Founding Fathers

President Obama Comes Out Swinging: It’s About Time!

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Many liberals and progressives have been frustrated by President Obama’s desire to come across as moderate and to cooperate with the Republican Party opposition, despite their concerted campaign to oppose him in every possible way in the past two and a half years.

Obama’s willingness to compromise on the budget deal in December and again this month has made many wonder if Obama had the “cajones” to come out swinging against the GOP agenda to take us back to the 1920s, or even the Gilded Age of the late 19th century!

Obama’s speech this Wednesday resolved that issue, as the President came out in an assertive manner against the Paul Ryan plan to gut Medicare, and promote a ruthless cutting of the social safety and economic regulatory network that the Democrats set up under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society!

Obama declared that he will not allow the destruction of Medicare, in favor of a voucher system which would put senior citizens and disabled people back into poverty, as was the case before Johnson pushed through a way to promote dignity in old age by providing what every other industrial nation has, not only for older and disabled people, but all citizens in their nations!

Obama declared that he would not abandon the needs and security not only of senior citizens and the disabled, but also the young, the poor, and the average working man and woman, who is being victimized by a tax policy that has created more stratification of incomes than ever in American history, and greater than any other democratic nation in the world!

While there is a need for reforms within Medicare and Medicaid and other government programs, Obama said he would use a scalpel rather than a machete to deal with necessary changes.

He defended the rights of working people and the middle class, who have borne the burden of taxes, while the elite upper classes have been gaining tremendous tax breaks for the past decade, at the same time that the Bush Administration put us into tremendous national debt growth due to two unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a Prescription Drug Plan not paid for by taxpayers!

Obama emphasized the importance of investments in education, transportation infrastructure and energy research, and cuts in wasteful defense spending, of which there is much evidence, and the need to stop thinking of all defense expenditures as sacrosanct.

Obama also said what is going on is part of the perennial battle over the role and size of government, going back to the Founding Fathers (meaning the struggle between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson). We must understand, he declared, that this is a country which has a social compact to care about others, not just oneself, and that the concept of ME must be transformed to WE–that when some are victimized, the rest of us should be seen as lessened in our commitment to human dignity! The “American Dream” must be kept alive for future generations!

The Republican reaction was to say that Obama was overly “partisan”, as if they have not been such since Day One of the Obama Presidency!

The problem in reality is that Obama has not been partisan enough, and finally seems to have woken up to that fact, that this is a battle over the future of the country, and we cannot allow the extreme right wing of the GOP to win control of all branches of government!

We must fight back and give the Republican Party “hell” as Harry Truman did in 1948, and speak for real change as Franklin D. Roosevelt did with his New Deal in the 1930s and Lyndon Johnson did with his Great Society in the 1960s!

This is a battle to retain the political, social and economic reforms of the past hundred years, and to move into the future with optimism, and a belief that all citizens must play their role in the future of the nation, rather than the obsessive gathering of wealth at the expense of society at large!

So a salute to the President, and we look forward to a year and a half of active, aggressive campaigning by him as he seeks a second term in the White House, and a repudiation of the anti labor, anti women, anti children, anti elderly, anti poor, anti environment, anti science, anti health care, anti consumer regulation, anti financial regulation, anti education, anti Hispanic and Latino, anti African American, and ultimately anti middle class agenda of the Republican Party, and the Tea Party extremists within and outside the party establishment!

Michele Bachmann’s Ignorance Of American History And The Constitution!

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Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a potential Presidential candidate for 2012, has made a total fool of herself recently, displaying her total ignorance of American history and the Constitution.

It makes one wonder what kind of staff she has in her House of Representatives offices, that they did not stop her from making the tremendous blunders she committed, which make her look ridiculous and ignorant, dangerous for a potential Presidential candidate.

We would have thought that Sarah Palin was the only ignorant Republican considering a run for the White House. But Michele Bachmann, at least on paper, is more educated, including a law degree from Oral Roberts University! However, it has not helped to make her an informed person!

But that may be the problem. Having a degree from an evangelical religiously based law school would seem to many to be suspect, that they make up their own history and concepts of what the law and the Constitution is!

Bachmann has claimed that the Founding Fathers ended slavery, even though the Constitution includes two slavery compromises, and the Civil War was waged under Abraham Lincoln on the issue of slavery and its expansion.

She most recently went to New Hampshire, the site of the first primary in March 2012, and congratulated them on being the site of the first shots of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord, failing to recognize that these sites are located in Massachusetts!

It is obvious she had a poor legal education, has a poor historical knowledge base, less than immigrants who have to pass a test to become citizens, and an inferior staff that lacks the knowledge and ability to protect their boss by being able to inform her of the truth and the facts before she speaks anywhere, and proceeds to make a total fool of herself!

It is not just her extreme right wing views that are a problem for Michele Bachmann; it is also her stupidity and ignorance!

A Revelation: The Founding Fathers Supported National Health Care For The Merchant Marine Sailors In 1798!

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The claim by Tea Party activists and Republicans and conservatives that the Constitution does not allow national health care has been shown to be incorrect by the revelation that in 1798, the Founding Fathers passed legislation through Congress, signed by President John Adams, that provided for mandatory health care coverage on merchant marine sailors, paid for by a one percent tax on their incomes, in order to protect their health from illness and injuries, and therefore providing enough of a work force for the all important activity of foreign commerce!

Federal maritime hospitals were built in all the major American ports to provide medical services, and they were financed by the mandatory health care tax on the sailors!

Eventually, the service was expanded to cover commerce and ships on the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. Over time, it became the Public Health Service, which is still in existence today!

What the US government did in the 1790s is the method used by all European democratic governments today to insure that all citizens have health care, including the mandated taxes for their own good, to insure health care, rather than wait for an emergency and then deny health care to millions, or do it expensively at the cost of all taxpayers in emergency rooms!

So it turns out that the Founding Fathers were indeed “socialists” in the sense they mandated that people in the merchant marine had to take responsibility for their own health care and contribute to the cost through mandated taxes!

The author wishes to acknowledge that this tidbit of information came to him through the discovery on line of this revelation by his son, David Feinman, a true “chip off the old block” in so many ways! 🙂 Thanks, Dave! 🙂

The Trivialization Of Ronald Reagan On His 100th Birthday This Sunday! :(

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President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday will be celebrated this coming Sunday, and the government will be giving extra attention to the historical significance of the 40th President over the next year.

It is understandable that such recognition would be given, as Reagan, for good and for bad, was indeed a very significant President in the years from 1981-1989.

But, unfortunately, much misinformation is being spread as to the record of the Reagan Presidency, which is indeed much more complex and often contradictory than the supporters of Reagan want to believe!

The dispute between his two sons from different marriages–Michael and Ron, Jr.–are telling, as they see their dad in different ways, but historians already see the complexity of Reagan, that not everything conservatives, Republicans and even Tea Party people say about Reagan, is the true and complete story!

So in the midst of debate about the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the Young America’s Foundation, is sponsoring two days of festivities at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California this Friday and Saturday, February 4 and 5.

That is all fine and good, but the decision of this organization to invite former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to give the keynote speech on February 4 is a true distortion of the whole concept of Ronald Reagan! 🙁

Her presence, with the thin, unaccomplished record she possesses in public life, and her constant display of lack of knowledge or insights on ANY topic, makes one wonder about the political motivations of the group. Do they REALLY believe that Sarah Palin is the true successor to the man they love and admire? Would Reagan look at Sarah Palin as his heir apparent? 🙁

To make Sarah Palin a star of this event this coming weekend is to trivialize Ronald Reagan and to embarrass anyone who has any knowledge about Reagan and the conservative movement in America, as it is clear “Sarah Palin ain’t no Ronald Reagan!” 🙁

It can also be said that Sarah Palin “ain’t no Barry Goldwater” and that she “ain’t no Robert Taft”, earlier icons of the conservative movement! One wonders if she even knows of their contributions to the Republican Party and conservatism in America! 🙁

Sarah Palin could not walk in the shoes of Reagan, Goldwater or Taft, or really anyone else of substance, and it is a shame that Reagan’s memory, for good and for bad of his record, is being sullied by the involvement of this woman who proves that one does not need qualifications or education or intelligence to be a public figure! 🙁

The Founding Fathers are crying loudly in mourning, and the author suspects, so is Ronald Reagan in the after life! 🙁

The Supreme Court Image Being Destroyed By Inappropriate Actions By Three Of Its Membership! :(

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The Supreme Court of the United States is the final arbiter of the Constitution, and its members have a responsibility to pursue appropriate behavior in statements and actions outside of their direct work on the Court.

But now we are witnessing totally unprofessional, unethical behavior and open bias on the Court by its three most conservative members: Antonin Scalia, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986; Clarence Thomas, appointed by George H W Bush in 1991; and Samuel Alito, appointed by George W. Bush in 2006!

All certainly have a right to their views of the Constitution, but all three have by word or deed acted inappropriately, and in so doing, have undermined the image and respect of the Court, which is so crucial for its continued stature.

Never in history have we seen Supreme Court Justices be so openly political! 🙁

Justice Scalia allowed himself to be exploited by the Tea Party Movement and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, in agreeing to speak about the Constitution at an openly political meeting on Capitol Hill. This is not the role for a Supreme Court Justice, as also it is not appropriate for him to speak before conservative groups and attack liberal doctrines, as for instance claiming that women and gays are not protected by the Constitution in an interview published in a legal magazine. How can he be seen as being objective and open minded when cases on such matters come before the Court in the future? Should he come into cases with preconceived notions? 🙁 The answer is NO! 🙁

At the same time, Justice Thomas also openly speaks his mind in public events, even though he never asks questions in oral arguments. Additionally, his wife, Virginia Thomas, has been openly involved in Tea Party and conservative causes, including the group Liberty Central, which benefited from the Citizens United Case last January, allowing corporations unlimited rights, for the first time in a century, to contribute to and fund political causes.

Finally, Justice Alito openly mouthed “not true”, when President Obama criticized the Citizens United Case in his State of the Union address a year ago, and has spoken before conservative fundraisers, as has both Scalia and Thomas.

The dignity and prestige of the Court are at stake, as the Court becomes politicized, not part of the purpose of the Founding Fathers, when they decided we needed a Supreme Court in Article 3 of the Constitution, and in the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Sarah Palin And Michele Bachmann: The Advancement Of Ignorance, Stupidity And The Destruction Of The Republican Party! :(

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The Republican Party has a major problem that will destroy all chances of its success in the future, and will be a “gift that keeps on giving” to the opposition Democratic Party: former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, both potential candidates for the Presidential nomination in 2012!

Both ladies, admittedly attractive in appearance, are a true nightmare for the party, and both are a major blow to the promotion of women in politics!

They are a true embarrassment to womanhood itself, as they personify total ignorance and stupidity, not only about science but also about history, and really, it seems, about ANY area of human knowledge!

It is not an issue of conservatism being attacked, as indeed the concept of women as conservatives can be legitimate. It is simply the reality that every time either of these women open up their mouth and speak, they make the eyes roll into the back of the head of any intelligent person who observes and listens.

Does either lady have the ability to EVER express anything that makes sense or shows knowledge, or is seen as rational, sane thinking? Apparently, the answer is NO! 🙁

Michele Bachmann had just asserted that the Founding Fathers ended slavery, failing to realize that the Civil War 75 years later ended slavery. She had just come from a lecture about the Constitution from Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who had “lectured” a group of Tea Party members of Congress about that sacred document, which he has totally distorted with his ridiculous “originalist” interpretation, including supposedly, his recent statement that the Constitution did not protect women, because they are not mentioned in the Constitution! That statement by Scalia also makes one roll his eyes to the back of the head! Can Scalia really believe that, and if so, why is he on the Supreme Court?

But, for now, getting away from the loss of status and prestige of the Supreme Court by the behavior of some of its members, a subject that will be addressed again in the near future, before we can recover from Michele Bachmann and her inane, ludicrous statements for the “umpteenth time”, before we can fully calm down, along comes Sarah Palin, again attempting to “hog” the spotlight with her moronic statements and tweets! 🙁

In reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union address, Palin reacted to the “winning the future” line of the President, by employing WTF as an obscene statement that everyone knows what it is, but which I will not explain here! LOL

Is that appropriate for a potential Presidential candidate to use in political discourse out loud with the media? Is this dignified and acceptable for someone who wants to be taken seriously as a legitimate voice? Is there a need to answer this? 🙁

Adding insult to injury, Palin proceeded to state that the “Sputnik” reference of Obama was not appropriately used, as the Soviet Union of old had “won” the space race, but that it had led to their downfall!

Such an assertion makes one want to gag and throw up! Oh really, the Russians won the space race? It was the Soviets who landed on the moon in 1969? And their being involved in competition in space is what caused their downfall, rather than their involvement in Afghanistan, and their reckless military spending, a policy that is the major cause of our national debt and deficit today, and which Palin fails to see and understand?

The responsible leaders of the Republican party have to be dismayed by these two women, both endorsed by the Tea Party Movement, who are separately and together destroying the credibility of the Republican Party for the long haul!

One would wish, somehow, that we could put a muzzle on their mouths, and send them the message, shut up and be gone! 🙁

But, of course, there is freedom of speech, and neither lady will shut up, and so the Democratic Party sits by observing events, having a lot of good laughs, and enjoying “the gift that keeps on giving!”

But we must also mourn the destruction of both science and history that these women, and those who believe in them, represent, and in fact the destruction of KNOWLEDGE!

As Bill Maher, the comedian, expressed a few weeks ago, if the Founding Fathers were to come back today and witness the mediocrity of today’s Republican leadership, and the role of these two women, and a few members of the Supreme Court, they would be stunned, and certainly comment that women should never have been given the right to vote, let alone to run for public office!

And that would be indeed sad, as many women have contributed a great deal to our political discourse, and they stand by and mourn the embarrassment to their gender represented by the two morons, Bachmann and Palin! 🙁

Total Ignorance About American History: Michele Bachmann, Pat Buchanan And Other Republicans! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is demonstrating her total ignorance of American history and the history of her Republican party, based on the text of her speech to be delivered tonight after President Obama’s State of the Union Address!

She says slavery was ended by the Founding Fathers, showing she is unaware of the role of her Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War in ending slavery. She is, as always, demonstrating her total lack of knowledge of the American past and the American Constitution, joining many other Republicans, including Sarah Palin, in this regard! 🙁

But now, Pat Buchanan, former challenger for the Presidency against George HW Bush in 1992, and running for President as a third party party candidate in 2000, has also demonstrated his lack of knowledge, by asserting there were more slaves in the Union states that had slaves (Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri) than in any of the Confederate States that broke away from the Union! He also said incorrectly that George Washington freed his slaves after his wife died, but the reality is that his wife outlived him by over two years! 🙁

The ignorance and lack of knowledge of these and other Republican leaders is shocking and reprehensible! 🙁

The Founding Fathers (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin) and the statesmen of the pre Civil War era (Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, William Seward, Charles Sumner, Abraham Lincoln) would be shocked and mortified if they came back today and witnessed the TOTAL STUPIDITY AND IGNORANCE of many GOP leaders, and Republicans of the Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower era would also be ashamed of what their party has become: a party without legitimacy, ethics, character, and morality! 🙁

Tea Party People And Conservatives Take Note: The Constitution Established A Strong National Government, And The Amendments Have Made For A More Liberal, Nationalist Nation!

Ronald Leave a comment

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is spending taxpayer money to read the Constitution out loud, as a supposed lesson to the nation as to what the Constitution contains.

This is occurring due to the impact of the Tea Party Movement, but if that group and other conservatives really listen to and think about the words of the Constitution, they would realize what the Constitution is all about.

The Constitution was created to REPLACE the Articles of Confederation, a document that gave the states authority that led to chaos, anarchy and bankruptcy, and forced the hand of liberal nationalist Founding Fathers who realized that the country would not survive without a STRONGER NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

The Constitution gave the US Congress tremendous and specific powers in Article 1, Section 8, the ELASTIC CLAUSE–necessary and proper for the common defense and the general welfare–, creating vague language that could be interpreted broadly, and has been by the Supreme Court over 200 years since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall.

Liberal nationalists brought about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!

Liberal nationalists brought about the Civil Rights Amendments (13, 14, 15) in the years after the Civil War.

Liberal nationalists brought about the “Progressive” amendments on the federal income tax (16), direct election of the US Senate taken away from the state legislatures (17), and woman suffrage (19) in the second decade of the 20th century.

Liberal nationalists brought about the right of DC residents to vote for President (23), the end of the poll tax in all elections (24), and the 18 year old vote (26) in the decade of the mid to late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Constitution has been made the great document it is by the actions of the Founding Fathers and later generations of liberal nationalists, whether Federalist, Republican, or Democratic, and by Supreme Courts led by great Justices, including John Marshall, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, William O. Douglas, Earl Warren, William Brennan, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens and many others!

No matter what conservatives, Republicans, and Tea Party activists might say or believe, it is LIBERAL and PROGRESSIVE activism that has led to the Constitution and its amendment improvements over two centuries!

Liberals and progressives stand together in pride as to their enactment and expansion of the document which inspires people all over the world, the greatest constitutional document ever created by the will of mankind!

The Boston Tea Party Anniversary: Time To Reflect On The Tea Party Extremists Who Want To Destroy The Constitution They Say They Revere! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Today, December 16, 237 years ago (1773), the event revered since then, the Boston Tea Party, took place, and galvanized the American colonists into the eventual movement for independence.

But one must remember that it still took two and a half years before the “Founding Fathers” agreed to move toward independence, as the Boston Tea Party crowd were considered radicals who were reckless and uncontrollable and irrational by many.

It is ironic, therefore, that many intelligent, thoughtful people consider today’s so called Tea Party Movement to be similarly radical, reckless, uncontrollable and irrational, and for good reasons!

Tea Party spokesmen in the differing movements that call themselves that title have called for radical actions, while claiming they revere the Constitution. But advocacy of measures such as the following belie what they claim to be their beliefs and goals.

These extremist statements and views include the following:

1. Modifying the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to all born in the United States or its territories.
2. Repealing of the 16th Amendment which provides for a progressive federal income tax.
3. Repealing of the 17th Amendment, which provides for direct election of the United States Senate by popular vote, and returning the election to the state legislatures.
4.Repealing of legislation long established by federal law as an entitlement, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Unemployment Compensation.
5. Elimination of the Departments of Education and Energy.
6. Wiping out of the legislation passed under the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
7. Elimination of the Federal Reserve System set up under the New Freedom of Woodrow Wilson.
8. Ending of the numerous reforms passed under the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.
9. Termination of the agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration signed into law by President Richard Nixon.
10. Promotion of “Nativism” by reviving fear of immigrants, and trying to ban immigration from “undesirable” parts of the world.
11. Promoting States Rights and Secession 150 years after Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War was supposed to have settled that issue for all time.
12. Advocating Christianity as a national religion, and a church and state alliance, while the Founding Fathers specifically avoided that idea, instead promoting separation of church and state.

The Tea Party Movement is not a reform group designed to improve this nation, but instead to take it back to the reactionary realities of the past, which were overcome by a growth in power and influence by the national government, including the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court, to make the country truly a nation “of, by, and for the people”.

The Tea Party Movement does not offer “change”, but rather negativism and a return to the Gilded Age and the 19th century, before this nation became the great country that it is, a beacon of freedom, progress, and opportunity for the world!

Will “Permanent War” Lead To Decline Of America As A Superpower? :(

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A retired colonel in the US Army, Andrew Bacevich, has written an important book about perpetual war, which makes one realize that such a situation, as we have now in Afghanistan, and with continued involvement in Iraq, and now possibly a war in Korea renewed, is a tragic situation which will lead to the downfall of the United States as a superpower! 🙁

Bacevich, a former West Point instructor, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a professor of international relations at Boston University, has published a book about the Vietnam War and the opposition, at the time, of Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman.

Bacevich utilizes this book on Fulbright to point out that we now have a situation that is being made permanent with the unwillingness of President Barack Obama to decide to withdraw from a war in Afghanistan which cannot be won, is bleeding our economy, and preventing us from dealing with the domestic crisis we face as a nation since the collapse of Wall Street in 2008! 🙁

Pointing out that we spend $700 billion per year on defense, more than all of the other nations of the world combined, Bacevich warns that we are going down the road of disaster, and that Obama is caving in to the defense establishment by continuing the involvement in Afghanistan at a time when many NATO nations are cutting back, and others, such as Great Britain, are making clear their limits on future commitment!

Bacevich asserts that we need to rebuild our own society, and that we cannot afford the financial cost for “permanent” war, and have limits on troops available for constant warfare! We cannot be global policemen, and occupy dozens of countries with our military so many years after World War II and Korea! Bacevich concludes that the Founding Fathers would be shocked to see us as much involved overseas as we are now in the 21st century! 🙁

Of course, others come out in support of what our government is doing, and call Bacevich an old style isolationist, but when one realizes that a great portion of our national debt has been for war and defense, and that we are hemorrhaging so much funding for the military at a time of desperation at home, Bacevich just seems to make a lot of sense, and causes one to have to sit and reflect on his message in a serious manner! 🙁