Henry Clay

Politics Is The Art Of Compromise? Not According To The Republican Leadership!

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One learns in any American Government class that “Politics is the Art of Compromise”!

But, apparently, the Republican Party in Congress and in the states that have Republican Governors, believes just the opposite!

Remember that the Constitution came about through compromises in 1787 in Philadelphia!

Remember that Henry Clay, the greatest member of Congress in American history, promoted compromise as essential for progress!

Bipartisanship has been an important part of much of American history, as for instance, the bipartisanship demonstrated in Congress during the Cold War period, supporting Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower in their reaction to the Soviet threat!

When compromise has not worked, we had the Civil War, which killed 620,000 Americans!

When compromise has not worked, we have seen the stalemate and gridlock that has paralyzed government, and led to inability to take care of the needs of the nation!

Republican Governors have declared war on the concept of compromise, pushing many states in reverse on basic labor rights and human rights!

So the future looks gloomy, as the Republicans have continued to make clear that they will use every method to stop any part of the Obama agenda!

The battle over the 2012 national budget and the national debt is going to be an historic struggle, with no certainty that anything positive will occur! And the future in many states is also gloomy!

Speakers Of The House Of Representatives: The Presidency And The Vice Presidency

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With strong hints that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia will likely be the first Republican to announce his candidacy for the Presidency, it makes one look back and see the history of the Speaker of the House and the office of the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.

Only one Speaker of the House has been elected President, James Polk in the 1844 election, after having served as Speaker from 1835-1839.

Two others who were Speaker were nominated for President and lost–Henry Clay (1811-1814, 1815-1820, 1823-1825)) who lost in 1824, 1832 and 1844; and James G. Blaine (1869-1875) who lost in 1884.

Another Speaker, Champ Clark (1911-1919) sought the nomination in 1912, was ahead in delegates at the Democratic National Convention, but lost the nomination to Woodrow Wilson.

Two others served as Vice President–Schuyler Colfax (1863-1869) who served under Ulysses Grant from 1869-1873; and John Nance Garner (1931-1933), who served under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933-1941.

Additionally, John Bell (1834-1835) ran for President on the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 Presidential election which led to the victory of Abraham Lincoln.

So Gingrich would be the eighth Speaker to seek high office as President or Vice President, but would only be the second to reach that position were he to be elected in 2012. Don’t bet on it!

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

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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! 🙁

Plaudits For Nancy Pelosi: The Most Powerful Woman In American History!

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With the passage of the Health Care reform bill, it must be said that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has to be given the most credit for the major accomplishment!

Through thick and thin, under constant conservative and Tea Party and Republican attack, even on a personal level, Pelosi was able to keep her eye on the goal, and to prod and push not only her Democratic colleagues, but also President Obama, to get into the fray and fight for the legislation!

As The Economist magazine has said, Pelosi has become the most powerful woman in American history, and arguably the most powerful Speaker since Joe Cannon in the first decade of the twentieth century. She will go down as one of the greatest Speakers in her impact, along with Henry Clay, Sam Rayburn, and Thomas “Tip” O’Neill!

What angers so many critics is that here we have a woman, an Italian American Catholic, who had the “gall” to challenge the male chauvinist Republicans around her, particularly Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who came across as nasty, mean spirited, and narrow minded, a man who will go down in history as a “small minded” man who exploited every tactic possible to deny 32 million Americans the basic human right of health care!

So plaudits to Nancy Pelosi for her fantastic accomplishment! 🙂

National Journal Rankings: Liberals And Conservatives In The Senate

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A new rating of the Senate by National Journal reveals the following.

The most liberal senators are Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Roland Burris of Illinois, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island, with all of them in a five way tie. Interestingly, all are in their first term in the Senate, with the exception of Reed, and Burris will be leaving the Senate after a two year appointment.

The most conservative Senators are in order as follows: James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Bunning, thankfully, is leaving at the end of this year. Obviously, the name Jim is very much connected for now to the right wing! 🙂

So Oklahoma has the distinction of having two of the most conservative senators, and Rhode Island two of the most liberal senators.

The big problem revealed by this survey is that the moderate center in both parties is becoming more than ever an “endangered species”, which makes it likely that the future Senate will be as intransigent and uncooperative as it presently is. This is not good for the American system of government, when there is no give and take, no compromise spirit, that exists in the upper chamber.

The nation needs a new version of Henry Clay or Lyndon Johnson to promote compromise and action in the Senate, but sadly there is no one obvious on the horizon to fill the shoes of these two great senators of the 19th and 20th centuries in the 21st century! 🙁