Day: May 20, 2011

The Republican Party’s Effect Since 2001: Promotion Of Ignorance, Poverty, Shorter Life Span!

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Since the inauguration of President George W. Bush in January, 2001, the Republican Party has been going down the path of promoting hatred of government, a tone of mean spiritedness and lack of compassion, and extreme advocacy of the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of the rest of American society!

Whether it is the national government, state governments, or local governments, the Republican Party philosophy has been in unison with the promotion of ignorance, by doing everything within their capability to undermine educational opportunity, the major way for an individual to advance in social mobility!

The Republican Party has also managed to destroy the American economy through lack of regulation of corporations and Wall Street, and through manipulation and incompetence, they have created the worst economic conditions since the 1930s. And any attempt by President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party to reverse course has been met by total obstructionism and refusal to deal with the jobs crisis, therefore creating a higher level of poverty in America than we have seen in many decades.

And now, with the refusal to recognize the humanity of promoting health care for ALL Americans, and instead doing everything to DENY health care, and to advocate the destruction of Medicare as we know it, the Republican Party is making clear its lack of concern for longevity of life of anyone who is poor or elderly.

How any decent human being could be a loyal Republican, with the total lack of humanity and compassion that the present party membership in politics has, is beyond comprehension!

Forget Jon Huntsman! His Disgraceful Surrender To The Far Right Of The Republican Party!

Ronald 2 Comments

When one thought about the upcoming Republican Presidential race, there was some hope that someone moderate might actually show principle and be an alternative to the extreme right wing of the party.

And this author had hope for Jon Huntsman, the former Governor Of Utah and President Obama’s Ambassador to China, as a possible alternative who, were he to win the nomination, could give the President a real race for the White House, and were he to win, would be acceptable as the occupant of the White House.

Well, such illusions have now been destroyed, by Jon Huntsman himself! And this is very upsetting!

Huntsman has now changed his view on climate change, on the economic stimulus, and the health care issue, and has told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that were he in the House of Representatives, he would have voted for the Paul Ryan plan on Medicare, which would destroy Medicare as we know it in ten years.

The man may be charismatic, handsome, and appealing in an intellectual way, but he is a major disappointment by his abandonment of what he believed in.

His decision to move his unannounced campaign headquarters from Utah to Florida indicates he hopes to have an impact in the Sunshine State, but that indicates that he might even abandon his support of gay civil unions, as in Florida and many other states, the opposition to gay rights is still very strong in Republican primary voters, many of whom are evangelical Christians.

If Huntsman, who is Mormon, and must deal with that issue just as much as fellow Mormon Mitt Romney, hopes to gain evangelical backing, he will have to change his position on gay rights. Not that such a decision will guarantee evangelical support, but without such a switch, there is no hope at all of such backing!

So, disllusionment with Jon Huntsman just adds up to a sense of hopelessness that there is any chance of ANY Republican being mainstream in the traditions of the party in the age of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and EVEN Ronald Reagan!

WIth Mitt Romney backing away from “Romneycare”, and Jon Huntsman surrendering to conservative extremist views, the GOP is a shell of its old self, and gives progressives no hope that there could be any sense of acceptance of ANY Republican Presidential winner in 2012!

The Gallup Poll And Gay Marriage

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The latest Gallup Poll shows a growing support of gay marriage among Democrats and Independents, but stagnant among Republicans.

According to the poll, 69 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Independents now support the right of gay men and lesbians to marrry, with both numbers growing rapidly over the past few months.

But Republicans in the poll remain frozen at 28 percent in support, with a lot of this based on evangelical Christian influence on the party, plus the fact that the GOP has NEVER stood for any major reform that promotes civil rights and equality since the 1920s, although they were ahead on reform in the Reconstruction period after the Civil War (Radical Republicans) and the Progressive Era (Progressive Republicans).

Among younger people, particularly, the opposition to gay marriage is small in number, although among older Americans, particularly the elderly who are Christian, the opposition is stronger.

What is clear is that gay marriage is eventually going to be seen as a norm, with the passage of time.

When one looks back 30-50 years from now, one will wonder why such strong opposition existed, similar to those who look back now to 1967, when finally the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage to be constitutional. One will wonder why such a big deal was made over it fifty years ago!

Barack Obama And Israel: Is He Abandoning Israel? NO!

Ronald 1 Comment

Listening to Republicans and Fox News Channel today, one would think that Barack Obama is ready to destroy Israel in his quest for good relations with the Islamic world.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Obama, in his speech at the State Department yesterday, and in his meeting with right wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today at the White House, made it clear that the United States does not expect Israel to negotiate with Palestinian leadership which refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist.

Obama also said that the Palestinian leadership cannot expect Israel to accept their dealing with and uniting with Hamas, the terrorist government in charge of the Gaza Strip.

Also, Obama said that the United States would back up Israel in the United Nations against any move to delegitimize or isolate it by vote in that body.

Also, Israel cannot be expected to endanger its own national security and safe borders, and that America would back its steadfast ally in its desire to remain a secular, democratic nation.

The controversial part of the Obama speech yesterday dealt with the proposal to return to pre 1967 borders with some mutually agreeable land swaps to stabilize the territorial boundaries of Israel and a Palestinian state. This is, Obama said, a beginning point for negotiations. Notice, the words are BEGINNING point for NEGOTIATIONS! It is NOT settling the final boundaries and terms of a settlement.

This idea of promoting negotiations and making concessions on both sides is nothing new! It was promoted by all of our Presidents since Israel was created in 1948, but always with the guarantee of protection of the security interests of Israel, our traditional ally!

To believe that President Obama is abandoning Israel is simply wrong thinking, and it must be recalled that earlier Israeli governments under other Prime Ministers were willing to make concessions for peace, but without handing over the security and sovereignty of Israel to Palestinians and terrorists.

The main point here is to help promote negotiations at a time of the so called “Arab Spring”, when so much turmoil and possible democratization is occurring in an area that has seen such harsh dictatorial regimes for so long.

It turns out that President George W. Bush had called for return to pre 1949 boundary lines when Israel was first created, as recently as a speech in 2008, while Obama referred to pre 1967, which in most respects is the same statement, but when Bush suggested it, his party endorsed it, but when Obama suggests it, he is bitterly condemned by Republicans.

What it comes down to is that the Republican party, as always, will simply come out against anything Obama says or does, even if it follows earlier Republican principles or stands.

So an appropriate term for this might be that the Republican Party has a disease–Obama Derangement Syndrome!