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Fifteen Most Right Wing States In America: The Candidates

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As America moves forward on so many issues socially, the “hinterland” of the nation languishes in its revelry of backwardness, allowing themselves to be influenced by Christian fundamentalists and business tycoons who do not give a damn about the rights of women, the rights of children, the rights of gays and lesbians, the right to safety from gun extremists, the right to labor protections, the right to promotion of the environment, the rights of minorities, the rights to basic health care, the rights to a public education, and the right to basic civil liberties for all citizens and non-citizens.

Instead, there are many states who are working to outlaw abortion completely within their boundaries; to deny poor children free breakfast and lunch; to refuse to recognize same sex marriage protections; to expand the rights of gun enthusiasts at the expense of public safety; to refuse to expand unemployment compensation and the minimum wage for workers; to undermine environmental protections and fight the federal government on the creation of new national parks and monuments; to imprison and execute minorities on a much larger scale than whites; to refuse to expand Medicaid or provide any kind of health care for the poor and disabled; to promote privatization of schools and charters and cut spending on public schools; to teach creationism as science in public schools; and to give police undue power to shoot and kill when uncalled for in many domestic situations that arise as part of a troubled social structure in America!

Trying to make a list of fifteen most right wing states is not easy, as there are numerous candidates for such dubious honors!

It is as if we live in two Americas–the progressive, modern, secular, advanced states of the two coastlines and the upper Midwest; and the backward, 19th century mentality, theocratic, backward states of the “hinterland”, resentful of a changing America that includes large numbers of people of very different backgrounds and agendas than these mostly rural, isolated states, many with much smaller population, but having influence through the US Senate, and the Tea Party ability to create barriers in the US House of Representatives.

Here is a list of states that the author believes have the unique distinction of competing for the most backward, reactionary states in America in the 21st century. These states are not being ranked, but just listed at this point.

Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Arkansas
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
West Virginia
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Idaho
Utah
Wyoming

Notice nine of the fifteen are the old South or border South; three are the Great Plains; and three are the Mountain West.

The author welcomes discussion of this list of most right wing states, and he will make a judgment later on which state is the most backward in 2014!

The Total Hypocrisy Of Republicans’ Concerns About Future Generations!

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Republicans love to claim that they are concerned about future generations!

But they are unconcerned about the large number of poor children who do not have adequate education and health care, and their refusal to do anything to provide such services, because it might require the rich to pay more taxes!

They are unconcerned about the dangers of gun violence, as at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as an example and even the many incidents of children killed by accident by reckless parents or siblings, or simple lack of protection of weapons from children’s hands!

They are unconcerned about the dangers of climate change, with rising sea levels, erosion, and dangerous storms, which will destroy housing, lives, and security of millions of future Americans, most of them poor or middle class!

They are unconcerned how corporations and banks victimize poor and middle class people on a regular basis, without any conscience, including exploitation of their labor forces!

They are unconcerned about the quality of life of minorities, the poor, and those who are gay or lesbian, and are denied equal opportunity and fair treatment, which victimizes them all of their lives.

They are unconcerned about the sending of our young people off to wars to protect oil and other strategic interests, and fail to be concerned about proper treatment of these courageous veterans when they return home from war.

The Republican Party has no ethics or morality, only selfishness and greed about their own power, and protection of corporations, banks, and the wealthy one or two percent! Their hypocrisy is massive!

A society which focuses on the top two percent is a very sick society, and requires action on a large scale to change the attitudes and concern for the mass of Americans, who have to look to a long term future, and government should represent their interests, not the elite who already have too many advantages and too many assets!

Republican Senators And The Minimum Wage Law

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The Republican Party has effectively written off those workers who are paid the minimum wage, not caring about how they are to survive in an economy with the situation stacked against them.

It has been nearly a decade since the minimum wage was raised, and people forget that the minimum wage was never raised during the 1980’s, and so the cost of living is way beyond what the minimum wage should be.

Originally established at 25 cents an hour in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. the minimum wage should now be about $15 an hour based on inflation, but instead is, nationally at $7.25 an hour for nearly a decade, although some states have raised the limit.

The bill that failed to get to a vote in the Senate, due to the filibuster tactic, would have raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in stages until 2016, but NOT one GOP Senator, not even Senator Susan Collins of Maine, or Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, or a few others thought to have some “moderate” tendencies, voted for the rise in the minimum wage.

Many of the minimum wage workers are breadwinners for their families, and the stress of having too little income also affects their physical and mental health, but obviously Republicans and conservatives do not give a damn about those realities!

Today’s minimum wage is 25 percent below what it was in 1968, an absolute atrocity! Putting extra money in the hands of the working poor would make life easier, add to business profits, and would certainly all be put back into the economy, but the Republicans are determined to punish the poor for being poor, and in so doing, harm children and women, even more than men.

If this is not the new “Gilded Age”, what is it, not only for the poor, but for the dwindling middle class?

This is Scrooge at its best!

Widespread Sense Of Anger, Unhappiness, Discontent, Despondency In Electorate Favors Democrats!

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Many political observers seem unaware of a widespread sense of anger, unhappiness, discontent, and despondency in the electorate, and fail to understand that this favors the Democrats, not the Republicans, in the midterm elections of 2014.

The Republican Party in the House of Representatives has produced the most horrible record of lack of achievement, lack of concern for the middle class and the poor, and has simply come across as a party of obstruction in the past four years.

While the Democrats have far from a perfect record, they have been the party to bring about a health care plan that is covering millions of people for the first time; have fought for an increase in the minimum wage; have argued for an extension of unemployment compensation for the long term unemployed; have battled to make sure that the food stamp program is not gutted for the poor, the elderly, the children, and the disabled; have promoted the need for infrastructure spending and education, including a solution for students heavily indebted; have defended the need for environmental protection; have backed the need for strong labor protections; have supported fair treatment for gays and lesbians, including marriage rights; and have worked for immigration reform in a fair and balanced way.

For those who are angry, unhappy, discontented, and despondent to sit on their hands and do nothing, and NOT vote in the midterm elections, both state and Congressional, would be the height of stupidity, as no change can come if people stay home.

So the job of Democrats is to come out of their shell, fight for what they believe in, be proud of what they have done and stood for, stand proud, and motivate those who usually do not vote, to do so this time, and give the Republicans a well deserved defeat in the House of Representatives, keep the Democrats in control of the US Senate, and work to defeat Republican “Bully” Governors elected in 2010, who have been a literal nightmare for the masses of people who are not wealthy, and not part of the one percent oligarchy which is taking over American politics in an alarming way, while the middle class and the poor sit on the sidelines, lacking motivation to react in their own self interest!

The Worst Governor In Florida History: Rick Scott!

Ronald 1 Comment

Florida Governor Rick Scott may have gained less attention than other “Bully” Republican Governors elected in 2010, but he is, in many ways, the absolutely worst governor in America, and easily, the worst Governor Florida has ever had in modern history!

Florida has had some really outstanding Governors, including Leroy Collins (1955-1961); Reubin Askew (1971-1979); Bob Graham (1979-1987); Lawton Chiles (1991-1999); and Charlie Crist (2007-2011). Republican Governors Claude Kirk (1967-1971) and Bob Martinez (1987-1991) both lost re-election and were controversial. Jeb Bush (1999-2007) had his controversies, but did an excellent job dealing with eight hurricanes during his time in office.

Rick Scott came into office with the record of having paid a record fine for his Medicare corruption as the leader of the nation’s largest hospital chain, and should have gone to prison instead, for his misdeeds. He won the Governorship by only 50,000 votes, the smallest margin in Florida history.

Scott spent $73 million of his own money to get himself elected, despite a personality that was and is a turn off to most people who have any intelligence or compassion for others. It was an example of how backward Floridians were, that they would allow a convicted felon to become their Governor.

Scott has done massive damage on voting rights, privacy rights, public schools and higher education, environmental protection, and health care. His party controls three fourths of the seats in the legislature, and has taken Florida backwards at a time when it is about to become the third largest state in population.

Scott has made it harder for Florida citizens to vote; for those who are unemployed to gain unemployment compensation; for renters to avoid eviction; and made it easier for borrowers to be charged high interest rates on short term loans.

Scott has refused to accept Medicaid money for the poor, despite the fact that the federal government will pay all the costs for three years, and 90 percent after that. He fought ObamaCare tooth and nail, and still makes it difficult for citizens to apply for it.

Scott rejected federal money for high speed rail, while creating another state university, Florida Polytechnic University, which undermines the University of South Florida market for students. His administration spends less per public school student than when he took office, and promotes private charter schools over public schools. He has undermined respect for a liberal arts education, and teachers at all levels have been treated with disrespect by his education policies.

Scott has undermined the environment protections put into effect by his predecessors, and sees Florida as equivalent of a corporation that needs to be given freedom to abuse in every way possible, including health insurance rates, higher electric rates, and tax breaks for businesses that have not created the promised number of jobs.

Scott has demonstrated little concern for individual rights, wanting drug testing for state employees and welfare recipients; purging voter rolls, and restricting early voting. Luckily, there has been reaction against these ideas by courts, county elections supervisors, and the public.

The man has no compassion or empathy, and comes across as a cold, calculating individual, and it makes one wonder how Floridians could possibly consider him for a second term, but Scott is willing to spend whatever it takes to fool people, and to keep the vote numbers down by any means he can conjure up.

Scott gains less attention nationally than Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Perry of Texas, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and other “Bully” Governors, all of whom are considered Presidential possibilities, but IF Rick Scott is re-elected, do not be surprised if he tries to bring his corruption, mean spirit, callousness, and lack of empathy or compassion to a national campaign for President.

One might say, wait, there is already Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio as potential candidates for President from Florida! The answer is: So What? Scott has never let ego or ethics get in his way in the past, and do not be surprised he might mount a national campaign if he defeats former Governor Charlie Crist, who has switched parties, and faces a massive challenge to be elected Governor as a Democrat, in a state with such a large Republican dominance in the state legislature!

The problem is that, even if Crist were to win, he is likely to face a hardline legislature, where only his veto might sometimes be effective, as Florida politics now represents one of the most backward agendas of any state, despite the fact that the state has nearly 20 million citizens, including many elderly, poor, sick, and disabled!

This is NOT a state where anyone who has a choice to move would decide to remain. YES, the weather is great, but the future for the elderly, the poor, the sick and the disabled, and for children in general, is gloomy!

Maryland, anyone?

The Republican War On The IRS Is An Anarchistic, Extremist Attack!

Ronald 6 Comments

The Republican Party has declared war on the Internal Revenue Service, the basic backbone of how the federal government operates, how it protects the nation, and advances the domestic agenda of the United States, to make it the nation of freedom, justice, and equality that it was meant to be!

If you left it to the Republican Party, which operates as an anarchistic, extremist movement against the whole structure of our federal government, they would move to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which Republican President William Howard Taft advocated.

The Republican Party calls for abolition of the IRS, without saying how they would replace the funding that it provides for our national defense; for our multitude of federal government agencies that give Americans all kinds of services; and for protection of our elderly, our children, our disabled, our poor!

It seems that the Republican Party wants to go back to America and what it was in 1789–a nation of four million people with state governments having all of the power, or lack of it, to help maintain the safety, security, and advancement of its citizens!

Anyone who has studied American history knows that state governments have always been incompetent, inept, and too corrupt to be in charge of all of the massive responsibilities that the federal government has had since the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War!

If the Republican Party were, somehow, able to accomplish what they advocate, it would lead to total chaos, anarchy, disruption, and the dissolution of a stable government!

So the right wing of the GOP is a dangerous, anarchistic, extremist group! Let’s call the reality what it is, a danger to all of America’s citizens!

Mississippi: The Bottom Of The Pit In 1962, And Still In 2014!

Ronald 2 Comments

The state of Mississippi was the bottom of the pit of American society in 1962, when the National Guard had to be federalized to insure that one black college student, James Meredith, could attend the University of Mississippi. It was also the state where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964, while attempting to register black voters.

One would think that after a half century, Mississippi would have improved its horrific status as number 50 out of 50, but sadly such is not the case!

Mississippi stands at the absolute bottom of the pile in poverty, with 34.7 percent of children being in poverty, and 19 percent in extreme poverty, a shocking set of statistics that is totally unconscionable, as children are the future!

61.9 percent of Mississippians are in dire financial straits, and the state only gives the poorest an average welfare benefit of $140 a month, by far the lowest family benefit in the nation!

And children face arrest and jailing for as little an infraction as being tardy to school, or going to the bathroom without permission.

This horrible situation demands federal intervention in the name of human rights! This disaster hurts the black population much more, but also the poor white population is also harmed greatly!

The Democratic Party was responsible for this horror in the 1960s, but now the Republican Party must be held responsible for perpetuating this mess!

Ironically, Mississippi is among the top states for church attendance, and for promotion of “Christian” values, whatever that means, since it is NOT applied in everyday life!

The Dangers Of An Impeachment Move Against President Obama

Ronald 12 Comments

With reckless discussion and growing threats of an impeachment move against President Barack Obama, the country lurches toward a situation which creates great dangers for the nation, as well as the 44th President of the United States.

The irony of it all is that, under no circumstances, would an impeachment move lead to the removal of the President from his position before the time his term of office ends on January 20, 2017!

Were it otherwise, Vice President Joe Biden would succeed Obama, and be likely to get an edge on the 2016 nomination, and to keep the office for the full term, similar to what happened after Lyndon B. Johnson became President upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and almost happened to Gerald Ford after he succeeded the resigned Richard Nixon in 1974, only losing the Presidency by two percentage points to Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, and even would have won that election if a few thousand votes had switched in the states of Ohio and Hawaii.

But although Obama would survive any impeachment threat, the idea is very bad for the stability of the American nation and political system in the following ways:

It would bring up the ugly element of racism, which is very prevalent in our society as it is, but would be elevated by an attack of the right wing on Obama, a lot of it based on suspicion of the “black man” in the White House, who doesn’t seem to be a “true” American to the hate mongers, who have been unwilling to accept the fact that he was born in Hawaii, and is a legitimate President, elected twice by the American people in a clear cut electoral vote and popular vote margin!

The racial tensions already evident in our society are not just of blacks and whites, but also between Latinos and white Anglos, and even between Asian Americans and whites, who resent that they are in a losing battle demographically in a nation rapidly becoming a majority minority within the next three decades. Nothing will change that reality, and the future will include the likelihood of other African American Presidents, or more likely a Latino President, or even possibly an Asian American President, and even the possibility of a non Christian President, whether Jewish or Muslim! Additionally, we are going to have a future woman President, even if it is not Hillary Clinton!

Beyond the racial divide, an Obama impeachment would undermine the ability of the nation to continue its economic recovery, and that is something this country cannot afford, as it harms not just the Obama economic record, but real life situations of millions of Americans, and harms women and children, even more than men in the long run, as it inflates the poverty level of single women and their children, scarring the future for millions of American children, whose childhood experiences can harm them for life!

An Obama impeachment would endanger the international scene, and the ability to fight terrorism, and face the challenges of Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, and other nations that would love a wounded America in foreign policy and national security.

An Obama impeachment would also poison ever further the political divide between Republicans and Democrats, between “red” and “blue” states, and could lead to the long range danger of a civil war, not just of racial and ethnic groups, but between those who dream of secession from America, and unfortunately, have paranoid elements who have been building up large caches of firearms, that they would be ready to use against other Americans, law enforcement authorities, and even the US military, which could cost tens of thousands of lives! There is already a powder keg situation, in which crime against people based on their ethnicity, race, or sexual orientation has been growing!

Finally, and the greatest fear for anyone who cares about the long term American future, there is the massive danger of a successful attempt against the life of President Obama, with the realization, as this author has discovered in research for his upcoming book on Presidential Assassinations and the American Presidency, due out in 2015, that Obama has been subjected to an average of up to 30 stated or revealed threats per day, or about 10,000 per year, since he has become President, more than any President except maybe Abraham Lincoln, but probably more than Lincoln in reality!

Reported and published threats in the news media number at least 36 at this writing, much more than any other modern President for sure, and the number keeps on growing, and this is just what we know publicly, not the true story of Secret Service records, which remain secret!

So the publicity of an Obama impeachment effort would bring out ever more whackos and wing nuts who would like nothing better than to use the excuse of the impeachment controversy to try to gain permanent fame by assassinating Barack Obama, and that would further poison the American populace, and would likely be the beginning of a widespread civil insurrection, that might be hard to stop!

This author has hinted at these fears before, and it can be hoped that Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders will understand the dangers of an impeachment move, stop the rhetoric that Obama is a dictator breaking the Constitution, and allow our 44th President to finish his time in office, without further endangering his personal security and safety, and realize that they have made a dangerous error in allowing themselves to cater to an extreme right that endangers not only Obama, but really themselves, and also the civil order of the American nation!

It is time to stop the divisiveness, and to work with President Obama for the benefit and progress of the American people, or else the names and reputations of these Republican leaders will be condemned in the long run of American history!

Conservatives, Republicans, The “Work Ethic”, And The “Big Lie” Technique!

Ronald 19 Comments

Conservatives and the Republican Party LOVE to promote the virtues of WORK, while at the same time, the Republicans in Congress have set up a work schedule which is far fewer days than when the Democrats controlled the House!

Conservatives and the Republican Party talk about work, but in their mind, their goal is to make people work more hours and years than is healthy for any human being, because by refusing to raise the minimum wage, cutting unemployment compensation to victims of the Great Recession, and cutting food stamps, and therefore, nutrition to women and children and the elderly, it forces people to take low wage jobs if they can get them, work two to three to four part time jobs, raising their chance of getting sick, and then, going into bankruptcy as a result. And the thought of EVER retiring or cutting back on work hours is a distant dream for millions of Americans being victimized by the greed and selfishness of the power elite!

The thought that people should have time for a real vacation; or to take off time for the family; or to start a new business or pursue education–all of these become impossible because conservatives and the GOP are out to exploit the American people, make the middle class poorer, and kick the poor around, including encouraging larger families than people can afford, by denying contraception and abortion, and instead, promoting government interference in the personal and private lives of all of us!

Meanwhile, the ruling class works less and less, gets more vacations, mistreats the people who serve their every whim, and look with disdain on the “slave labor” that they are promoting by their lack of compassion, empathy, and basic decency about those struggling to survive and have a little security and contentment, as that does not benefit the corporations and the top few percent who boss everyone else around and think they are working very hard!

This situation is very dangerous, almost a powder keg, as when finally the American people realize what is happening, it could lead to violent results, which would benefit absolutely no one!

And conservatives and the Republican Party utilizing the “Big Lie” technique about ObamaCare and everything else that has occurred under the Obama Presidency will eventually reverberate on them as well, when it is understood that they have been totally unconcerned about the American people, and the reaction will not be pretty!

We Can Look Forward To The Obama-Pope Francis Meeting In Late March!

Ronald 6 Comments

The announcement by the White House that President Obama will meet Pope Francis in Vatican City in late March, after attending meetings and visiting several nations in Europe earlier, is a great development!

It will allow our path breaking President, who has shown great courage in many areas of domestic and foreign policy, to meet a Pope who has shook up the Catholic Church, and affected attitudes on a multitude of issues in less than one year in the Papacy!

The two men share a concern about income inequality, the greatest concentration of wealth in the hands of a few in America and world wide, and the horrible poverty and deprivation that exists in much of the world, including one out of six Americans, many of them children, in America.

Both are concerned for human rights worldwide as well, and both understand the discrimination that has been visited against women, and gays and lesbians, and the Pope is also aware of the sexual abuse of women and children by evil elements in the Catholic Church, along with the corruption in the Vatican Bank.

Both Obama and Pope Francis have been called Marxists, and Socialists by the right wing, but they wear such appellations with pride, while laughing at the lunatics who profess such ridiculous statements about two brave men, who will be well remembered in history for their principles and values!