Posted on 04/25/2010 9:03:26 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Has the wild right-wing Republican rhetoric gone too far? Sarah Palin calls the Obama administration a "gangster government." She wants to "take back" her government and America. Exactly who has taken control of the government and America since the November election?
"Take back the country" has been a major talking point from the Republican playbook. Republicans have been good at coordinating their messages, confusing Americans and appealing to a racial current that runs through American culture.
There was a popular sign in gift stores some years ago that read, "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with B.S." That has been the underlying motivation of the right's approach since Barack Hussein Obama became president.
Obama is a socialist. Obama is not an American citizen. Obama is a Muslim (as if there is something wrong with being a Muslim). Obama is Adolf Hitler reincarnated.
In the wake of the 15th anniversary of Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, there is some evidence that the mainstream media is beginning to play the role of a free press in a democratic society and question the nonsense that is coming from the far right, encouraged by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the gang at Fox News.
The Secret Service has reported the number of threats against the president has spiked and the rise of right-wing militias has increased. The governor of Oklahoma has been talking about the formation of a new militia to resist federal encroachment. Someone finally told him each state already has a militia - it is called the National Guard.
Then there is the flap over Confederate Heritage Month, created by the Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McDonald, who somehow managed to omit any mention of slavery from his proclamation. That is comparable to proclaiming the month of June as Nazi Heritage Month and forgetting to mention the slaughter of 6 million Jews.
We also have witnessed an increase in the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the right, a rise in border patrols and the harassment of the Mexican-American community and the passing of tough anti-immigration legislation in Arizona. Moreover, immigrant workers are being unfairly blamed for the loss of American jobs. The North American Free Trade Agreement and American trade policies pushed by Republicans and Democrats like Bill Clinton are the chief cause of jobs leaving the country before the current economic crisis.
It is this economic crisis that is at the heart of the bombastic rhetoric coming largely from the right. The so-called left does not have a Fox or a talk show host with the reach of a Limbaugh, along with the corporate backing. But most important, all of the aforementioned elements essentially are running interference for the corporations on Wall Street, the insurance industry, big pharmaceutical companies and the military-industrial complex.
Palin is the second part of that gift store saying I mentioned. She and her colleagues are responsible for the B.S. that confuses everyday Americans who are trying to make ends meets. Palin now is part of the elites who should receive a tax rate increase to help pay for the party had by Ronald Reagan, George Bush I and George Bush II.
The Tea Party members, along with millions of other Americans, have a lot to be angry about. After all, there are two wars that are being charged to the American people's credit card. There was the bailout of Wall Street and the banks, while people are being put out of their homes despite the banks having received taxpayer assistance.
In the 1980s, the deregulation of the American economy began and the savings and loan scandal ensued, then Enron and now Wall Street. All this comes after 50 years of relative economic stability since the Great Depression.
During the Reagan-Bush era, the national debt increased from 40 percent to 70 percent of gross domestic product. Under Clinton, it declined. Under George W. Bush, debt as a percentage of gross domestic product went from 60 percent to 80 percent.
Where were the tea baggers and the fiscally conservative Republicans when Reagan and the Bushes ran up the national debt? What has changed to make Americans so frightened and angry?
I suggest it was the election of Barack Hussein Obama and the global economic collapse triggered by the deregulation of the economy and uncontrolled greed in the financial sector.
The man, Barack Obama, who has the job of cleaning up the mess is called a socialist.
In reality, what we have is a socialized debt, where the public pays the debt of large banks and corporations and the losses of the financial elites. Some call it socialism for the rich.
johnson@southsuburbancollege.edu
And Johnson, after distorting the last 30 years, can't resist a little gay-bashing of the "tea baggers" to finish up with. I'm not sure if I'm still banned by the Star from responding to him - I'll have to check.
You can't argue with these people. We're speaking different languages.
I think war is inevitable.
You can’t argue with these people. We’re speaking different languages.
Ditto!
Typical progressive Fascist, he just rewrite the inconvenient history to cling to his emotion or racial, based political opinions.
To believe this rot you would have to just ignore everything that happened in the US Economy during the 1970s.
You would especially need to air brush out what was going on in the US economy during the 4 years Jimmy Carter was President and the Democrats had super majorities in the US Congress.
It is a fact that Bush and Reagan ran up the debt....
Clinton managed to balance the budget by using SS taxes which is still an increase in liabilities though.
And Nixon also deciding the interfere with the free market as well.
Yeah, I don't understand why so many don't understand that.
Bush 2 was the precursor to Obama. His policies paved the way for a socialist instead of stopping America's Pisa-like continuing lean to the left.
The author is clearly a small-time would-be demagogue looking to play a national role. The Left is chock-a-block with such loud-mouthed, socialist *sshats.
Clinton balanced it with the so-called Peace Divendend, which turned out to be a mirage, an the help of the Contract With America.
Good point - that national temper tantrum over Bush and the War on Terror led us right to this horse’s ass 0bama.
As noted, Johnson was the mayor of Harvey back in the 80s and he f——d that up so much that he had to get out of politics and find a teaching job.
Harvey Illinois is 99.5% black. It is a poor degraded
industrial area. Many boarded up houses, a few bars, gas
station is Harvey.
I would bet that Mr. Johnson’s arm pit suburb of Chicago
is 70% welfare supported.
“Harvey Illinois is 99.5% black. It is a poor degraded
industrial area. Many boarded up houses, a few bars, gas
station is Harvey.
I would bet that Mr. Johnson’s arm pit suburb of Chicago
is 70% welfare supported.”
You must of been reading my mind! Arm pit is the word I was going to use to describe Harvey. A town full of dumbassed losers and druggies and this idiot thinks he knows something. Like the world should follow the “great” examples of Harvey or Detroit. Just another fool with loose lips and very little grey matter between the ears.
the debt that is blamed on reagan is wrong, the cut tax rates which led to the economic boom of the 80’s, but the dhimmis controlled the house and senate and out spent the huge amounts of money that reagan’s tax rate cuts were bringing in...
we have enough revisionism from the left, we dont need it from freepers.
Democrats held the Congress during the Reagan years. It is Congress that spends money. Not the President. Conservatives were indeed concerned about government spending then, and also with Bush.
The tea parties certainly express their concerns over the current government and its desire to go to the hard left at break-neck speed, but the parties would not exist if average Americans weren't frustrated about the lack of leadership and responsibility by Republicans. If the Republicans were to stop acting like a kind of "different" Democrat, there would be no current need for the tea parties. Although it seems like the Republican Party is currently united in Congress, we know it's all a game. Someone needs to stand for the Constitution and the Republic. Very few in Washington are. Nature abhors a vacuum. Tea parties are the result.
But why let the truth stand in the way when there are crises that must be addressed?
Of course, Progressives say exactly the same thing about us, for the same reason that insane people insist that the rest of the world doesn't understand why they have to do what the voices in their heads are telling them to do. Rejection of objective truth as a way of life eventually catches up to you, and not in a good way.
Quite factually incorrect - Congress, not the POTUS authorizes debt. Since 1980 the debt to GDP ratio has always risen under (D) controlled Congresses and declined under (R) control.
David N. Johnson, former mayor of Harvey IL and author of the screed in question is either ignorant of this fact or a deviously deceptive demagogue.
“...he had to get out of politics and find a teaching job.”
No doubt he feels it was all a misunderstanding, and he should be President.
True, but Bush NEVER vetoed one bill that contained obscene spending. Reagan vetoed 38 but was over ridden on 9.
You can't possibly contend that during GOP control from 2000 to 2006 the debt vs. GDP has gone down. Unless you are using, what we now know, was the fake GDP driven up by CDS's and mortgage backed securities?
9/11 - how soon we forget.
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