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Democrats Need To Follow Lincoln Project Strategy: Go On Attack Against Trumpists!

The Democratic Party needs to follow the strategy of the Lincoln Project, a PAC (Political Action Committee) organization formed in 2019 to fight Donald Trump and his ilk, and continuing to attack Donald Trump and his supporters in public office after the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.

The Lincoln Project has continued to put out strong ads on cable and on Twitter, convinced that is the only way to stop Trump and the people who surround, support, and defend him, and to weaken his appeal.

They also want to undermine any future candidacy by either him or his “copycats”, including Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Tom Cotton and innumerable others.

This is a battle for American democracy, and to revive the reputation of a party which, historically, had great leadership before the present orientation toward authoritarianism!

So Democrats have to stop being “nice guys”, and go on the attack and defend their principles against a party that has rapidly gone downhill toward Fascism!

National Conventions May Be Part Of History, Never To Return

It is now official: The two national conventions of the Democratic Party and Republican Party will not be held with large crowds, due to the CoronaVirus Pandemic, and it may be that the typical national convention format may now be part of American history, never to return.

National conventions in modern times have mostly been just coronations of the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees. But there is no way to know whether in the future, that there might be a party divided as convention time arrives, as occurred in 1968 for the Democrats.

But with modern technology, it could be that saving money on conventions and focusing on the message being spread by the party nominees might be seen as a better use of funding.

Also, traveling the nation, which began with William Jennings Bryan in 1896, might no longer be the norm, as Joe Biden is doing an excellent job presenting his agenda in live speeches from home or specific locations, and then made available for cable and social media.

Too often, the constant traveling wears candidates down, and it would be better if the energy level could avoid exhaustion, which clearly shows in the last weeks of a Presidential campaign, particularly for the winner of the Presidency.

Censorship Beginning In Trump Era: Promotion Of Mistrust Of News Media, College Professors, Entertainment Industry As The New McCarthyism!

It is becoming clear that Donald Trump intends to declare war on the news media, calling them dishonest and out to promote propaganda, while it is precisely Trump and his “Alt Right” White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor Stephen Bannon, formerly of Breitbart News, which is working to establish mistrust among the American people toward their own media that dares to challenge and investigate the many shortcomings of Donald Trump and his cabinet appointees, and his future policies in domestic and foreign affairs.

Additionally, a plan to list college professors who are felt to promote a leftist agenda, a reminder of McCarthyism in the 1950s, has been started by a group termed “Turning Point USA” under the name “Professor Watch List”, to intimidate professors from having freedom of speech in their classrooms. So academic “witch hunts” are back, in order to advocate a right wing educational system.

And the usual attack on liberals in Hollywood and the broad field of entertainment, is also clearly beginning, as censorship and attacks on civil liberties and civil rights groups are being encouraged, to attempt a total crackdown on dissent.

The ultimate goal is to sow distrust and doubt in the fields of journalism, education including universities and colleges, and the entertainment industry, including criticism of the humor of “Saturday Night Live” and other programs on cable, television, and radio, as well as film.

All this is advocated as part of the “fake news” which helped to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign for President in 2016.

With an authoritarian oriented President coming to office, many elements of our basic freedoms of speech and press, and even assembly, are clearly under attack.

The “New” South Vs. The “Old” South

The American South has undergone a lot of change in the past half century since the March On Washington in 1963.

Many Northerners have moved South; many people of African American and Latino heritage have grown up in an environment where segregation and open prejudice is gone: and we have seen Southern Presidents who completely represented a different image of the South.

So we have President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who overcame his past and his heritage, and promoted the Civil Rights Revolution, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

We have Jimmy Carter of Georgia, the first Southerner elected from outside since Zachary Taylor in 1848, representing the “New South” Governors elected in 1970, including Ruben Askew of Florida and Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. Carter promoted advancements in civil rights and human rights, and demonstrated then, and right up to this moment, that he is a very principled, decent man.

And we have Bill Clinton, elected Governor of Arkansas, representing the New South tradition after Dale Bumpers had initiated it in Arkansas, and being a major promoter of civil rights and equality during his Presidency, as much as Johnson and Carter.

And we have John Lewis, the only surviving speaker at the March on Washington, now 73 years old, and carrying on the tradition of his mentor, Martin Luther King, Jr. He has been an exemplary Congressman from Georgia, and truly the conscience of the nation on civil rights!

These four gentlemen, three Presidents and a Congressman, represent the best of the “New South”!

The “Old South” was thought to be overcome, particularly over time with the death of Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, and others of their ilk.

But as it turns out, the “Old South” mentality has survived even past these two GOP leaders who promoted segregation and hate, as the 2013 Republican Party, with the evil influence of the Tea Party Movement, is working very hard to back track on racial equality, racial progress, racial justice, and using code language to appeal to the bigots and racists who remain in America, whether in the South or Midwest or Great Plains areas of the nation, and hoping to repeal the progress of the past half century.

They do this without shame or embarrassment, and that is what is most troubling, and they even have their talk show hosts on radio and television and cable, who spew forth hateful and divisive propaganda with no apologies–Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity et al—and make millions on promotion of hate and division, rather than trying to bring us together and move forward!

So the “Old South” is, ironically, surviving in the party of Abraham Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner and the other principled Republicans of 150 years ago, who fought against the “Old South” and slavery, and would, if they were here today, hold their heads in their hands, and weep over what the Republican Party they loved, has become!

The “Biased” Media: The Right Wing Much More Powerful Than Many People Realize!

The Republican Party and right wing conservatives LOVE to claim that news media–including newspapers, periodicals, radio, television, cable–are all distorted toward liberal and progressive viewpoints!

This is a great farce and lie, total propaganda!

Yes, of course, there are media which are promoting the viewpoint of the left side of the political spectrum!

But the right wing has built a solid, powerful media empire, as well as having “think tanks” that spew forth propaganda on a daily basis!

Some examples, incomplete, of the right wing influence in news media follow, in no special order:

Rush Limbaugh
Glenn Beck
Michael Savage
Sean Hannity
Bill O’Reilly
Mark Levin
Ann Coulter
Michelle Malkin
Laura Ingraham
Michael Reagan
Fox News Channel
Wall Street Journal
Washington Times
New York Post
News Max
National Review
The Weekly Standard
The American Spectator
The American Conservative
The Heritage Foundation
The Drudge Report
The Cato Institute
Family Research Council
Red State
Christian Coalition
The John Birch Society
Freedom Works
Tea Party Express
Tea Party Patriots
Judicial Watch
Conservapedia
Republican National Committee

Here we have 32 leading examples, but there are many more, so the idea that the right wing has little influence or impact is certainly NOT true!