Nixonland

The syllogism is simple: first in 1966 with Ronald Reagan, then in 1968 and 1972 with Richard Nixon, Republicans ascended to higher office by pinning on the Democrats responsibility for riots and disruptive protests carried out on the left, successfully framing themselves (as I detailed in my 2008 book Nixonland) as the preservers of order and decorum in a society that seemed to be falling into chaos. The Chaotic Trump Campaign ☀

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Bernie Sanders on Reperations

“Perhaps when Sanders says that reparations would be divisive, he doesn’t mean that they would damage his campaign or the Democratic coalition by dividing its supporters––the plausible interpretation that Ta-Nehisi argued against in his critiques––but that it would divide Americans of different races against one another in a manner likely to cause more harm to vulnerable minority groups than good, or necessitate a divisive process of bureaucrats defining who qualifies as black. Maybe he was thinking that reparations poll dismally when their terms are undefined, and that hashing out specifics (I’m not sure if Ta-Nehisi wants Sanders to embrace the policies suggested by his 2014 article, or as popularly defined) would be divisive even among those on the left who favor reparations in the abstract." Why Bernie Sanders Is Right to Oppose Reparations ☀

Guns In America

“Friends, the conversation is indeed about guns. It’s about guns and America’s gun lust culture. It’s about guns because automatic and semi automatic guns/rifles offer individuals the opportunity to kill large groups of people at the same time. If it’s not about guns, then why aren’t we allowed to own bombs, tanks, and other mass killing devices? Because bombs offer individuals the opportunity to kill lots of people. You don’t hear anybody barking, “Bombs don’t kill people…” Why? Because it’s idiotic. And like bombs, guns/rifles with semi automatic to automatic capabilities that feature 30+ round magazines offer individuals the same chance, to kill lots of people. Yes, murder is something that people have always done, but your “Cain killed Abel” examples are irrelevant to this debate. Most scholars believe that Cain likely used a rock, stick, or bone to kill Abel. Had Dylann Roof walked into that South Carolina church with a rock or a stick or a bone or a knife or even a double barrel shotgun, the outcome would have been very different. Sure, some people will always want to kill other people, but our culture’s gun lust has aided in giving that individual the power to easily kill people, lots of people if he wants to. So, the conversation is indeed about guns, people’s access to guns, the places where people can carry guns, the kinds of guns that can be legally purchased and legally manufactured, the size and round capacity of magazines, and the culture of violence and gun-love here in America that is mostly unfounded in the rest of the world. And honestly, go ahead; call us progressive idiots or liberal minded morons or whatever you want, but the more you try to distract from what the conversation is really about–guns!–the more impassioned we become" Matthew Paul Turner ☀

sandy Hook Mom's Letter to "The Mom I Used To Be"

"You view life through the prism of “before” and “after.” Jake’s fifth grade photos came recently. They are still sitting on a table because you haven’t put them in the frame that sits next to Dylan’s last school photo. It’s too hard for you — too soon. Jake is getting older. But Dylan is frozen in time forever. Even after two years, there’s this denial that is still very present inside you. You have Dylan’s baby teeth and a lock of his hair on your bedside cabinet, beside the urn holding his ashes. That’s all you have of your little boy now. It hurts. It just hurts. You suppress your feelings as much as you can because you fear if you really let it out, you would never recover. If you started truly crying, you would never be able to stop. It would destroy you. And here’s the thing — you didn’t have to be that Mom. For all the Moms and Dads reading this now — this doesn’t have to be you. Because every gun-related death is a preventable death." Mom's Letter via azspotnet

Another Political Quote

“In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no “two evils” exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. There is no third party. On the Presidential ballot in a few states (seventeen in 1952), a “Socialist” Party will appear. Few will hear its appeal because it will have almost no opportunity to take part in the campaign and explain its platform. If a voter organizes or advocates a real third-party movement, he may be accused of seeking to overthrow this government by “force and violence.” Anything he advocates by way of significant reform will be called “Communist” and will of necessity be Communist in the sense that it must advocate such things as government ownership of the means of production; government in business; the limitation of private profit; social medicine, government housing and federal aid to education; the total abolition of race bias; and the welfare state. These things are on every Communist program; these things are the aim of socialism. Any American who advocates them today, no matter how sincerely, stands in danger of losing his job, surrendering his social status and perhaps landing in jail. The witnesses against him may be liars or insane or criminals. These witnesses need give no proof for their charges and may not even be known or appear in person. They may be in the pay of the United States Government. A.D.A.’s and “Liberals” are not third parties; they seek to act as tails to kites. But since the kites are self-propelled and radar-controlled, tails are quite superfluous and rather silly." W.E.B. DuBois ☀

Cons and Libs

“Progressive and conservatives have very different understandings of democracy. For progressives empathy is at the center of the very idea of democracy. Democracy is a governing system in which citizens care about their fellow citizens and work through their government to provide public resources for all. In short, in a democracy, the private depends on the public." Democratic Strategies Lost Big. Here’s an Alternative ☀

Manifest Destiny Is Unbiblical, Unjust

“Manifest Destiny became a commonly held ideology in the early 19th century and was the belief that the United States had a God-given right to aggressively spread values of white civilization across the land mass of the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. It wreaked havoc on creation and entire communities of indigenous Americans including the Five Civilized Tribes, who were forcibly removed or annihilated based on the assumption that they were an impediment to God’s purposes being realized. Manifest Destiny justified the conquering of the indigenous peoples of Texas, New Mexico, California, and other parts of the Southwest; and the inclusion of the Oregon territory in the United States. Christians must confess the many ways we have contributed to this tragic history by acknowledging and repenting of our sins. We need to repent of our attitudes about the divine right of conquest, white supremacy, ethnic superiority, Manifest Destiny, the pursuit of wealth, and the brutalization, domination, and murder of thousands of Native people who have lived before us." Mae Elise Cannon ☀

America Is Not A Christian Nation

“Instead of preaching a gospel of self-sacrifice and generosity, right-wing Christians support the mega-wealthy who yearn to stifle democracy and move us further toward plutocracy: Keep the riffraff from voting. Keep alternative views out. Live in the bubble of like-minded people, not the marketplace of ideas and diversity where Jesus lived. Instead of proclaiming confidence in God’s care, they push fear: fear of immigrants, fear of the dark-skinned, fear of Islam, fear of Ebola, fear of education, fear of honesty, fear of the poor, fear of gays and lesbians, fear of women, fear of the gospel that Jesus actually proclaimed. America Isn’t a ‘Christian Nation,’ via Never Has Been ☀ via azspot.net

azspot.net Quote on President Obama

“I don’t expect any conservatives to recognize the truth of Obama’s fundamental conservatism for at least a couple of decades—perhaps only after a real progressive presidency. In any case, today they are too invested in painting him as the devil incarnate in order to frighten grassroots Republicans into voting to keep Obama from confiscating all their guns, throwing them into FEMA re-education camps, and other nonsense that is believed by many Republicans. But just as they eventually came to appreciate Bill Clinton’s core conservatism, Republicans will someday see that Obama was no less conservative."-Bruce Bartlett ☀
via azspot.net