Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)
09 October 15
ot
a day goes by that a leading Republican presidential hopeful doesn’t
reveal a level of ignorance and prejudice unprecedented in modern
American politics. Today, Ben Carson, who is now running second to
Donald Trump, said that Adolf Hitler’s mass murder of Jews “would have
been greatly diminished” had Germans been allowed to carry guns.
What?
Whether it’s Carson on guns or Muslims; Trump on
Mexicans, “anchor babies,” or Obama’s citizenship; or almost any of the
Republican candidates on abortion, gay marriage, or climate change --
the leading GOP presidential candidates are reaching ever higher into
loony land.
House Republicans, meanwhile, are in chaos – unable to
elect a Speaker because of the right-wing know-nothings among them who
want to shut down the government over the funding of Planned Parenthood
and the looming debt limit.
We must face the discomforting fact that one of
America's two major parties has lost its mind. How did this come about?
Perhaps it's the inevitable culmination of decades of toxic bigotry and
ideological paranoia spread by Rush Limbaugh and his imitators, Fox
News, and right-wing hate groups -- fueled and funded by the Koch
brothers and other oligarchs -- combined with blind rage that a black
man became president -- that has finally eaten away enough of the gray
matter of an increasingly angry, mostly white, mostly rural, mostly male
Republican base to leave us with a zombie GOP.
What do you think?
+89
#
2015-10-09 17:25
Let's not forget
those many times that there was silence from those who knew better
(Dems, too)every time one of the loony ideas was thrown out. Silence
translates into acceptance.
+50
#
2015-10-09 17:54
Quoting Blackjack:
THEY'RE the ones that are finger-in-the-a ir, short-sighted and generally disengaged changelings who can be persuaded to elect the most egregious ignoramuses, to the gobsmacked incredulity of the rest of the world. the Dimwits administration and it's toxic legacy is the best recent example of what I mean -carried on in the same spirit of hubristic disregard for the "Little People" by his megalomania bro'.
I mean for example, I detest Cameron and Canada's Harper but they're well-educated, worldly and certainly not stupid (obviously , a brain surgeon does not a smart person make).
This is why the lawmakers and power-shakers don't want an educated populace who might JUST ask awkward questions and push back, preferring a scared, suspicious of "the other" and preoccupied with survival middle and working class, so many of which are one paycheck or less away from bankruptcy and/or homelessness.
You mean the "Swing-Voters", or what I call "every two or four year activists and seasonable know-it-alls"?Let's not forget those many times that there was silence from those who knew better (Dems, too)every time one of the loony ideas was thrown out. Silence translates into acceptance.
THEY'RE the ones that are finger-in-the-a ir, short-sighted and generally disengaged changelings who can be persuaded to elect the most egregious ignoramuses, to the gobsmacked incredulity of the rest of the world. the Dimwits administration and it's toxic legacy is the best recent example of what I mean -carried on in the same spirit of hubristic disregard for the "Little People" by his megalomania bro'.
I mean for example, I detest Cameron and Canada's Harper but they're well-educated, worldly and certainly not stupid (obviously , a brain surgeon does not a smart person make).
This is why the lawmakers and power-shakers don't want an educated populace who might JUST ask awkward questions and push back, preferring a scared, suspicious of "the other" and preoccupied with survival middle and working class, so many of which are one paycheck or less away from bankruptcy and/or homelessness.
+72
#
2015-10-09 18:37
No Republican Political Party candidate ever understood Economics.
If they did, they would not be Republican!
All three economic Depressions were caused by Republicans; 1873, 1929, 2007. They do not understand American History, either.
If they did, they would not be Republican!
All three economic Depressions were caused by Republicans; 1873, 1929, 2007. They do not understand American History, either.
+4
#
2015-10-09 21:02
reiverpacific, for
once I totally agree with you because what you are saying in effect is
that giving the vote to every uninformed person is what got us in the
mess we are in; yet many of the contributors to this blog firmly believe
that if you can breath, you can vote; no matter how ignorant you are or
how little you know. You are right, when you consider that Trump leads
the Rep. polls.
People don't care, I do not know what the percentage
is, but I have no respect for people who honestly believe that one party
has all of the best candidates for each spot, whether for Town Council,
Surveyor, or Senator. Many times I find myself skipping an office if I
think that no candidate is qualified. In my opinion people who vote a
straight ticket are the truly uninformed voters.
+18
#
2015-10-09 21:26
It's a nice theory,
but there happens to be an ugly fact that threatens its very existence.
That fact is that when there are large numbers of voters, the results
are generally superior to when there is only a small coterie of voters.
Witness what happens in the republican primaries vs. what happens in
general elections with many more voters.
In addition, how do you select the voters who should vote and those who shouldn't? Give them one of the tests that Fox viewers routinely flunk? Only let NPR supporters vote? Limit the vote to white, land owning males? Limit the vote to university graduates? Limit the vote to graduates from the top ten colleges and universities in the country? I'll go with E.
In addition, how do you select the voters who should vote and those who shouldn't? Give them one of the tests that Fox viewers routinely flunk? Only let NPR supporters vote? Limit the vote to white, land owning males? Limit the vote to university graduates? Limit the vote to graduates from the top ten colleges and universities in the country? I'll go with E.
+19
#
2015-10-10 02:36
The problem lies not
in the people who are ignorant, but in those who sling the lying
propaganda - over and over through the echo chambers, starting with the
Stink Tanks, going to Rush, the rightwing hate radio, and not the least
Fox Noise.
That's why every poll is now suspect - it queries people who have been fed a diet of lies. The polls PROVE it.
That's why every poll is now suspect - it queries people who have been fed a diet of lies. The polls PROVE it.
+25
#
2015-10-09 21:21
Alas, "neoclassical"
economics, the economics of the rich, has been in control since the
1960s. It's basically supply-side, trickle-down nonsense. Real-life
economics is an unfinished story which few understand. Reich is among
those that do. Even most progressive Dems mostly don't get, as yet, the
deep trouble we're in because of income and wealth inequality.
+14
#
2015-10-10 02:39
Right! Lowering
income for the great majority DECREASES funds available to support our
CONSUMER markets. With each market manipulation and crash, fewer funds
are available to purchase the goods that keep the economy running. Hence
the ACTUAL JOBS CREATORS can no longer create new jobs - or even
profits.
Stupid greedy oligarchs!
Stupid greedy oligarchs!
+9
#
2015-10-10 06:45
Quoting pagrad:
Let's not forget that they are paid not to understand economics. After all, Bush 1 coined the best summary of it being "voodoo economics'No Republican Political Party candidate ever understood Economics.
If they did, they would not be Republican!
All three economic Depressions were caused by Republicans; 1873, 1929, 2007. They do not understand American History, either.
+23
#
2015-10-09 21:06
What Mr. Reich
states, is true. Unfortunately it is NOT “issues” the Republicans and
the Tea Partiers care about. Their supporters care about hate, distrust,
prejudice (in ALL its forms) and disruption of anything that is not
radically conservative – so ANY candidate who spews forth such trash
is/are their hero/es. It is within the supporters who identify with, and
believe, the propaganda delivered by Faux News where the problem(s)
lay. The divide and conquer strategies and tactics which commenced with
the GW Bush campaigns, based on twisted, propaganda is not only alive
and well … it is growing, and the GOP/T-Party supporters lap it up
faster than a starving mongrel dog. Joseph Goebbels, of Hitler’s Third
Reich, perfected the cancerous propaganda machine, and the concepts and
tactics he developed are being successfully wielded by the current batch
of ill-qualified GOP candidates and their staffers. Until the
propaganda machine(s) is/are legally subdued and rendered silent, the
cancer of ignorance will grow.
+7
#
2015-10-10 02:43
Look, when there is
only one book in the library and it is trash, people will read it in
hopes of learning something. Alas, Mainstream media, including hate
radio, Fox, etc. only feed their listeners trash. And like good con men,
media tell their listeners they are getting the "real" thing. That is
believable to many because they used to get real news.
Happily young people are looking at different news sources via their smart phones.
Happily young people are looking at different news sources via their smart phones.
