Give me back my old time Democrats
Jon Faulkner at OpEd News reminds us of the difference between conservatives and liberals.
For those who believe there's not a dime's worth of difference in the two parties consider. Social Security, The G.I. Bill, Labor Laws, Environmental Laws, Civil Rights, Bank Deposit Insurance, The Rural Electrification Program, Product Labeling, Truth in Advertising, Woman's Right to Vote and the Earned Income Tax Credit were all the work of liberals as conservative republicans howled their opposition.That's true enough but it was a long time ago. Faulkner goes on to list the conservative's "accomplishments."
In contrast the republicans initiated cuts in veteran's benefits, they eviscerated education and health care, passed endless tax cuts for the rich, slashed Head Start, and eliminated the Fairness Doctrine. Given more time, elderly Americans would have watched their Social Security checks get turned over to Wall Street investors, for a fee of course. All of these conservative "contributions" have the same thread of commonality - they were passed in the early A.M., on Saturdays, after news deadlines. Like cockroaches, conservatives like to operate in the dark. Turn on the lights and they scatter for the cracks.And therein lies the problem for today's progressives who would like to claim the Democratic Party as their own again. The GOP were allowed to accomplish this destruction of our formerly humane system of govenment by a meek and compliant Democratic Party that was so busy redefining its image as "centrist" in order to win elections, they forgot that in order to lead you have to stand on principles, not respond to polling. The people want leaders and innovators, not wishy-washy politicians who are afraid to make a move until their focus groups tell them which way the wind blows.
posted by Libby Spencer at 10:44 AM
10 Comments:
Didn't Milton Friedman, may he rest in peace, invent the concept behind the earned income tax credit?
I also think Social Security was one of the absolutely worst things ever to happen to our country.
Ah well, I guess that's where I'm the libertarian and you're not :)
I believe Friedman was instrumental in earned income credits, among many other sensible propositions.
I certainly disagree on SS, I lean libertarian in a lot of ways but I believe in the social safety net. I'm curious why you feel that way though. Are you interested in doing a guest post here about it?
this is a cartoonish op ed. the years of 1980-2000 were great years. only a partisan would deny that. US before reagan had a lot of socialistic bad habits that did little more than add to the size of the goverment. if they hadn't occured, we wold be in a similar position as europe, a massive welfare state being devoured by immigrants who are resented and not integrated.
Well I'm not a partisan for either party Lester and I disagree that the excesses of the 80s were good for the country. We need a government for some things.
yeah, who else will take a third of our paycheck and start unending wars?
reagan was the best president ever. governments should be judged by their size not their direction. anything positive that comes from a government merely sets a bad precedent. because of the relative succes of korea, people thought we could do vietnam. because of the gulf war and kosovo, people thought iraq wold be a cakewalk.
Didn't Reagan invade Grenada? He was a doddering old fool who surrounding himself with thugs and miscreants. He set the stage for the destruction of the social safety net. He's the one that declared ketchup should be counted as vegetable for free lunches.
It was in the Reagan years that greed and crass consumerism became a virtue rather than a fault.
bah
LOL Lester. Isn't it a little early to be channeling Ebenezer Scrooge?
If I may be even more pretentious than usual: I have a degree in Art History. With reagan, it's what's NOT there a la jackson pollock or Carl Andre. He tapped into the essential of american darwinism: hostility to the federal government. Any ethical lapses he had are dwarfed by this to his admirers
But it was a parlor trick Lester, a trompe d'oliel. They didn't shrink the government, they just rearranged it to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. The roots of today's class warfare are planted in his administration.
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