioned the same idea about mindfullness to me. If I could figure out how to have good boundaries I would persue more empathy. Poor boundaries I think is what has let people be victimized by the MAGA movement. Constant boundary violations, gaslighting and manipulation, all due to the victims having not so great upbringing and life experience, or as you say generational trauma. Which only seem to have compounded as peoples lives financially get tougher and tougher. How do we solve it? I dont know. I am willing to listen, maybe thats enough?
I would still avoid voting for a candidate who is toxic; no matter the personal history.
Lovely Bobbe: Thank you and Yea Verily. And it is actually possible for a “subsequent generation” to double back and heal trauma & pain in parents & grand parents. This is a time in which we are ALL being called upon to Heal Whatever We Notice NEEDS HEALING. There is a disproportionate number of Old Souls on the Planet at this precise moment, and one of the reasons for this would be precisely .... that purpose. And I think the other reason for that disproportionate number of Old Souls would be for any who feel called to do so ... to also do some work in concert to raise the overall/general level of Compassion, Generosity, and “Inclusion” in whatever group it is to which we each belong, and/or in whatever group it is in which we find ourselves from moment to moment. This last might be “situational,” and the first is most likely the task we “signed up to do.” It sure is an interesting moment on the Planet.
We don't know and can't understand the reasons for his bitterness. I'm only talking about his electability.
RFK Jr. is someone who everyone who values democracy and freedom should be very worried about. He doesn’t have any of his fathers core values and as far as I’m concerned, he’s more of a right wing radical . His father would be shocked and so ashamed of what his son has come to represent.
Thank you , Robert. I pin this directly on the GOP FORTY YEARS destruction of education in America.
yup! absolutely, mission accomplished!
As I argue in my book on education, Immeasurable Outcomes.
Good gosh.As though the Democrats have presented a continuing strong force for necessity of quality education through thought and deed. Obama's Arne Duncan in touting the privatization of education and teach by the standardized test and punishing public schools by withholding funds if their students' test scores didn't meet a certain threshold was a malignancy - both in spirit and deed. I taught in an urban school for immigrants, kids learning English many of whom were refugees - and learned first hand how irrational, oppressive and punitive his impact was on our kids. Democrats have had a history of being weak kneed (spirited) in the defense of public education, much less its defense against Big Money's slathering desire to commodify it for profit. Not holding Democrats to the fire for their part is a reflection of our own, the citizenry's and the educated citizenry's at that, laziness in defending quality public education and in materially supporting it. Teachers having to shell out money from their own pocket for teaching supplies for their kids never occurred in middle class communities during the '50's but is common practice today. As is big classes, onerous administrative requirements, and crappy pay (compared to other professions exacting the same level of professional training/education.).
I am a believer in EDUCATION and taking Half the DOD budget to boost it. But the GOP are 100x worse than the Democrats. Wake up
never liked Duncan because of what I considered his misguided policies.
Yes 40 years of attacking and defunding our public educational systems. But where the f.. were the democrats during these 40 years? Sure some spoke out, introduced counter bills. But they just weren't loud enough, forceful enough. They were all to comfortable addressing smaller issues they could win on. One can say democrates are winning small battles but loosing the war. The war against democracy and truths.
A large minority was loud and forceful with their support for a out spoken maniac. All awhile the majority of working class and privelaged were just laughing it off and remained silent. Well the laughter quickly ended when Hitler took full control.
We are at the same place today. We, the majority need to do better. The wealthy liberals need to be much more visible and forceful in their attacks against these extreme right wing fanatics. It's not enough to just throw money at campaigns. You need to form and lead groups, get loud, demonstrate all the time.
You need to fight hard and dirty if nessceary. like you would if someone broke in your house and threaten you and your family.
Just sitting around enjoying your wealth and discussing
amoung yourself what scum these R wingers are is a recipe for failure.
That and their work to concentrate too much money and power in the hands of the few, while Democrats did not do enough to push back.
How did we get to a place where so many Americans are willing to follow crackpots with theories and lies that are unsupported by any facts whatsoever? If they just keep yelling it loudly enough, over and over, does it become fact?
Humans faced pied pipers, false messiahs, long before there was a US of A.
Historically, specious concepts like manifest destiny and exceptionalism were promoted as fact to achieve power. The 1st Amendment protects prosecution for promoting the big lie and anti vax BS.
However, if a physician advised patients to avoid vaccination tor say measles, and the patient, relying on that advice became infected, the patient would have a cause of action for malpractice. (In some states need another physician to say that the anti vax position does not meet a minimum standard of care.)
All stats show that vaccinations for measles usually work.
When I review Kennedy's track record, why (oh why) has Fauci not sued his ass? Was his book published in the UK? Canada? Mejico?
Americans, as part of an imperialistic nation, have always been subjected to propaganda ...
All nations use propaganda to promote agendas. In the US the imperialist propaganda has convinced people of our 'exceptionalism", that is as long as you are white, Christian, heterosexual, and it's better to be male. This works often because there's a suspicion of intellectualism and being "too educated". I also hold the Electoral College responsible, because it allows the smaller more rural states to have way too much power giving more air time to the nutcases than should be allowed.
The Electoral College was to keep the power in the hands of the wealthy, white, landowners.
I think its because we now have a media, social media esp., that makes big money off of pushing clickbait nonsense.
Perhaps it goes back to core values, as most things do.
Time to check into who's funding Junior.
Yes, because I don’t think he’s a billionaire baron himself. Just an empty brand ripe for exploitation.
RT. Supports Russia.
Thank you, Secretary Reich. You have written a wonderful piece. I noticed that Dennis Kucinich, who I THOUGHT was a progressive (he once got single digits for his run as President on a 3rd Party ticket) is Junior’s campaign manager! Ugh! I remember RFK well and saw him once campaigning in my upper west side neighborhood (NYC) on the back of a truck to waving crowds. I was shattered, as were many of us, by his tragic assassination. May his son lose bigly.....
I didn't know that Dennis Kucinich was working with RFK, junior. That is disappointing, but Kucinich seems to have lost his way in several ways since his return to public discourse.
Maybe some kind of withering and dithering syndrome happens when people need the spotlight but can't find it by rational means.
I was shocked when I saw that little tidbit…I wrote to a close friend who worked with Dennis during his campaign. He was puzzled as well….
Kucinich "has lost his way"? I don't think he's changed much since 2008. Why not listen to his 4/19/23 speech where he introduced RFK jr at the 4/19 Boston announcement? Isn't it better to listen to a primary source instead of 2nd hand gossip?
Thinking I was going to get enlightened by Kucinich's views of the political today, I shelled out $80 for his newsletter subscription. After maybe 3 or 4 months, I've been sent 2, maybe 3. I've tried to contact him. Without success. Telling.
Elizabeth: Kucinich -- YIKES!!
Yes, exactly: YIKES!
Dennis the menace Kucinich? Well that’s a natural pairing.
You mean, Mary, like rancid wine and moldy cheese??? OMG.
A heartbreaking legacy to a great man. His father and must be rolling over in his grave. How sad.
Maybe my dad should STOP self-labeling as a "Kennedy Democrat"?
Everything Dr Reich has said about RFK Jr is exactly what I have thought over the past few years. He is frightening - the fear is that his name is a draw, and unlike his heritage he is using it for all he can get out of it. I loved his father and to this day, think about what could have been. A truly inspired human being was taken from us. The opposite can be said about his namesake.
He has a great record in environmental law. But he is a fool for Putin. That makes him an out and out traitor.
...and a PRO-fascist. :(
As a psychologist, I’m not real happy with people being called crazy or nut cases. we must distinguish between real major, mental illness, and underlying issues that may be mental illness, but it is really very much a put down for people who struggle with severe illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar and depression and anxiety. I can’t say much as far as diagnostics as I am a licensed, clinical psychologist in California, as far as the situation mentioned, it might be interesting to look up paranoid personality disorder, and cluster B personality disorders. Have a great day and please show more respect for those of us who truly suffer with what is a neurological illness falsely called major mental illness.
I think people recognize people are not making any kind of clinical diagnosis when they loosely throw around words like "crazy".
"Batshit insane" is NOT exactly a 'clinical term'. ;)
A very fair point. I cringe when I see people use “schizophrenic” to describe what is simply erratic behavior, not a diagnosis (especially considering that therapists take a lot of time and care before arriving at that diagnosis!). I suspect many of us have loved ones struggling with some form of mental illness, and the casual and inaccurate use of clinical terms does nothing to help the cause of advocating for real mental health treatment.
Too many still use the term "schizophrenic" to describe a binary multiple personality disorder.
It's loose root meaning is more like "a departing of the soul (or mind?) from reality".
Point well-made, Alexia, and as someone who has dealt with clinical depression throughout my life, I feel ya, Girlfriend.
That said...
Dude is batshit cray-cray when it comes to his conspiratorial ideas and beliefs. He's warped. He needs help.
Alexia, However, we don’t need to see these nasty comments from trolls. This is a place to discuss, not to deal with nonsense. Just my two cents....
Alexia, normally a good point. But all morals & ethics go out the window when someone goes against the tribe. Anti-vax? Anti-mask? Anti-war? All bets are off. Ridicule, call them conspiracy theorists, wish them dead, it doesn't matter because they're sub-human, worse than slime.
Guardian headline this morning:
"At least 100 million people are eligible to run for US president. Why are we left with Robert F Kennedy Jr?"
How will our allies work with an isolationist ???
100 million people are not named "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." If his name was, say, Michael R. Johnson, we would not be having this discussion and he would not be polling at all.
The system controls who we get..many more qualified that what they ever allow
"...Sleepy Joe who's giving away what's left of the United States to massive numbers of illegal immigrants and the CCP." If you believe that nonsense, then maybe RFK Jr. is your guy (though RFK Jr.'s pro-Russia rhetoric in fact helps the Russia-friendly CCP far more than anything Biden has ever done). Or perhaps DeSantis or some other purveyor of absurd lies.
Instead of repeating fact-free right-wing talking points, maybe you should try actually paying attention to what Secretary Reich and other reality-based people have to say.
THANK YOU!!!
Well Troll Hunter, you must believe the plethora of lies being told by republicans. Nothing they say about what’s going on at our southern border is even remotely true. FYI Republicans have voted against every attempt to fix border issues since Pres. Obama was in office. In fact, their initial budget proposal just a few weeks ago actually partially defunded Border Patrol. So, gee- it must not be as bad as they say it is.
Troll: It's time to retire your own tiresome "Sleepy Joe" trope. He's always on the go. Even if Biden is not your favorite candidate, quit the cliches. Your "Sleepy Joe" characterization does not match Biden's activities and accomplishments. He's busy, and unlike most public officials these days, once they hit forty, Biden looks trim and fit.
We should call him, Joe the Stud...really, 80!
I cannot even imagine what kind of amphetamine drugs (and steroids?) they have that rotund orange sack of shit on to be able to even walk up to it's lectern at it's Q'aNAZI MAGAt BUND meetings, and spew it's toxic, venomous fascist poison.
Troll, you are a troll.
Or a idiot
trolly schmuck, whites are all IMMIGRANTS in N. America, so enough of your racism. You just have to learn that we must accept justice, and equality for all, otherwise off with you to Russia, N. Korea, China or Saudia Arabia where you'll really have something to complain about !!
Well if he doesn’t get your vote (and the votes of others like you) we know what we will get.
So, do you hunt YOURSELF?? (Going by your username.)
Thank you, Robert, for the excellent summary of the political life of RFK Jr, but it deeply saddens me. I will add his name to my ever-growing list of dangerous men and women.
If RFK, Jr. cowtows to Elon, imagine how he will cave in to Putin.
Your right, Mr. Reich,
Bobby Kennedy was America's Great hope. His namesake is an embarrassment. I think Biden should reach out before the primaries and tell RFK Jr. that if Biden wins re-election, Biden could name RFK Jr. head of the EPA. Kennedy would drop out, support Biden, then Biden could nominate him, but tell Schumer to make sure he doesn't get the votes.
Do you really think Biden would do such a lowlife, sleazy stunt like this? I think he is much better than this! This is the sort of thing one would expect from the MAGA Republicans.
No, Joe would NEVER do this - it was just my frustration getting the best of me! I think RFK Jr's presidential campaign is something that I think is supported by MAGAt himself. I'm a huge fan of the Kennedy family and it breaks my heart the RFK Jr. would even do this stunt; aside from his ridiculous stance on vaccines, he doesn't believe Sirhan Sirhan killed his father and supported his release over the objections of his mother, Ethel, and 6 of his brothers and sisters.
President Biden doesn't need this pest and I was just trying to create a plan, regardless of how evil it was! LOL!
If we could get Kennedy back to caring about the environment, a much worthier cause than what he's now focused on & a much more urgent crisis, that would be a good thing. He could be a very good director of the EPA.
What happened to the Robert Reich who offered full-throated advocacy for wealth equality and regulating corporate power over decades? RFK Jr. is still an environmentalist, and has litigated for corporate responsibility for decades. As someone who follows his thinking, I'm shocked by some of the rhetorical flourishes in this essay that misinterpret his actual positions. The corporate media mostly ignores "The Real Anthony Fauci," and when they do review it, it consists of ad hominem attacks, and puff pieces about how disappointed his family is in him. There are 2,194 footnotes in the book, and I have yet to read one mainstream review that refutes one fact or footnote on the merits, including this one.
Since when do we organize public health along political party lines? Since COVID. Corporate Democrats have nothing to offer that includes happy or free human beings, any more than Corporate Republicans. An honest reading of Dr. Reich's political analysis across decades reveals his own misgivings. Dr. Reich, please tell me that you remember the core message of your life's work, and haven't become a partisan corporate propagandist.
Mr. Reich has clearly been hired by the DNC.
I would love to see Dr. Reich debate RFK Jr. I have a great amount of respect for Reich’s views, but it’s hard for me to read his characterization of Kennedy as a crack pot without hearing Kennedy’s rebuttal. I’ve watched numerous interviews of RFK Jr recently. Overall he handles the criticism of being antivax very empirically—with peer reviewed studies. But he’s not running on his vaccine skepticism, but instead on challenging the corporate take over of American democracy and bringing together Americans, including the far Right. He does this through respectful discourse and focusing on common ground. His political views are eclectic—some decidedly Right (distrust of government), some very much to the left (environmentalism and a woman’s right to choice). He is no more anti immigration than Biden—he wants to control our Southern border, but increase legal immigration of those escaping countries that we helped to denigrate. He is a boundary spanning agent. In my research theses are the kind of leaders needed to bring together competing values. He’s hard to listen to because of his vocal cord impairment, but his thoughts are at times quite profound. I find his candidacy intriguing.