Middle Class

George W. Bush And Immigration Reform: Is Bush The Last GOP President We Will Ever See?

Ronald 6 Comments

Former President George W. Bush, who has been very quiet, and stayed out of the public spotlight for four and a half years, has come out in full support of the Senate bill on immigration reform, a cause he lost in 2007, but feels deeply about, and he was able to gain 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, compared to Mitt Romney’s 29 percent in 2012.

Bush spoke of a “benevolent spirit”, of a “confident and successful nation” which embraces immigration, but the Republican Party of 2013 is very different than the “compassionate conservative” image that Bush cultivated, and he has little clout or respect among Republicans today.

So it is clear that unless the Tea Party Movement cancer is overcome, we are likely going to look back in the future, and say that George W. Bush was the last Republican President we would ever see take the oath of office as the occupant of the Oval Office!

A new moderate, centrist political party will eventually arise to replace an extremist, right wing party that fails to understand that the American people will not accept their mean spirit, their refusal to accept the demographic changes in America, their desire to make the rich wealthier and push the middle class into poverty, and denounce those who are poor, blaming them for their own degradation!

The American people want an optimistic spirit, a compassionate government, and on this issue, at least, former President George W. Bush; his brother Jeb Bush; Senator John McCain; former China Ambassador Jon Huntsman; and a small percentage of Republican Senators and others affiliated with the party understand this, and could be the basis of a new party which gets the message of the vast majority of the American people!

40 Years Since The Middle Class Reached Its Peak: The Republican And Conservative Role In Middle Class Decline!

Ronald 4 Comments

Forty years ago, in the year 1973, during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, the middle class, which had been steadily growing since the end of World War II, reached its peak in economic terms.

In the years of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, an optimism that the future would be better was fulfilled, and the “American Dream” was a reality for millions of Americans, many of whom emerged from the lower middle class or from poverty.

This was the age of liberalism, a time of expanded government and social programs, whether under Democratic Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, or Republican Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon.

But a right wing reaction was beginning to emerge, and reached its ultimate success under Ronald Reagan, after sniping at Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, undermining both of them in their attempts to continue the direction that the nation had been engaged in for 28 years.

And despite what seemed like improvement under Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the reality was that conservative ideology even infected him, and while some benefited from the prosperity of the tech revolution of the 1990s, many were left behind by the trend toward making government the evil, rather than the source of much of the prosperity that brought about the middle class advancements.

And once the Republican Party gained the two houses of Congress in 1994 and kept it until 2006, and then regained the House of Representatives, beginning in 2011 until now, the middle class continued its decline, and here we are with hardly any wage increase and asset growth for the middle class, or what used to be the middle class, as we reach the two generations that have passed since the ultimate peak of the middle class.

Leave it to the GOP, and as long as the wealthy do well, they will continue to war on the middle class and turn them against the poor, so as to keep the wealthy in a privileged position, paying lower levels of taxes than they ever did during the years from FDR to Nixon!

So those who see themselves as middle class, and are struggling, need to realize who the real enemy for them is—the Republican Party and conservatism, not the Democratic Party and modern liberalism and progressivism!

The Republican Delusion That They Can Win The Presidency And Majority Status Just By Having More Whites Voting!

Ronald 6 Comments

The Republican Party is truly delusional in their belief that they can win the Presidency and majority status in the future as long as they can convince more whites to vote, than did so in the Presidential Election of 2012.

With the percentage of whites in the population declining, and with the reality that it will continue to decline, this is a losing strategy in so many ways.

Not all whites would vote Republican, even in the South and Great Plains and Mountain West, GOP strongholds, and certainly NOT in the Northeast, New England, Midwest, and Pacific Coast, and in parts of the Mountain West.

Not all whites would wish to back the right wing policies of Republicans toward women, minorities, labor, and on other issues, such as the environment and science.

Not all whites would endorse the social conservatism of the religious right, particularly with a decline in religiosity among younger whites and voters generally.

A majority of whites who vote Republican are old, and once they pass the scene, many younger whites will have a greater influence on elections, and combined with those who are social liberals, female, and minority background, will NEVER vote Republican because they know that the Republicans are trying to ignore them, if not undermining their right to vote!

With their backward, regressive, vindictive policies toward the middle class and the poor, along with their anti women, anti labor, anti environment, anti minority viewpoints, the GOP will insure that they will be dinosaurs, looked back upon as a historical curiosity as to the issue of how they self destructed despite many warnings as to their self suicide by refusal to adapt!

The Ten Most Heroic Members Of The Senate: Committed To Reform And Decency!

Ronald 4 Comments

The US Senate is an exasperating legislative body, very slow to take action, and having too many members who cause one to roll his or her eyes and to sigh!

But it has its heroes and heroines, those members one knows are truly committed to reform and decency, and care about the middle class and the poor.

The “Honor Roll” of its ten most heroic members would include by last name alphabetical order the following, all Democrats:

Barbara Boxer of California
Sherrod Brown of Ohio
Chris Coons of Delaware
Al Franken of Minnesota
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Ron Wyden of Oregon

The “Honorable Mention” list of five other Senators would include four Democrats and one Republican:

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Jeff Merkley of Oregon
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Susan Collins of Maine (the only Republican)

The author welcomes commentary on these selections!

Bill Maher On Ronald Reagan Two Weeks Ago: Right On The Mark!

Ronald 18 Comments

Comedian Bill Maher is famous, and infamous, for stating outrageous opinions, and sometimes, he states opinions through humor that one can find unacceptable, or disagree with.

But other times, he is right on the mark, and such case occurred two weeks ago, when he dared to challenge the mythology around President Ronald Reagan.

The Republican Party and conservatives tend to worship the ground that Ronald Reagan walked on, and while interpretations of Reagan will continue to evolve, both positive and negative, what Maher had to say about Reagan in a negative way, makes a lot of sense!

Maher said that Reagan, by his comments and his actions, fit the following profile:

That Reagan was the forerunner of the Tea Party Movement, that he was anti government, that he believed in busting unions, that he was anti abortion, that he was insensitive to gays on the issue of AIDS, that he was anti intellectual, that he cut the taxes of wealthy people while raising taxes on the average middle class person, that he worshiped the military industrial complex, that he believed Medicare was Socialism and that senior citizens were waiting for handouts on the program, that he promoted states rights, that he spread the myth of the welfare queen in Chicago who was black, and that minorities were waiting for the government to support their needs, described the New Deal as Fascism, said that unemployment compensation was a prepaid vacation for freeloaders, that he had no concern for the poor, that he said trees cause pollution, that he promoted hate of government, and that he is the man most responsible for our decline since the high point of the economy and wages in 1973!

Can anyone deny that all of the above is true and factual, based on what Reagan said and did, in and out of the Presidency?

The Hopelessness Of The GOP In The 2016 Presidential Election Is Clear Cut!

Ronald 15 Comments

Republicans and conservatives live in illusion and fantasy, and their horrible Congressional performance—working against women’s rights, college students, minorities, the middle class, the poor, young people, the elderly, gays and lesbians, the environment, labor—will insure that they will never become the majority in a Presidential election for the long haul!

One would think that after having lost the popular vote for President five of the past six Presidential elections, that they would have realized the wrong of their ways, but instead, they are doubling down, appealing to the Religious Right, the Neoconservatives, the Social Conservatives, and to the top two percent, as if that is a winning strategy. Somehow, they think the dwindling white older population will sustain them in the long term, and in that belief, they are truly delusional!

If they had any common sense or brains, they would realize that the Democrats have won 18 states and the District of Columbia over the past six national elections since 1992, and a total electoral vote of 242 electoral votes, and NONE of these states are likely to be lost in the future to the right wing GOP! So the “Blue” states are:

Maine
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
District Of Columbia
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Washington
Oregon
California
Hawaii

Plus, three other states voted Democratic five of the six national elections, a total of 15 electoral votes, bringing the total up to 257, 13 short of the 270 needed to win the White House, including:

New Hampshire (except in 2000)
New Mexico (except in 2004)
Iowa (except in 2004)

So the GOP, if it does not radically change its tune and quickly, will NOT win the Presidency any time in the next few generations, with the growing Hispanic-Latino vote, and the dying off of the white conservative senior citizens who wish to prevent the future, and are failing at that long term, in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, and in the near future in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Montana! The “Red” States are dwindling rapidly!

Death Of Senator Frank Lautenberg A Sad Moment: Cared Deeply About Jewish Issues And Middle Class And The Poor

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The death of Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey this morning at age 89 is a loss for the Jewish community worldwide, and reminds us that a wealthy person (the person who began ADP, the payroll system), can really care for the middle class and the poor, rather than for his own class!

Lautenberg served nearly five terms, and was a critic of the alcohol and tobacco industries, and worked to support the AMTRAK transportation system that became so important for the Northeast Corridor in particular.

He was a crusader for good ideas, and a man who spoke his mind, and he will be missed.

The question now is who will replace him, and will it be by appointment, or by election, and it opens up the possibility that Newark Mayor Cory Booker might be able to gain a Senate seat sooner than he had planned, which would have been the 2014 elections, when Lautenberg had decided to retire.

Consumer Confidence At Highest Since 2008: Economic Boom Is On!

Ronald 21 Comments

The stock market is really booming as the author writes, and new surveys demonstrate that we are in the midst of an economic revival, the greatest in the past five years!

Housing prices have risen dramatically after a long decline, rising 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and the highest since 2007!

Consumer confidence in the future, an important psychological barrier, also reached a five year high, with growing confidence about an improved job market, something that has taken a long time, just as it did in the Great Depression of the 1930s!

Consumer spending is more than 10 percent above 2009, and unemployment compensation claims are down, other good signs of a rapidly improving economy!

All this is happening, despite Republican attempts to stall a recovery, in order to wage war on President Obama, as they have demonstrated no concern about the average middle class or poor American, and continue their image of being out there for the elite two percent and the corporations!

Republicans Are Declaring War On Students: Doubling Of Student Loan Interest A Month Away!

Ronald 14 Comments

The Republican House of Representatives has voted to allow a doubling of student loan rates on July 1, and unless they change their tune, that is what will happen, as action needs to be taken to prevent an automatic increase!

This is a new declaration of war, adding to that on women, immigrants, racial minorities, labor, senior citizens, the poor, the middle class, and the environment!

Bob Dole and other sane Republicans of the past generation KNOW that the GOP is on a maniacal path, which leads to long term doom for the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan! The GOP is committing suicide, but meanwhile, is making victims of vast numbers of the American people!

Republican House Votes To End Overtime Pay For Workers, And Double Interest Rates On Student Loans On July 1: What Is Wrong With Them?

Ronald 5 Comments

The Republican controlled House of Representatives has voted to end overtime pay for workers under the labor laws, and also to double interest rates on student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, effective July 1!

What could possibly be going through their minds in doing both actions, neither of which will be adopted by the Democratic controlled US Senate?

Why does the Republican Party continue its mission to destroy the middle class, harm workers and college students, and be so mean spirited and nasty?

What motivates them to continue to support the elite two percent, and condemn the average American?

How can they expect to win seats in the Senate and to win the White House with such narrow minded, uncaring actions?

It has become an issue of wondering whether the GOP has any common sense, any compassion for average Americans, any realization that they are shooting themselves in the foot politically, and in so doing, shaming the great Republican leaders of past generations!