Tag: Political Ideology

Open Letter To ‘Independents’

College Of Political Knowledge

2024 Election Series

2024  vote is closer than most Americans think….

The news seems to be focused on what is humorously termed the ‘independents’ as the deciding voters for the next few elections…..

Independents reign as the voting bloc for political candidates to deal with this election year, new data show. Gallup has found that 43% of US adults identified as independent in its survey, while 27% of respondents said they’re Democrats or Republicans. That’s a low for Democrats, Axios reports. There have been blips, but independents generally started to outnumber the ranks of the two parties in 1991. “The increase in the percentage of independents has come more at the expense of Democrats than Republicans, which might be expected since Democrats were previously the largest political group,” Gallup’s post says.

To begin with I am not comfortable with the term ‘independent’…..simply because these self-described voters will vote either GOP or Dems….that is not an ‘independent’ in my book.

They are still part of the problem for it is the D or the R that they are voting for….is not in any way an independent voter.

I am an old fart so as an old person I apparently have a different definition for the term.

My thought is if you are an independent then you probably avoid politics like the plague….but that is just me…..

Independents often are portrayed as political free agents with the potential to alleviate the nation’s rigid partisan divisions. Yet the reality is that most independents are not all that “independent” politically. And the small share of Americans who are truly independent – less than 10% of the public has no partisan leaning – stand out for their low level of interest in politics.

Among the public overall, 38% describe themselves as independents, while 31% are Democrats and 26% call themselves Republicans, according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2018. These shares have changed only modestly in recent years, but the proportion of independents is higher than it was from 2000-2008, when no more than about a third of the public identified as independents.

An overwhelming majority of independents (81%) continue to “lean” toward either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Among the public overall, 17% are Democratic-leaning independents, while 13% lean toward the Republican Party. Just 7% of Americans decline to lean toward a party, a share that has changed little in recent years. This is a long-standing dynamic that has been the subject of past analyses, both by Pew Research Center and others.

Political Independents: Who They Are, What They Think

But are these voters truly independent?

Not really.

On the one hand, more Americans identifying as independent probably doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Independents are often portrayed as more open-minded and less dogmatic in their political views. And in a nation whose founders feared factional politics, the value of political independence is also an attractive one to many Americans.

The problem is that few independents are actually independent. Roughly 3 in 4 independents still lean toward one of the two major political parties, and studies show that these voters aren’t all that different from the voters in the party they lean toward. Independents who lean toward a party also tend to back that party at almost the same rate as openly partisan voters.

“Independents tend not to look all that different from partisans,” said Samara Klar, a political scientist at the University of Arizona and co-author of the book “Independent Politics.” “But they do tend to be more averse to identifying themselves as a partisan when there is a negative stigma associated with partisanship. So, it’s really the arguments, the hostility, the negativity that seems to be driving this behavior.”

Few Americans Who Identify As Independent Are Actually Independent. That’s Really Bad For Politics.

Or these voters could be ‘undecided’ voters…..another term I do not agree with…..

All in all a true independent has principles beyond party then more political parties would be in the mix….as it is they are not….most vote either ‘R’ or ‘D’…..and the nation suffers.

Is there any debate?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Trump A Fascist?

I am sorry but I have had lots on my mind today so I have not written anything but this article should do to stir up some reactions.

I know, I know…..this is one subject that has been batted around for years but the question is still unanswered….definitively.

Supporters say no….that it is only sour grapes that has people saying such stuff…..opponents point to words and speeches and actions as proof that he is leaning far Right….which is accurate?

This is a well written article from the Guardian and I give it here to see if people will actually pay attention or stick to their shallow thinking.

****Please read the article and comment on the validity of the work not some half baked belief that is rambling around in that mind of yours.****

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/21/is-donald-trump-a-fascist

The piece is well worth the read whether you agree or not.

And now if you have any thing to add….

I Read, I Write, You know

“lego ergo scribo”

Kill The Filibuster

The big word for early 2021 is ‘filibuster’

And now for that civics lesson that you missed in class……

The Senate filibuster first captured the American imagination in Frank Capra’s 1939 movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” when Jimmy Stewart’s character spoke for more than a day, and more recently in 2013 when Texas state Senator Wendy Davis spoke for 13 hours to try to block a bill imposing new restrictions on abortion.

The popular image of a lone lawmaker mounting an impassioned hours-long argument belies the reality in today’s Senate, where a mere threat is often enough to initiate a filibuster and hold up a bill.

A filibuster can only be stopped if 60 senators vote to end debate in a process called cloture.

In 1975, the Senate reduced the requirement for limiting debate to three-fifths of the Senate – currently 60 senators.

The argument against killing the filibuster is that it would break with tradition…..that tale is pure fiction…..there is NO tradition of a filibuster until the 19th century……

To be clear the Constitution makes mention of a ‘filibuster’……go ahead check it out……( run to Google if you do not know the Constitution)….there is NO mention whatsoever.

Now the Dems are trying and calling for the end of the practice…..but can they or should they end this practice?

The two Dem senators that will make the riddance of the filibuster have made their thoughts be known…….Democrats might consider looking at what Manchin and Sinema like about the filibuster. Sinema recently said, “Retaining the legislative filibuster is not meant to impede the things we want to get done. Rather, it’s meant to protect what the Senate was designed to be. I believe the Senate has a responsibility to put politics aside and fully consider, debate, and reach compromise on legislative issues that will affect all Americans.” Last year, Manchin said, “The minority should have input — that’s the whole purpose for the Senate. If you basically do away with the filibuster altogether for legislation, you won’t have the Senate. You’re a glorified House. And I will not do that.” (WaPo)

The saying is the the US Senate is where good bills go to die…..and the filibuster is the tool used to kill those good bills.

The Washington Monthly has weighed in to this debate……

If you care about American democracy, you need a Congress that works. If Congress can’t pass legislation or ratify treaties or confirm appointments, democracy isn’t working. And if Congress isn’t operating under some network of rules, some version of what the pros call “regular order,” then it can’t stand up to the president. It can’t be a check or a balance, like the founders intended.

…

If the Democratic Party ever hopes to govern this country, it needs to end the filibuster.

The reality lies in the arithmetic. Right now, there are 21 states with two Republican senators. That 42 votes is enough by itself to uphold a filibuster, to kill senate action on any legislation.

Looking at the list of those 21 states, an objective observer can see it is not likely to change its party loyalty any time soon: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The loyalty of these states to the GOP defines the partisan power of the filibuster.

How to Make Congress Stronger

My thought is if we cannot kill the filibuster then change it where 3/5 of the Senate need to be present for the whole process of bill debate.

Personally I think the a quorum is all that is needed for consideration of a bill….that sounds more constitutional to me.

Something needs to change in our government….we have enough obstructionism and stagnation….if we are ever to move past the events of the past then do the right thing and start the process of change and start with the Senate and the filibuster.

Have any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Which Celebrity?

We are so far away from 2020 that it seems silly to even mention it….that was until the Dems are starting to look for the “special” person that will bring some energy to the party….a party that is dominated by old farts that have old farts ideas….they, Dems, are looking for that personality they can build cult around.

We could say Warren, since she has announced, is the front runner…..not a vote generator from me….she talks like a progressive but she has caved on too many issues for me.

Cory Booker is one name that pops up….personally I say no….he is a media whore meaning he is more concerned about being on the tube than the policies.

The one name that the Dems are looking to with the help of mainstream media is Beto O’Rourke….he does not excite me…..he is from Texas and is as conservative as a Democrat can be without changing parties….not progressive enough.

I could go on but I shall let someone else do the work….

Just before the new year, Steve Phillips, senior fellow at liberal think tank Center for American Progress, filed paperwork to launch a Super PAC to support New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s anticipated 2020 run. The announcement raises a number of red flags, including about the choice to rely on Super PACs at a time when voters are increasingly skeptical of large campaign donations. But perhaps the most concerning issue is that Phillips’s involvement with Booker’s campaign may represent the further deprioritization of ideology among Democratic politicians.

Let me explain.

The dominant lens through which Philips understands politics is demographic. He is the author of “Brown is the New White,” a New York Times best-seller about how America’s growing nonwhite population is the key to the Democratic Party’s success. Phillips believes that Democrats should prioritize mobilizing nonvoting Americans of color (which it should). But he also argues that Democrats should not “waste money” appealing to white swing voters, derisively rejecting “conventional wisdom” that advocates for “empathy for the anxiety of moderate white voters.” According to Philips, because there is a “ceiling” of white support, courting white voters offers diminishing returns.

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/07/democratic-ideology/

All in all the old angry white guy in Congress is being replaced….the sooner the better…..

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/01/04/the-extinction-of-the-white-american-dinosaur/

I hope the trend toward progressive ideas will continue and we can finally have programs that benefit the nation not the donors.

At the time of this draft there are 3 announced Dems and a bunch thinking it over…..more to come.

I think we have had enough of the stodgy old farts in the Dem Party….time we find some energy ……..we need candidates that look to the future and not be satisfied with the past.

Closing Thought–26Dec18

AS the year slowly comes to an end I would like to write about something that we seem to be suffering from but few want to admit it….domestic terrorism…..a subject that few are thinking about…..which does not make it go away.

Back in 2009 a report was released predicting the rise in right wing violence…..and since Obama was president the toads in Congress squashed the report…..and since it was the tools in the House then this responsibility for these attacks falls on the GOP in Congress…if they had listened then some of this crap could have been avoided……

Last year, a white-nationalist army veteran was charged with second-degree murder after he drove a car into a group of nonviolent protesters in Charlottesville, Va., killing one and injuring 19. Earlier this month, a far-right-wing army veteran shot and killed two people at a Tallahassee, Fla. yoga studio.

According to a new report posted Sunday by the Washington Post, the yoga studio victims were among at least 20 people who have been killed this year in the United States in suspected right-wing attacks (compared to “just one fatal attack in 2018 that may have been motivated by left-wing ideologies.”) This comes amid an “uptick in right-wing terrorism,” as the report puts it. The FBI has documented this phenomenon as an increase in hate crimes.

https://thinkprogress.org/right-wing-domestic-terrorism-rise-obamas-dhs-warned-a57940206352/

The problem is all the reports in the world cannot prepare the country for these Lone Wolf attacks…..which is domestic terrorism…..

The more we learn about our War on Terror the more we realize what a pack of crap it all is.

Time to see you guys tomorrow…..have fun…be well, be safe…..

The “Socialists” Are Coming

Have you had enough of that pig Judge Roy Moore?  Me too.  He lost and he will not now go away…..

So let’s talk about something completely different.

Fearless Fosdick as president is it possible that the American Left can be resurrected?

“Where is the leftwing when we need it” is a question I have asked at times.  Some of my readers who confuse the left with Antifa and Identity politics have been confused by my question.  Why, they ask, do I want more Antifa thugs and Identity Politics hatred of white people?   

The answer is that Antifa and Identity Politics are the antithesis of the left.  The real left is pro-working class, pro all of the working class, all races, genders, sexual preferences.  Identity Politics splinters the working class and destroys the cohesiveness of the working class, thereby making it easier for exploiters to exploit.  Antifa aids in this process by focusing hatred on whites by accusing only whites of racism.  

https://www.globalresearch.ca/can-the-american-left-be-resurrected/5621911

Oh No….those dreaded “commies” from years gone by are making in-roads….what to do?  What to do?

Last summer, two authors asked Fast Company readers a simple question: “Are you ready to consider that capitalism is the real problem?”

For millennials, the answer seems to be increasingly yes. “A lot of young people don’t believe in it anymore,” Ana Garcia, a college junior, told the Wall Street Journal in a recent article on the topic. “We don’t trust capitalism because we don’t see ourselves getting ahead.”

A 2016 poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics found that just 19% of Americans aged 18 to 29 identified themselves as capitalists; only 42% claimed they supported the economic system. Another Harvard poll, released on December 5, found that two-thirds of that same age group is fearful for the future of the country. Just 14% think we’re headed in the right direction.

Recent elections have found several DSA members as winning various positions in their local regions…giving one moron in the GOP to say that radical Marxists were coming to town….first, a DSA member is not and has never been a Marxist……two how many of my readers even know what the Democratic Socialists stand for?

But since I would imagine not many…allow me to help out…..

Many Americans are starting to look beyond the two parties for representation….and some have found the DSA as a choice to represent them…..

Americans in large numbers are becoming puzzled and agitated. Every day newspaper headlines blare out that the US is in trouble, together with our Western free market allies. The government doesn’t work as political divisiveness freezes decision-making. The extent of inequality is “obscene,” to borrow an oft-used description by Bernie Sanders. The elected president comes over as an egomaniac and buffoon. The middle class is in continuing decline, struggling to survive through multiple jobs. The infrastructure is decaying and CEOs dismantle industry, transporting production to more profitable global domains. Racism abounds, punctuated by recurring protests against police brutality. Workers face unemployment, declining wages, reduced benefits, and weakened unions to fight their cause. Homelessness is a continuing, intractable shame. All around us students agonize about being able to afford college and old people worry about whether Social Security will hold firm for them.

https://www.laprogressive.com/democratic-socialist-alternative/

I have been saying that the voter should look at all political parties instead of hanging onto the two party system….move beyond the rich ruling class and find those people that truly want to represent the people and not their donors.

Finally, someone was listening…..and with good reason….at least according to Noam Chomsky…….

We live in an age of illegitimate neoliberal hegemony and soaring political uncertainty. The evidence is all around: citizen disillusionment over mainstream political parties and the traditional conservative-liberal divide, massive inequality, the rise of the “alt-right,” and growing resistance to Trumpism and financial capitalism.

Yes, the present age is full of contradictions of every type and variety, and this is something that makes the goals and aims of the left for the reordering of society along the lines of a true democratic polity and in accordance with the vision of a socialist reorganization of the economy more challenging than ever before.

In this context, the interview below, with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin, which appeared originally in Truthout in three separate parts, seeks to provide theoretical and practical guidance to the most pressing social, economic and political issues facing the United States today.

https://www.alternet.org/human-rights/imagining-new-social-order-noam-chomsky-and-robert-pollin-conversation

After 40 years of activism and finally someone is listening……what took you guys so long?

But can the true Left” be resurrected? (I know this is a dupe post….it is here for effect)………

“Where is the leftwing when we need it” is a question I have asked at times.  Some of my readers who confuse the left with Antifa and Identity politics have been confused by my question.  Why, they ask, do I want more Antifa thugs and Identity Politics hatred of white people?   

The answer is that Antifa and Identity Politics are the antithesis of the left.  The real left is pro-working class, pro all of the working class, all races, genders, sexual preferences.  Identity Politics splinters the working class and destroys the cohesiveness of the working class, thereby making it easier for exploiters to exploit.  Antifa aids in this process by focusing hatred on whites by accusing only whites of racism.  

https://www.globalresearch.ca/can-the-american-left-be-resurrected/5621911

I can hope that before I expire the Left will find its place in American society and politics…..it will be refreshing to have a true political debate on issues and policies.

The Age Of Identity Politics

It appears that we have entered into the age of identity politics.  The “center” that we so much about in the past has collapsed and disappeared.

With the end of centrism, as it has been called, the extremes of Left and Right have taken the place of civil discourse.

A pretty good article about this collapse appeared in the American Conservative…..

I do not always agree with there ideas but they have some good points from some good thinkers…….

Sometimes it seems to me that identity politics and the collapse of the political center are pushing us all towards a prison-gang mentality, in the sense that you may not want to join up with the gangsters of your own tribe (white, black, Latino), but you do to protect yourself from the attacks of the other tribes.

Do I want to align with the Trump Republicans? Most assuredly I do not. Yet rising  militancy on the left — campuses being the vanguard — and the inability of liberal centrists to stand up to it, frightens white, male, heterosexual, religiously conservative me for the future. I look at the Democratic Party and see a party that regards people like me as American kulaks, as the class enemy to be crushed for the sake of justice and the final defeat of “white supremacy.” Yes, I’m being deliberately hyperbolic here, but that’s their basic approach. They may couch it in all kinds of arguments designed to conceal what they’re doing, but they are only deceiving themselves; it is clear to the rest of us what’s going on.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/age-of-reformation/

AS long as I am writing about “centrism”…..I found another article about this political situation……

Centrism is a decidedly wimpy word, but it is a powerful political idea. Over the last few weeks, many commentators and critics have compelled me to contemplate centrism more carefully. Is centrism a kind of “average” of extremes: They want single-payer insurance; the other side wants free market insurance; centrists want some unique hybrid? What then when the extreme position is the correct one? Does the centrist defy the truth simply to mold the world to his or her obsessions with compromise? As I’ve contemplated these important questions, I’ve begun to believe that the truly unique and important thing about centrism is its insistence on debate, and its uneasiness with prepackaged dogmas and identity narratives. Centrism is a flexible political position, but it is inflexible in its urging of open inquiry and spirited discourse.

http://quillette.com/2017/10/10/the-spirit-of-centrism/

This new age of division will not do anything good for the country…..we already have too much partisan dickering and this will just add to the problems with no solutions.

Some even see the end of “liberalism”…..that should make some of Trump’s bootlickers in society extremely happy if it were true……..there are some that predict the end……

It’s not that I’m a Trump supporter. It’s just that you, my friend, are actively undermining the very foundations of everything you purport to defend.”

Over the past ten months, that conflicted sentiment has led me into countless debates with people much more implacably opposed to the President than I am. I live in Washington, DC. We voted for Hillary Clinton by an overwhelming 90.9 percent. Most of the people I end up arguing with are my friends and colleagues.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/11/01/the-end-of-liberalism/

I do not agree that liberalism is ending or being destroyed…..I feel that it is going through a transition in this age of populism and will return as strong as it has been in the past.

Note:  Yet again I would like to apologize for the urls but since WP saw best to eliminate the “Press This” button I am resorting to what you see here….again my apologies.  chuq

A ‘Better Deal’ For America

How many times have you read something similar?

Ever since their massive defeat in 2016 the Dems have been looking for their new niche before the next election…..they are hoping for a little redemption in the eyes of the American voter.

Let’s be honest…their message sucked all the way to the voting booth…..as an opposition party the Dems are just pathetic…..(so says an article in the Guardian)….

Six months into Donald Trump’s term, and Democratic politician’s ability to be an opposition party is, in a word, pathetic.

When the poll came out saying that “Democrats stand for nothing more than opposing” Trump, I thought to myself, ‘If only that were true!’” But they can’t even do that well. When House Democratic Caucus chairman Joe Crowley was asked by the Associated Press just what his party’s core message was, he “hesitated” and then said, “That message is being worked on.”

Source: The Democrats’ performance as an opposition party? Pathetic | Steven W Thrasher | Opinion | The Guardian

They have been going thru a party “autopsy” to find the right hook to get into the skin of the voter…..

After 10 months of agony this is what they have come up with to save the Party from oblivion…..and this is the “message” they worked on and settled on as the next step in the process…..

Still smarting from November’s brutal election and looking to push a more populist agenda in the lead-up to the 2018 midterms, Democratic Party leaders gathered in the small town of Berryville, Va., on Monday to announce their new “Better Deal” plan, the AP reports. “The focus starts on economic issues,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. “That’s where the American people are hurting. That’s what we most felt was missing in the past in the last several elections.” Here are some of the plan’s details:

  • Cost of living: Democrats promise to lower the cost of prescription drugs and college tuition, fight for “families struggling with high monthly bills,” and crack down on monopolies.
  • Higher wages: The “Better Deal” plan promises millions of good-paying jobs, a higher minimum wage, investment in infrastructure, and an aggressive crackdown on corporations that outsource American jobs.
  • 21st-century economy: Democrats say they are committed to providing tax breaks to employers who offer workforce training, bringing high-speed Internet to the whole country, and offering millions of apprenticeships.
  • What’s missing: Noticeably absent from the “Better Deal” plan is any mention of the social issues that motivate many Democratic voters but that may turn off the rural, blue-collar voters who abandoned the party for Donald Trump last year. Those include immigration, LGBT rights, and abortion, Politico reports.
  • Strategy: Democrats want to talk about “how working- and middle-class incomes have stagnated as the costs of housing, health care, education, and everything else have continued to increase,” writes Ben Mathis-Lilley at Slate.
  • Critique:Roll Call reports that it took the Twitterverse no time at all to point out the similarity between the “Better Deal” slogan—”Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages”—and that of pizza delivery giant Papa John’s: “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” Columnist Jonathan Allen goes deeper on what he thinks is not only a bad slogan, but a “muddled message” overall.

WORDS!

They are as empty as the “plan” they purpose.

Personally the ‘Better Deal’ sounds a lot like the deal they offered with Clinton….this ‘hook’ will not work…it is all promises that they can not deliver….

Simplistic jingoism won the last election…..not a complex ‘plan’.

Maybe that would be a better place to start.

This will insure more losses for the Dems.

In short, Pathetic as usual!

Where Have All The Centrists Gone?

In the 11 years that I have been writing a blog I have done a series of post on….”Where Have All The _____Gone?”

The series covers many issues and topics…like antiwar protests and conservatives and so on….to illustrate my thinking there was one after the rise of the Tea Party that I wrote about conservatism…..

Source: Where Have All The Burkeans Gone? – In Saner Thought

Since the rise of the Tea Party the centrists of the past are just that…in the past….because there is no noticeable center in political thinking we have dysfunctional political system.

American politics is seeing the death of centrism — and it may be having disastrous effects.

Centrism.

It’s not a term you hear a lot in American politics today. Consider President Donald Trump. Though he’s refusing to work with Democrats, the #resist movement is demanding that Democrats don’t work with him either.

But a CNN/ORC poll from March found that 72 percent of Americans would prefer for Trump to forge bipartisan compromises on major legislation in order to bring about positive change, while 69 percent want to see Democrats work with the president. Yet statistics notwithstanding, centrism can be a death sentence for a politician

Source: Where have all the centrists gone? A look at why American politics is so dysfunctional – Salon.com

The dysfunction is because there are few centrists….people that can look at both sides of an issue and do what is right for the country….not the party.

This country needs its centrists back if we are to ever move this nation forward…..if not then we will be stuck in this endless cycle of dysfunction and sluggish opportunity.

America’s Second Civil War

For around 25 years the US has been in the middle of a second civil war….this time there is no death and destruction but rather fought with ideas and political theater…..

I recently read a great piece in that conservative icon, the National Review…….

It is time that our society acknowledge a sad truth: America is currently fighting its Second Civil War.

In fact, with the obvious and enormous exception of attitudes toward slavery, Americans are more divided morally, ideologically, and politically today than they were during the Civil War. For that reason, just as the Great War came to be known as the First World War once there was a Second World War, the Civil War will become known as the First Civil War when more Americans come to regard the current battle as the Second Civil War.

Source: American Culture – New Civil War | National Review

I do not agree with some of their suppositions the fat is that ………The very soul of the nation is at stake.