Sunday, November 2, 2008

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"Republicans rule, rather than govern, when they are in power by imposing their authoritarian conservative philosophy on everyone, as their answer for everything. This works for them because their interest is in power, and in what it can do for those who think as they do. Ruling, of course, must be distinguished from governing, which is a more nuanced process that entails give-and-take and the kind of compromises that are often necessary to find a consensus and solutions that will best serve the interests of all Americans.

Republicans' authoritarian rule can also be characterized by its striking incivility and intolerance toward those who do not view the world as Republicans do. Their insufferable attitude is not dangerous in itself, but it is employed to accomplish what they want, which it to take care of themselves and those who work to keep them in power.

Authoritarian conservatives are primarily anti-government, except where they believe the government can be useful to impose moral or social order (for example, with respect to matters like abortion, prayer in schools, or prohibiting sexually-explicit information from public view). Similarly, Republicans' limited-government attitude does not apply regarding national security, where they feel there can never be too much government activity - nor are the rights and liberties of individuals respected when national security is involved. Authoritarian Republicans do oppose the government interfering with markets and the economy, however -- and generally oppose the government's doing anything to help anyone they feel should be able to help themselves.

In my book Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches, I set forth the facts regarding the consequences of the Republicans' controlling government for too many years. No Republican -- nor anyone else, for that matter -- has refuted these facts, and for good reason: They are irrefutable.

The McCain/Palin Ticket Perfectly Fits the Authoritarian Conservative Mold

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican candidates, have shown themselves to be unapologetic and archetypical authoritarian conservatives. Indeed, their campaign has warmed the hearts of fellow authoritarians, who applaud them for their negativity, nastiness, and dishonest ploys and only criticize them for not offering more of the same.

The McCain/Palin campaign has assumed a typical authoritarian posture: The candidates provide no true, specific proposals to address America's needs. Rather, they simply ask voters to 'trust us' and suggest that their opponents - Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden - are not 'real Americans' like McCain, Palin, and the voters they are seeking to court. Accordingly, McCain and Plain have called Obama 'a socialist,' 'a redistributionist,' 'a Marxist,' and 'a communist' - without a shred of evidence to support their name-calling, for these terms are pejorative, rather than in any manner descriptive. This is the way authoritarian leaders operate."

from a longer article by John Dean, FindLaw.com
Posted on November 1, 2008, Printed on November 1, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/105669/

13 comments:

JIm said...

Here is one example of the supposed bi-partisanship of the Democrats. JUDGES!!

Constitutional crisis looms as democrats Stonewall Bush judges: increasingly, senators are looking for nominees to the federal judiciary who will be quasi-legislators and use their rulings to set aside law and precedent for a political result

Insight on the News, Sept 30, 2002 by Katherine Mangu-Ward
E-mail Print Link The extremely low number of Senate confirmations for President George W. Bush's appointees for federal judgeships is the result of more than just politics as usual, says a recent policy analysis from a Washington think tank. The delays reflect a deeper judicial crisis that could threaten the continued existence of constitutional government and the rule of law, according to the report.

JIm said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Lally said...

Can always count on Jim's and other rightwing Republicans' comments to prove any points this blog tries to make about rightwing Republicans. I had to delete his last comment because it accuses Obama, and those of us who support or work for his campaign, of Nazism. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black.
And as to the comment I didn't delete, as anyone who has followed politics for the past several decades knows, federal judges were relatively routinely approved before the Reagan administration. Ever since then, those nominated for the federal court have been rejected by Republican controlled congresses unless they were rightwing ideologues. Under Clinton many moderates were nominated, but rightwing Republican ideologues blocked almost all of them resulting in less judges being confirmed when Gingrich and his legions were running Congress than under any Democratically controlled congress in history. And under Junior, more rightwing ideologues have been put on the federal bench than any time in history. One of the many negative legacies of this administration that we will be dealing with for decades.

Anonymous said...

That was an amazing quote by John Dean--one who has seen both sides in action. Thanks.

JIm said...

Obama's call for a national army sure sounds like similar earlier efforts in Italy and Germany. Someone please tell me how an American domestic army would somehow be different.

JIm said...

IT'S NOT OVER!! IBD 2004 POLL CAME CLOSEST TO THE FINAL RESULTS. 2.1% DIFFERENCE WITH ALMOST 9% UNDECIDED. WOW! IF UNDECIDEDS BREAK FOR MCCAIN AS EXPECTED THERE COULD BE A LOT OF MEDIA WITH EGG ON THEIR FACES.



November 2, 2008


Day 21: IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll


The race tightened again Sunday as independents who'd been leaning to Obama shifted to McCain to leave that key group a toss-up. McCain also pulled even in the Midwest, moved back into the lead with men, padded his gains among Protestants and Catholics, and is favored for the first time by high school graduates.




11/2 44.6% 46.7% 8.7% Obama +2.1 View
11/1 43.4% 47.9% 8.7% Obama +4.5 View
10/31 43.8% 48.2% 8.0% Obama +4.4 View
10/30 43.6% 47.7% 8.7% Obama +4.1 View
10/29 43.9% 46.9% 9.2% Obama +3.0 View
10/28 43.7% 47.7% 8.6% Obama +4.0 View

Anonymous said...

How is McLame doing with high school drops out & lunatics?

Anonymous said...

NEWS FLASH:

McCain is picking up momentum from the KKK and fellow PNAC members!

Anonymous said...

thank you for the article ...

that about sums it up and pretty much describes what i, and a lot of other artists i know [or anyone else with a modicum of intelligence and sensitivity], have been struggling against since the early 60's ...

hopefully, it's a brand of intolerance that will wither or at least become disempowered enough for the majority of our population to be able to have perspective to recognize its' evils ...

that may be wishful thinking - because there are still those who believe in the third reich ...

"God bless everyone" ...

JIm said...

Domestic Armies – Now and in Italy and Germany in the early 20th century.Does anyone notice any similarities?

Obama 7/2/2008
"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," Obama said at a July 2 speech in Colorado Springs, Colo. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Mussolini 1921
"The Third Way".[15] The Fascisti, led by one of Mussolini's close confidants, Dino Grandi, formed armed squads of war veterans called Blackshirts (or squadristi) with the goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a strong hand. The blackshirts clashed with communists, socialists and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were also involved in clashes against each other. The government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, due in part to a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. The Fascisti grew so rapidly that within two years, it transformed itself into the National Fascist Party at a congress in Rome. Also in 1921, Mussolini was

Hitler 1920

In Munich in late 1920, Hitler created the Ordnertruppen, a body of ex-soldiers and beer hall brawlers in order to protect gatherings of the Nazi party from disruptions from Social Democrats and Communists. On November 4, 1921 the Nazi party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus. After Hitler had spoken for some time the meeting erupted into a melee in which a small company of Ordnertruppen distinguished itself by thrashing the opposition. The Nazis called this event "Saalschlacht" (meeting hall battle). After this the organization came to be called the SA. Under their popular leader, Stabschef Ernst Röhm, the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure, initially growing in size to thousands....

Anonymous said...

jim - you have a way of making flowers smell like shit ...

JIm said...

Hey Paul,
That was Obama's quote to form a domestic army, not mine. If you don't like the idea, you should be angry at him, not me. If you agree with him, that it is a good idea to have a national domestic army then you probably should be angry with me, since I believe his plans should be known, before folks vote for him.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jim--it's over!