Leaving aside the hogging of the moral low-ground what impresses me is the way Republicans just come up with incoherent word salads when they talk about the Civil War that in so far as they say anything are demonstably historicallly false. Like the Southern states weren't the first to take up arms and start this dumb war. For goodness sake, I'm an Australian and even I know that.
Coming soon to a GOP press conference near you: “what civil war? Do you mean the “States Rights Skirmish of the 1860’s” where the Aggressors of the North tried to force themselves on the free and prosperous states of the South; where we espoused Freedom and Liberties for all landowners and their obviously legal dependents of varying geographic backgrounds.”
Unless you're a pregnant woman needing an abortion. Or are LGBTQ. Or are any color but white. Or hold any religious beliefs (or none at all) that run contrary to their beliefs.
I saw so little comment about this statement, and wish there'd been more. Government is telling how to live our lives all the time, and the GOP is leading the way.
Haley as the daughter of Indian immigrants should acknowledge racial discrimination is ingrained in many people in the US. Yet she does not. Asian Indians are "aryan" so she must classify herself as white. She is a blatant opportunist and I cannot "see" her as president.
"Haley’s inability to simply say “slavery” is telling, though not surprising. Republicans are a party of white identity, and — increasingly openly — a party of white hegemony. Their politics are based on a narrative of (natural) white superiority and (unnatural) white victimization. As such, they are intellectual heirs of the Confederacy, which makes it difficult for them to understand, or criticize, the Confederacy and its commitment to chattel slavery."
America's inability to reckon with the past and how having a structure that is based in white supremacy can lead to racism and antidemocratic impulses is why we are in the Trumpian chaos of today.
"The deliberately deceptive argument here is that because Democrats were evil in the past, therefore they’re evil now." I can't begin to count how many times I've heard that argument. It's as if membership in a political party is genetically transmitted along with all the other bad aspects of the party you oppose. Presumably all those Northern Dems who had nothing to do with Jim Crow are really the result of some interior "invasion" of migrants from the South.
But of course the folks who believe this don't believe in genetics or, gasp, evolution. They think GOD fixed the characteristics of Democrats, just as a horse of today has always been the same as when Adam named it. Their preachers tell them this. And who can gainsay someone who God speaks to directly? Just ask Son of Sam.
Excellent. This is just what Trump said when he refused to denounce comments by David Duke.... "they vote too". That's what this is about. The racist white vote. Just despicable that this is happening. I'm so angry about it, maybe because my grandmother and her second husband hosted a reception for George Wallace when he was running for governor, maybe because my family owned slaves, maybe because it's just wrong and I can't take this shit anymore. My grandmother's views evolved, thankfully. But it's just awful that anyone thinks this way to begin with and that they are pandering to them!!! Gutter rats...all of them.
Hoo-boy! The Right and the South will twist themselves into knots to avoid saying "The South left the Union over their right to own Black people, and shame on Abe Lincoln for insisting they couldn't just walk away with their slaves!" Which is what they truly believe, but saying that would expose them as the grudge-holding bigots that they are....
I have a theory, but that's all it is—we're too many people vying for space, resources, and basic survival. Our population as of when I'm writing this is 8,084,344,485 people, on a planet that many experts considered "overpopulated" with three Billion!
When even the First World is struggling to keep all its citizens fed, housed, clothed, employed, and cared for in their senior years, a lot of people are starting to panic that there won't be enough for THEM when they get older, or for their families if they're already old (or in Trump's case, his "legacy" b/c I don't think he gives a fart in a high wind about his family!). Some people can see the reason is overpopulation and greed for resources so they don't have kids, or change their lifestyle to be more sustainable—but most people don't want to believe the answer is in the mirror, so they look for somebody else to blame.
It happened back in the 1920s-1940s, and it's happening again—a mob of people suffering from economic inequality and anxiety, and a relative handful of very wealthy and powerful persons who can either share their wealth...or direct the fear and anger at Somebody Not Them. Guess which one most rich & powerful persons choose, and that's how you get Fascism—a new name for a very old and ugly trick called "scapegoating".
I know—what America needs in another FDR, but instead we got...Joe Biden. Who is MUCH better than the alternative right now, and is at least trying to do right by Americans. But his task is Sisyphean, and I'm not even sure he can take that boulder to the top one time, let alone repeatedly.
I voted for Bernie Sanders every chance I got, but while I believe he's got great ideas and an ability to reach across to both Leftist and Conservative voters? He's got the problem with the Economic Elites of not being "their sort" (went to Brooklyn College and graduated from the University of Chicago, neither what you'd call "Ivy League" schools!), being a secular Jew (pogrom begins in three...two...), and being older than either Biden OR Trump. Even though he's in superb shape for a man his age, he'd still be 83 if he entered the White House in January 2025, and in his Nineties when he left if he served two terms.
Maybe AOC if she maintains the Path of Progressive Righteousness? But if she ran in 2028 she'd be the youngest major-party Presidential candidate ever (five years younger than JFK), and while I admire a lot about her she's not quite figured out how to wrestle around the Clinton NeoLibs who still hold too much power in Congress.
Leaving aside the hogging of the moral low-ground what impresses me is the way Republicans just come up with incoherent word salads when they talk about the Civil War that in so far as they say anything are demonstably historicallly false. Like the Southern states weren't the first to take up arms and start this dumb war. For goodness sake, I'm an Australian and even I know that.
Coming soon to a GOP press conference near you: “what civil war? Do you mean the “States Rights Skirmish of the 1860’s” where the Aggressors of the North tried to force themselves on the free and prosperous states of the South; where we espoused Freedom and Liberties for all landowners and their obviously legal dependents of varying geographic backgrounds.”
Haley said , “Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life.”
They don’t? What the hell are laws?
Unless you're a pregnant woman needing an abortion. Or are LGBTQ. Or are any color but white. Or hold any religious beliefs (or none at all) that run contrary to their beliefs.
Haley, please tell that to the transgender people out there and your fellow Rs. Please.
I saw so little comment about this statement, and wish there'd been more. Government is telling how to live our lives all the time, and the GOP is leading the way.
Beth, the absurdity boggles the mind!
Haley as the daughter of Indian immigrants should acknowledge racial discrimination is ingrained in many people in the US. Yet she does not. Asian Indians are "aryan" so she must classify herself as white. She is a blatant opportunist and I cannot "see" her as president.
This is great, especially this part:
"Haley’s inability to simply say “slavery” is telling, though not surprising. Republicans are a party of white identity, and — increasingly openly — a party of white hegemony. Their politics are based on a narrative of (natural) white superiority and (unnatural) white victimization. As such, they are intellectual heirs of the Confederacy, which makes it difficult for them to understand, or criticize, the Confederacy and its commitment to chattel slavery."
America's inability to reckon with the past and how having a structure that is based in white supremacy can lead to racism and antidemocratic impulses is why we are in the Trumpian chaos of today.
"The deliberately deceptive argument here is that because Democrats were evil in the past, therefore they’re evil now." I can't begin to count how many times I've heard that argument. It's as if membership in a political party is genetically transmitted along with all the other bad aspects of the party you oppose. Presumably all those Northern Dems who had nothing to do with Jim Crow are really the result of some interior "invasion" of migrants from the South.
But of course the folks who believe this don't believe in genetics or, gasp, evolution. They think GOD fixed the characteristics of Democrats, just as a horse of today has always been the same as when Adam named it. Their preachers tell them this. And who can gainsay someone who God speaks to directly? Just ask Son of Sam.
Excellent. This is just what Trump said when he refused to denounce comments by David Duke.... "they vote too". That's what this is about. The racist white vote. Just despicable that this is happening. I'm so angry about it, maybe because my grandmother and her second husband hosted a reception for George Wallace when he was running for governor, maybe because my family owned slaves, maybe because it's just wrong and I can't take this shit anymore. My grandmother's views evolved, thankfully. But it's just awful that anyone thinks this way to begin with and that they are pandering to them!!! Gutter rats...all of them.
Hoo-boy! The Right and the South will twist themselves into knots to avoid saying "The South left the Union over their right to own Black people, and shame on Abe Lincoln for insisting they couldn't just walk away with their slaves!" Which is what they truly believe, but saying that would expose them as the grudge-holding bigots that they are....
Hard to believe that Republicans were once the party of Civil Rights, isn't it? Of course, they headed HARD away from that by the end of the 1960s....
I have a theory, but that's all it is—we're too many people vying for space, resources, and basic survival. Our population as of when I'm writing this is 8,084,344,485 people, on a planet that many experts considered "overpopulated" with three Billion!
When even the First World is struggling to keep all its citizens fed, housed, clothed, employed, and cared for in their senior years, a lot of people are starting to panic that there won't be enough for THEM when they get older, or for their families if they're already old (or in Trump's case, his "legacy" b/c I don't think he gives a fart in a high wind about his family!). Some people can see the reason is overpopulation and greed for resources so they don't have kids, or change their lifestyle to be more sustainable—but most people don't want to believe the answer is in the mirror, so they look for somebody else to blame.
It happened back in the 1920s-1940s, and it's happening again—a mob of people suffering from economic inequality and anxiety, and a relative handful of very wealthy and powerful persons who can either share their wealth...or direct the fear and anger at Somebody Not Them. Guess which one most rich & powerful persons choose, and that's how you get Fascism—a new name for a very old and ugly trick called "scapegoating".
I know—what America needs in another FDR, but instead we got...Joe Biden. Who is MUCH better than the alternative right now, and is at least trying to do right by Americans. But his task is Sisyphean, and I'm not even sure he can take that boulder to the top one time, let alone repeatedly.
I voted for Bernie Sanders every chance I got, but while I believe he's got great ideas and an ability to reach across to both Leftist and Conservative voters? He's got the problem with the Economic Elites of not being "their sort" (went to Brooklyn College and graduated from the University of Chicago, neither what you'd call "Ivy League" schools!), being a secular Jew (pogrom begins in three...two...), and being older than either Biden OR Trump. Even though he's in superb shape for a man his age, he'd still be 83 if he entered the White House in January 2025, and in his Nineties when he left if he served two terms.
Maybe AOC if she maintains the Path of Progressive Righteousness? But if she ran in 2028 she'd be the youngest major-party Presidential candidate ever (five years younger than JFK), and while I admire a lot about her she's not quite figured out how to wrestle around the Clinton NeoLibs who still hold too much power in Congress.