The Democrat Party needs a real come-to-Jesus moment. The progressives like AOC and The Squad, the grifters, such as the Clintons, all combined with the self-serving tech bi…
The Democrat Party needs a real come-to-Jesus moment. The progressives like AOC and The Squad, the grifters, such as the Clintons, all combined with the self-serving tech billionaires, have forced the party of the little guy to completely lose its way. They are utterly destroying the Democratic party. There articles all over the Internets about this phenomenon, and all say it spells disaster come November. Let's hope so.
The Dems are the party of the woman-hating Translets, and they seem perfectly willing to die on the TransSword. Let them. Meanwhile, I'm politically homeless. I contacted my Republican state/Congress reps asking their stance on women's sex-based rights vs/ the deluxe-class Trans citizens. They can have my blue vote if they publicly denounce this insanity.
Recently read a wonderful bio on LBJ(Caros magisterial work) in it FDR and LBJ were working to get affordable power to the poor and rural people. Now 90 years later compare that to the energy policies of the current democrat party where they are purposefully increasing the cost and access to power in the vain hope of reducing global temps 0.1 degree in 80 years
LBJ was one of the most corrupt politicians in this country. His Great Society programs did more damage to the black population of this country than anything other than slavery. Read Thomas Sowell for enlightenment.
Oh definitely. Terrible human being but he did get the civil rights bill through. Wonderful bio by Caro and he is no fan of the man. Love Sowell as well
I have (had, anyway) a lot of Democrat friends, and I have to tell you: I'm completely baffled by those who still, after a year of Titular President Biden, still hew the party line.
Trump is no Shirley Temple, but the hatred! There was an article a couple of days ago that somewhat solves the mystery. It said that there is an entrenched cabal in Washington, bound together by membership in The Swamp, where they can access untold power and money earned by someone else to feather their own nests. They play this little kabuki of being at odds with each other, but it's not real.
The only person who can really threaten them is the president, but he's no problem because to get that office you have to kiss the right behinds, make the right deals, grease the right palms - for decades. Then they have things to hold over your head should you get out of line. Trump, having never held office, had none of that, so when he went rogue, it was terrifying. Hence the "Trump is Hitler combined with Satan" line. Keep repeating, and a large portion of the weak-minded will begin to believe it. They do. Ask them and they can't explain why; it's because HITLER!!
At least that was the article's thrust. I think it explains a great deal.
Yes, I'd read that article earlier this a.m. and this jives nicely.
One thing I can say is that politicians can always smell which way the wind blows, to mix my metaphors. So many Republicans slowly figuring out where the future lies; many will never be able to make the switch because they are, and will always be, the country club set. That's the American Dream, to them.
Dems held the figurative moral high ground with real people for a long time, but clearly decided money is better, embracing any new thing is progress. Now, their base is captive, unable to change their minds about right v wrong; unable to reconcile what they see with their own eyes of the leadership corruption.
I welcome the shift, and think it's seismic. Yet, I maintain a huge distrust of the existing politicians and their ability to accept and embrace it.
The Democrats strongest talent is smearing those who oppose them so there was an appearance that Republicans are about corporate greed and are thus against the working person. (I won't even get started on the environment.) It was not true and people, largely due to a loss of confidence in legacy media and career politicians, are seeing that the emperor has no clothes. Actually the emperors.
McConnell, Romney, Bush, Cheney, Chamber of Commerce, Nixon, Buckley, etc... maybe the Dems didn't have to work so hard to advance the stereotype.
Until Trump (thankfully!) I don't remember many of our leaders fighting for us, our jobs, our towns, our industries. But, they were pretty good at the social issues that divide us.
I have a hound dog named Buckley! When she barks, she doesn't move her lower jaw. It sounds like she disapproves but all could be solved with a single malt on the patio.
He reminds me a little bit of JP, in that he could totally burn you with some wry, off the cuff remark, but you didn't feel it for three minutes. Buckley's cuff, of course, all Brooks Bros.
McConnell is out for himself, he epitomizes what is wrong with federal government and has far more in common with Pelosi and Schumer than he does with working, taxpayers citizens. He is a power broker - nothing more, nothing less. Bush/Cheney are representatives of the military/industrial complex which I am a proponent of in theory. However I think the Clinton's compromised the integrity of our national forces and agencies to such an extent we should all be concerned. As for Bush/Cheney I think they are ends-justify-the-means/lesser-of-two-evils guys and I do not believe either embody wise leadership. (IMO Bush's 911 response was very short-sighted and created the policing problems which created the 2020 backlash which resulted in the current lawlessness). Nixon is definitely a Bush/Cheney precursor. Romney stands for nothing so is not worthy of comment. I have never given much consideration to the Chamber of Commerce but I see no problem with a pro-commerce organization. Commerce is good. It has evolved over thousands of years and has arguably created the modern world. Buckley is a has been.
My parents belonged to the country club and were, I suppose, part of the “set.” My dad was also a really hard worker. Stereotypes….are just really lazy sometimes.
Yeah, I suppose. Mine didn't, but he was a really hard worker, too. Born in '21, working the coal mines to support his family at age 13 after his father died of black lung, self educated electronics technician working on the space program until that died and the industries went away. Life long Republican, tho', even though they didn't really want him in the club, because the other side was God-less.
The mines? Really? I worked in the coal mines during my college summers. I was probably the unsafest miner in the whole place, all the more so because I didn't think I was unsafe in the least. We had an underground fire and I ran TOWARD it because I wanted to see it. God. Getting to adulthood is mostly luck, I think. After graduate school, I read black lung x-rays for years. Bad, ugly disease.
I worked in Armco #7 at Montcoal, WV. Later sold to A.T. Massey to be called, "Upper Big Branch." Yes, THAT UBB. Lost my best friend in the 2010 explosion that killed 29.
Armco was a wonderful company to work for. We had terrible flooding one year, and they donated huge earthmovers, engineers, and operators to channel out Coal River, fixing the problem for decades. (Can't do that now, you might make the river muddy and choke a fish.) I went to college on an Armco Steel scholarship. Very different from A. T. Massey under Don Blankenship. Google him up sometime.
My grandfather in the Pittsburgh steel mills and my 2G grandfather who helped build the Pennsylvania Railroad in SW PA & fought in Gettyburg. My point is: my dad was a 1st generation college student who didn't have to use his body as a tool and wore a tie to work. His parents saw that as progress. And if he wanted to hang out at his club (outside Scranton, ironically) and have a drink & a dance with his wife on the weekend, then good for him.
Yes, I understand your point, because it was my original point, too. I think we may agree.
Our parents, and us, have supported that party because we were able to build a great life thru hard work and thrift and judicious life choices. And to pass that on to our families.
If my use of the term "country club set" offended you, I sincerely apologize. I don't want to offend you, or anyone. But it's a pretty common description of stereotypical "fat-cat" Republicans, widely used for many years now, valid or not, and lately, it applies equally to Dem "fat-cats", too.
I'm sure your parents do not belong to such, but we wouldn't have to look too hard to validate the stereotype. They would be the same ones who participated in emptying out our industrial base, manufacturing, etc.
Now, the shift seems to be happening, where the Republican Party appears to be addressing those "working class," "blue collar" Americans who are struggling just to have a job, let alone, flourish as we once did.
I welcome that change; I think it is best for America and for the party.
Dana, you didn't offend me nor should be afraid to speak out. I am a conservative instructor at a very liberal, pricey college; I teach critical thinking and academic research skills. One huge point I seek to impress upon my students is this myth that being offended is the worst thing that can happen to you. Actually, the worst thing that can happen to you is you graduate without having been offended. Because that means you haven't learned anything.
Love the dialogue between you guys…. So right on. I’m the daughter of an AF fighter pilot who came from a working class family in Chicago and attended night school to finish his degree while we were kids. He was a proud, hard-working, man’s man, very bright and conservative American and loved Reagan. We grew up talking politics at dinner - and it mattered because our lives depended upon what happened in our nation and world. I am, as a result, a conservative Republican and have since then been in a balancing act between conservatives and liberals as my career has been in education and amongst very very liberal folks - at Jesuit institutions. Many are absolutely appalled to learn that I vote red… Ive been told it’s against the gospel message even! It’s not easy, and I appreciate your having open conversations and avoiding stereotypes. In this day and age, it’s hard to do. I hope that the Republican Party can communicate its hope for the future better than it has historically- and better that Trump did, although I agreed with much of his policies. Sure hope we can all come together with someone who has common sense (Bari!), a respect for all and an understanding of what motivates and unites people.
Doesn't it seem all the good things came out of the working class, tho' I know that's more sentimental than true.
But, one thing I know to be true, and that we do religiously in my family, is that tradition of a daily dinner table where values, thinking and respect are taught to each generation.
I wouldn't trade that for anything, and hope my daughters look back at me like you look back at your father.
Hi EG-- I am Catholic as well. I remember when the holy smoke changed colors and the current pope was elected & announced. I was at work, the phone rang, and it was my mom who, upon heaving a big sigh, uttered this gem:
Love it😂 Having some of my Jesuit friends over for dinner Saturday and will try my hardest to stay out of politics… oh gosh, it’s tough. I guess my “teach a man to fish” isn’t a good idea. And I tried my darnedest while teaching American Literature and US History to counter the left’s anti-American narrative that occurred daily in my high school. I’d love your mom!
Sadly, she's gone almost 8 years. But I still have her missal and her old adage: The worst things that have ever happened in the world are Vatican II and that damn Kennedy family.
Dana Andrews - A Wing and a Prayer. One of my favorites growing up. Loved this dialogue. My dad fought on Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Philippines. Seems we were all quite fortunate to have parents who gave back and did their best.
Please. The leader of the 'party of the little guy' can't remember what he had for breakfast by 9am each morning, and the next two in line both hail from San Francisco, a city that serves the purposes of tech and finance bros who 'work from home' and drug users who sleep in tents outside city hall and shoot up in the open with the blessing of government. Although in Nancy's case she's probably too busy front running the stock market to notice (or care).
Whatever issues the Republicans have (and they exist), at least they are going to get there on looking out for the working class. The Democrats have abandoned the working class for generations to come. Plain as that.
My point is there's no come to Jesus moment coming for the 'party of the little guy.'
They hate the little guy and they are quite at peace with their hatred of the little guy. Their only goal is to hold onto 20% of that vote by running cons like "even though I left Scranton 70 years ago and have disdain for anyone not paying my crack smoking son (the kind of crack that would get you 20 years in prison under the sentencing scheme that I shepherded through the Senate, but will never apply to my crack smoking son) for influence peddling schemes, I'll always be Scranton Joe to you" so they can squeak across the finish line in the states that decide elections.
Which, given how complicit the media is and how gullible some voters are, can be a successful scam. Hopefully people wise up. The only party ripe for the kind of change that would help the working class is the Republican party, for better or worse.
Perfect timing. A super article on Unherd this morning also addresses and amplifies this very concept.
https://unherd.com/2022/02/how-the-left-betrayed-the-truckers/
The Democrat Party needs a real come-to-Jesus moment. The progressives like AOC and The Squad, the grifters, such as the Clintons, all combined with the self-serving tech billionaires, have forced the party of the little guy to completely lose its way. They are utterly destroying the Democratic party. There articles all over the Internets about this phenomenon, and all say it spells disaster come November. Let's hope so.
The Dems are the party of the woman-hating Translets, and they seem perfectly willing to die on the TransSword. Let them. Meanwhile, I'm politically homeless. I contacted my Republican state/Congress reps asking their stance on women's sex-based rights vs/ the deluxe-class Trans citizens. They can have my blue vote if they publicly denounce this insanity.
Good on you!
Amen. I don't understand why women are being thrown completely under the bus on the trans issues.
Recently read a wonderful bio on LBJ(Caros magisterial work) in it FDR and LBJ were working to get affordable power to the poor and rural people. Now 90 years later compare that to the energy policies of the current democrat party where they are purposefully increasing the cost and access to power in the vain hope of reducing global temps 0.1 degree in 80 years
LBJ was one of the most corrupt politicians in this country. His Great Society programs did more damage to the black population of this country than anything other than slavery. Read Thomas Sowell for enlightenment.
Oh definitely. Terrible human being but he did get the civil rights bill through. Wonderful bio by Caro and he is no fan of the man. Love Sowell as well
Please God let’s say it’s so we have to turn this around these Democrats are demented we are being run by a bunch of madmen and women unfortunately
I have (had, anyway) a lot of Democrat friends, and I have to tell you: I'm completely baffled by those who still, after a year of Titular President Biden, still hew the party line.
Trump is no Shirley Temple, but the hatred! There was an article a couple of days ago that somewhat solves the mystery. It said that there is an entrenched cabal in Washington, bound together by membership in The Swamp, where they can access untold power and money earned by someone else to feather their own nests. They play this little kabuki of being at odds with each other, but it's not real.
The only person who can really threaten them is the president, but he's no problem because to get that office you have to kiss the right behinds, make the right deals, grease the right palms - for decades. Then they have things to hold over your head should you get out of line. Trump, having never held office, had none of that, so when he went rogue, it was terrifying. Hence the "Trump is Hitler combined with Satan" line. Keep repeating, and a large portion of the weak-minded will begin to believe it. They do. Ask them and they can't explain why; it's because HITLER!!
At least that was the article's thrust. I think it explains a great deal.
Yes, I'd read that article earlier this a.m. and this jives nicely.
One thing I can say is that politicians can always smell which way the wind blows, to mix my metaphors. So many Republicans slowly figuring out where the future lies; many will never be able to make the switch because they are, and will always be, the country club set. That's the American Dream, to them.
Dems held the figurative moral high ground with real people for a long time, but clearly decided money is better, embracing any new thing is progress. Now, their base is captive, unable to change their minds about right v wrong; unable to reconcile what they see with their own eyes of the leadership corruption.
I welcome the shift, and think it's seismic. Yet, I maintain a huge distrust of the existing politicians and their ability to accept and embrace it.
There is no shift nor a need therefore.
The Democrats strongest talent is smearing those who oppose them so there was an appearance that Republicans are about corporate greed and are thus against the working person. (I won't even get started on the environment.) It was not true and people, largely due to a loss of confidence in legacy media and career politicians, are seeing that the emperor has no clothes. Actually the emperors.
Maybe so, Still I wonder.
McConnell, Romney, Bush, Cheney, Chamber of Commerce, Nixon, Buckley, etc... maybe the Dems didn't have to work so hard to advance the stereotype.
Until Trump (thankfully!) I don't remember many of our leaders fighting for us, our jobs, our towns, our industries. But, they were pretty good at the social issues that divide us.
I have a hound dog named Buckley! When she barks, she doesn't move her lower jaw. It sounds like she disapproves but all could be solved with a single malt on the patio.
His interviews with Malcolm Muggeridge and Mortimer Adler are priceless.
He reminds me a little bit of JP, in that he could totally burn you with some wry, off the cuff remark, but you didn't feel it for three minutes. Buckley's cuff, of course, all Brooks Bros.
LOL. ...or a joint on the open ocean.
McConnell is out for himself, he epitomizes what is wrong with federal government and has far more in common with Pelosi and Schumer than he does with working, taxpayers citizens. He is a power broker - nothing more, nothing less. Bush/Cheney are representatives of the military/industrial complex which I am a proponent of in theory. However I think the Clinton's compromised the integrity of our national forces and agencies to such an extent we should all be concerned. As for Bush/Cheney I think they are ends-justify-the-means/lesser-of-two-evils guys and I do not believe either embody wise leadership. (IMO Bush's 911 response was very short-sighted and created the policing problems which created the 2020 backlash which resulted in the current lawlessness). Nixon is definitely a Bush/Cheney precursor. Romney stands for nothing so is not worthy of comment. I have never given much consideration to the Chamber of Commerce but I see no problem with a pro-commerce organization. Commerce is good. It has evolved over thousands of years and has arguably created the modern world. Buckley is a has been.
My parents belonged to the country club and were, I suppose, part of the “set.” My dad was also a really hard worker. Stereotypes….are just really lazy sometimes.
Yeah, I suppose. Mine didn't, but he was a really hard worker, too. Born in '21, working the coal mines to support his family at age 13 after his father died of black lung, self educated electronics technician working on the space program until that died and the industries went away. Life long Republican, tho', even though they didn't really want him in the club, because the other side was God-less.
Sometimes, they're accurate, too.
The mines? Really? I worked in the coal mines during my college summers. I was probably the unsafest miner in the whole place, all the more so because I didn't think I was unsafe in the least. We had an underground fire and I ran TOWARD it because I wanted to see it. God. Getting to adulthood is mostly luck, I think. After graduate school, I read black lung x-rays for years. Bad, ugly disease.
Where did you work? My dad used to sell group insurance to the miners in Beckley WVa. The stories he could tell.
I worked in Armco #7 at Montcoal, WV. Later sold to A.T. Massey to be called, "Upper Big Branch." Yes, THAT UBB. Lost my best friend in the 2010 explosion that killed 29.
Armco was a wonderful company to work for. We had terrible flooding one year, and they donated huge earthmovers, engineers, and operators to channel out Coal River, fixing the problem for decades. (Can't do that now, you might make the river muddy and choke a fish.) I went to college on an Armco Steel scholarship. Very different from A. T. Massey under Don Blankenship. Google him up sometime.
My grandfather in the Pittsburgh steel mills and my 2G grandfather who helped build the Pennsylvania Railroad in SW PA & fought in Gettyburg. My point is: my dad was a 1st generation college student who didn't have to use his body as a tool and wore a tie to work. His parents saw that as progress. And if he wanted to hang out at his club (outside Scranton, ironically) and have a drink & a dance with his wife on the weekend, then good for him.
Yes, I understand your point, because it was my original point, too. I think we may agree.
Our parents, and us, have supported that party because we were able to build a great life thru hard work and thrift and judicious life choices. And to pass that on to our families.
If my use of the term "country club set" offended you, I sincerely apologize. I don't want to offend you, or anyone. But it's a pretty common description of stereotypical "fat-cat" Republicans, widely used for many years now, valid or not, and lately, it applies equally to Dem "fat-cats", too.
I'm sure your parents do not belong to such, but we wouldn't have to look too hard to validate the stereotype. They would be the same ones who participated in emptying out our industrial base, manufacturing, etc.
Now, the shift seems to be happening, where the Republican Party appears to be addressing those "working class," "blue collar" Americans who are struggling just to have a job, let alone, flourish as we once did.
I welcome that change; I think it is best for America and for the party.
Again, I'm sorry if I offended you.
Dana, you didn't offend me nor should be afraid to speak out. I am a conservative instructor at a very liberal, pricey college; I teach critical thinking and academic research skills. One huge point I seek to impress upon my students is this myth that being offended is the worst thing that can happen to you. Actually, the worst thing that can happen to you is you graduate without having been offended. Because that means you haven't learned anything.
NO APOLOGIES. Speak, sister.
Love the dialogue between you guys…. So right on. I’m the daughter of an AF fighter pilot who came from a working class family in Chicago and attended night school to finish his degree while we were kids. He was a proud, hard-working, man’s man, very bright and conservative American and loved Reagan. We grew up talking politics at dinner - and it mattered because our lives depended upon what happened in our nation and world. I am, as a result, a conservative Republican and have since then been in a balancing act between conservatives and liberals as my career has been in education and amongst very very liberal folks - at Jesuit institutions. Many are absolutely appalled to learn that I vote red… Ive been told it’s against the gospel message even! It’s not easy, and I appreciate your having open conversations and avoiding stereotypes. In this day and age, it’s hard to do. I hope that the Republican Party can communicate its hope for the future better than it has historically- and better that Trump did, although I agreed with much of his policies. Sure hope we can all come together with someone who has common sense (Bari!), a respect for all and an understanding of what motivates and unites people.
Doesn't it seem all the good things came out of the working class, tho' I know that's more sentimental than true.
But, one thing I know to be true, and that we do religiously in my family, is that tradition of a daily dinner table where values, thinking and respect are taught to each generation.
I wouldn't trade that for anything, and hope my daughters look back at me like you look back at your father.
Hi EG-- I am Catholic as well. I remember when the holy smoke changed colors and the current pope was elected & announced. I was at work, the phone rang, and it was my mom who, upon heaving a big sigh, uttered this gem:
A Jesuit? That's the best they can do: a Jesuit?
Love it😂 Having some of my Jesuit friends over for dinner Saturday and will try my hardest to stay out of politics… oh gosh, it’s tough. I guess my “teach a man to fish” isn’t a good idea. And I tried my darnedest while teaching American Literature and US History to counter the left’s anti-American narrative that occurred daily in my high school. I’d love your mom!
Sadly, she's gone almost 8 years. But I still have her missal and her old adage: The worst things that have ever happened in the world are Vatican II and that damn Kennedy family.
uuhh, I'm a man, but I take no offense... :-)
Dana Andrews - A Wing and a Prayer. One of my favorites growing up. Loved this dialogue. My dad fought on Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Philippines. Seems we were all quite fortunate to have parents who gave back and did their best.
Men like your dad...move me to tears. I appreciate him, all of them. Do we even make men like that anymore?
I am sure they do and some are right here on this post with us.
Preach, Man!!
Please. The leader of the 'party of the little guy' can't remember what he had for breakfast by 9am each morning, and the next two in line both hail from San Francisco, a city that serves the purposes of tech and finance bros who 'work from home' and drug users who sleep in tents outside city hall and shoot up in the open with the blessing of government. Although in Nancy's case she's probably too busy front running the stock market to notice (or care).
Whatever issues the Republicans have (and they exist), at least they are going to get there on looking out for the working class. The Democrats have abandoned the working class for generations to come. Plain as that.
Like to hear the Republicans loudly and vociferously speak out against the disgustingly corrupt insider trading by our “leaders”!!
My point precisely.
My point is there's no come to Jesus moment coming for the 'party of the little guy.'
They hate the little guy and they are quite at peace with their hatred of the little guy. Their only goal is to hold onto 20% of that vote by running cons like "even though I left Scranton 70 years ago and have disdain for anyone not paying my crack smoking son (the kind of crack that would get you 20 years in prison under the sentencing scheme that I shepherded through the Senate, but will never apply to my crack smoking son) for influence peddling schemes, I'll always be Scranton Joe to you" so they can squeak across the finish line in the states that decide elections.
Which, given how complicit the media is and how gullible some voters are, can be a successful scam. Hopefully people wise up. The only party ripe for the kind of change that would help the working class is the Republican party, for better or worse.
Even the people in Scranton don't buy that BS.