Election Day

"The bottom line is that our democracy has become so hollowed out and most people so alienated that what we’re watching is simply a street fight between factions in the country’s power elite. For some it has entertainment value, but it’s not even an interesting matchup any more. The hard right libertarian faction has been wiping the floor with a weak opponent, a feckless, dispirited remnant of the old liberal managerial elite, which loses ground with every passing decade, even if it seems to win a round now and then as it did in 2008.
We’re seeing again the continuation of a pattern in place since 1980 in which the hard right obtains power, then aggressively rigs things in its favor, pisses everybody off, gets voted out, and then consolidates its gains while obstructing the Democrats until it gets back in power again. Which it does inevitably because everybody is frustrated with the obstructed Democrats inability to get anything done. The American people apparently don’t pay attention enough or care enough to break this pattern. The hope of Democrats that they have a long-term demographic advantage is ridiculous so long as they continue to be a party that nobody could be bothered to vote for.


The idea of giving the Republicans any kind of serious responsibility is crazy because its leaders are captured by an Ayn Randian ideology that makes them crazy. At least the old liberal managerial elite had some sense of the common good, even if their technocratic attempts to achieve it were often misguided"... -Election Day

Conservative Thinking, Values, Morals, Ethics

"Conservatives, on the other hand, have a very different view of democracy. For them democracy is supposed to provide them with the liberty to do what they want, without being responsible for others and without others being responsible for them. For them, there is only personal responsibility, not social responsibility. Indeed, providing public resources is, to a conservative, immoral, taking away personal responsibility, making people dependent, lazy, unable to take care of themselves. Removing public resources is seen as providing incentives, and individual liberty is seen as the condition in which you can carry out your incentives." -George Lakoff,

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 ☀

Republican Ideology and Values Suck

“When Americans look at real issues—even in this era of dissatisfaction and distraction—they display little interest in Republican-style solutions. The most obvious examples in this election are the referendum ballots on the minimum wage, which passed by 2-1 margins both in deep-red states such as Arkansas and in suddenly purplish places such as Illinois, which elected a Republican governor. In Alaska, South Dakota and Nebraska, where Republican candidates romped at every level, voters passed state minimum wage increases by wide margins." Beneath the Republican Wave, Voters Still Reject Right-Wing Ideology ☀

Obama is a Right Wing President

Obama is a Right Wing President.  That is all. He is a Reaganite, and to the right of Reagan, but somewhat to the left of the Tea Party, which puts him in spitting distance of Atilla the Hun (his record on civil liberties is, according to the ACLU, substantially worse than George W. Bush’s. He deported more Hispanics than George Bush ever did, etc…)  Obama had plenty of power to make more of a difference than he did, and he chose not to.  In the small things, in the big things, when it came to economic policies and to non identity based civil liberties, he virtually always did the right wing thing.


Obama is the first President in post-war history (and maybe all of history) whose economy gave more money to the top 10% than the entire value of all productivity gains in his Presidency.  Even George W. Bush didn’t manage that.

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 ☀

Political Fears Quote

"If Im ever rich, I intend to open up a restaurant called The Scarecrow. In it, all dishes will be named after various political distractors designed to scare and shepherd the American public. So if anyone is interested, you may preorder an ISIS bbq steak with a side of Ebola fries and any Benghazi can of soda for just $5.99." - Friend Sam T. via Facebook