Ronald Reagan

A Victory For The Environment: Biden Suspends Drilling Leases In Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Oil and Gas Drilling in one of the largest tracts of undeveloped wilderness in the United States, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has been suspended by President Joe Biden, a major victory for environmentalists and conservationists.

The nation is so fortunate to have a President who values nature and the environment, and cares about wildlife and climate change.

This is a complete reversal of the devastating environmental polices of Donald Trump, and the nation is blessed by having been able to reverse so much of the damage perpetrated by the worst environmental President in American history, much worse than Ronald Reagan, who was also horrible on the topic, but not to the extreme extent of the 45th President!

On Memorial Day Weekend, Republicans Show Contempt For Preservation Of Democracy!

Memorial Day weekend is a time for remembrance of the contributions of generations of Americans who sacrificed their lives to protect and preserve American democracy.

It is a time to give thanks to those who gave their lives for their country in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and other lesser conflicts in American history.

But now, the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, has shown contempt for the concept of preservation of democracy, by refusing to back a bipartisan January 6 Commission to fully investigate the US Capitol Insurrection, which caused the death and injuries of scores of US Capitol Police.

The Republican Party has allowed itself to become part of the cancer of Donald Trump, which is destroying the party’s history and reputation.

No matter what, however, there will be full investigation and accountability for the horrid events of that day, including the threatened hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, and the murder of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the dire threats to other Senators and Congressmen, who if not for the Capitol Police commitment, might have become victims as well!

Saviors Of The Republican Party Past And Future: “A Call For American Renewal”

There are a substantial number of “name” Republicans who opposed Donald Trump from the beginning, or over time, and are now allied together to be the saviors of the Republican Party past and future, and have now issued “A Call For American Renewal”.

These are not people this blogger and author would support to be elected, as they are overwhelmingly conservatives, but they are people who believe in American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and want to insure that Trump and his minions do not control the future of the party, as that is the death knell of our system of government!

The purpose is to stop the continuing “Big Lie”, about the Presidential Election of 2020, and about the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, as that is the cancer in the Republican Party right now, and there cannot be any possibility of avoiding the truth being exposed, and people needing to be prosecuted for treason and sedition.

Donald Trump is a menace, a Fascist authoritarian, who needs to be in prison, and be unable to control the future of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush!

Mitt Romney Being Booed At Utah Republican Event Demonstrates How Loony The GOP Has Become!

This author, blogger and scholar was not thrilled by Mitt Romney during and after his 2012 Presidential campaign, but there has always been respect for his dignity, principles, and basic virtues.

Romney, like John McCain before him, were Republicans this author would not support, but always felt that they presented basic Republican principles in a respectable manner.

Such is not the case with Donald Trump, but it is now clear that the Republican party of history is dying rapidly.

The bitter attacks on John McCain in his last years in the Senate, and the nasty attacks on Mitt Romney for repudiating Trump and voting to convict him on impeachment charges demonstrated that the Republican Party is much like a Fascist Party, controlled and dominated by a lunatic and maniac who has no regard for American democracy.

For Mitt Romney to be booed at a Utah Republican state party event demonstrates how loony the GOP has become!

By all rights, Donald Trump should be in prison for inciting the January 6, 2021 Capital Insurrection, and yet we have crazy Trump followers in the Congress and the state legislatures who bow to him as if he was Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler.

One does not have to agree with Mitt Romney on issues to feel sad that he is being mistreated for having basic decency and admirable principles, so we are witnessing the destruction of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, as well as John McCain and Mitt Romney!

The Reagan Era Is Over, And An Age Of Progressive Reform Is Upon Us!

One Hundred Days of Joe Biden, and there has been no leaks from the White House, and no scandals in the White House!

What a refreshing time, with competent, experienced, decent people working with the man everyone has underrated!

Joe Biden has surprised progressives, such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and he has shocked Fox News Channel and other right wing media, and the Republican Party, who have no real alternative to what he is doing, so are creating false stories and demonstrating pettiness, as they realize the age of Ronald Reagan is over.

Government is good, not evil, and the Reagan Era demonstrated how much we need MORE federal government, as states governments, overall, are a horror of incompetence, particularly in Republican governed states that are undermining democracy!

The petty attacks on Joe Biden over his age are part of ageism, pure and simple, as it is not only Joe Biden who is in his 70s, but indeed many members of Congress of both parties, and what it comes down to is the sincerity and commitment to the public good of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and other older Democrats, as compared to the mean spiritedness and lack of concern of many Republicans of older age, including Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley.

Joe Biden Popularity With The American People Much Higher Than Donald Trump Ever Was!

As Joe Biden reaches his First Hundred Days in office a week from now, his public opinion ratings are outstanding!

Ronald Reagan had 67 percent approval, and Barack Obama had 61 percent approval, but all other recent Presidents are lower than Joe Biden is right now.

Biden has 59 percent support, while George H. W. Bush had 58 percent, George W. Bush 55 percent, and Bill Clinton had 49 percent.

Donald Trump had 39 percent, and one must remember that Trump NEVER had a majority in any public opinion poll at any point!

And 72 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Republicans support Joe Biden’s handling of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

And two thirds of the nation supports Biden’s $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill, including a majority of Republicans, even though Republican office holders are against everything Biden is doing.

Joe Biden Planning Massive Support For Middle Class And Working Class At Expense Of Wealthy: Long Overdue!

President Joe Biden is planning a massive commitment of support for the struggling middle and working class, which have been overlooked much too often by Republican Presidents since Ronald Reagan.

Massive tax cuts under Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump have made the wealthy ever more obscenely wealthy, and it is time for them to show “patriotism” and give back some of their massive increase in wealth, which would actually have very little effect on their “bottom line”, as taking some wealth will not prevent the gaining of new wealth, as the rich never end up in financial difficulties.

But they owe their success to unfair advantages over the past 40 years, and it is time for paying up for the massive infusion of wealth by paying a small percentage of their wealth to support equity and fairness to the heart of the economy—-the middle and working class Americans who have done without much or any improvement in their economic status since 1981!

The sudden massive increase in wealth by the super wealthy in the past year of COVID 19 makes clear the need for taxing these multi billionaires, and it should not be opposed by any of them who have a decent bone in their bodies, and if they do not, tough, and time for paying up!

Presidents Day: A Day To Celebrate And A Day To Mourn, At The Same Time!

Today is Presidents Day, a holiday to celebrate and commemorate America’s Presidents.

With 45 men having served as President, about one third stand out as accomplished and heroic in many ways.

Another third are clearly less outstanding but yet have virtues and accomplishments.

And the other third have some Presidents who are seen as mediocre, but others who are truly failures and disasters.

And then, there is Donald Trump, who besmirched the office of the Presidency, and for anyone to think that he will rise from the basement, absolute bottom of the list, requires a delusional mind and lack of ethics, morals, and decency!

Even James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, the usual two Presidents who inhabit the basement of the Presidency, by comparison to Donald Trump, they look like wrong headed and weak leaders, but cannot be put in the same category as the 45th President,

who was impeached twice;

failed to win the popular vote in either election he participated in;

failed ever to have a 50 percent public opinion rating at any time in his Presidency;

presided over the greatest loss of life in one year of any President with the COVID-19 Pandemic;

had the most corrupt cabinet and other officials around him;

purposely declared war on democracy, humanity, decency, compassion, and empathy;

promoted racism, nativism, misogyny as a national policy;

stirred up right wing forces that are still a domestic terrorism threat into the long term future;

Stirred a mob to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, threatening his own Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, all members of Congress, and harmed Capitol Hill Police, with a few deaths and over 100 severely injured in the Insurrection;

and has destroyed the party of such luminaries as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and many others who were governors or senators of a reputable party in past history!

The Most BiPartisan Impeachment Trial In American History

Donald Trump may have been able to avoid conviction in his second Impeachment Trial yesterday, but it was the most bipartisan impeachment trial in American history, nevertheless.

11 Republican House members moved to impeach Trump for his inciting of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection, including Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as the most prominent, and 7 Senate Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey, Bill Cassidy, Richard Burr) vote to convict Trump.

The vote of 57-43 to convict was ten votes short of the two thirds required, but if this was a piece of legislation, or an election, a percentage of 57-43 would be seen as a landslide!

Donald Trump has poisoned the Republican Party, and sadly, the state committees in the states where Republicans showed principle, have gone ahead and censured those courageous House and Senate members.

But in the long run of history those 11 House members and 7 Senators will stand tall, and the Republican Party is doomed for its allowing itself to become the party of Trump, and the effort to preserve democracy and the future, if any, of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike and Reagan, must be waged for the security and safety of the nation in the future!

Donald Trump will go down in the long run as the worst President in American history, lower than James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, because he will be seen as a Fascist authoritarian who endangered the nation, and he will face prosecution as an ordinary citizens for many crimes, including the events of January 6, 2021!

A Distinguished Cabinet Member Who Served In Four Positions, George P. Shultz, Passes Away At 100

The death of George P. Shultz over the weekend reminds us of how significant he was in American history.

Shultz shares with Elliot Richardson the distinction of having served in four Presidential Cabinet positions, an amazing accomplishment!

Shultz served as Secretary of Labor from January 1969 to July 1970; Director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 1970 to June 1972; and Secretary of the Treasury from June 1972 to May 1974, all under President Richard Nixon.

He also served as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan from July 1982 to January 1989. He was a very influential figure in shaping the foreign policy of Reagan, and always had an independent streak, speaking out whenever he disagreed with the direction of American foreign policy and economic policy.

Often underestimated and overlooked, he stands out as one of the most significant Secretaries of State in American history, and the fact that he lived to age 100 is a sign of his endurance!