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at this point in time i am far more concerned whether the democratic party is a serious political party, or if it is quietly waiting in the wings, ready to serve the needs of oligarchy just as the republicans are.
what outback said...and what EYE said in a very recent response to some other hartmann blog...republican, democrat...same thing. and that means americans aren't really voting for anything except who gets to be shunting the kickbacks to their personal accounts...no real democracy there. maybe with a third party. i moved to a 'socialist' country almost 2 decades ago...
what i'm REALly wondering, though, is this...hartmann's a smart guy. access to lots of the same sources of info that i have...why is he touting democrats(since he's 'against republicans' in this article, right? and there IS no other party if we're going to pretend they're not both the same...and that's the point. i SHOULDn't know more than this guy...but america is a pretend democracy...MANY of the people going along with the pretense...of being 'the good guys that saved the world from the nazis' in WWII. and not invading gods know how many countries since...leaving millions behind in their wake. dead... pretending that their armies are not invaders. but that makes sense...for many, many human reasons...
but the guy who's writing these articles...he's supposed to give us the 'behind the scenes' reports...and yet...
what's killing me, writing this, is that i've(by proxy, but just recently subscribed) been following his articles for YEARS now..and it was great that there was 'this voice' speaking about matters of high importance, imo...and yet...
so how does this relate to this particular article on obamacare? i'm sure 'the powers that be' had SOMEthing in mind...i have no idea if obamacare is 'adequate health care'. if not, wouldn't it be a great tactic to make people think, after grumbling about its inadequacy(if this IS the case...i don't know, truthfully) that they were going to lose it? and THEN 'give it back'? presto. no more grumbling. for about 15 minutes...but hey, that's what prob got so many companies to 'take their business elsewhere'. cuz from where EYE stand it looked like the unions had gotten as corrupt/greedy as the businesses they were 'protecting the workers' from...and, maybe only from principle(but i doubt it... ; - ), the owners finally get fed up with more and more demands...it seems that that's the case with, at LEAST, some of the companies...
so i'm thinking that it may STILL be a tactic...now 'the people' are placated. maybe a bit more controlable and open to the next atrocity the govt might commit...
i know this sounds a bit distrustful, if not out and out paranoid...but i'm talking about the govt that's invaded around 40 countries, worldwide, since WWII...and STILL tries to pretend they're 'the good guys'...the guys in the white hate, etc etc...ad apocalyptum...
so what's up with this 'republicans and democrats are actually different' bullshit, thom?
The Republican Party delivers a message that resonates...the Dems haven't figured out how to do that...Bernie comes closest and he's not a Dem.
There is a need to go into the zone...the zone of Non-college educated folk who voted Trump into the Presidency and determine why they feel so disaffected. Would they have voted for Bernie if he had been an option...if not, why not?
Questions to be asked...why do folks who desperately need Health Care want to kill Obamacare?...why did you vote for Trump when it's not in your best interest?...what is it about the Republican message(s) that's resonating?
I'm of average intelligence, education, income and I haven't a clue as to how to change the status quo...except perhaps the bottom/up theory that Dems are finally waking up to.
No doubt about the slime pervading the US Senate! perhaps only eclipsed by the US House of Representives. The key for me is the way both chambers have used Trump and are being used by Trump (even as disfunctional, ignorant and solipsistic as he is). Venality at a modern extreme.
There now seems to be a correction, caused by actions in the streets and town halls, letters, phone calls, tweets to our representatives from across the country. People are rising up.
I have hope, perhaps premature, that the sense of true public service will emerge.
True the Koch Brothers and the Rich own the Republicans and most of the Democrats also. Their head on attack of the ACA is most likely over, however they will continue chipping away at it's funding and articles that make it work bit by bit. Marco Rubio is now center stage to continuing stealing the funding until it finally collapses / implodes.
The GOP has not governed for a long time now. The control methods to run a corporation at the whims of na owner are much different from running a country of many corporations and different civilian views. Our country has been driven into the dirt in preparation for the Fascist takeover. The only way we will get it back is another bloody revolution. P.S. tell trump that once the Fascist take over his pardoning will not be allowed.
Instead of the Republican Party insisting people pull themselves up by their bootstraps, with the Republicons in control of everything; everyone will now need to put on - not their bootstraps - but hip boots since it we are all knee deep in the Republican Party BS.
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“So shouldn't this permanently kill the idea of the Republican Party as a serious political party?
They've been hijacked by the Koch brothers and the oligarchs and it's rendered them incapable of governing the country.”
Yes! And I would argue that the same applies to the Democratic Party!
I'm no Republican, and it's been a long time since I've been comfortable with a Democratic Party that's moved so far to the right that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski would be regarded as “center left” by the Democratic Establishment. At least the Republicans are up front with their pro-corporate agenda. The Democratic Establishment are hypocrites. They claim to champion the working class, but they are slurping the same corporate swill as the Republicans.
Take Obamacare as a prime example. Obama campaigned on Single Payer, but what we got was a givaway to the corporate swine of the health insurance racket and big pharma. In return for waiving pre-existing conditions and a few other yards of red flannel, they got millions of conscripted new customers, plus billions of tax dollars in corporate wellfare, which can only be seen as a bribe, to engage in this dance.
On another front, both Obama and Hillary Clinton were pro TPP, which makes the debacle of NAFTA pale into insignificance.
We DESPERATELY need a third, progressive party. If they go on the ballot as a “Socialist Party”, sign me up! I'll say it again: You cannot slide one, slim, well worn dime between the actual actions of either of our two major political parties. They both work for THE MAN.
DONUT HOLE CLOSED IN 2020 (could the same be true for the corn hole?)
Once we get the cranky billionaires and their stubborn little elves out of the way from blocking progress "we the people" can actually continue to improve things - unlike when you have a corporation in control, suddenly "we the people" lose their voice and right to participate.
OBAMACARE
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
Closing the Coverage Gap -
https://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11493.pdf
Medicare Prescription Drugs Are Becoming More Affordable.
The Affordable Care Act includes benefits to make your Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) more affordable.
The Republican Party doesn't make its way on policy. It runs on anger and hatred. Their fate was sealed way back in 1964 when, having invented the Southern Strategy, they fanned the flames of racial resentment at a time when the country was most in need of racial healing. Hate Bill Clinton, hate Barack Obama, hate Hillary Clinton. What Mitch, Paul and the boys do best is character assasination. Villification as a political strategy. And it works.
I sincerely doubt that the part that gave us Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and GWB among others has exhausted its ability and desire to harm the country and the average citizen.
2950-10k
You never did respond to the compliment I gave you for the point you made about part D medicare. That is Part D is what happens under monopolistic health care. Medicare recipients have no choice but too accept part D...there is no where else to go.
As far as posting hear,you washed up lefties scream all the time about We the people...we'll I'm one of the people, this is a democracy and I will be heard. I'm not one of the prisoners you used to guard.
Off topic: Regarding the possibility of a homo sapien gene to eliminate 'the other' add the willingness to terminate access to healthcare by the poor and infirm by around a third of those who identify with the political right.
We the People have not rebelled against election fraud.....why not? Kobach should be in jail for fraud...he will be in 2020.
Really Bachmann, after all the health insurance idiocy from your party, you brainwashed righties still have the gaul to post on this site.....you have to be truly a freaking moron.
Meet The Press, this morning, showed a clip of a conservative woman saying that " Trump was God's way of giving America a second chance." If Trump is the best that their God can come up with? Time to start looking for a new god.
Sounds like Pence.
#8 Kend. Corruption is a complete different discussion. I believe what Thom said was:
The Past 5 GOP Presidents Have Used Fraud and Treason to Steer Themselves to Electoral Victory.
A library could have corruption. but hopefully not fraud or treason. Corruption may or may not be illegal, but FRAUD and TREASON, I believe, are.
Any references Kend?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair
Thom are you saying politicians are corrupt. Say it's not so. I hate to break it to you but they all are. Both sides. Google any politicians net worth before and after being in office and truth will be told. Reagan did not want to pay to have the hostages released. He believed this would in courage more hostage taking. As it turned out Canadians devised a plan to sneak them out. It is always the liberals way to just throw more tax payers money at the problem and it will go away.
A truly outstanding Alternet article which unveils what depths the Republican party must lower itself to in order to maintain relevance in what people think is a Democracy while betraying the people of the United States of America.
Any healthy democracy responsive to the people's demands would naturally use paper ballots, which can be accurately recounted, by hand if necessary, and independently verified without relying on pricey machines prone to error and manipulation.
On one hand, a system diversified into a thousand-plus local districts like ours is a good thing; on the other hand, it only works if everyone can trust the process.
Keep it local but in compliance with agreed-upon national standards, such as paper ballots, strict laws against purging eligible voters from the rolls, no laws to suppress the vote. Make it a right, maybe even mandatory as a civic duty. At the same time, pass Supreme Court-proof legislation to get big money out of politics at every level.
Damn! There goes the Republican Party ...and they know it. Same for corporate-sponsored Democrats.
Then, if everyone eligible to vote actually did so, our political landscape would naturally have a liberal center (whatever that might mean) competing fair and square for seats in local, state, and national elections against a more progressive center (whatever that might mean).
The current Republican Party of White Rich Guys will either cease to exist or morph into some tiny "other" party on the radical fringe, buzzing with nonsense on some wingnut site lIke the heir to Alex Jones or a 3am televangelist on some obscure program called "FUX" that nobody watches, except the braindead awaiting autopsy in the meat locker.
IOW, "...a more perfect union..."
:)
Here you go washed up lefties something to brighten your day.
http://blog.theveteranssite.com/naptown-funk/?utm_source=vet-vetfan&utm_...
They are figuring out how to manipulate the 2020 census, which will largely be done on the internet.
jibaro01 I'm sure that you mean well, and thank you for you service to the country.
In #12 you describe your Heterosexual drama, rubbing your sexuality onto others.
It sure was nice of those guys not minding having a bunch of heterosexuals, some probably a little goofy, in their way. And they probably never complained about the drama and friction caused by all the other Heterosexuals. World Wars for example.
Weird how you had your eye on those guys, maybe a little jealous even?