Dear HCR; what I am reading from today's letter; The Republican Party no longer represents moderate conservatives, whether traditional Republicans or the conservative side of the large independent voter contingent (some have estimated independents to be as much as 40% of the electorate). Since you have to be a party member to run as a Re…
Dear HCR; what I am reading from today's letter; The Republican Party no longer represents moderate conservatives, whether traditional Republicans or the conservative side of the large independent voter contingent (some have estimated independents to be as much as 40% of the electorate). Since you have to be a party member to run as a Republican, where are the politically inclined amongst those moderate conservatives who can no longer abide the political label of Republican? There is clearly a progressive element in the Democratic party that wants to pull it's axis to the left, leaving a gaping hole in the center, center right and center left. What is a centrist, or someone whose political sensibilities hew closer to the center than the extremes? Our ballots are well protected, so how one votes may or may not follow party lines. Still, the large voting block that abhors being labeled by party is somewhat disenfranchised by a system where parties define almost all of the options for voting to any public office of interest to the major parties. Perhaps the only means to exercise the power of a centrist block of voters is a centrist Party. I always thought of myself as slightly conservative on the fiscal side and moderately liberal on the social side. Is that a paradox? Could one even find a centrist platform of such a gemish of political sentiments? I'm left to believe that the rich will always be able to care for themselves under almost any style of governance, so my vote belongs with the little people who need laws to protect them from exploitation. I want to be in the party that believes that opinions on either side of the center need to hammer out acceptable compromise in the business of making policy and law for the nation. That absolutely rules out the Republican party under McConnell, et. al. When one party refuses to sit down at the table, the other party is left somewhat powerless to enact anything other than absolute consensus issues, where an opponent other than one another is identified. I remain convinced that there is a large voting block of center-right voters who have to hold their nose when saying the R word, who would vote for less extremist candidates if they could. However, the moderates are all running scared for one of a number of reasons. Biden gambled on finding that silent center-right contingent amongst those with an R on their letter jackets; they either no longer exist in congress, or they're running so scared that they cave in to the Party megaphones. The gamble mostly failed in the 50:50 Senate. How is it POSSIBLE that tfg managed to lose the executive AND both houses of congress and STILL wield such power with what is clearly a minority of the electorate under his command? Money, braggadocio, mafiosa style politics is apparently enough to overpower the more ethical few.
I'm still looking for incontrovertible evidence that a block of disowned, disheartened center-right voters actually exists and that they might consider voting on the other side of center rather than continue to align with the radical right. That means of course, that the liberal side of center can't drift so far left as to be abhorrent to the centrists.
" I always thought of myself as slightly conservative on the fiscal side".
I have always been puzzled why people who considered themselves fiscally "conservative" or "responsible" voted Republican?? A true mystery.
Ronald Reagan, after lying about being a fiscal "conservative" added a massive TWO TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT (5.1 Trillion Dollars in todays dollars) during his 8 year gigantically irresponsible spending and tax cutting spree. Same thing with Bush II. GIGANTIC debt PLUS crashing the entire economy.
Same thing with Trump. His corporate tax cut added 4 TRILLION dollars to the National Debt.
Reagan began with a post WWII LOW in total government debt of around 1 Trillion.
Jimmy Carter had previously, for his four years, continued, like all Presidents since WWII in paying down the debt.
In fact, Jimmy Carter was the LAST fiscally responsible and conservative President of the post WWII era. The only other President that even tried to be responsible was Bill Clinton. He left office having turned Repuiblican's upward debt trajectory into a flat graph with very slight downward direction. But, Bush II saw that hint of responsibility immediately began massive debt spending on and off the books to reward Haliburton.
The Republicans and their lies about "cutting taxes will bring in more money to the treasury" are the very definition of IRRESPONSIBLE.
Yet, despite the data, to this day, people use their imagination to tell themselves lies that Republicans are fiscally responsible.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Just google the National Debt and overlay that graph with all Presidents since WW II. Easy to see that Republicans are out of control spenders and highly irresponsible.
But, people will "believe" what they want. Reality seems not to ever intrude on the Republican mind.
We don’t talk enough about how OPEC lowered production after Nixon took us off the gold standard. The oil shortages and high price of oil sunk the 70’s economy, and ruined Carter’s re-election campaign.
KISS. Keep it simple stupid .The original bumper sticker, brought to education. Followed by political affiations like Centrist or Independent or Conservative or Originalist or some other gingoist attribute that says it all and says nothing. My favorite now is Inflation, a measure of economic activity that some think government or Mr Biden should be blamed for. It is a complex measure of conditions influenced little by party or policy or fault assigned. Like daily stockmarket numbers that deal with investor perceived risk in publicly traded companies, it is a measure of churn, not a good measure of the economy. Aside from being the tail of a dog enjoyable to watch with an evening cocktail, I suggest inflation is a measure of the performance of capitalism and most affected by supply, demand, greed, and amoralism of those with a firm grip on capital. Simple in its beauty, able to fit on a label, and keeps us distracted while we feel smuggly all knowing as to our choice of who to blame or why 85% of people get screwed and struggle again to make ends meet and have their angst directed toward some batch of talking head politicians.
There's what one says and then there's what one does. Fiscally conservative should be about balanced budgets, debt reduction, restraint in spending on dubious social experiments, but also caution against unconstrained military spending. I'm obliged to avoid spending what I don't have or my income can't support. I don't see why the same principle shouldn't apply to our government. Personally I don't think there's a disconnect between fiscal responsibility and a socially liberal outlook. One simply shouldn't spend profligately, whether on guns OR butter.
I'm struck by a couple things that you say here. I believe that the axiom "the truth is in the middle" when talking about two "sides" to any "story" is pretty accurate (at least from my non-empirical research in interviewing witnesses to/parties involved in the variety of situations a street cop is asked to investigate.) Your post seems to say to me that there is a center body made up from elements to the right and left of a midline that is larger than either edge. Kind of like a bird, which really needs both of its wings to fly.
I have talked with far, far more men than women who identify themselves as "socially liberal and fiscally conservative" and what it boils down to is keeping their money while enjoying their personal liberty; I suspect that women being paid 77 cents on the dollar compared to men may have a bit to do with that, as does the responsibility for pregnancy and childbirth.
In one set of my friends and associates, I am a "raging liberal" while in another set of friends and associates I am a "hard-line conservative" while expressing THE SAME VIEWS AND OPINIONS. I believe I lean much harder to a liberal perspective, if one where women are equal to men in every regard is a "liberal", along with the funny notion that BIPoc and LGBTQ+ are equal to Cis Het White people is defined as liberal, and that a person's religion is their personal choice, and should not be foisted upon anyone else.
Dear HCR; what I am reading from today's letter; The Republican Party no longer represents moderate conservatives, whether traditional Republicans or the conservative side of the large independent voter contingent (some have estimated independents to be as much as 40% of the electorate). Since you have to be a party member to run as a Republican, where are the politically inclined amongst those moderate conservatives who can no longer abide the political label of Republican? There is clearly a progressive element in the Democratic party that wants to pull it's axis to the left, leaving a gaping hole in the center, center right and center left. What is a centrist, or someone whose political sensibilities hew closer to the center than the extremes? Our ballots are well protected, so how one votes may or may not follow party lines. Still, the large voting block that abhors being labeled by party is somewhat disenfranchised by a system where parties define almost all of the options for voting to any public office of interest to the major parties. Perhaps the only means to exercise the power of a centrist block of voters is a centrist Party. I always thought of myself as slightly conservative on the fiscal side and moderately liberal on the social side. Is that a paradox? Could one even find a centrist platform of such a gemish of political sentiments? I'm left to believe that the rich will always be able to care for themselves under almost any style of governance, so my vote belongs with the little people who need laws to protect them from exploitation. I want to be in the party that believes that opinions on either side of the center need to hammer out acceptable compromise in the business of making policy and law for the nation. That absolutely rules out the Republican party under McConnell, et. al. When one party refuses to sit down at the table, the other party is left somewhat powerless to enact anything other than absolute consensus issues, where an opponent other than one another is identified. I remain convinced that there is a large voting block of center-right voters who have to hold their nose when saying the R word, who would vote for less extremist candidates if they could. However, the moderates are all running scared for one of a number of reasons. Biden gambled on finding that silent center-right contingent amongst those with an R on their letter jackets; they either no longer exist in congress, or they're running so scared that they cave in to the Party megaphones. The gamble mostly failed in the 50:50 Senate. How is it POSSIBLE that tfg managed to lose the executive AND both houses of congress and STILL wield such power with what is clearly a minority of the electorate under his command? Money, braggadocio, mafiosa style politics is apparently enough to overpower the more ethical few.
I'm still looking for incontrovertible evidence that a block of disowned, disheartened center-right voters actually exists and that they might consider voting on the other side of center rather than continue to align with the radical right. That means of course, that the liberal side of center can't drift so far left as to be abhorrent to the centrists.
" I always thought of myself as slightly conservative on the fiscal side".
I have always been puzzled why people who considered themselves fiscally "conservative" or "responsible" voted Republican?? A true mystery.
Ronald Reagan, after lying about being a fiscal "conservative" added a massive TWO TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT (5.1 Trillion Dollars in todays dollars) during his 8 year gigantically irresponsible spending and tax cutting spree. Same thing with Bush II. GIGANTIC debt PLUS crashing the entire economy.
Same thing with Trump. His corporate tax cut added 4 TRILLION dollars to the National Debt.
Reagan began with a post WWII LOW in total government debt of around 1 Trillion.
Jimmy Carter had previously, for his four years, continued, like all Presidents since WWII in paying down the debt.
In fact, Jimmy Carter was the LAST fiscally responsible and conservative President of the post WWII era. The only other President that even tried to be responsible was Bill Clinton. He left office having turned Repuiblican's upward debt trajectory into a flat graph with very slight downward direction. But, Bush II saw that hint of responsibility immediately began massive debt spending on and off the books to reward Haliburton.
The Republicans and their lies about "cutting taxes will bring in more money to the treasury" are the very definition of IRRESPONSIBLE.
Yet, despite the data, to this day, people use their imagination to tell themselves lies that Republicans are fiscally responsible.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Just google the National Debt and overlay that graph with all Presidents since WW II. Easy to see that Republicans are out of control spenders and highly irresponsible.
But, people will "believe" what they want. Reality seems not to ever intrude on the Republican mind.
Didn't Bill Clinton leave office with a decent economy and a surplus in the budget? Carter, bless him, wasn't the only Dem who paid down the debt.
Yes, Bill Clinton left office with a slight surplus that Bush immediately trashed.
I have amended my post. Thank you.
We don’t talk enough about how OPEC lowered production after Nixon took us off the gold standard. The oil shortages and high price of oil sunk the 70’s economy, and ruined Carter’s re-election campaign.
All recessions in the last over 100 years happened under Republican administrations. Every one. Per JJohnson2u on twitter
These recessions usually follow as if on que when oil prices go to high, and when Republicans hold the office.
KISS. Keep it simple stupid .The original bumper sticker, brought to education. Followed by political affiations like Centrist or Independent or Conservative or Originalist or some other gingoist attribute that says it all and says nothing. My favorite now is Inflation, a measure of economic activity that some think government or Mr Biden should be blamed for. It is a complex measure of conditions influenced little by party or policy or fault assigned. Like daily stockmarket numbers that deal with investor perceived risk in publicly traded companies, it is a measure of churn, not a good measure of the economy. Aside from being the tail of a dog enjoyable to watch with an evening cocktail, I suggest inflation is a measure of the performance of capitalism and most affected by supply, demand, greed, and amoralism of those with a firm grip on capital. Simple in its beauty, able to fit on a label, and keeps us distracted while we feel smuggly all knowing as to our choice of who to blame or why 85% of people get screwed and struggle again to make ends meet and have their angst directed toward some batch of talking head politicians.
There's what one says and then there's what one does. Fiscally conservative should be about balanced budgets, debt reduction, restraint in spending on dubious social experiments, but also caution against unconstrained military spending. I'm obliged to avoid spending what I don't have or my income can't support. I don't see why the same principle shouldn't apply to our government. Personally I don't think there's a disconnect between fiscal responsibility and a socially liberal outlook. One simply shouldn't spend profligately, whether on guns OR butter.
I'm struck by a couple things that you say here. I believe that the axiom "the truth is in the middle" when talking about two "sides" to any "story" is pretty accurate (at least from my non-empirical research in interviewing witnesses to/parties involved in the variety of situations a street cop is asked to investigate.) Your post seems to say to me that there is a center body made up from elements to the right and left of a midline that is larger than either edge. Kind of like a bird, which really needs both of its wings to fly.
I have talked with far, far more men than women who identify themselves as "socially liberal and fiscally conservative" and what it boils down to is keeping their money while enjoying their personal liberty; I suspect that women being paid 77 cents on the dollar compared to men may have a bit to do with that, as does the responsibility for pregnancy and childbirth.
In one set of my friends and associates, I am a "raging liberal" while in another set of friends and associates I am a "hard-line conservative" while expressing THE SAME VIEWS AND OPINIONS. I believe I lean much harder to a liberal perspective, if one where women are equal to men in every regard is a "liberal", along with the funny notion that BIPoc and LGBTQ+ are equal to Cis Het White people is defined as liberal, and that a person's religion is their personal choice, and should not be foisted upon anyone else.
I’m with you, although more center left at present. Would be Noam Chomsky in a different world.