Time for Some Democrats to Become Republicans
No one, I think, captured the illusions about Barack Obama better than Walter Russell Mead. Writing at the website of The American Interest, Mead proclaims that
A significant chunk of the American liberal intelligentsia completely lost its head over Barack Obama. They mistook hopes and fantasies for reality. Worse, the disease spread to at least members of the White House team. An administration elected with a mandate to stabilize the country misread the political situation and came to the belief that the country wanted the kinds of serious and deep changes that liberals have wanted for decades. It was 1933, and President Obama was the new FDR.
That illusion explains perfectly the great shock-wave felt by liberals and the media over the results of last week’s unprecedented election. As Mead puts it, “They were fundamentally misreading the mood of the country.” Their great arrogance, however, prevents them from comprehending this reality. As Mead writes:
They did not perceive just how wrong they were; nor did they understand how the error undermined the logical case they wanted to make in favor of a bigger role for government guided by smart, well-credentialed liberal wonks. Give us more power because we understand the world better than you do, was the message. We are so smart, so well-credentialed, so careful to read all the best papers by all the certified experts that the recommendations we make and the regulations we write, however outlandish and burdensome they look to all you non-experts out there, are certain to work. Trust us because we are always right, and only fools and charlatans would be so stupid as to disagree.
A good warning to them from a top-notch liberal intellectual, albeit one who gets it. How come there are so few of these rare liberal intellectuals like Mead and William Galston? These men stand alone as among the small number who so easily comprehend what the public at large knows from their own experience — that you cannot trust our future to those in power who believe they alone have the right and the duty to orchestrate the American economy because of what they think is their superior wisdom. Just yesterday I sat at dinner with a man in a big city government office who is likely to be the next mayor of this major American center. I listened as he told us how Paul Krugman is right, and that we need a major new government stimulus because the one that failed simply wasn’t large enough. I felt like thrusting Mead’s comments in his hand.
Perhaps the problem is that, as Stanley Kurtz suggests in his new book, Barack Obama is ideologically a socialist. One liberal who evidently thinks this might be the case is none other than the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch. Writing on his blog the other day, Koch asks the following question:
Will the Democratic Party learn from the drubbing and loss of one house? Probably not, but hope springs eternal. Maybe Democrats will take a hint and begin moving to a moderate left position, pulling back from their heretofore more radical left position which they prefer to call “progressive.”
Koch has been around for a long time, and he remembers when that term was the euphemism used by Communist fellow-travelers to define themselves. Thus he explains that to him, it means “several degrees to the left of liberal.” He calls himself a “liberal with sanity,” a term he created to try and put himself apart from those other far leftists who pretended to be old fashioned liberals. Referring to the late Congresswoman Bella Abzug, a person who single-handedly defined what a fellow-traveler or a secret CP member was, Koch calls her a “person who came from a radical left background” and dubbed herself a “progressive” to try and make her politics both seem reasonable and to “convey that they were the cutting edge.”
Then, Koch writes a most striking paragraph, which I find most revealing. He writes the following, soon after the passage in which he brings up Abzug as a Democrat whom he believes personifies the worst elements in his own political home:
Above all else, the president should make clear to the public that he sees the Democratic Party not as a vehicle for socialism(my emphasis), but as a vehicle to implement fairness and justice in the mold of social democrats who believe in our capitalist economic system, with rigorous but not onerous regulations to protect the public in all spheres of public intercourse and commerce, allowing people to rise in our society according to their abilities and at the same time provide a safety net for those who need a helping hand.
To that I give a hearty amen, with one proviso: This is the position of a moderate centrist Republican, and not that of any Democrat who is active in today’s world. It is quite akin to that of the senator-elect from West Virginia, outgoing governor of that state, Joe Manchin. A man who ran opposing ObamaCare, cap and trade, and virtually the entire Obama agenda, he, like Koch, is actually closer to what most Republicans favor than most Democrats today. Manchin is thus reportedly being urged by his Republican colleagues in the Senate to consider switching parties after he is inaugurated as senator next week, a rumor that Manchin fervently denies. According to Roll Call, some Republicans “speculated that Manchin could be floating this rumor to send a message to the Senate Democratic leadership that he will not be able to vote with the Conference on key issues, as well as to attempt to scare off any potential top-tier Republican challengers.”
Whatever his reasons, everyone in his state knows that the only reason he won is that Manchin moved away from past Democratic positions he once held, such as support for Obama’s health care agenda, and echoed mainstream Republican criticisms of it. He and Ed Koch can persist in calling themselves the real Democrats, liberals with sanity, but even they must realize how isolated they are, and how far removed they remain from their brethren.
I adamantly reject “third way” economic doctrines. The free market ideas of Ludwig Von Mises and Friedrich Hayek are actually far more successful in providing the poor with a safety net. But let’s put this debate to the side for the time being. We should all agree that today’s Democratic Party has gone off the ideological rails. It has been captured body and soul by non-violent radical activists. Their control is so thorough that a new party probably has to be started immediately. These left-wing ideologues are not going anywhere. Ed Koch And Martin J. Sklar are marginalized individuals. Old style Democrats can never go home again. Their eviction notices were final and cannot be appealed.
Given the past history of many of the backers of the modern left I wouldn’t call them non violent, and Ted Ralls has said that since the election rejected the leftist agenda it is time for them to consider using violence.
Ron, thank you, thank you…a million times, thank you.
I love Ed Koch. I love Joe Lieberman. I would love JFK if he were alive today.
Koch is wrong about Republicans. That’s a grossly unfair stereotype. They are very generous and giving, much moreso than the Pocket Media allows to be seen.
The center-right and the center-left have more in common than any other two groups in American political philosophy currently. And…we can talk to each other, debate, reason with each other.
The country is center-right, I’m convinced of it. On social issues, it actually drifts a little left. But the Democrats have been hijacked. If Koch ran for office, he would get the full Lieberman treatment. The center left has lost their voice. And, the runaway, rampant, unchecked, radical, extreme leftism must be stopped. It is the single greatest threat to this land of ours, bar none.
Again, thank you, Ron. This was a beautiful and necessary essay. Bravo.
I am uneasy with the commonly used terms “centrist” or “moderate” anything. These are feel-good words that imply that a happy medium or compromise have been negotiated by the more rational of us. But not all conflict can be reconciled, and the notion of moderation is too vague to be useful, for it allows anyone to project their own beliefs into policies and programs. I wrote about this rhetorical ploy here:
http://clarespark.com/2010/11/06/moderate-men-falling-down/. Also, on the subject of JFK, widely considered a “moderate”, I shake with fear when I remember this line from his inaugural speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” This is a whiff of state-worship at its protofascist worst. In a democratic republic, the individual, not the state/country, is the locus of value and moral judgment.
The “center left” had their chance to stand firm and instead allowed themselves to be bullied into supporting Obamacare. They didn’t “lose their voice” so much as give it up willingly. If they stood with the Republicans in support of healthcare legislation that didn’t involve so many new taxes and regulations and a God-awful mandate, the center left would still be well-represented in Congress. As it is, the Democratic Party is now a much smaller tent than it was on November 1st and moderate Democrats must be in a fit of rage over the hijacking of their party by the progressives.
No, they are not. Anything is as good as anything else.
They aren’t misreading the election. They aren’t that stupid.
From their perspective, they have two more years to wield the wrecking ball, so why should they stop now? If they acknowledge what they absolutely know to be true, it would imply that they intend to overrule the will of the people.
And the last thing they would ever do is tell the truth.
“If the Left ever told us what they actually intend to do, no one would vote for them!”
It should be evident to all who have watched this administration and Congress, that they were not the least bit concerned about what the American public wanted or thought. The left had control of all three branches of government, which allowed them to push their, statist agenda. That is what they did and intended to do. In their minds, the opportunity to do so might not come again for a long time. The time was ripe to enact into law as much of the statist agenda as possible, the American people be damned.
The left also reasoned, that once their agenda was law, it would be difficult if not impossible to reverse.
The nonviolent aspects of the takeover of the Democratic Party bewildered Ed Koch and his buddies. They naively believed that only bomb throwers and murderers were genuine threats. Many of the activists who captured the reins of power might have never been in a fist fight even during their early teen years. These are people who feel far more comfortable choosing a good bottle of wine, or finding a great museum to visit. Attending a PBS fundraiser could also make their to-do list. Throwing a Molotov cocktail at police during a protest march, however, does not interest them in the slightest. The soft totalitarian Cass Sunstein may best represent their mindset. He does not desire to kill you. Sunstein’s goal is simply to “nudge” you into compliance. He only wants to make you into a better person.
“Give us more power because we understand the world better than you do, was the message. We are so smart, so well-credentialed, etc., etc.”
Mead’s characterization would have to be several shades more subtle even to qualify as a straw-man.
“For such a movement for liberty to emerge, it will take some moderate centrist Democrats, like Ed Koch, Senator elect Manchin and others, to switch parties and become Republicans.”
Ed Koch in the GOP??? How pathetically out of touch. Don’t you know that the RINOs are being marginalized? Don’t you read PJM? It’s moderate centrists who should be joining the Dems.
“…all modern societies contain within themselves both elements of capitalism and socialism.”
You might as well say “capitalism and fascism.” Don’t you read Ron Radosh?
“And the second part calling for volume drug discounts, never had a chance since the administration cut a deal with the drug companies in exchange for their not opposing the Obamacare proposals.”
Whoa! Are you signaling that the GOP is now calling for Medicare volume drug discounts? This is BIG news! Back when Bush was pushing his Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, negotiating prices with the drug companies was not permitted. As Wikipedia notes, “Congressman Billy Tauzin, R-La., who steered the bill through the House, retired soon after and took a $2 million a year job as president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the main industry lobbying group.”
‘And while in Indonesia, the President sought to use his bully pulpit not to condemn radical Islam — but instead, join the chorus of the anti-Israel clique by condemning Israel for proposing so-called “settlements” in east Jerusalem….’
The “anti-Israel clique” includes such prominent Israelis as the novelist David Grossman, who objects to the displacement of Palestinians in Jerusalem as well as the recent resumption of building.
The “anti-Israel clique” includes such prominent Israelis as the novelist David Grossman, who objects to the displacement of Palestinians in Jerusalem as well as the recent resumption of building.
In the Ground Zero mosque debate, didn’t Obama tell us it was perfectly legal for people to build whatever they want on “their own land”? Unfortunately, nobody covered the part where he turned to the world & chuckled, “Except for Israel.”
Great analysis, Mr. Radosh. I even learned something new: Walter Russell Mead’s a liberal?! Some of the stuff he writes is so lucid and erudite that it reads more like a conservative critique of world affairs and not that of a liberal.
Ed Koch, Pat Caddell, Doug Schoen, Dan Gerstein, Walter Russell Mead, Lynn de Rothschild, William Galston; talk about a dying breed. In very much the same way that moderate Islam can only defeat radical Islam, moderate Democrats can only defeat radical Democrats.
What one of the parties needs to do is say, “we believe Social Security, Medicare and a strong national defense are absolute priorities. We have heard the American people, and we will do everything to keep them solvent and relevant in the future.”
That means not creating new entitlements, and it means raising taxes and cutting benefits (probably raising the retirement age.)
Why no one can be honest about what needs to be done to save America’s favorite entitlements… is interesting. Everyone knows we are broke, but almost everyone wants to keep SS and Medicare.
Everyone knows we are broke, but almost everyone wants to keep SS and Medicare.
I saw this same idea expressed very cleverly a few years back: “Everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die”.
In a nutshell, we all want to have our cake and eat it too, even though we know, deep down, that it isn’t possible.
The biggest problem with “Socialist” programs in the Western world with reality checks is that there is NEVER, EVER an “Opt-Out” option implemented for those of us who do NOT want to pool our money into the “socialist bull-caca” and it usually has a ponzi-scheme stink to it (i.e., government hoping you’ll never live long enough to ‘collect’ on said benefits, not to mention government spending your ‘said’ benefits via theft and IOUs).
There should be an opt-in for folks who want it and an Opt-OUT for folks who don’t and a REFUND with INTEREST paid to those who have already paid into the system who want OUT permanently.
There is no such thing as FREEDOM if you are FORCED against your will to pay into a socialist program you want NO part of (including the effing 0bamacare scum-slime-puke).
*just dreaming out loud*
Delia, I’m Canadian and I believe we do have opt-outs for SOME people in our Canadian social systems. There are some long-established religious communities in this country, like the Amish and the Mennonites, that are apparently exempted from many social programs: they neither pay into them nor are they allowed to collect from them. I belived that these communities do not pay into our Canada Pension Plan and education systems and they don’t collect from those systems either. At least that’s what I remember teachers telling us back in school many years ago. Naturally, that could have changed in the meantime without my necessarily noticing it. So it DOES seem to be possible to set up these programs so that they aren’t universal, even if it isn’t done very often.
Henry, I’ve always wondered why the Canadian people don’t rise up and demand an end to their socialized medical system and the adoption of the US model. Same in Western Europe, Israel … most everywhere it seems. In PJM awhile back, Roger Kimball gleefully announced that Britain was “dismantling” its National Health Service, but – lo and behold! – the new Conservative government, which is slashing everything in sight, is actually raising the NHS budget. (In earlier years, even Margaret Thatcher assured voters that the NHS was “in good hands” with her government). Makes you wonder.
I like Mayor Koch very much as he harkens back to the days of the Scoop Jackson Democrat, or the Harry Truman Democrat, my kind of Democrat. But, I really don’t care to have the Republican Party become a vehicle to implement fairness and justice in the mold of social democrats, thanks. That’s far too close to the European model (in fact, one might say it is the European model) and we all know where that leads. For all practical purposes, it seems, “social democracy” is, indeed, a stealth socialist strategy meant to advance…towards a statist socialism.
And anyone who once supported ObamaCare, at the very least in its conception, would be willing to support it again if given what he deemed sufficient cosmetic tweaking.
I know you will continue to sell the idea that the Big Tent Republican party needs to bring Democrats like Koch and Manchin into the fold, Mr. Radosh, and I know there are plenty of inside-the-Beltway Republicans who agree with you. I, on the other hand, prefer they remain Democrats, hopefully operating in a minority. It’s Democrats after all, not Republicans, who need to come around to their way of thinking.
There are two distinct strategies. The first wants a big tent so that there is no real fight. This strategy means compromising basic principles and will suffer the same fate as all other such compromises – it will just make the day of reckoning that much worse.
The second wants to use basic principles to win the fight and attract to its cause anybody who believes in those principles and wants the stated outcomes. This strategy is prepared to cut supporters some slack after the fight but not before. The former is the strategy of nice losers, the second is the strategy of determined winners.
Today’s Democratic Party has little in common with its former self. Truman, Kennedy and Scoop Jackson – liberal but “muscular” Democrats who believed in free markets and American exceptionalism – would have no place in today’s party. That should have been clear when the party threw Joe Lieberman under a bus a few years ago.
David Thompson nailed it.
The current crop are radical Marxist socialists – the word “liberal” doesn’t even register with these people. They are a “movement” and they think they are unstoppable; where in fact they are not…they’re delusional. Add to this the complete and utter ignorance of the involvement of Soros et all in the mix. I’ve been folloing Soros for years, he’s a troubled man and when i saw Glenn Beck trying to inform us about him I was very pleased. The scariest part is not George himself…his buddies in the Club of Rome are dedicated to the same purposes, but that’s another story.
Republicans and regular Liberals are also delusional if they think that they can “negotiate” and play political games with these people…In the words of many an old swordsman, “The only way to stop a determined knife attacker is to lop off his head.”
This whole scenario is very telling in that subversive operatives (moles) have been allowed to infiltrate the highest levels of government; and just like real ‘moles’ (the animal) they surface when conditions are favourable and the ground through which they dig is soft enough. So filled are they (radicals) with euphoria at the prospect of subjugating our country that they have surfaced a little to soon and tipped their hand for all that want to see…emphasis on WANT.
We should be ashamed…we have willfully participated in corruption and allowed this to happen…we wanted a ‘king’ and we got one…the most radical president ever to reside in the WH. FDR pales in comparison.
Pointing out the woes of socialism is old hat, and it’s getting boring. Regurgitating the woes of statism is old hat…we need leadership that can articulate the vision of the founders and the “why” of the Constitution, when approaching a solution to anything…Seldom, if ever, have I seen any politician prefacing any proposed changes in policies by giving those proposals a hisotric perspective and a constitutional basis; using it as a teachable moment in order to inform the conscience of the listener.
Had to get that off my chest!
Ronald Radosh and Ed Koch were young adults during the tumultuous 1960s. They directly dealt with violent revolutionaries. These thugs, on a practical level, were similar to the hard cop screaming and yelling at the suspect while the nonviolent activist played the role of the warm and easy going soft cop. It was easy to be seduced into thinking the nonviolent leftists did not pose much of a threat. This was a disastrous mistake. An incredible amount of harm has been done to this country by people who rarely, if ever, raise even a finger in anger.
“Whatever his reasons, everyone in his state knows that the only reason he won is that Manchin moved away from past Democratic positions he once held, such as support for Obama’s health care agenda, and echoed mainstream Republican criticisms of it.”
Blue Dog Democrats. Center left Democrats. Conservative Democrats. Centrist Democrats. All of it is lies, lies, lies, lies, and lies. Obama RAN on the platform that he was a “centrist” Democrat. Remember that lie? He SWORE that he wasn’t a liberal in order to get the independent vote. How’s that working out for you people? Obama isn’t even close to being like Clinton, let alone being a “centrist.” In the end, all of these “Blue Dog” Democrats all voted for EVERYTHING Obama wanted, from Obamacare, to stimulus, to bailouts, to big, bloated budgets loaded with earmarks. In the end, they all know what party they’re working for and will vote with them when the chips are down. Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson are classic examples of how worthless the title of “Blue Dog” Democrat is. And now, because of their lies, Blanche Lincoln is out of a job and Ben Nelson will lose his in 2012.
Will Manchin do the same? Of course he will. Even on Cap and Trade, Manchin will work out some sort of deal to spare his state the brunt of the effects of the bill, thereby screwing the rest of the country. Then he will happily vote with the other Democrats on the bill. Ben Nelson did the same thing with Obamacare and the “Cornhusker kickback.” Then Nelson went on to vote for Obamacare even though the people in his own state didn’t want it. That is exactly what Manchin will do with Cap and Trade.
If these so-called “conservative” Democrats really are that conservative, they should join the Republican Party. If not, then they’re not serious about being conservative and are only saying that to get elected in a conservative state. In the end, almost all of them voted for Obama’s complete agenda, so what these “conservative” Democrats say is worthless. Don’t trust ANY of them.
“Blue Dog Democrats. Center left Democrats. Conservative Democrats. Centrist Democrats. All of it is lies, lies, lies, lies, and lies.”
Yep, the GOP is just the place for a guy like Koch.
I don’t really want pro-American dems to leave the party. I want them to retake control of the party and marginalize the leftists. Two parties at odds with one another over policy is a good thing in my opinion. What isn’t good is having two parties one of which ignores or despises the Constitution, ignores or villifies the men who founded this nation (the least of whom is a better man than any current leftist big shot), and disparages the traditions, hopes and moral foundations of the people. The anti-American left needs to be purged from positions of power within the democrat party and men like Koch and Manchin may be the ones to do it.
Amen.
It would be very much in the interests of the nation as a whole if the Democratic Party, under the influence of men like Koch, could reshape itself into a much more pro-American force. By “pro-American” I mean respectful of our Foundation and federalism; appreciative of our Western heritage; and less hostile toward the majority of Americans, whom the current party leadership so often dismisses as knuckle-dragging bigots.
These days I feel like Bill Bailey in the old socialist anti-communist song who “belonged to every radical party that ever came to be, Till he finally decided to start his own party so he wouldn’t disagree.” The chorus is: “You may be a comrade to all of them boys, But you ain’t no comrade of mine.”
In a very important sense the American political parties have become Europeanized, ideological in a way that historically they have not been. One of the unfortunate byproducts of last week’s election is that there are a lot fewer moderate Democrats.
So if the Republicans had had more people like William Scranton, John Chafee, or Michigan’s own long-time governor, William Milliken, I’d consider becoming a Republican. But they don’t, not in appreciable numbers. If the Democrats had room for someone like Sam Nunn, Scoop Jackson, or Hubert Humphrey I wouldn’t have left them. So while I am a former Democrat I am not a nascent Republican. Nor do I see a broadly-based and moderate party or grouping in the offing in the foreseeable future.
Libertyship46 does make a point that Obama’s supporters simply ignore and will generally deny if you make it–whatever the merits of his policies and overall approach, he ran specifically as a centrist, he portrayed himself during the campaign as something he manifestly is not. This could have been predicted easily if the media had made even a swipe at pretending to be fair, let alone objective.
Meanwhile a liberal acquaintance, when I made some of the above points, sneered, “You mean if it came down to it you’d vote for Palin over Obama?” My response was, “Without a moment’s hesitation.” And this was based as much on foreign and defense policy as anything else; for obvious reasons foreign policy played no real role in the last campaign but Obama’s has the potential for bringing real disaster.
Ron – Interesting article but there are several points I need to note. The idea of helping the helpless is self-defeating. That is because the more you help the helpless the more helpless you will have to help. For example, the 30 million Americans without medical insurance can easily morph into 100 million Americans as some insurance companies abandon the market and others raise premiums as costs go up due to “Obamacare.”(The iron law of economics: subsidize something and you get more of it; tax something and you get less of it.) A second idea is that Medicare is helpful. Medicare is the main reason why medical costs have increased so markedly. When Medicare was first established, some long term estimates of costs were made. Now I don’t remember the year, but it was sometime in the 1980s when actual Medicare costs adjusted for inflation were 4 times the original estimate for that year! Somehow, no one figured that lowering the costs would increase the demand beyond the available supply. Finally, the idea that Social Security is a good thing has to abandoned. Social Security is a ponzi scheme and will eventually run out of money unless taxes are raised or the retirement age is raised. Indeed, Social Security exemplifies what is wrong with socialism. You eventually run out of other people’s money to spend.
We’ve all heard the so called ideological argument that ‘I didn’t leave the GOP, the GOP left me.’ in the past from congressmen and senators that felt the democratic party held closer to the principles (and those actually turned out to be socialist in most cases) that ‘they’ believed in and left the GOP to join a party that even at that time was in the hands of the socialists. IMHBLO, there is no longer a “democratic” party, only shills for Marxism. The GOP is not a great difference better with the likes of John McCain who paved the way for Soros’ present attack on America with the legalizing of 501c3′s in the McCain/Feingold ACT. But presently, the GOP is the best chance we have for recovering America as we knew her.
They mistook hopes and fantasies for reality.
They did not perceive just how wrong they were; nor did they understand how the error undermined the logical case they wanted to make in favor of a bigger role for government guided by smart, well-credentialed liberal wonks.
An administration elected with a mandate to stabilize the country misread the political situation and came to the belief that the country wanted the kinds of serious and deep changes that liberals have wanted for decades.
These are all mistakes that people who insulate themselves in the public sector and never get any experience in the private sector make.
Ihave A Problem With Switching Parties,In Midstream.After you Promised those that voted for you,You Would Be A member of that Party,As well Caucaus With that party.I didn’t Like it When Benedict Arlin Spector.Betrayed those who Trusted him.(FOOLS RUSH IN)Or Others like;Charlie(I’LL BE YOUR JUDAS ISCARIOT)Crist.Everyone of these Turncoats Knew their parties basic party platform,And Ideaological bent going In.Now when they see A life Raft to save their Political Careers.They Suddenly Act Surprised.This Is The Kind Of Screw the voters,Now that I have Power,Insanity everyone said their sick Of.But now embrace when its our turn for payback revenge.Lowering Ourselfs to the backstabbing Standards Of Them.First of All their is no such thing as a moderate In Politics.Moderates.Stand for nothing,And will fall for anything.Even radical leftist Stand up for what they believe.Even If It Is Discusting,And Illegal In Most Civil,And Ethical Consciences.Moderates Are The Poster Child Advertisement,For what to look for In A traitor.Now we want to stack the republican party with more of these turncoats,Right After we just put some of them out to pasture.like Bob Bennett,From Utah,And Hopefully Soon,The rest of the Lindsey Grahamnesty,Turncoat regimes?At some time folks we have to stand for something other than the lesser of two evils,And Money,And Power For Power Sake.We the People with this kind of Somebody Screwed me,Now I Get to Screw Somebody else,That did nothing to me.To Satisfy,And Justify,Myself.To punish somebody else who never did nothing to me.Just to exalt my will,And power over somebody else.Mentality.Becoming exactly what we say we Hate,About others.When they do It To us.Revenge for Revenge Sake.At some time there has to be An Expectation from ourselves to our leaders.That you Dance with the one’s that brought you,not with the ones who bought you.Or this chaotic nightmare of betrayal,And deception will just continue,until their is no america to vote In.Jimmy Joe/”The Liarfryer
The take-over of the Democratic Party by a gang of radical socialists is not headed by Obama.
Obama is a psychological socialist; that is, he’s ‘in there’ because he psychologically needs to control and dominate others. His agenda is all about himself. He ought to have been left with this need, in a local area, where he could affect only the local and cause the least harm. The radical gang brought him in as their assumed charismatic upfront salesman…and he’s getting to be a problemm for them.
The real drivers of this radical socialist agenda are the unelected George Soros – who is attempting to use the US as a foothold on his world domination strategy…and the elected types like Pelosi, Reid, Franks etc, who are in this set for the money and the power. Pelosi, for example, wants both the personal money but also, the money for California.
That is, neither Obama nor the Gang are in it for the pure ideology; they use socialism as a tool for themselves; they have their own power agendas. So, it is a mistake to totally focus on the viability of ideology, to say that socialism is dysfunctional in any and all societies; that capitalism can provide the safety net; that maybe a blend is better. Certainly these should be articulated and explained so that these people will be unable to hide behind the ideology.
But we have to understand that those who are currently in power are not working according to these ideologies but according to their own agendas. These have to be brought into the public eye and into the open discourse.
You’ve nailed it on Obama. It’s me-ism to the 100th power. But he probably has grabbed more control than they ever thought he could.
And you’ve also nailed it on the other ism’s. It isn’t about an ideology at all. They probably sneer at the ideology behind closed doors. It’s a strategy to acquire and maintain absolute power, and it’s based on a complex scam that has been worked out since it became clear that the hammer and scycle form of totalitarianism can’t stand up to free societies. Ergo, they undermine and coopt free societies rather than confront them head-on.
I expect that for the real theorists behind this (and there probably aren’t many), the November election is viewed as the most catastrophic event, at least, since the election of Reagen. They have never been this close before. Just based on the preening the last two years, they thought they had it. And to have it snatched away before they could fully control the raw physical power of the United States has to be a cruel blow.
Of course, they won’t quit, and the game is hardly over.
It will never be over, because Soron-like vermin will always be with us.
I don’t believe for a moment many “misread” the mood of the electorate. That’s just an adolescent’s excuse for something far more evil. By hanging their hats on ignorance, they can still pretend what they have done was innocent. They knew damned good and well that what they proposed to do was anathema to most Americans. THEY DID IT ANYWAY. And now they declare themselves shocked! But they got it done and the hindsight BS is a cover. That’s about as truthful as Billy Bob Clinton telling the Dems they had to get health care passed because they would lose without it. With his wife standing in the wings ready to capitalize on the fallout. As far as Eddie Koch is concerned, he is a knee jerk Democrat/Liberal. He talks a good game, and he can feint and dodge with the best of them, but when the chips are down, he blows leftward. Nine times out of ten. Surely you saw his column endorsing Obama contained Eddie’s breathless support because Obama would overturn the gay marriage ban? THAT WAS IMPORTANT TO THIS ALTER COCKER????? He is a has been with a big mouth who doesn’t know when to shut it and leave the scene with dignity. His feud and hatred of Guiliani is the stuff of a jealous, petty little tyrant, and he an ego that is wholly unjustified by the actions of the man. He has become grotesque in his dotage.
Good for you, Scythe. I want to run this by you. Do you think it sufficient to say that Clinton was lying when he was trying to persuade Dems to vote for Obamacare? Now don’t get me wrong, we know, and he knows, he was lying.
He was also, though, being “true” to his radical roots. Clinton for all his triangulation is still radical left. His thinking is still influenced by his radical younger years. In fact, its obvious.
So taking his lying and his radical roots into account, I think this gives us a complete accounting for Clinton’s trying to get Dems to vote for Obama Care.
Again Scythe, thanks.
Yes, Lawrence, I do. Think about it. A political animal like Clinton tells them to do something, or else? And what he tells them to vote for is their undoing? And he and his wife have been plotting for years to get back on the throne? It’s a wonder no one else saw this immediately and did the opposite. They never connected the dots. But what did they do? The trusted him and followed him off the cliff. Then they continue to trust him as he turns up here and there like the Godfather bestowing the blessings of his magnificence on all and sundry. They are still being fooled. But they are democrats after all. Not a species known for its intelligence.
What a ridiculous thought that welcoming any so-called moderate Democrat into the Republican party will somehow have us all singing kum by ya. The other side is playing for keeps sparky. This isn’t a chess match between gentleman. The feigning of ignorance on the left’s part about Obama and the agenda at hand is a total lie. The “BIG” lie as it were. These “progressives” must be smashed in detail until no trace is left in American society. Otherwise my grand children will fight this war again. There will be zero compromise by real American patriots. What the Republicans fail to grasp (McConnell et al) is that if they will not do the job, we will do what needs to be done as others before us have done. ANY compromise with Progressives will lead to political war in this country. Mark my words here……the far left is not done yet….civil disobedience to follow shortly…..
“What a ridiculous thought that welcoming any so-called moderate Democrat into the Republican party will somehow have us all singing kum by ya. … These “progressives” must be smashed in detail until no trace is left in American society. … There will be zero compromise by real American patriots.”
Yep, the GOP is just the place for a guy like Koch.
Hmm!, I wonder why Ron Radosh would want left liberals like Koch to become Republicans. I can’t see how that will help the Republican Party. But I can see how it might help Ron Radosh.
If liberal Democrats move to the center, than Ron can become a Liberal Democrat again and his world is safer as he makes sure no Liberals are too angry with him. With the entire country rejecting the Democratic party lock, stock and barrel, and reviving the terms Conservative Constitutional Republicanism, poor Ron can’t shill for Liberals just now because they are considered bad bad bad. But if they clean themselves up and they are no longer bad bad bad, then Ron can start shilling again.
Ron Radosh is at his best when he is being the Peter Beinart on political category positioning.
Lets see, the Republican Leadership thinks turning some Liberal Democrats, who ran and won their elections by pretending to be Centrists or Conservatives, into Republicans is a good idea. Is it not bad enough that some Liberals run as Republicans in Liberal State elections simply because they are not seen by their Liberal electorate as Liberal enough to win as a Dem (RINO’s)? The bigger the tent, the more crap that needs to be shoveled out, not brought in. The middle right “IS” the big tent in America. The 24% of Liberals make up the small tent; they just screech the loudest so they get the Media and Government grease.
I’ve been hearing a lot lately that Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Clinton (Hillary and Bill) and all the other Democrats that support them in their big government efforts are all ‘tone-deaf’ or that they ‘don’t get it’. I believe however that those two observations are completely incorrect. They are not ‘tone deaf’ they simply don’t care what their detractors are saying. It’s not that they ‘don’t get it’ they really do get it. They know exactly what they are doing. They are self-proclaimed believers in ‘Progressivism’ which is a warm and fuzzy word that pretty much means Totalitarianism. Progressives have been around in the United States for a really long time.
For example, Margaret Sanger (the founder of American Birth Control League now called Planned Parenthood Federation of America) was a Progressive.
“The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics.”
Margaret Sanger. “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” Birth Control Review, October 1921, page 5
“We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”
Margaret Sanger’s December 19, 1939 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, 255 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. Original source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1976.
These quotes show the dates that this particular Progressive was active and they also illustrate the sickness that infects the mind of a Progressive. Margaret Sanger’s views from the 20′s are alive and well in the Progressive movement still today through Planned Parenthood.
All of the various progressive ideals (whether it is Eugenics through birth control or big government ‘at any cost’) are still being pushed for strongly today. Indeed, even more strongly today because America is at a crossroads. We have been brought to this point over the last 100 +/- years through a campaign called incrementalism. We are so close to the point of no return that the above-mentioned Progressives and their minions can taste it. They will push as much of their agenda through as possible with the hopes that their big government advances (like Obamacare) will be virtually impossible to get rid of once it is installed (like Social Security, etc). Sure they may not get the chance to do this again for 20 years – but they have been at it for nearly 100 years already. They’re patient. After all they only have to get ‘lucky’ with their constant pushing toward big government once in order to get something like Obamacare rammed through and they can try as often as they like. Meanwhile, those of us that want freedom and liberty have to constantly defend against their repeated assaults. We are at a point right now were we are choosing whether we want to go left toward Progressive Totalitarianism or to the right toward liberty and freedom.
The mid-term was a very heartening change of pace and I sincerely hope that America has started heading down the road to the right. The 2012 elections will be supremely important to the salvation of this Representative Republic.
I hope the voters don’t go back to sleep.
Reagan Democrats and Kennedy democrats are watching how Obama, Pelosi and Reid are taking their party to a path to appeasement and socialism. I predict many of these “blue dogs” will join the Republican Party before the 2012 judgement day.
there are no moderate democrats
what do you call a moderate democrat? a rino
Just as the nation starts to purge the Leftist cancer eating us from within, Radosh wants to lard the side doing the purging with more RINOs who will certainly short-circuit the process.
Funny. Not the ha-ha kind.
“Just as the nation starts to purge the Leftist cancer eating us from within, Radosh wants to lard the side doing the purging with more RINOs who will certainly short-circuit the process.”
Yep, the GOP is just the place for a guy like Koch.
If you bring the “moderate” Democrats into the Republicans you will end up with more go along to get along politicians letting us be forced into slavery. The non violent left has been used by the violent left and in the next 2 years we will see a lot more calls for the left to take to the streets in demonstrations and resort to terror tactics to scare the voters into supporting them. There are already calls for protests and terrorism from leftists and these calls will increase when the new Congress don’t go along with Obama.
Reps Dems…it’s all the same. They all take too much of my money, and produce too little with it. The only difference is who they give my money to.
You want to fix things? Stop the two party system. For a party that more closely follows our founding father’s intentions see http://www.lp.org for libertarians (fiscally conservative, socially moderate) or http://www.constitutionparty.org for the constitutionalists (fiscally conservative, socially conservative).
I could live with either of these two parties in charge. You would fare better too.
Conservatives need to refute this idiot meme that anyone who collects SS or Medicare or supports the systems has implicitly supported socialism.
Maybe with a clean slate that would have a semblance of an argument. But for anybody who has paid hundreds of thousands into those programs to reject them and get…nothing…is insanity. We didn’t have a choice. It is our own money. Damn straight we want it back. And no amount of lying weasling liberal clap trap is going to twist getting our own money back into socialism.
Another big mistake is to allow SS and Medicare payments to be called “benefits” or “entitlements”. They are a return of investment of what we paid in, and a very poor return at that. A “benefit” is something you didn’t pay for. You can’t pay yourself an “entitlement”.
As usual, the criminals attempt to commandeer the language to hide the pea under the shell, and twist reality to get people to agree to a false premise that wins the argument before the discussion begins. Don’t fall for the ruse.
A very thoughtful article. The chickens may be coming home to roost for democrats. I wonder whether the country is going to turn against them even more in 2012 than they did in this recent election. As the problems with federal spending get worse, the democrats will have a hard time adapting to the new reality of less spending and smaller government. Maybe the party will be destroyed?
Good LORD…haven’t we enough sell-outs and traitors in the republican party? Why do we have to begin IMPORTING more??!!!
Im afraid that there wasnt much if any movement in the Jewish vote.
Dont hold your breath.
What a surprise! Well, as I said before the election, when Jews are exposed to right-wingnut michigas, their reaction is, Feh! Treif! Here’s the latest, from Tablet:
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/50097/time-warp/
Ann Coulter once said, “if Libertarians had any brains they’d BECOME Republicans”. What she really meant was they should PRETEND to be Republicans because the Libertarians can’t win as a voting block. Not after Ron Paul got 0.01% of the vote in 1988.
And so now, over 2 decades later Ann’s dream has come true! Libertarians are now pretending to be Republicans. Maybe she can convince some Democrats to PRETEND to be Republicans too.
Before long the whole damned Republican Party will be made up from RINOS that are just pretending to be Republicans.
So thats what they mean by “destroy for within”.
Democrats switching to the GOP?
That sounds like the next wave of big government, big spending RINO’s to me, at
a time when we need more conservatives to right our badly listing ship.
I’ve been hearing a lot lately that Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Clinton (Hillary and Bill) and all the other Democrats that support them in their big government efforts are all ‘tone-deaf’ or that they ‘don’t get it’. I believe however that those two observations are completely incorrect. They are not ‘tone deaf’ they simply don’t care what their detractors are saying. It’s not that they ‘don’t get it’ they really do get it. They know exactly what they are doing.
They are self-proclaimed believers in ‘Progressivism’ which is a warm and fuzzy word that pretty much means Totalitarianism. Progressives have been around in the United States for a really long time.
For example, Margaret Sanger (the founder of American Birth Control League now called Planned Parenthood Federation of America) was a Progressive.
“The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics.” (Margaret Sanger. “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” Birth Control Review, October 1921, page 5)
“We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” (Margaret Sanger’s December 19, 1939 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, 255 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. Original source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1976.)
These quotes show the dates that this particular Progressive was active and they also illustrate the sickness that infects the mind of a Progressive. Margaret Sanger’s views from the 20′s are alive and well in the Progressive movement still today through Planned Parenthood.
All of the various progressive agendas (whether it is Eugenics through birth control or big government ‘at any cost’) are still being pushed strongly today, indeed; even more strongly today because America is at a crossroads. We have been brought to this point over the last 100 +/- years through a campaign called incrementalism. We are so close to the point of no return that the above-mentioned Progressives and their minions can taste it. They will push as much of their agenda through as possible with the hopes that their big government advances (like Obamacare) will be virtually impossible to get rid of once it is installed (like Social Security, etc). Sure they may not get the chance to do this again for 20 years – but they have been at it for nearly 100 years already. They’re patient. After all they only have to get ‘lucky’ with their constant pushing toward big government once in order to get something like Obamacare rammed through and they can try as often as they like. Meanwhile, those of us that want freedom and liberty have to constantly defend against their repeated assaults. We are at a point right now were we are choosing whether we want to go left toward Progressive Totalitarianism or to the right toward liberty and freedom.
The mid-term was a very heartening change of pace and I sincerely hope that America has started heading down the road to the right. The 2012 elections will be supremely important to the salvation of this Representative Republic.
I hope the voters don’t go back to sleep.
Your non-historical articles are losing relevancy. This so-called mix you seem to approve of, how is it determined other than politically? And who knows what the proper mix is??? and to what end? I always fail to understand the reasoning that suggests that if the govt doesn’t do it all manner of cruelty will befall us all while never admitting that in the end, as a political solution, this unknown, ill defined mixed economy will be reached… well do I need to use the word – at the end of a gun???
It might be time for these gentlemen to leave their party, the Democratic Party …. but what has the Republican Party to gain from having these gentlemen as Republicans? In fact it would be a strategical error to even associate with these ‘sane’ Democrats. For one thing, if you are really ‘sane’ and/or competent to stand a trial, why would you *join* the Democratic party in the first place. The radical infusion of the Democratic party is not a new thing. They’ve been at it for at least as far back as Woodrow Wilson’s time. And it has been constantly on the rise. If after the sixties, you willingly go and join the Socialist/Fascist Party full of ‘Progressives’ and help them rule america, either you are stupid, insane, or evil.
i think its time for the libs to officially declare themselves as american communits
i think its time for rinos and other waffling moderates to become democrats
i think its time for conservatives and libertarians and principled republicans to become — republicans
the whole spectrum needs to be agreed upon
when the “center” is actually the left with a latte then we cant let the lefties dictate the terminology