Independents

Sarah Palin: Anarchist, Radical, Extremist, Economic Terrorist Encouraging Tea Party Recalcitrance!

Ronald 1 Comment

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today demonstrated just how dangerous she really is, as she sent a message through her Facebook page warning the Tea Party radicals, who are refusing to make any deal with their own leader, Speaker of the House John Boehner, that if they made ANY compromise in the Debt Ceiling Crisis, they would face primaries when they ran for reelection next year!

By fighting against the establishment of her own party, she is proving herself much more than just the usual ignorant, stupid, uninformed person that she has proved to be over and over again in the past three years!

It is much worse than that! It is that she is promoting the economic collapse of our nation, the downgrading of our credit rating, which would lead to skyrocketing interest rates on home mortgages, automobile loans, credit cards, and student loans, plus more unemployment, bankruptcies, and broadly, more anarchy and chaos!

This makes Sarah Palin a danger to the American nation, and a person who would literally be a menace to our country if she were to ever gain power!

We cannot afford such a KNOW NOTHING anarchist, radical, extremist, economic terrorist who has no concern for the future of the average American!

This woman needs to be repudiated by all decent Republicans, as well as Democrats and Independents, for her destructive, reprehensible, and reckless behavior, and be told clearly to stay up in Alaska and leave this nation alone!

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, Paul Ryan, And The Fight Over Medicare’s Future!

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During this Easter-Passover break in the Congressional session, President Obama has been campaigning against the Paul Ryan Republican plan on the budget, particularly with the proposal to change Medicare over ten years to a voucher system.

Obama has said that such a change would be destructive and make it essential for seniors in the future to pay heavy extra costs for health care, as the vouchers would only pay about one third of the expenses.

Ryan has said that the voucher is the only way to save Medicare and promote a future balanced budget.

But Ryan has been gaining some unfriendly reactions, even in his own district in Wisconsin, and Obama has been seeing growing support in public opinion polls, against major changes in Medicare, even among Republicans, and even Tea Party people, as well as Independents!

It is clear that Americans want Medicare retained in its basic form, with some tinkering with it to cut costs!

After all, either an American is on Medicare; or nearing Medicare; or his or her parents or grandparents are on Medicare; or smartly realizes that one day they will be elderly and want the protection and the benefits of Medicare!

In any case, most Americans are willing to pay more to insure that the overwhelmingly popular Medicare enacted by Lyndon Johnson’s Administration survives into the long term!

So, the GOP should go ahead and promote privatization of Medicare, and the more Paul Ryan and other Republicans promote it, the more it helps the Democrats and Barack Obama!

The fact that 235 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the Ryan plan has the potential to destroy the GOP majority in the House in 2012. It could very well be the wedge that keeps Barack Obama in the Presidency, the Democrats in control of the US Senate, and help the Democrats gain the 25 or more votes needed to regain the House of Representatives!

So, Paul Ryan and the Republicans, keep on advocating the end of Medicare as we know it! Don’t stop; keep pushing it, and allow Democrats to salivate!

Wisconsin And The Future Of American Politics: A Turning Point For 2012!

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in the State Senate may have won the struggle with public workers over collective bargaining in the state of Robert LaFollette, Sr. for the moment, by their dastardly legislative “trick”, which allowed them to take away labor rights without a quorum in their legislative body!

But it has aroused liberals, labor, the young, moderates and independents who recognize what Wisconsin represents: an attack on the basic human rights of workers to be able to have a “fair shake” at the bargaining table with their employers, whether the government or private corporations!

A recall movement is beginning against Republican State Senators, and some will be coming up for such elections within a few months. Early next year, the recall campaign will begin against Governor Walker.

The Wisconsin battle will also reverberate in the national campaign of 2012, including the Presidency and Congress, as well as the state governments. Public opinion polls already indicate heavy opposition to what happened in Wisconsin, both inside the state and throughout the nation!

It will mobilize many citizens to get actively involved in the political campaign, and to contribute financially to the Democratic Party, because it is more clear than ever before that the Republican Party continues to work against the interests of the working man and woman, whether blue collar or highly educated white collar workers!

This is a battle for the future! Will America’s future be one of billionaires, such as the Koch Brothers, dictating and mandating working conditions and promoting what is good only for the top two percent and the corporations and banks?

Or will it be one of the promotion of the interests of the rapidly dwindling middle class, and compassion for those less fortunate, who are not born to wealth and privilege and just want a “fair shake” from their government?

This is not just a political battle; it is also a moral battle for decency and social justice, and if it is lost in 2012, the long range implications are horrendous for the future of American democracy!

Independents Wanted Parties To Compromise: Instead They Have Produced Greater Polarization! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

It has often been said that Independent votes decide elections, and certainly the majority of Independents supported the Democrats in 2008, and this time backed the Republicans in midterm elections.

Independents have always been those who condemn partisanship, and call for the two major parties to cooperate and work together toward compromise, but ironically, what they have done this time is to produce total stalemate, gridlock and polarization bound to be greater than the first two years of the Obama Administration! 🙁

The “Blue Dog” Democrats and some “mainstream” conservative Republicans have been defeated, and instead we have the most liberal Democrats and most conservative and “Tea Party” Republicans becoming dominant in their parties, which means no real chance of “crossing the aisle” and moving toward compromise! 🙁

So expect no real progress on the economy or other significant issues, but rather “fireworks” and heated rhetoric over the next two years! 🙁

The question is how Independents will vote in 2012 for Congress and the Presidency. Will they blame the GOP in the House of Representatives, or the Democrats in the Senate and the White House for the failure to deal with America’s problems? Which party will be in control of the Congress and the White House in 2013?

One thing is for sure: the great “theater” of politics will be in full swing, entertaining us and mortifying us at the same time, in 2011-2012! 🙁

The Growing Number Of Independent Voters: Not A Smart Move!

Ronald 11 Comments

Disillusionment with the economic conditions of America have led growing numbers of Americans to abandon their party loyalty and registration in the Democratic and Republican parties, and to register instead as Independents.

This is supposed to be a good thing, as it indicates separation from the two major parties. But in actuality, it is NOT a good thing, as it decreases a voter’s opportunity to affect political change.

This concept going around that an “Independent” or third party can somehow win over enough support and revolutionize the party system we have had since 1854, when the Republican party was created, is a fallacy, as our political system has never allowed for such a concept, certainly not for the White House, and only very rarely for a seat in Congress or a Governorship.

One can count on the fingers of both hands the number of independent candidates for office that have been elected. We can think of Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent Socialist who managed to be elected to the House of Representatives and the Senate as a true independent.

We can think of Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who most recently beat out a Democrat and Republican to retain his seat.

We can remember Governors Angus King of Maine, Lowell Weicker of Connecticut, and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota, but all were actually party members who broke with the party and won a three way race.

There are a handful of other people who at some point were elected on an independent or third party line, but after being identified as a Republican or a Democrat in earlier elections. These include three senators who were part of the group that I wrote about in my book TWILIGHT OF PROGRESSIVISM: Senators George Norris of Nebraska, Robert La Follette, Jr. of Wisconsin, and Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota–all during the New Deal era of the 1930s.

As far as the White House, the closest any third party or independent candidate has gone is Theodore Roosevelt, former Republican President running as a Progressive in the 1912 election, winning six states, 88 electoral votes, and 27.5 percent of the vote.

So the thought that an “Independent” party or candidate is the future of American politics is just a dream. It will not happen, and by people abandoning the major parties in their registration, they actually are cutting down their voting power by half, as in most states, they cannot vote on Primary Day, and therefore only can vote for the choices made by Democrats and Republicans who have stayed with the party and tried to bring change from within.

So, truthfully, the move toward independent voters is actually based on ignorance of the realities of our political system. How it will play itself out on Election Day 2010 and 2012 is anyone’s guess!