Obama reverses Reagan's anti-government mantra
By John Amato Thursday Jan 08, 2009 4:00pmRonald Reagan said the most destructive thing to the American people that a president could say on his inaugural address---1/20/81.
Reagan: In this present crisis Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.
That statement caused fear and anger in Americans and painted a big fat target on the backs of the government so that he could attack it and so would the American people. Good government is crucial in restoring this country to prosperity and as we have all witnessed, conservatism has indeed unleashed its destructive influence over every part of our society.
Obama's response is right on...
Obama insisted that only government could “break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy,” prevent “the catastrophic failure of financial institutions,” restart the flow of credit and restore the regulations needed to prevent such a crisis in the future.
This is government's role. When Reagan said that government was the problem, he made them the bogeyman instead of the life raft. When we have a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, government should be there to rescue us, but with conservatives in control, people were left stranded to fend for themselves.
As much as I get ticked off with all this bipartisan talk, Obama understands that government can be the agent of hope in this time of crisis and thus will be reversing Reagan's anti-government mantra.
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Government is the boogeyman to neocons, unless it's used to attack other nations and enrich their friends.
Give them to the rich or give them to the poor?
I guess it all comes down to who has the cash to grease the politicians pockets.
I wish Obama all the luck in the World with this lead balloon.
Maybe the Corporations are broke enough and the people pissed enough so that Obama can get away with this.
I am not so optomistic.
I think the Corporate Welfare Bums will entrench themselves and this is going to be one hell of a cock-fight.
It is important that we the empoverished masses back the man up. We may not get another shot at this.
That's one of the most innappropriate things I can imagine an incoming Prez saying at his innaguaration. Shows you what a tool Saint Ronnie really was.
P. J. O'Rourke's line was, "Republicans say 'Government isn't the solution, it's the problem.' Then they get elected and prove it."
Only good way (not easiest, but effective) is to get into the position, and drive the whole organisation off the cliff.
This was never an accident of fate: It was the plan all along. Destroy the Government by first destroying *faith* in the government.
How much more are Americans going to need to see in order to understand that Conservatives want to destroy the USA, and replace it with an English-speaking Iranian-style theocracy?
Yup. At the GOP meetings I go to, we secretly plan to destroy America and blame it on the Democrats.
F*cktard.
BTW, you should remove the tampon - it makes you look fat.
Lobbyist(s) are the problem. 30,000 lobbyists/special interest groups in the D.C. area are too many. I understand there is and always be lobbyists but they have too much power on capitol hill. The lobbyists have enjoyed a large growth spurt especially the last 8-10 yrs.
AMEN!!!
Government by legal bribery is the problem. Government by lawless hooligans is the problem.
This is a quote from my rep, Russ Carnahan's website...
"The attacks are a cowardly act of terror and should immediately stop. Israel has an undeniable right to take action to defend its people."
This is government gone wrong.
Our government is supposed to represent the people who voted them in, not special interest groups with a ton of cash.
Since that isn't going to change in our lifetimes(anyone heard Obama even mention this issue?), we're pretty much fucked no matter who has the White House.
can be observed in the fictional "Volcano", with Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Don Cheadle.
That's the way I remember FEMA being, when it was run by competent professionals, as compared to Bush's merry band of 'Good Republican' Fools.
They knew their resources, where they were, how they could be best utilised quickly, and weren't afraid to call on experts when they were out of their depth.
Hope we can see those days again under Obama....I'm willing to wait and see...
Fictional.
they have bankrupted it
this was the plan all along
to attempt to destroy every vestige of the new deal...and then rob and pillage everything else
Yep. That was their plan. Initiated by their patron saint Reagan. The financial mess Reagan and Bush left almost completely handcuffed Clinton and is likely to do the same to Obama.
Didnt Clinton have a surplus in the trillions?
of factual statement to distortion of others' points/misrepresentations to name calling is, so far, on this thread, 0/2/1. Time to shape up kiddo or ship out.
Seeing how many have put you on their ignore user list would be a nice wake-up call: site monitor?
Reagan WAS part of a concerted effort to actively reduce any part of government involved in providing social services to the non-rich and/or oversight of the machinations of the rich and powerful. If you don't believe me, do some research instead of just hanging out in a GOP echo-chamber and calling others f*cktards when they pop your balloon.
And speaking of research, show me where you get the trillions of surplus for Clinton figure. A clip from the Bill O'Liely Show, a quote from an Ann Coulter book, or another statement pulled from your a$$ don't count.
I hope Obama doesn't stop regulating with financial institutions, credit, and the economy. Under Republican rule, everything has been mismanaged, due to a lack of expertise and regulation. Everything that continues to operate needs to be brought back into a structure that accomplishes its lawful goals. And that takes expertise and regulation that serve as agency/citizen guideposts.
...that only government could “break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy,” prevent “the catastrophic failure of financial institutions,” restart the flow of credit and restore the regulations needed to prevent such a crisis in the future.
I say that might be true if...
...govt, banks, and corporations werent all working together.
...alas, our govt is owned by the Banks and their best customers...Big business. Namely pharma, energy, and military industrial complexes...
and until govt clearly separates itself from the powers that be...they will be the boogeyman in my book
Speaking of banks...
Obama needs to regulate what banks are now doing to their customers. Today I switched from W*******, where I've banked for 18 years, over to a stable credit union that offers all the same services. W******* does a little dirty deal on its customers. It "floats" deposits until withdrawals are made, posts the withdrawals FIRST, applies "insufficient funds" charges to them, then posts the deposits after the withdrawals have run up sometimes enormous fees of hundreds of dollars. Their policy is also to post the withdrawals with the largest amount first, and if you go over your balance on smaller ones, they charge a $35.00 fee on the dinky ones, as much as $.02 in some cases. (It happened to me on a much smaller scale.) When contacted, they just say too bad, it's their policy. There are literally thousands of complaints about this practice on the internet, and right now, it's legal.
Maybe it's a matter for congress, or maybe the states, but this bank in particular is shafting people everywhere. I know someone in the banking industry who says that when banks "float" deposits (receive them but don't post them for the depositor's use for several days), they are in real trouble, short of money.
Anyway, this is the sort of thing that could EASILY be handled by regulation, but it may not be the kind of thing Obama has in mind for the banks and financial institutions. But it should be.
Depleting dead peoples accounts? The law states if you dont catch it in the first 90 days, it becomes theirs. So if my wife doesnt know about an account, it becomes the banks. That was actual policy.
Look up CitiBank whistleblower if you think Im kidding.
I don't think you're kidding at all. Has it been challenged in court, or is it permitted under Bush's "regulations"?
The relationship of many banks to their customers is very rapacious.
Of course, we don't pay taxes. The government takes taxes, but it's still patriotic.
And when the tax money that the government takes goes to bombing whole countries and killing hundreds of thousands of people, I feel really really patriotic.
The National Debt is patriotic. Hell, the more government we have, the bigger the national debt grows, so obviously this is all very patriotic.
Wiretaps and torture are patriotic because government is our life raft. I feel really really patriotic knowing that the government is looking out for me.
Thank God For Government!!
(here)
I'm shocked!! Governments steal people's money and then use it to kill and destroy people? Wow, and there are still people who want government to exist? Hmmm, looks like a huge case of stockholm syndrome.
the Supreme Court has to change direction and rule that money does NOT equal free speech.
to criticize Saint Ronnie?
What a world-class fuckstick.
When he worked for a living, he was the Chairman of the Screen Actors Guild.
Then he found out how much money that he could make by doing propaganda films for corporations and the rest
is the history of a classic Repignican.
What's in it for me?
Reagan says less government.
Many here say more government.
How about more good thinking?
More Presidential Quotes:
"All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises, not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation." -- John Adams
"The government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of government, but it is the government’s greatest creative opportunity. The financing of all public enterprise, and the conduct of the treasury will become matters of practical administration. Money will cease to be master and will then become servant of humanity." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Obama is the Man. And these guys were talking with intelligence.
You mean the guy that had the Fed going around cutting down Liberty Poles because he didn't like what was being said about him?
http://www.sidis.net/TSChap29.htm
A place that Obama should immediately begin is by implementing true universal health care. But the [alleged] agent of hope and change will not do that because he insists upon keeping the insurance companies in the equation instead of instituting a single payer health care plan. Perhaps Obama feels that the United states is "only" 37 in the world in terms of quality health care and that despite its track record, the insurance companies can somehow make sure that every American in this country will be properly cared for. But this certainly will not happen as long as profit is placed above the needs of the people.
i somewhat agree but at this time i may settle for opening of the congressional/federal healthcare plan as competition to the existing healthcare insurers. i believe OBAMA is looking for the compromise.
something has to get done and soon. healthcare bills top the reasons for personal bankruptcy. the under insured and uninsured demographic is growing. personally i feel large healthcare insurers are a type of monopoly/cost fixing..i also believe this demand for cheap labor influences healthcare in a huge way. your making 6-7-8-9 dollars an hour you can't afford healthcare but it's still used. so the cost gets passed on to the paying pool. i hope to see OBAMA reverse that medicare pharma bill that doesn't allow competitive bidding for medication. non-bidding doesn't sound like capitalism to me.
The same people that destroyed health care, social security.. lets let them decide more of it. You need to ask a few doctors about 'socialized' health care. Free markets work. GASP--- as long as you can get the government out of the way.
'I predict future prosperity for Americans, as long as they do not allow the government to take their money under the guise of taking care of them.' Thomas Jefferson (not exact)
Eliminate the profit, eliminate quality. Ask the commies where the only areas they really could compete on the world stage.. Space and weapons. Why? Competition.
Include greed-driven unregulated policies designed to increase profits, get the financial collapse of America, of the WORLD.
has gone from #3 to #34 in the last 30 years?
Because we had socialized medicine?
We'd better go back to the free market!
Our infant mortality rate is #1 of industrialized nations.
Ewe Ess Aye!
A history lesson here. How long has big pharma and big med had its hand in the DC cookie jar? 30 years or more??? Do you think the free market caused the fall, or the government? It has to be one or the other. Im more privy to believe the latter.
Can you explain why you think that, not that I care what you think?
has there ever been a free market?
Our Government has been hijacked by the corporations.
The Corporations that succeed most in the hijacking reap the rewards.
That is why our health care system and the results rate way down.
Its a simple fact that the more government gets involved, the more freedom is lost.
Doctors had alot more freedom before government involvement. With all the red tape of government collusion with HMO's, medicare, medicaid and the rising costs attributed to big brothers handouts make it harder for average joes to take care of themselves.
Using that logic.. Why would anyone want the people who screwed it up in the first place to have any more power?
The government is hijacked by the corporations.
Why else would there be collusion?
The fact that this "free market" allows money = free speech and allows the participants of the "free market" to purchase the gov't.
You really don't know, do you?
No I dont. Im just some right wing nut job, that hates abortions and the government.
I do know this. If you trace all the problems of the government... 90% of them land directly at the foot of the Federal Reserve.
this is the first thing I've agreed with so far.
My response to pj mcdufus seems to have disappeared, but you made the point much more succinctly.
The profit motive may improve health care, but only if it's the doctors, not the middle-men, who are pushed by it.
double posted...
The Soviets had pre eminent education and universal health care.
They went bankrupt PRECISELY BECAUSE of space and the military.
The military aspect is one of the same reasons that we will go bankrupt.
Commies?!?!
Alice X
Well said. It is simply unconscionable that one of the [alleged] richest and best democracies in the world does not take care of the health needs of its citizens. In a recent speech, Cuban president Raul Castro warned the citizens of Cuba that in order to cope with the economic crisis free opportunities must be limited to guaranteeing all citizens equal access to education, health care, social security and assistance, culture and sports. The point, of course, is that the government of the United States is no position to make those same claims since it cannot state that the health care of its citizens will be provided for by the government.
Apparently the leaders of this country, Barack Obama included, seem to have forgotten that the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution states that the government shall provide for the "General Welfare" of its citizens. It is an extremely sad state of affairs when a third world country like Cuba can make sure that its citizens do not have to worry about health care while 75 million citizens of this country either have no health insurance or do not have enough to meet the needs of their families while the bloated military budget [which Obama supports] remains intact.
This was supposed to be in reply to pj mcdufus's earlier remark saying, essentially, good health care is.....destroyed without the profit motive! Look at the USSR, look at China! So there!
I hit reply to, but it went to the bottom.
Yes, use the extreme cases to try make your point, just like above.
"Eliminate the profit, eliminate quality." That's a bumper sticker, not an argument. Much of the profit-taking in our health-care system is by the insureres and HMO's, not the providers. A single-payer system would cut out the middle-man, so that the doctor's themselves would be the only factor in competition for quality care.
As to countries with "socialized" medical care, how about taking France as an example? Free care that's rated world-class.
There's no reason the quality of US health-care shouldn't be in a league of it's own; we have the best resources by far, both in terms of infrastructure and in term of education.
So, why isn't US health-care top-rated any more, in terms of general care? Huh?
Huh?
Could it have something to do with that profit-motive that is your unassailable golden-fleece bedrock indisputable godhead truth?
See if you can respond without resorting to more talking-points garbage.
the people seem to be extremely happy with their health care system.
The doctors make one third of what they did previously but are STILL the highest paid professionals in the country.
This mantra of the profit motive is by and for those making the most profits, or their dupes.
Those making the most profits are invariably those most successful at hijacking our government to write the laws in their favor.
Universal health care must be a human right and it must be single payer.
It is one area where the profit motive DOES NOT WORK.
Thank God Obama (isn't that the same thing?) picked a Monsanto executive to head the FDA because that's just good government.
So is the fact that a "primary architect of the Bush administration's response to the financial crisis" is going to be Treasury Secretary.
And of course Robert Gates knows just how to run a good government kind of Pentagon.
Go Government!!!
Government and "Industry" are not about the same things.
and when they get too chummy, why, we have a name for that, too.
We call it what its inventor called it: "Fascismo" That's what you get/got when the health of the 'market' usurps all other legitimate state interests.
Thats the pot calling the kettle black!
In the USA "industry" (corporations) run the government and have been doing so for a long time.
It doesn't look like Obama is going to change that.
It's about time it was stated clearly that government, in and of itself, is not the problem. The simple fact is that there are highly competent people working in government, just as there are complete idiots working in government. And so the same thing can be said of business, plenty of competent people, and plenty of idiots. Singling out one side or the other for criticism is for simpletons and/or those who have a vested economic interest they want to protect.
So please, no more fatuous bullshit about government being the problem. The problem is idiots, whether they work in government or in business.
So suck on that, Grover Dipshit Norquist.
the BUSH administration has had little respect for the legislative branch. the last eight years have been all about his followers the wealthy. the people/corporations that will gain profit at all costs. this was a continuation of the Reagan yrs. the war(s) and the financial institutes/ hedge funds over leveraged and betting with mortgage backed securities and credit default default swaps has taken this country down. of course all for the taking by some opportunists. soon as the middle class has any traction it's taken from them via a"bubble"/tragedy.
The U.S. is not the country it used to be.
In the 1800's, it grew from an agrarian country to an industrial country.
It absorbed immigrants.
In the 1900's, it grew into an industrial economy, feeding off virtually free resources and (until about 1940) free labor.
Since about 1990, the U.S. has been a country in decline.
No manufacturing. A premium on specialized education.
We're fucked.
And if you don't think so, tell me what tomorrow looks like.
Looks like we are alot poorer, stupider and have an undying belief in whatever that television tells us.
Critical thinking is not allowed.
I see a tsunami heading right for us.. and those that were wanting to be rid of weapons to protect us will realize the reason we have the right to own weapons is to protect ourselves and not TO DEPEND ON THE GOVERNMENT. Once the dollar crashes and hyper-inflation starts its ugly head.. and the stangulation of 'regulation' encourages business to leave the USA. Food shortages, corruption,
Maybe then, will people look to our founding documents and demand to be free. The last thing we will be able to depend on is our corrupt government and complict media.
'Advertisements are the only truths to be relied upon in newspapers.' Thomas Jefferson
n/t
You mean rather than allowing them to put poison in their products, dump their toxic waste in the streams, foul the air. Etc
Or that products are safe, that sort of regulation?
Or that their workers don't fall into meat grinders, that sort of regulation?
Businesses love China because they don't have much in the way of regulation.
They have massive environmental degradation, their workers have little safety and the products may kill you.
But they are cheap.
Endless quotes do not political science make.
'Endless quotes do not political science make' ummm Ok.
Good ole regulation. Here is what happens when the government gets involved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvKFFvw2Nds
One issue that may help us be a little safer is all you got? What about all the products that have reacvhed our shores that weren't safe? Are you dilusional?
...toxic toys are reaching our shores now, is proof that govt regulation aint workin'
I'm all for restoring the power to "We the People" so we can DIRECTLY punish the corporations who pollute and cheat for profit instead of relying on a buch of insiders in govt to keep watch.
we need regulation...but the regulators are regulating themselves
I say take back the responsibilities that we have given to the FDA and the SEC and give it back to the people.
you need a job and if they hand it over to you you'll make sure things will be fixed. Good luck with that.
I just need justice for AT&T for wiretapping my fuckin phone...
exept Obama gave them immunity.
I will probly need a job soon though.
I think I will start making pitchforks and torches...
I see a future market!
responding to someone else, but the only way to give it back to the people is to take it away from the corporations.
Any bill signed by Bush I am suspicious of.
The more flowery the language; "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act", the more suspicious I am.
The reptiles hijack the english language.
Any law that prohibits someone from selling hand made baby boots is a law designed for a Corporate Master.
Your example illustrates my point perfectly.
The Corporations hijack the government, through their lobbyists, write the laws and put everyone else out of business.
Reagan and his ilk have destroyed the government, you need to educate yourself to be able distinguish the telltale signs of their dirty work.
And be extremely wary of relying on the Corporate media for you information.
I'm pretty sure that what you're talking about is bribery. Corporations (legal fictions) can easily be eliminated, but there is only one way of stopping the bribery of government. All government, except self-government, must be eliminated.
No government = no bribery!!
Ive only been quoting Jefferson for a reason.
The same government that pilfered Social Security... gave you the wonderful FEMA department, (at the same time took New Orleans citizens right to defend their property, squandered BILLIONS and sat on their ass for three days.) How about that awesome Department of Education that makes our kids so bright that since its inception the quality of education on the whole continues a downward trend. How about that beautiful welfare system that 'lifts people up'? Or the CIA that has all these beautiful little overthrows of elected leaders for dictators that end up becoming 'blowback'.
Better yet, how about that do nothing Congress that continues to give itself raises, bailout its bankster buddies and ignores ALL of our civil liberties.. as Olberman pointed out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWF2I0opf7w
So.. Why dont you quit f*cking cheerleading the do-nothing GOOD Democratic party. It will never quit amazing me that the Left beats their pots and pans for more laws, taxes, regulations and careless disregard to God given rights. (did I say God??? Oh shoot.. Im in Liberal world.. i forgot.. God is a no-no) Quit acting like its one sides fault. Grow up and grow a pair.
as a leftist.
But because of the extremism of the Republican party, I was morally forced to support Democrats.
Now, why don't you go sign up for your brilliant little war in Mesopotamia?
The adults are discussing politics.
Say "hello" to your zionist cloud god for me.
a douchebag that types and does awesome childish name calling. I want one for Christmas.
Gasp! Chortle! Guffaw!
Pot-Kettle displays are SO funny.
with your "grow up" comment at 15:37 hrs.
Anyone here can see where the abusive comments begin - and who started them.
You should take your own advice, dickweed.
A typical right-winger ploy.
Start the battle, then weep dramatically at being attacked.
Oh, boo frikken' hoo!
asking someone to grow up and grow a pair gets this kind of rebuttal. You dont like any opinion other than those who agree with you, do you?
'Typical right-winger ploy.' 'dickweed' 'take the tampon out' Gee.. Im crying.
I keep smiling as I imagine you sucking a very wet fart directly out of my fat ass.
name calling?
Finally, the "ignore user" function proves useful.
Buh - bye, tool!
The government is the problem.
Government is not the problem.
The system is the problem.
Do you want to reconstruct the capitalist system in the U.S. 1946-2008?
Good fucking luck.
Id prefer to abolish the Fed and have a currency that is partially backed by a commodity. That way it keeps our government in check. They would only be allow to tax us directly to pay for things like war...
It sure would have been a HELL of alot harder to convince Americans to start war with Iraq if we had to pay for it directly.
Lobbyists are the problem..........................also.
Not the disease.
you say they are the symptom. i say they're part of the cause. they're like a bad bacterial/viral infection..........too many for the proverbial body to heal and do the right thing.
The Government is a functional necessity. The problem is that the power that The Government embodies has more or less been stolen and abused by individuals acting in ways which contravene the necessary conditions for achieving and keeping the consent from the governed.
there are just too many people, too many vehicles, too many guns, too many diseases, too many objections and frustrations and outrages all emanating from the simple fact that there are too many people.
Population Bomb...what was the guy's name...Paul Ehrlich, in the '60s. That's the problem, and all the issues associated with inequities which are festering among people who have televisions and watch images of affluence that are increasingly at odds with the privations of their own existences...
and there's not enough of what WE have to provide everybody on earth with the standard of living of the POOREST in the USofA. I read somewhere that to do that would require the resources of an additional three planets supplied exactly like ours was before the industrial revolution.
You tell me where government is not the problem and Ill show you where it is.
We will have a pissing contest. Ill win.
Our founders new that government was a necessary evil. They wanted the smallest possible government so that freedom could be maximized. They clearly did not want an out of control government that seized 40% of its populations earnings.
'A government large enough to give you all you want, is big enough to take it all away.' Thomas Jefferson
do not political science make.
That very quote was a favorite of Ronald Reagan, the evil emperor.
Reagan was about wrecking government, his ilk have doing it every since.
The government we now have is hollowed out. Private contracting replaces government service.
To point to the government that Reagan the Evil one created and say, see he was right, that doesn't fly with me.
"The government we now have is hollowed out."
Show me one year that the government actually got smaller. One of the main reasons Bush is despised by conservatives is how he doubled most government agencies... i.e. Department of Ed.
the cost of government increases, but they are not government employees.
No, I am not crazy.
We have a privatized government.
The very people who oversee the governments contracts let are themselves, private contractors. The fox is watching the chicken house.
In Iraq, there are circa 140,000 troops. There are a greater number of private contractors.
Here is the NYT, which states the number at 180,000.
In the first gulf war with over 300,000 troops there were 10,000 private contractors.
Under Bush the DOD budget has doubled, and that IS NOT including his two war adventures which are special appropriations.
I am for cutting the DOD budget in half ending all wars of aggression but increasing the education budget.
Good education is a fundamental mandate of good government.
However I am not in the least for a privatized government.
If you did not understand that privatization of the US government was rampant under George Bush then you did not understand his regime.
You have not been paying attention.
The Republicrats authorized it because that is what their corporate masters wanted.
Here is another article at Salon on outsourcing of intelligence.
It is the corporate takeover of the US government. In total.
GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY GREW UNDER REAGAN
He was a phony.
Thomas Jefferson did not make that quote. Pissing contest indeed. You just pissed in the wind.
That quote is attributed to one of the prime proponents of the Magic Bullet Theory from the abjectly criminal Warren Commission, our very own stumblebum of the 1970s, Gerald Ford.
BTW, you forgot to place the "k" in front of the "n". Go back to school or stop drinking and typing at the same time.
Although.. after googling the quote, I keep coming up with Goldwater. http://quotationsbook.com/quote/17623/
Only one hit that I saw for Ford..
That being said, I believe that most politicians quote our founders. Ive read a ton of Jefferson and he is by far my fav founder.
!?!?
"misattributed" to Goldwater. Ford's quote comes the closest. In Google, type in the entire quote, and you'll see the results.
it was a favorite of the evil emperor Reagan.
As I recall.
In any event, it was in the reptiles domain and not Thomas Jefferson.
Please, enough with what "our founders" knew. They didn't know all that much. If they did the world wouldn't be in this mess.
There is no such thing as a "necessary evil" Either you're against evil or you're not. Centralized government has always been evil. Please decide whether you are or are not for evil.
WTF?? Too many people too govern? How many would you like to kill to make the ones who are left governable? Would you like to get started with yourself and your family?
Please send your thinking in a more contructive direction.
......
Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter had both completely failed to get a handle on soaring inflation and rocketing interest rates. It wasn't any better for the same reasons in the UK, where the miners had caused the downfall of the conservative Heath administration, after which the IMF had to be called in to bail out the incoming Labour government, and the notorious Winter of Discontent finished off what was left.
The OPEC crisis in particular hurt Western governments on all sides; none of this was the fault of any singular political ideology, but a conservative anti-beaurocracy backlash became inevitable. The *real* crime here isn't what Reagan said, but that the same ethos is still being preached 28 years later, in exactly the same context, as if the world had never moved on.
Nancy Killefer is his administration’s chief performance officer. She comes from McKinney Consulting who insist clients outsource American jobs, was hired by Bush's SEC to advise on white collar crime and fraud, and their biggest client of the 90s was Enron. Killefer has been hired by Obama to "increase efficiencies and eliminate waste". How can we expect her solutions to be anything but a Reaganesque response. This is not the cultural background we need in people in control of our government.
is this for real?
And, worse, Obama has tasked her with ferreting out waste in Social Security and Medicare. If Obama was really "anti-Reagan" while also concerned about waste and fraud, wouldn't he send such a ferocious tiger to the Pentagon and other departments which really suffer much much more from Reagan inspired outsourcing?
Conservatism isn't the problem. Corporatism is the problem. We can live with conservatism. Corporatism and good government are not compatible.
Corporatism.. I believe in the 30's and 40's it was called Fascism. I guess thats why I asked for a definition. A literal one...
At least by Benito Mussolini's estimation. While he wasn't the first person to use the term, he made "corporatism" a popular euphemism for fascism.
is when the Corporations own the government.
Which is precisely what we have.
Call it Fascism if you prefer.
The above exchanges are only about what to call it, but it's just fascism, plain and simple.
This is why, again speaking to health care, even if it's mismanaged by bureaucrats, minimizing their role is an order of magnitude better than having any corporate involvement.
And, in the general case, there's only one way for us citizens to regain any measure of influence over our lives, and that is by going after corporations who practice bad behavior, which is 90% of them nowadays.
They have charters, those charters can be revoked. They can be boycotted. They can be protested against. There are other ways and means that people can think up for themselves.
Learn from the Daoists, who have schooled Davids up against Goliaths through the ages: every huge entity has an achilles heel, a loose string that will unravel it, and the key is to focus on that to bring it down.
What did Che Guevara say? "I don't need to provide my men with many guns, just boots and food. The guns they can get from fallen soldiers."
and a failed revolutionary. He went to Bolivia and no one signed on.
I don't quote from any of those people, especially if the quotes come from hollywood movies.
I have two problems with the communists:
1 - they want to guarantee the equality of the results from everyone's effort or lack thereof.
2 - they inevitably turn into totalitarians because of human nature and the understandable disquiet in the response to point #1.
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As for corporate dominance, our work is cut out for us.
Don't know who you are (not surprisingly) but whoever you are, you're a gem. Keep the good stuff comin'. The mean-spirited, self-loathing free marketers/neo-libs/neo-cons deserve your best shot.
Spiritually speaking you have 1): The Demonic Christians, who believe in the devil and support demonic fear. And 2) The Messanic Christian, who believe you can't serve "two masters" so they believe in GOD (the immaculate concept of The Truth) and live each day and love one another. Ronald 666 Wilson Reagan really believed he was a biblical figure (it's on record). Now that we can see his footsteps I wonder "who" in the bible he thinks he is? He wanted to drown "our, American government" in the bathtub. That ain't American! Reagan was just "not American" after seeing what he wanted to happen to America. And we're not finished yet...by a long shot.The Demonic's still "hate".
Pick up your sheild!
Yoda
and we're here to help you".....hahahahaahaha...good luck on that level.
I don't see the problem as being just government. The problem has been unqualified people in government. Taking bribes, slapping backs, and being hacks for decades. Heck some politicians have nothing else on their resumes except government employee. That is the problem. The same people that keep screwing everything up, are the same people that are supposed to fix it. It doesn't work that way. Every 4-8 years it switches parties, and who comes in? The same people that were in previously. They don't go away. Make a mess? Don't worry about it, cuz in 4-8 years somebody will appoint you to another posh position. In the meantime, here's a nice little job in the newsmedia.
No one wants totalitarianism, and no one wants anarchy (well, some do, but they're an infinitesimal minority). We should all agree that bad government is a problem, bad business is a problem, bad policy is a problem, and bad people are a problem. That's a bit of a tautology there, so it doesn't make for an attractive generalization (i.e. "X is the (main) problem").
It's appealing for us to delude ourselves into thinking that there is only one simple problem with the way things are, whether it's government, Democrats, Republicans, terrorists, or dissent. We imagine that fixing that one problem will make all other problems easily solvable.
The truth, however, is complex. There are many problems, some worse than others. Interactions between different problems are complex, and it is often difficult or impossible to develop a simple solution to problems which are mutually sustaining. Many obvious solutions create new problems, which create unnecessary fear of progress. Many foreseeable problems would be prevented if progress were made more carefully.
I eagerly await the day when short, ultimately meaningless political catchphrases exit the lexicon. Then, maybe, we could stop beating each other over the head with them and start speaking like the problem-solving primates that we are.
There is only one simple problem. It's lack of virtue. It's pretty hard to call out any body on their lack of virtue if you're lacking. Get started with the man/woman in the mirror and go from there.
Organizations collapse when the weight of its own inertia prevents the energy of people outside to move it, or people within to change it.
Quote me.
As far as I'm concerned the government is too big, but I guess we will see who's right. When it comes to the economic crisis I think a lot of C&L'rs who think Obama's stimulate the economy by going deeper into debt strategy are in for a big surprise.
The government hasn't done jack shit for me in my 33 years of working except take my tax dollars and squander it (like on idiot bailouts for the richest), force me to pay social security I'll never see because they stole it long ago,
Screw you Capitol Hill.
Brothers and Sisters,
Look when we intrust our welfare to the govt.. we loose big time. While we think govt is resposible we ARE FOOLED. LOOK AT THE BANKING CRISIS WE GAVE THE DEMS CONTROL OF IT FOR 2 YEARS AND THEY TRASHED IT (pelosi and reed) AND NOW WE BAILED IT OUT AND all the $$ went to the rich not us. We need to understand that the constitution gives economic control to the congress notn the president, If we all that had mortgages got our share we would not have a crisis. we could pay them all off.
Govt is not the answer it is the problem history has proven it....
The New Deal under Roosevelt gave us a middle class and the prosperity we enjoyed in the 50s and 60s.
Reagan systematically started the dismantling of those safety nets--lifting tariffs, deregulating industries, union busting.
The problems we are experiencing now are the result of Republican policies. They're right, government IS the problem...when they're in charge.
The anti-govt drumbeat started by Reagan has done much to harm the country. I hope people are finally coming to their senses and realizing that at the end of the day, people want a govt that actually helps make their lives better without being intrusive, like the social conservatives who insist are forcing their brand of morality on the country.
When it's a Neocon government, they want everybody to shut the f*ck up and goose step to the Fuhrer's mandates. Anybody who steps out of line, well, they know where you live.
The _mature_ thing is to have a love/hate relationship with government. Elect one to do the people's work and slap them down hard when they get out of line. The brainwashing of the American people that Democrats don't want efficient government is so ridiculous it should make people chuckle. Who _wouldn't_ want efficient government? It's a bit like being "anti-life".
But Americans are generally too lazy and greedy to do the hard work of achieving an effective government that delivers services back to them and promotes a stable middle-class society. If, for a Reagan-era example, air controllers want to strike, well, I'm too busy to do anything to support them or even educate myself on their concerns, and, hey!, I've got a flight next week! Etc. Etc. For the last quarter century.
The "mature" thing is to govern yourself and let others govern themselves.
Gov't is bought and paid for by the rich.
The rest is good marketing.
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