I guess I'll never understand.

That's the part that really depresses me. I'm a person that likes to challenge myself mentally. I like to try to understand things. But there's too much I see that I really don't understand and don't feel I ever will.

One of the things I've studied, all my life, is Soviet society. I was a child of the cold war and made it a point to try to understand this country that seemed so different to me.

I've told people this, and they don't believe me until I've shown them examples, is that the phraseology I see from many republicans has been basically cut and pasted from old soviet propaganda. It's eerie. 

Trump talked about opponents being scum, for example. Straight out of Soviet propaganda from the 30's -50s. 

I guess we'll see, but the slip is showing for many on the right in the US. One person just said that maybe we DO need a dictator. Now the cat is out of the bag.

What Did I Miss?

You know, I was searching for something totally unrelated to this blog on the internet and found a pathway to it...and realized it was mine that I started a long time ago.

I read some of my old posts...I think the 2011 me would be shocked as to the path the 2018 world has taken. Since I am the 2011 me, I can confirm that.

I feel about as pessimistic about the future of America as I ever have. I study history; I know we've gone through civil wars, the turbulent 60's, big wars and little wars...and come through (basically) fine.

But...this just feels different to me. It seems the power struggle between right and left is truly escalating.  The part I don't understand is why that is the case.

I'm pretty liberal... on a scale of 1-100, where one is a fascist and 100 is a commie, I'm about a 62. But the low end of that scale seems to be winning, and convincing people that conservative elites are the path to prosperity.

I have no idea why a poor white person (who comprises the overwhelming majority of the right) feels this way. I wish someone could explain it to me.

Poor people in the US, and globally, need:

1. Affordable education
2. Comprehensive health care
3. Jobs
4. Constant job training
5. Affordable housing

Most of that list is alien to the right. They want people to work, but really don't want to help them get jobs. They want them to have some health care, but not to the extent that they can be truly healthy, mentally or physically.

I may start posting here again, and the few of you that care may read it. But I'd really welcome a reasoned debate with those that disagree. If you are out there, please let me hear you.

"Taking the Country Back"

Michelle Bachmann, in her announcement that she's now a candidate for president, used one of the phrases that, if I were president, I'd appoint a commission to ban.

"Take the Country Back." Or, usually, "TAKE THE COUNTRY BACK!!!"

Someone out there...please tell me. Who does she want to take the country back, uh, from?

That phrase scares me a bit, to be perfectly truthful. It sounds like something the head of an army would say before people start disappearing. Something that Stalin would have said in 1937.

Of course, where you stand on the phrase depends on where you sit. The religious right wants to take the country back from people that have criminalized saying "Merry Christmas." (How many people have been put in jail because of it?) Or, they want to take the country back from poeple that don't believe in Jesus.

Liberals want to take the country back from dittoheads and Glenn Beck, who have created a "conserva-industry." I'm surprised no one has come out with a mayonaisse that "is now 30% more conservative!!"

I want to take the country back from people who simply don't think, can't think, or think that thinking is overrated. What do you think of that?

Politics and Moral Authority

The outrage over the Weiner photo (tee hee) has me thinking a bit. When exactly did elected officials become the beacon of morality in America. People cheat on their wives, send lewd photos, and make questionable decisions everyday; in all walks of life. Why is it, then, that the debate gets hijacked over a stupid incident like this?

I honestly don't care what an official does as long as it does not impede his/her ability to make an unbiased decision on an important issue. I guess the thought goes that "we elect these people to represent me and I don't behave that way."

True, but I don't go to church. Don't really care if my elected officials go to church or not. And, there's more people like me than there are truly religious people in America.

So...I don't want you to be my moral compass. I want you to make important decisions THAT IMPACT THE REPUBLIC. A photo of your naughty bits to a "traumatized" young lady (who will probably get a book deal and press tour out of it) doesn't really do anything for me or imperil the country in any fashion.

Again...enough noise. Get to work.

Rep. Weiner and his...photo

Elected officials make mistakes. What I truly despise are Democrats that make a big deal over Republican indiscretions and vice-versa.

Now...let's all move on, becauase there is nothing to see here. For all the Republicans that are gloating....see Gingrich, Newt and and Foley, Mark.

Let's focus on the important issues.

Sarah! and Michelle

If anyone is reading this, I'll try to avoid six months between posts.

I guess, as a moderate, there are a couple of things that I do not understand about the Right. And, since you can't have a civilized discussion about these things anymore, I'll throw it open to someone who can educate me.

I simply do not get the Palin/Bachmann(sp?) attraction. I have yet to see why anyone would want these folks to be president. And, it's not a gender issue...I don't see why a reasonable person would look at them and think "there's my president."

Part of it is belief. I have religious beliefs, but I don't think they are central to how I define myself. A conservative person holds their beliefs central to their identity and (this is what I don't understand) extends the concept of belief to other areas of their lives.

Palin's attraction, I think, is that it is totally unimportant to her that what she says is factually correct. She believes it to be so, therefore, to her and those like her, that's all that matters. It's like when the Bush Administration says "Mission Accomplished" it is, no matter what the reality is.

Reality is what you believe it to be. Facts be damned.

Now, on a certain level, that's a nice place to be. But, when you have the fate of many, many people hanging on every action, it's a terrifying prospect. It really reminds me of the Soviet Union, where all someone had to say that genes didn't exist and...poof...they don't.

It all comes back to something I firmly believe...that the right wing of the Republican Party is the closest we've come to having a Sovietized political system. And, since I believe it, it must be true.

What the Tea Party will teach us

Color me highly skeptical about the Tea Party. For one thing, just from the interviews I've seen, none of the candidates (even though that got elected) know much about how the world works. I mean, it's OK to be anti-intellectual, but that doesn't excuse ignorance or stupidity.

Case in point: Tea-Partiers seem to think that we can cut our way to prosperity; if government would just get out of the way, we'd all be better off.

On the face of it, that's not a bad sentiment. But, what do you cut?

To make any real dent in the federal deficit, you have to cut entitlements and defense. The TPs don't seem to want to cut defense because, well...I don't know really. There's about 400 billion to be had if we'd just scale back military spending. It is a new world, after all; I'm not sure who we are afraid of in Europe. China's not interested too much in military domination; they want to own the world, not rule it.

We could empty out a Wal-Mart and take on North Korea, so anything we do militarily there will be overkill (sorry).

That leaves Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are we there again?

Anyway, the GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER of healthcare didn't happen in Obamacare and won't happen with the nitwits that just got elected. So, we'll have more conversations about runaway health care costs, see more pictures of pitiful looking seniors in campaign ads...and nothing much will get done. Why we think doing nothing solves problems is beyond me; but hey, I didn't vote Tea Party.

Tea Partiers are good talk show hosts, ghostwrite darn fine books, and rabble-rouse with the best of them. I think they'll be crappy legislators, but then again...you get what you pay for.