But attack with the truth, using factual evidence. Republicans have provided us such a vast pool of sordid information from which to pull material to use.
It's true! Why do _rumplicans even HAVE 30% of the vote? They are VICIOUS MONSTERS who can play the uneducated like a kazoo! Their SOLE achomplishment after packing the courts with unqualified clods is MESSAGING. [sic]
A constantly terrified cult is a cult that will die for you.
It is time for Americans to play the same game: vicious attack ads daily! Truth may be a tad tougher sell usually, but my God are these _rumplicans making it easy by not checking Google before they make up a lie.
Once any narrative takes hold it gains credibility, and the truth begins to look suspect. This is the reason for the lie. This is a major entry in the fascist playbook. Google will not help you.
Truth travels 6 times more slowly on the internet , got that from " The Social Dilemma " remember Google only shows you what YOU want to see. The Trumplicans use our Morbid Curiosity against their base. Feel sorry for them, they are in a Cult
Yesterday we were discussing whether it was appropriate to refer to Ron DeSantis as a fascist. In my comment I referenced Lewis Powell's "memo" to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (in 1972) which I belive was the focal point of America's shift toward corporatism. Thus, the republican party has been supporting the tax evasion of people like Mr. Wynn for the past 50 years. Tax havens such as the Cayman Islands are directly the result of republicans doing what their donors (like Wynn) demand. Having enough IRS agents to actually audit the wealthy tax cheats is, to me, a significant step forward in causing the "wealthiest among us" to pay their fair share. Sadly, many of them feel their "fair share" is finding ways to pay no taxes at all. (Trump called that being "smart") This would be consistent with what I referred to as Musolini type fascism - the corporate/government alliance. Bravo for the democrats getting this legislation passed. Voters, however, MUST be aware that giving POWER back to republicans will cause this "step forward" to be reversed. (Which is exactly what Mr. Leo intends to accomplish with the $1.6 BILLION in "dark money")
Republicans worship mammon & not God. They ignore God's wisdom as revealed to the OT prophets, & reaffirmed in the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus fulfilled the moral law & the social justice of the prophets.
This is exactly the sort of 100% lie that the GOP can rely on to inflame their base. Their base want to hear this. Their base doesn’t even care if it is shown to be a lie. Dem candidates and Dem messaging have to quote less than one sentence of actual text from the legislation that is enough to expose that it is an unequivocal lie to inflame Dems and Indies so that they actually vote.
“Get this TRUTH out!” Instead of metal detectors at the gates of the government, install Lie Detectors. And if we contract with a made in Russia or Hungary, the repubs will buy it. So disappointing and frightening we cannot trust the repubs. Yet, for half the country, trust and truth are not top considerations.
Agree, maybe even C and D. It seems the Democrats as a whole, have no plan at all. There are way too many organizations collecting money (DNC,. DCCC, DCSC, individual Congress people, and organizations purporting to back this or that) From what I see all they do is collect money, Except for Inequality Media, I see no result, other than hearsay that the DNC is backing repugs they think can be defeated - and that's about as dumb as they come.
@Irenie. Not half! Only about 32% of the population actually support Trump even though the repugnicans were able to pull in another few percent of disgruntled, confused or misled people to make up their coalition. But Trump never won a majority of American votes - it was only the operation of the Electoral College that got him into that office...
I agree, But, unless we can convince a majority of Congress and voters that we are overdue for a Constitutional Convention to revise and update the Constitution from the 18th Century to the 21st Century, and then make sure we have no authoritarians among the Convention delegates (or weak minded trumpsters) or we will be stuck with the electoral college. While I respect and admire the visionaries of the late 18th Century for the remarkable job they did on framing the Constitution, I wish the had been magically clairvoyant to foresee the mischief caused by the electoral college. In their eagerness to avoid the 'riffraff' of semi-literate 18th Century voters they have left us open to the semi-literate hatemongers of the 21st Century.
It’s amazing to me, and I’m sure many of you, how many of our fellow Americans are Willfully Ignorant! This monetized Corruption has been growing for many years because we have allowed the Greed of the few to become the Greed of the Many.
It’s no longer a :
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE
BY THE PEOPLE
FOR THE PEOPLE
And to tell the truth, I’m not sure if it ever was!
While I MOSTLY agree with you, to me, the beauty of the Constitution is that it was written as a "living document" - to be amended over time to meet the changing needs of society. (I should know this :o) I believe there are between 25 and 30 amendments. In my view, the "founders" were attempting to prevent EXACTLY what the republicans are trying to pull off with the system of "checks and balances" and that is what Karl Rove was attempting to overcome with the "permanent republican 'majority.'" They have the courts for the next generation (The Supreme Court at least) and they're attempting to pull off the combination of regaining control of Congress while passing voter suppression/intimidation laws in "swing states" which will allow them to regain control of the "White House" in 2024 no matter the will of the people. The good news is that "we the people" have the opportunity to STOP them this November. Somehow Joe Biden has become unpopular even inside the democratic party - despite managing to create an incredible legislative record when you consider the razor thin margins he's working with in Congress. I fully support his view that government should work from "the bottom up and middle out" and I believe "we the people" have the opportunity to push us closer to the ideal you mention above, "Of the people, By the people, and For the people." To me, that is what we should always be pushing our leaders toward and just maybe there are enough of us to overcome what you refer to as "willfully ignorant people." (to which, sadly, I have to agree) in the upcoming elections (beyond my lifetime - I'm 75). I believe EVERY election until the Court has been rebalanced MUST keep republicans from controlling the Senate - and, if we are serious about the critical issues facing ALL of us (including the willfully ignorant) we must do whatever we can to help progressives control the House. Maybe the positive which might come from Trump's regime will be the mobilization of progressives, independents, and disaffected republicans causing people to understand our republic will remain a republic ONLY if "we the people" are willing to defend it. When I was young I remember - I think it may have been a Kennedy - warning about the "enemy within." Well, it appears the time is now.
There is a constant theme here. The USA was conceived to protect the power of the wealthy, with a thin veneer of democracy to make it look or feel better.
I am aware that change is something very difficult to effect, after all every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution. But where are the influential people - like you Mr Reich - pointing out that 'US democracy' is little more than a not-very-democratic veneer on a system intended to do pretty much what it is doing?
basically ,this country was conceived by English men and women who did not want to be told how and who they could worship, to get out from under the thumb of a "ruler", and a place where people were able to work for themselves to create their own wealth. And the only time I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America was my induction into the military. Everyone in the country lives under the laws it regulates, but are not forced to 'swear allegiance' to it. The present problem facing the country at this time is that many people in power are claiming to be above the law, and many are trying to install a leader to swear allegiance to. (Both of which I find disgusting.)
No, Not an American. Everyone has their cans of wormsm but Americans have very big cans of worms that affect the whole world. Hence my desire that US face reality.
It's true the founders were wealthy and white, and slave owners. At the same time, they also were paying attention to the pre-democracy thinking in Europe, which was tired of monarchy and wanted a new, more resilient and inclusive form of government. (The reason our Constitution was the first of its kind is because we didn't have to behead the royals and overthrow the monarchy; we just had to drive the British back to the water's edge.) The idealism of that time was fervent and genuine. I don't buy this veneer stuff. I will go far enough to admit the founders didn't fully appreciate what they had wrought, and likely couldn't foresee that Americans would pick up the Constitution and run with it as we have.
I also get upset with successionists quoting that there should be a revolution once in a while. Every one of the Amendments had to pass rigorous tests to get where they are, and it took a silent revolution to kill the one (is there more)that failed. Many fine minds have considered a new master plan, but these have always been shut down. It IS Alive!
What?- 'every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution. '? Not since I volunteered for military duty, and a few years ago, did jury duty. We did it in school when I was a kid (during the Cold War). But it's generally used now in official circumstances....Tho I hear it's making a comeback in right-wing functions.
If everyone does it at school, then every American adult has done it at least once? I rest my case. How easy is it to avoid ever swearing allegience? Not that easy I think. But the details do not take away from my point that changing the US constitution is very difficult. Note that Americans are far from equal when voting on constitutional changes.
What gives you the idea thst "every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution," Edward? Federal employees—military enlistees to chief executive—swear to uphold it (useful legal tool). No other Americans I know of are compelled to do so. Others are sometimes pressured to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (—allegiance to the flag; look it up). In parts of the country where school authorities go too far to require reluctant kids to recite the pledge a civil liberties unit normally rides to the rescue. Religion was a Cold War addition to the pledge; I just go silent there.
Thank you for that correction. I see the constitution is only there indirectly. My apologies for mentioning swearing allegiance without my facts straight. It has distracted from my key point.
American government is controlled by things decided in a non-democratic way 200+ years ago, and not changeable in a democratic way.
I quite agree with you about how the Constitution evolved as a document initially by and for wealthy white men. But it does offer some flexibility—whether enough to meet our era's needs, we shall see.
Thanks for the clarification. (I hope what you read from me resembled what's posted now, which differs wholly from my original comment. Being able to edit comments has been my downfall—nothing ever gets finished.)
I believe democracy is the best way to go (as far as governing is concerned). It takes time and participation of citizens to bring about change. We're not very old when compared to European countries. The benefits of America since its formation have been enjoyed by the rest of the world as well. To imply we don't face reality is ridiculous. The world is one big "can of worms" that countries are all responsible for. WE are working on it...what's happening where you are?
I agree with Edward. Thousands of times I’ve pledged allegiance to the flag and the Republic for which it stands, the Republic IS the Constitution as far as I’m concerned. To me our ills seem to boil down to the lust for control of as much power and money as one can get their hands on. Though the means to appease that lust are convoluted, chaotic, lack integrity or morals and are wildly varied they are simple in their nature.
@Edward. The perspective you are putting forward reflects a deep ignorance of who the Founders were, what they believed, what they risked and how they conducted themselves. My ancestor signed the Declaration of Independence, was arrested by the British, suffered long imprisonment and ultimately lost most of his lifetime savings and property. Your cavalier assignment of base motives to some very great people is just a crude effort to undercut the United States of America. Now, even having said the above, I will most certainly grant that the Union is not perfect, our system of government has flaws, there is much room for improvement AND as you rather rudely suggest, there are forces that leverage our freedoms in the pursuit of personal greed and power. But as oft paraphrased from Churchill, our democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest.
Hello Mr Stockton. No intention to diss the USA. Great things the founding fathers did, but one they did not was to make one person one vote democracy part of the constitution.
@Edward. Understood. It is sometimes just the limitations of language that prevents a good understanding. I am one who feels that a vigorous critique of our ways is very healthy. Just being careful not to "throw out the baby with the bath water."
Steve Wynn is asking Ronna ROMNEY MCDaniel and Newt Gingrich to lie to help him avoid paying taxes. Well, Wynn has come to the right people for help. Both those characters have been lying for a living for many years.
Each time Trump had a tweet tantrum during his presidency, Gingrich would dutifully push away from his wine and pasta in Rome, and tweet a convenient lie supporting Trump. This was how he paid for his wife’s cushy government job as ambassador to the Vatican. Nice work if you can get it.
Ronna ROMNEY MCDaniel dropped her maiden name because Uncle Mitt displeased the very sensitive Baby Donald. She also has had the RNC pay Trump’s legal bills, since Trump, the billionaire, can’t pay his own bills.
So Steve Wynn is asking experienced liars to do his bidding. I guess that makes him a smarter employer than Trump who doesn’t require experience or intelligence, only the willingness to kiss his ample bottom.
This is the structure of corruption that has received the blessing of the Supreme Court via Citizens United.
So far I haven't heard anyone in the media ask what is Trump's reason for stealing secret documents. Certainly not for his own personal use. He had no use for security briefings when in office. Was he planning to sell them to foreign governments? Has he already sold some? This would move the needle from simply removing documents to espionage.
They've most probably been used to sell to mostly foreign entities, especially his dictator friends, & to blackmail people, mostly Republicans like Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul & Kevin McCarthy, into standing with him.
@Robert. I suspect the folks in the news rooms are just like you and me - they know that old bone spur has ulterior motives and plans to monetize the United States' closest secrets. He has already given favor and aid to foreign adversaries. Of course he is going to sell or trade those secrets (or already has). Media commentators can't say so without evidence due to the massive legal attacks that would come from that pussy grabber's supporters and cronies. Be patient my friend, the truth of this will come out.
I heard the media holding back this morning on MSNBC; Mika wanted to move to the next logical guess—that Trump could have already shown or given to Putin. She was on the verge of saying it, but then held back, because it's not her business to suppose motives and actions which haven't yet been discovered or exposed. Very professional.
Donald J. Trump is one of the most thoroughly documented Americans in the Russian Intelligence Services. The proof is that they would be insane not to. They study every America with business activity in the USSR/Russia to look for weaknesses to exploit. It's in their job description.
And forget about the "kompromat" video of Trump allegedly having golden shower parties in the Moscow Hilton. They've probably got more tinkle pix shot of McConnell and McCarthy. Sexual kompromat is so...fifties.
An American player who's going broke is their kind of guy. Money on the table, freshly laundered, no questions asked. At first.
And they turned down the prospect of Trump as an agent. The proof is that they would be insane not to. The man is a seventy year long trainwreck. Nothing touches him without being damaged, the KGB included. They know better.
But he's always been a yo-yo in KGB limbo, exploited and dumped when they need someone. Ivana Maria Zelníčková may have been their honeytramp whom they implanted as his handler. She could keep him out of trouble, and reel him in whenever the KGB needed him.
Her dad, Miloš Zelníček, was a KGB snitch after her mom and dad moved to New York. You can look it up, if you believe the Guardian - "files reveal Trump was the target of an extensive spying operation in the late 1980s by the country’s intelligence service, with ‘friends’ from the KGB" (see https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/29/czechoslovakia-spied-on-trump-to-exploit-ties-to-highest-echelons-of-us-power ) Could have even met Bad Vlad from Lenin-grad, although he was doing his thing in East Germany.
So suspecting that the KGB knows Donald inside and out, is like suspecting that Joe Biden's from Scranton. (He is)
You know, it's immaterial at this point. The BEST defense Trump can offer is that he was reckless in handling secure information. Recklessness has been defined as " the state of mind where a person deliberately and unjustifiably pursues a course of action while consciously disregarding any risks flowing from such action." In case law, there's a discussion of "Recklessness on the part of the doer of an act presupposes that there is something in the circumstances that would have drawn the attention of an ordinary prudent individual to the possibility that his act was capable of causing the kind of serious harmful consequences..." [UK, Kenneth Diplock]
Is the flouting of security regulations for mishandling top secret information - in such a way to increase the possibility that secure information could be taken by nefarious persons to harm the United States - a clear crime? You bet your bippy it is. And that excuse is predicated on the (reasonable) claim that Trump is an ignorant slob indifferent to rules and the harm that violations can cause. He's got that excuse in the bag.
But what excuse should shed reasonable doubt on the assertion that most people who leave secure material in a position with easy access, are doing so for the purpose of conveying that information to others? A "dead drop" in spy lore is simply the doing of this very thing.
And I've never heard of an espionage case claiming that "I was just leaving the briefcase in the woods, I never expected that someone would TAKE IT!? Let's see if Trump is the first.
I agree with you, Steve, certainly he is "an ignorant slob," and then some. Though rather than say that he is "indifferent" to anything, I would say that he intentionally and gleefully upends and demolishes and confuses everything nonstop. We are fistfulls of confetti that he continuously tosses in the air over and over and sadistically enjoys how draining it is for us, and how much effort a broad coalition of us have to put in to continuously attempt to right ourselves.
The difference between honest people and Mafiosi is that the latter only care about their wallets. The combination of lies and dark money is their business method. Ooops! Have I just spoken about the GOP?
There's apparently a major difference between the GOP and "that Italian organization" which you mention. Seeing a stretch limo stopping at a tiny run-down home in our Italian, working-class town, as a child, I joked to my dad about its possible owners. He sternly instructed, "There is no Mafia. Don't ever say that word." Legend in Boston's Italian North End, however, taught that "those people" took care of neighborhood unfortunate, while defending their territory only against rivals. Fiction, no doubt, and not as equitable as democracy, but it sounded considerably more ethical than today's GOP. I keep wondering why Democrat leaders don't do more to fight the appalling, costly offenses by their rivals. Are they stupid? Lazy? Naive? Bought? Blackmailed? All of the above? (They can't be Italian, lol.)
It’s like they don’t realize that what they’re doing is, basically, going to destroy America as we know it. But yeah, keep letting the stinking rich not pay the taxes they owe, and if one of their mansions catches on fire, they can’t use the fire department! And yup, no police, either! Need some road work on the public streets around their properties, pay for it your damn self!! They want or need Any public services, ummmmm No!! They should be happy, we’ll let em keep water going to their places, but they have to supply their own electric!! Just Fk em ALL, we’d be So Much better without their cheap asses!! Maybe send em all to the damn moon, or Mars! There they can do whateverTF they wanna do!!
They know exactly what they are doing. They bring the same attitude of entitlement and over-indulgence with which they live their lives into their politics and business. The cult of "too much," I call it.
But we know they will demand government services to be used for them, & government will always prioritize their demands over the needs of ordinary taxpayers.
i assume the elites' end goal is for average americans to end up as modern slaves? what will they do after they've accomplished this? will they declare war on each other (using us as their soldiers) as they fight for the position of supreme leader over the planet? this america-as-dystopia looks rather like a modern version of Game of Thrones ...
Ever since Ronald Reagan so effectively characterized that government is the problem, people have forgotten what should be the first lesson in civics education - for over 800 years government has been the tool of the common people to reign in excess power and abuse by (first) kings and later by other rulers and exploiters. Reagan succeeded with the same 23% or so who are MAGA believers. Add in the moneyed interests who see government only as an obstacle to their exploitative plans along with the fringes and crazies - there you have it, the Republican coalition. Civics education, drawing the line from the Magna Carta to our Constitution, could help people see that government should be of the people, for the people and by the people. Stop money in politics!!
It was Ronald Reagan who removed the requirement in public schools of civics teaching. The requirement of civics courses was one of the original justifications of public funding of education. Reagan did serious damage to our democracy on many levels.
If (and when) US democracy falls due to destruction from within it won’t be because of trump. This cancer started long long before him, and most certainly with Reagan. Everything you describe in this article is due to the inability of a democratic counterforce to put a halt to the internal destruction that has been going on for decades. At every turn, Republicans have eked out victories that ended up being written in stone. Reversing some of these most consequential anti democratic attacks on American society will be impossible or will take generations and spilling blood.
The Machiavellian machinations by Republicans have succeeded because democrats have brought stones to an AR-15 fight.
It started with Nixon, if not before (the JFK assassination). Nixon sabotaged LBJ's peace initiative in Vietnam in order to get elected & that kind of treachery been part of the Republican modus operandi ever since.
The point isn’t even WHEN it started/how far back in time. In my opinion, the most important point is that Democrats have failed all along in mounting a defense/resistance. That’s why we are here now.
Citizens United. . . The Federalist Society. . . Marble Freedom Trust
There it is the whole story. As long as the average voter on the street is ignorant of those three subjects, nothing will change. It is the job of the media to inform us.
But why are they ignorant? That's the challenge. Consciousness-raising isn't effective when people have resistance to it. There's cunning manipulation afoot to keep average voters from thinking individually.
Even the mainstream media say little to nothing about them. This is the first time I've heard about Marble Freedom. Relatively few people are aware of the Lewis Powell Memo that is the basis of so much Republican/conservative policy. I see Citizens United mentioned a lot, but it's practically all on liberal forums. Most people aren't aware of what a crucial role the Federal Society has played in the corruption of our judicial system. For this I blame the MSM.
How to get this information out is the question. Even the so called liberal media doesn’t touch it .Even Rachel Maddow doesn’t touch these things. Why is that?
we're too busy dancing, amusing ourselves to death as democracy dies on the vine. You have to point to our culture of mindless consumerism, distraction, and denialism. The other perspective is it has always been so, but the elites that ruled the country had a rough consensus on matters that kept America afloat. Now that consensus no longer exists due to capitalism and its intellectual capture gone extreme. In a word, greed.
I'm looking...I find that "Hoffer discusses the sense of individual identity and the holding to particular ideals that can lead to extremism and fanaticism among both leaders and followers." Also, "Hoffer argues that mass movements are broadly interchangeable even when their stated goals or values differ dramatically." (WIKI)
The paradox is that extremist movements can claim to anchor their ideological center upon ideals which, in fact, they deviate from entirely.
Most chilling is that the sense of helplessness and alienation prevalent in in the latter half of 20th century America came from a search for individual identity and meaning in a world where the traditional foundations had been blasted apart. In the wake arose the popularity of the cult, offering a cluster of pre-paid ideas which a person can "install" without struggling over their personal relevance. I'd agree with Hoffer that the indifference of the members to the canonical values which they claim is due to their unthinking absorption of the ideas of the cult without individual freedom of thought.
Christianity today, for example, continues a long tradition of coexistence with Organized Christianity and its insufferable cultic ramifications. Christianity proceeds from individual conscience and reason. Fortunately can be discarded by Glitz Christianity and its Pastor Wizards. All sorts of horrid and heretical bylaws are laid upon "club Christianity" as shibboleths.
It is not only the will to believe, but more so, the will to belong, to cling to whatever is reassuring and entertaining, that drives the True Believers to belong in lieu of self-actualization.
Mass movements are about the giving up of the struggle with oneself and turning it over to the group. . .salvation. You give up the responsibility with yourself to be and turn it over to the group.
I have one piece of advice to the Democrats: Attack or die.
But attack with the truth, using factual evidence. Republicans have provided us such a vast pool of sordid information from which to pull material to use.
Hear! Hear!
It's true! Why do _rumplicans even HAVE 30% of the vote? They are VICIOUS MONSTERS who can play the uneducated like a kazoo! Their SOLE achomplishment after packing the courts with unqualified clods is MESSAGING. [sic]
A constantly terrified cult is a cult that will die for you.
It is time for Americans to play the same game: vicious attack ads daily! Truth may be a tad tougher sell usually, but my God are these _rumplicans making it easy by not checking Google before they make up a lie.
Once any narrative takes hold it gains credibility, and the truth begins to look suspect. This is the reason for the lie. This is a major entry in the fascist playbook. Google will not help you.
That is why the _rumplicans STILL have a base consisting of a whopping 30% of our country! Madness!
Unfortunately, that's about the same proportion of the population that Hitler had with him, & that was all he needed to take over the country.
Truth travels 6 times more slowly on the internet , got that from " The Social Dilemma " remember Google only shows you what YOU want to see. The Trumplicans use our Morbid Curiosity against their base. Feel sorry for them, they are in a Cult
They better get to getting instead of sitting on their thumbs!!!!!!
See my response to WGW's quote from Swift.
Exactly!
Yesterday we were discussing whether it was appropriate to refer to Ron DeSantis as a fascist. In my comment I referenced Lewis Powell's "memo" to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (in 1972) which I belive was the focal point of America's shift toward corporatism. Thus, the republican party has been supporting the tax evasion of people like Mr. Wynn for the past 50 years. Tax havens such as the Cayman Islands are directly the result of republicans doing what their donors (like Wynn) demand. Having enough IRS agents to actually audit the wealthy tax cheats is, to me, a significant step forward in causing the "wealthiest among us" to pay their fair share. Sadly, many of them feel their "fair share" is finding ways to pay no taxes at all. (Trump called that being "smart") This would be consistent with what I referred to as Musolini type fascism - the corporate/government alliance. Bravo for the democrats getting this legislation passed. Voters, however, MUST be aware that giving POWER back to republicans will cause this "step forward" to be reversed. (Which is exactly what Mr. Leo intends to accomplish with the $1.6 BILLION in "dark money")
Republicans worship mammon & not God. They ignore God's wisdom as revealed to the OT prophets, & reaffirmed in the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus fulfilled the moral law & the social justice of the prophets.
Unfortunately, it's a life long battle. Greed knows no bounds nor shame .....
I agree. It’s about time the enforcement-playing-field equaled the avoid-paying-taxes-at-all-cost-field of the wealthiest Americans.
Spot on, David, This is exactly what the retrumplicans support and will enforce if they regain power.
This is exactly the sort of 100% lie that the GOP can rely on to inflame their base. Their base want to hear this. Their base doesn’t even care if it is shown to be a lie. Dem candidates and Dem messaging have to quote less than one sentence of actual text from the legislation that is enough to expose that it is an unequivocal lie to inflame Dems and Indies so that they actually vote.
What a shock, the Republicans leaning into more lies, excuse me while I do a heavy eye roll.
“Get this TRUTH out!” Instead of metal detectors at the gates of the government, install Lie Detectors. And if we contract with a made in Russia or Hungary, the repubs will buy it. So disappointing and frightening we cannot trust the repubs. Yet, for half the country, trust and truth are not top considerations.
If only that would work, Irenie. The problem with lie detectors, they do not work on psychopaths.
Fay, we’ll have to find Plan B and soon.
Agree, maybe even C and D. It seems the Democrats as a whole, have no plan at all. There are way too many organizations collecting money (DNC,. DCCC, DCSC, individual Congress people, and organizations purporting to back this or that) From what I see all they do is collect money, Except for Inequality Media, I see no result, other than hearsay that the DNC is backing repugs they think can be defeated - and that's about as dumb as they come.
@Irenie. Not half! Only about 32% of the population actually support Trump even though the repugnicans were able to pull in another few percent of disgruntled, confused or misled people to make up their coalition. But Trump never won a majority of American votes - it was only the operation of the Electoral College that got him into that office...
I agree, But, unless we can convince a majority of Congress and voters that we are overdue for a Constitutional Convention to revise and update the Constitution from the 18th Century to the 21st Century, and then make sure we have no authoritarians among the Convention delegates (or weak minded trumpsters) or we will be stuck with the electoral college. While I respect and admire the visionaries of the late 18th Century for the remarkable job they did on framing the Constitution, I wish the had been magically clairvoyant to foresee the mischief caused by the electoral college. In their eagerness to avoid the 'riffraff' of semi-literate 18th Century voters they have left us open to the semi-literate hatemongers of the 21st Century.
It’s amazing to me, and I’m sure many of you, how many of our fellow Americans are Willfully Ignorant! This monetized Corruption has been growing for many years because we have allowed the Greed of the few to become the Greed of the Many.
It’s no longer a :
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE
BY THE PEOPLE
FOR THE PEOPLE
And to tell the truth, I’m not sure if it ever was!
While I MOSTLY agree with you, to me, the beauty of the Constitution is that it was written as a "living document" - to be amended over time to meet the changing needs of society. (I should know this :o) I believe there are between 25 and 30 amendments. In my view, the "founders" were attempting to prevent EXACTLY what the republicans are trying to pull off with the system of "checks and balances" and that is what Karl Rove was attempting to overcome with the "permanent republican 'majority.'" They have the courts for the next generation (The Supreme Court at least) and they're attempting to pull off the combination of regaining control of Congress while passing voter suppression/intimidation laws in "swing states" which will allow them to regain control of the "White House" in 2024 no matter the will of the people. The good news is that "we the people" have the opportunity to STOP them this November. Somehow Joe Biden has become unpopular even inside the democratic party - despite managing to create an incredible legislative record when you consider the razor thin margins he's working with in Congress. I fully support his view that government should work from "the bottom up and middle out" and I believe "we the people" have the opportunity to push us closer to the ideal you mention above, "Of the people, By the people, and For the people." To me, that is what we should always be pushing our leaders toward and just maybe there are enough of us to overcome what you refer to as "willfully ignorant people." (to which, sadly, I have to agree) in the upcoming elections (beyond my lifetime - I'm 75). I believe EVERY election until the Court has been rebalanced MUST keep republicans from controlling the Senate - and, if we are serious about the critical issues facing ALL of us (including the willfully ignorant) we must do whatever we can to help progressives control the House. Maybe the positive which might come from Trump's regime will be the mobilization of progressives, independents, and disaffected republicans causing people to understand our republic will remain a republic ONLY if "we the people" are willing to defend it. When I was young I remember - I think it may have been a Kennedy - warning about the "enemy within." Well, it appears the time is now.
There is a constant theme here. The USA was conceived to protect the power of the wealthy, with a thin veneer of democracy to make it look or feel better.
I am aware that change is something very difficult to effect, after all every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution. But where are the influential people - like you Mr Reich - pointing out that 'US democracy' is little more than a not-very-democratic veneer on a system intended to do pretty much what it is doing?
basically ,this country was conceived by English men and women who did not want to be told how and who they could worship, to get out from under the thumb of a "ruler", and a place where people were able to work for themselves to create their own wealth. And the only time I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America was my induction into the military. Everyone in the country lives under the laws it regulates, but are not forced to 'swear allegiance' to it. The present problem facing the country at this time is that many people in power are claiming to be above the law, and many are trying to install a leader to swear allegiance to. (Both of which I find disgusting.)
Edward is Not an American.It looks like he has a European viewpoint. AND we know they have their own can of worms...
No, Not an American. Everyone has their cans of wormsm but Americans have very big cans of worms that affect the whole world. Hence my desire that US face reality.
History is history, no matter the nationality of the historian, Steven Manning. (I'm a 9th generation American myself. Et vous?)
4th generation Celtic Franco American with the assorted dash of Native American.
It's true the founders were wealthy and white, and slave owners. At the same time, they also were paying attention to the pre-democracy thinking in Europe, which was tired of monarchy and wanted a new, more resilient and inclusive form of government. (The reason our Constitution was the first of its kind is because we didn't have to behead the royals and overthrow the monarchy; we just had to drive the British back to the water's edge.) The idealism of that time was fervent and genuine. I don't buy this veneer stuff. I will go far enough to admit the founders didn't fully appreciate what they had wrought, and likely couldn't foresee that Americans would pick up the Constitution and run with it as we have.
Great point. I dislike the 'originalists
disagreeing that it's a living document.
I also get upset with successionists quoting that there should be a revolution once in a while. Every one of the Amendments had to pass rigorous tests to get where they are, and it took a silent revolution to kill the one (is there more)that failed. Many fine minds have considered a new master plan, but these have always been shut down. It IS Alive!
What?- 'every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution. '? Not since I volunteered for military duty, and a few years ago, did jury duty. We did it in school when I was a kid (during the Cold War). But it's generally used now in official circumstances....Tho I hear it's making a comeback in right-wing functions.
If everyone does it at school, then every American adult has done it at least once? I rest my case. How easy is it to avoid ever swearing allegience? Not that easy I think. But the details do not take away from my point that changing the US constitution is very difficult. Note that Americans are far from equal when voting on constitutional changes.
What gives you the idea thst "every American must swear allegiance to the Consititution," Edward? Federal employees—military enlistees to chief executive—swear to uphold it (useful legal tool). No other Americans I know of are compelled to do so. Others are sometimes pressured to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (—allegiance to the flag; look it up). In parts of the country where school authorities go too far to require reluctant kids to recite the pledge a civil liberties unit normally rides to the rescue. Religion was a Cold War addition to the pledge; I just go silent there.
Thank you for that correction. I see the constitution is only there indirectly. My apologies for mentioning swearing allegiance without my facts straight. It has distracted from my key point.
American government is controlled by things decided in a non-democratic way 200+ years ago, and not changeable in a democratic way.
I quite agree with you about how the Constitution evolved as a document initially by and for wealthy white men. But it does offer some flexibility—whether enough to meet our era's needs, we shall see.
Thanks for the clarification. (I hope what you read from me resembled what's posted now, which differs wholly from my original comment. Being able to edit comments has been my downfall—nothing ever gets finished.)
I believe democracy is the best way to go (as far as governing is concerned). It takes time and participation of citizens to bring about change. We're not very old when compared to European countries. The benefits of America since its formation have been enjoyed by the rest of the world as well. To imply we don't face reality is ridiculous. The world is one big "can of worms" that countries are all responsible for. WE are working on it...what's happening where you are?
Democracy is certainly the accepted way to go. But it needs democracy in the foundations, not just as a veneer on top.
I agree with Edward. Thousands of times I’ve pledged allegiance to the flag and the Republic for which it stands, the Republic IS the Constitution as far as I’m concerned. To me our ills seem to boil down to the lust for control of as much power and money as one can get their hands on. Though the means to appease that lust are convoluted, chaotic, lack integrity or morals and are wildly varied they are simple in their nature.
@Edward. The perspective you are putting forward reflects a deep ignorance of who the Founders were, what they believed, what they risked and how they conducted themselves. My ancestor signed the Declaration of Independence, was arrested by the British, suffered long imprisonment and ultimately lost most of his lifetime savings and property. Your cavalier assignment of base motives to some very great people is just a crude effort to undercut the United States of America. Now, even having said the above, I will most certainly grant that the Union is not perfect, our system of government has flaws, there is much room for improvement AND as you rather rudely suggest, there are forces that leverage our freedoms in the pursuit of personal greed and power. But as oft paraphrased from Churchill, our democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest.
Hello Mr Stockton. No intention to diss the USA. Great things the founding fathers did, but one they did not was to make one person one vote democracy part of the constitution.
@Edward. Understood. It is sometimes just the limitations of language that prevents a good understanding. I am one who feels that a vigorous critique of our ways is very healthy. Just being careful not to "throw out the baby with the bath water."
Thank you, Robert Reich. You’ve spelled it out. We have to stop the dark-money people. Tax ‘em all!
Steve Wynn is asking Ronna ROMNEY MCDaniel and Newt Gingrich to lie to help him avoid paying taxes. Well, Wynn has come to the right people for help. Both those characters have been lying for a living for many years.
Each time Trump had a tweet tantrum during his presidency, Gingrich would dutifully push away from his wine and pasta in Rome, and tweet a convenient lie supporting Trump. This was how he paid for his wife’s cushy government job as ambassador to the Vatican. Nice work if you can get it.
Ronna ROMNEY MCDaniel dropped her maiden name because Uncle Mitt displeased the very sensitive Baby Donald. She also has had the RNC pay Trump’s legal bills, since Trump, the billionaire, can’t pay his own bills.
So Steve Wynn is asking experienced liars to do his bidding. I guess that makes him a smarter employer than Trump who doesn’t require experience or intelligence, only the willingness to kiss his ample bottom.
This is the structure of corruption that has received the blessing of the Supreme Court via Citizens United.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Yes, "Ronna ROMNEY MCDaniel" Just because SHE dropped her family name doesn't mean we forget.
So far I haven't heard anyone in the media ask what is Trump's reason for stealing secret documents. Certainly not for his own personal use. He had no use for security briefings when in office. Was he planning to sell them to foreign governments? Has he already sold some? This would move the needle from simply removing documents to espionage.
They've most probably been used to sell to mostly foreign entities, especially his dictator friends, & to blackmail people, mostly Republicans like Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul & Kevin McCarthy, into standing with him.
@Robert. I suspect the folks in the news rooms are just like you and me - they know that old bone spur has ulterior motives and plans to monetize the United States' closest secrets. He has already given favor and aid to foreign adversaries. Of course he is going to sell or trade those secrets (or already has). Media commentators can't say so without evidence due to the massive legal attacks that would come from that pussy grabber's supporters and cronies. Be patient my friend, the truth of this will come out.
I heard the media holding back this morning on MSNBC; Mika wanted to move to the next logical guess—that Trump could have already shown or given to Putin. She was on the verge of saying it, but then held back, because it's not her business to suppose motives and actions which haven't yet been discovered or exposed. Very professional.
@Sandra B. Yes, professional and worldly wise.
Donald J. Trump is one of the most thoroughly documented Americans in the Russian Intelligence Services. The proof is that they would be insane not to. They study every America with business activity in the USSR/Russia to look for weaknesses to exploit. It's in their job description.
And forget about the "kompromat" video of Trump allegedly having golden shower parties in the Moscow Hilton. They've probably got more tinkle pix shot of McConnell and McCarthy. Sexual kompromat is so...fifties.
An American player who's going broke is their kind of guy. Money on the table, freshly laundered, no questions asked. At first.
And they turned down the prospect of Trump as an agent. The proof is that they would be insane not to. The man is a seventy year long trainwreck. Nothing touches him without being damaged, the KGB included. They know better.
But he's always been a yo-yo in KGB limbo, exploited and dumped when they need someone. Ivana Maria Zelníčková may have been their honeytramp whom they implanted as his handler. She could keep him out of trouble, and reel him in whenever the KGB needed him.
Her dad, Miloš Zelníček, was a KGB snitch after her mom and dad moved to New York. You can look it up, if you believe the Guardian - "files reveal Trump was the target of an extensive spying operation in the late 1980s by the country’s intelligence service, with ‘friends’ from the KGB" (see https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/29/czechoslovakia-spied-on-trump-to-exploit-ties-to-highest-echelons-of-us-power ) Could have even met Bad Vlad from Lenin-grad, although he was doing his thing in East Germany.
So suspecting that the KGB knows Donald inside and out, is like suspecting that Joe Biden's from Scranton. (He is)
You know, it's immaterial at this point. The BEST defense Trump can offer is that he was reckless in handling secure information. Recklessness has been defined as " the state of mind where a person deliberately and unjustifiably pursues a course of action while consciously disregarding any risks flowing from such action." In case law, there's a discussion of "Recklessness on the part of the doer of an act presupposes that there is something in the circumstances that would have drawn the attention of an ordinary prudent individual to the possibility that his act was capable of causing the kind of serious harmful consequences..." [UK, Kenneth Diplock]
Is the flouting of security regulations for mishandling top secret information - in such a way to increase the possibility that secure information could be taken by nefarious persons to harm the United States - a clear crime? You bet your bippy it is. And that excuse is predicated on the (reasonable) claim that Trump is an ignorant slob indifferent to rules and the harm that violations can cause. He's got that excuse in the bag.
But what excuse should shed reasonable doubt on the assertion that most people who leave secure material in a position with easy access, are doing so for the purpose of conveying that information to others? A "dead drop" in spy lore is simply the doing of this very thing.
And I've never heard of an espionage case claiming that "I was just leaving the briefcase in the woods, I never expected that someone would TAKE IT!? Let's see if Trump is the first.
I agree with you, Steve, certainly he is "an ignorant slob," and then some. Though rather than say that he is "indifferent" to anything, I would say that he intentionally and gleefully upends and demolishes and confuses everything nonstop. We are fistfulls of confetti that he continuously tosses in the air over and over and sadistically enjoys how draining it is for us, and how much effort a broad coalition of us have to put in to continuously attempt to right ourselves.
The difference between honest people and Mafiosi is that the latter only care about their wallets. The combination of lies and dark money is their business method. Ooops! Have I just spoken about the GOP?
There's apparently a major difference between the GOP and "that Italian organization" which you mention. Seeing a stretch limo stopping at a tiny run-down home in our Italian, working-class town, as a child, I joked to my dad about its possible owners. He sternly instructed, "There is no Mafia. Don't ever say that word." Legend in Boston's Italian North End, however, taught that "those people" took care of neighborhood unfortunate, while defending their territory only against rivals. Fiction, no doubt, and not as equitable as democracy, but it sounded considerably more ethical than today's GOP. I keep wondering why Democrat leaders don't do more to fight the appalling, costly offenses by their rivals. Are they stupid? Lazy? Naive? Bought? Blackmailed? All of the above? (They can't be Italian, lol.)
All of the above. This is what happens when you replace convictions with money.
It’s like they don’t realize that what they’re doing is, basically, going to destroy America as we know it. But yeah, keep letting the stinking rich not pay the taxes they owe, and if one of their mansions catches on fire, they can’t use the fire department! And yup, no police, either! Need some road work on the public streets around their properties, pay for it your damn self!! They want or need Any public services, ummmmm No!! They should be happy, we’ll let em keep water going to their places, but they have to supply their own electric!! Just Fk em ALL, we’d be So Much better without their cheap asses!! Maybe send em all to the damn moon, or Mars! There they can do whateverTF they wanna do!!
They know exactly what they are doing. "My way or the highway."
@Ms. Dusty. I love your spirit! But yeah, they know what they are doing...
They know exactly what they are doing. They bring the same attitude of entitlement and over-indulgence with which they live their lives into their politics and business. The cult of "too much," I call it.
But we know they will demand government services to be used for them, & government will always prioritize their demands over the needs of ordinary taxpayers.
i assume the elites' end goal is for average americans to end up as modern slaves? what will they do after they've accomplished this? will they declare war on each other (using us as their soldiers) as they fight for the position of supreme leader over the planet? this america-as-dystopia looks rather like a modern version of Game of Thrones ...
oh, did anyone see the f-word in a washington post headline? https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/06/03/trump-protests-fascism/ i was going to congratulate robert reich (and president joe biden) for starting a trend but noticed the piece is 2 years old ...
Aaaannnnd Ron Wyden's tweet in the middle of the article. Thanks for the link!
Ever since Ronald Reagan so effectively characterized that government is the problem, people have forgotten what should be the first lesson in civics education - for over 800 years government has been the tool of the common people to reign in excess power and abuse by (first) kings and later by other rulers and exploiters. Reagan succeeded with the same 23% or so who are MAGA believers. Add in the moneyed interests who see government only as an obstacle to their exploitative plans along with the fringes and crazies - there you have it, the Republican coalition. Civics education, drawing the line from the Magna Carta to our Constitution, could help people see that government should be of the people, for the people and by the people. Stop money in politics!!
It was Ronald Reagan who removed the requirement in public schools of civics teaching. The requirement of civics courses was one of the original justifications of public funding of education. Reagan did serious damage to our democracy on many levels.
If (and when) US democracy falls due to destruction from within it won’t be because of trump. This cancer started long long before him, and most certainly with Reagan. Everything you describe in this article is due to the inability of a democratic counterforce to put a halt to the internal destruction that has been going on for decades. At every turn, Republicans have eked out victories that ended up being written in stone. Reversing some of these most consequential anti democratic attacks on American society will be impossible or will take generations and spilling blood.
The Machiavellian machinations by Republicans have succeeded because democrats have brought stones to an AR-15 fight.
Quite right, Mona. It's been going on for decades.
It started with Nixon, if not before (the JFK assassination). Nixon sabotaged LBJ's peace initiative in Vietnam in order to get elected & that kind of treachery been part of the Republican modus operandi ever since.
The point isn’t even WHEN it started/how far back in time. In my opinion, the most important point is that Democrats have failed all along in mounting a defense/resistance. That’s why we are here now.
Long before Reagan.
Citizens United. . . The Federalist Society. . . Marble Freedom Trust
There it is the whole story. As long as the average voter on the street is ignorant of those three subjects, nothing will change. It is the job of the media to inform us.
But why are they ignorant? That's the challenge. Consciousness-raising isn't effective when people have resistance to it. There's cunning manipulation afoot to keep average voters from thinking individually.
Even the mainstream media say little to nothing about them. This is the first time I've heard about Marble Freedom. Relatively few people are aware of the Lewis Powell Memo that is the basis of so much Republican/conservative policy. I see Citizens United mentioned a lot, but it's practically all on liberal forums. Most people aren't aware of what a crucial role the Federal Society has played in the corruption of our judicial system. For this I blame the MSM.
How to get this information out is the question. Even the so called liberal media doesn’t touch it .Even Rachel Maddow doesn’t touch these things. Why is that?
we're too busy dancing, amusing ourselves to death as democracy dies on the vine. You have to point to our culture of mindless consumerism, distraction, and denialism. The other perspective is it has always been so, but the elites that ruled the country had a rough consensus on matters that kept America afloat. Now that consensus no longer exists due to capitalism and its intellectual capture gone extreme. In a word, greed.
Read "The True Believers" ~ Eric Hoffer
You are dead right about "cunning manipulation."
I'm looking...I find that "Hoffer discusses the sense of individual identity and the holding to particular ideals that can lead to extremism and fanaticism among both leaders and followers." Also, "Hoffer argues that mass movements are broadly interchangeable even when their stated goals or values differ dramatically." (WIKI)
The paradox is that extremist movements can claim to anchor their ideological center upon ideals which, in fact, they deviate from entirely.
Most chilling is that the sense of helplessness and alienation prevalent in in the latter half of 20th century America came from a search for individual identity and meaning in a world where the traditional foundations had been blasted apart. In the wake arose the popularity of the cult, offering a cluster of pre-paid ideas which a person can "install" without struggling over their personal relevance. I'd agree with Hoffer that the indifference of the members to the canonical values which they claim is due to their unthinking absorption of the ideas of the cult without individual freedom of thought.
Christianity today, for example, continues a long tradition of coexistence with Organized Christianity and its insufferable cultic ramifications. Christianity proceeds from individual conscience and reason. Fortunately can be discarded by Glitz Christianity and its Pastor Wizards. All sorts of horrid and heretical bylaws are laid upon "club Christianity" as shibboleths.
It is not only the will to believe, but more so, the will to belong, to cling to whatever is reassuring and entertaining, that drives the True Believers to belong in lieu of self-actualization.
Thanks for the reference.
Mass movements are about the giving up of the struggle with oneself and turning it over to the group. . .salvation. You give up the responsibility with yourself to be and turn it over to the group.