Posted on 08/16/2016 6:32:53 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Me too.
The rats in the General Asylum in Annapolis looked at this and cheered.
Only four to go
Their Figure of Merit contains all sorts line items. Much of the value is about peeps being incarcerated though. I’d suggest that Freedom should be measured by the freedom from criminals on the streets...
N. H. is over. Too much contact with Massholes.
You should be wearing a motorcycle helmet while driving then....
We didn’t need to do a survey/analysis to know that...
I lived in NYC last year. And from what I saw, you’re both right and wrong.
Plenty of people living the American dream around where I was living. The problem is that either they don’t pay enough attention to realize that they’re harming themselves with their voting habits, or they’re outvoted by the liberals.
In my life I’ve lived in many states, including New York, still travel there frequently, so I know something about it.
Today, New York’s politically transgendered Democrats are dressing up as Republicans, pretending to be low tax, smaller government types in TV ads all across the country.
So far as I know it hasn’t worked as well as the real thing — Republicans like Guilliani, Pataki & Jack Kemp.
I think Wall Street today has grown addicted to the financial heroin of free money from the Federal Reserve.
That may explain their loyalties.
But it was not always so.
I met Jack Kemp. I liked him. Wished he'd been our nominee in 1996.
I think Wall Street today has grown addicted to the financial heroin of free money from the Federal Reserve.
Of this I have no doubt. The more I look at our national situation, the more I have come to realize that both parties seem to want to keep FedGov money flowing to their various backers. This is why many people are now describing them as the "UniParty."
Controlling spending is not, and has never been, part of their goal. They currently operate in a manner that is contrary to the interest of the United States, and solely to keep the money stream feeding their wealthy supporters.
This corruption as normal business appears to have begun with the Civil War.
The fact that current Business interests as articulated by the Chamber of Commerce, are in favor of illegal immigration and expanding immigration is an echo of the same circumstances existing in 1860. Then too were influential businesses very interested in acquiring profits from low cost or free (slavery) labor, and they wanted that money to keep rolling in.
Southern Independence threatened their profits, and therefore could not be allowed.
That may explain their loyalties. But it was not always so.
No, it has not always been so, but as they grew in wealth and power, it became increasingly so over time, and by 1860, it had reached a critical mass.
That is the point at which they had the means to get their agent in charge of the US Government. And they did.
Mercantilism as a concept was fine, but when it became crony capitalism, it ceased to be benign. Instead of the government instituting benign policies that were favorable to the creation and maintenance of businesses, it got to a point where powerful businesses were tailor making US Policy to favor their own specific interests at the expense of the rest of the population.
The influence/monetary problems we are dealing with today are the same problems that people were dealing with in 1860. They all have their origins in that time period.
This is why the period after 1860 is regarded as one of the most corrupt periods in US History.
1860 is where corruption and influence became the normal way of doing business.
Kemp was my congressman, though sadly, I never met him.
DiogenesLamp: "This corruption as normal business appears to have begun with the Civil War."
Up to this point, we've agreed, but here we part company.
The truth of history is there was no more corruption after the Civil War which did not already exist before it, when Southern Democrats ruled in Washington, DC.
DiogenesLamp: "The fact that current Business interests as articulated by the Chamber of Commerce, are in favor of illegal immigration and expanding immigration is an echo of the same circumstances existing in 1860."
Illegal immigration was not a political issue in 1860, but slavery certainly was.
In 1860 Southern Democrat slave-holders allied with Northern Democrat immigrant bosses set immigration policies for the nation.
Conservative Whigs / American (Know-Nothings) / Republicans were highly dubious of immigrants, but powerless to stop what Democrats wanted.
DiogenesLamp: "Southern Independence threatened their profits, and therefore could not be allowed."
But neither slavery nor economic issues started Civil War.
Jefferson Davis started Civil War, at Fort Sumter, despite warnings from his own Secretary of State Robert Toombs:
Toombs had it exactly right, but Davis didn't care, and started Civil War anyway.
So all your other nonsense is just rubbish, and you should get off of it.
DiogenesLamp: "...as they grew in wealth and power, it became increasingly so over time, and by 1860, it had reached a critical mass.
That is the point at which they had the means to get their agent in charge of the US Government.
And they did."
But minority Republicans only won the 1860 elections because majority Democrats split their own party in half, with Fire Eating Southerners going off to form their own party, and immediately after the election, to begin declaring secession.
DiogenesLamp: "Instead of the government instituting benign policies that were favorable to the creation and maintenance of businesses, it got to a point where powerful businesses were tailor making US Policy to favor their own specific interests at the expense of the rest of the population."
But protectionism was US Federal Government law almost from Day One of the Republic.
It was never a question of whether to protect US industries -- the National Security need for that became glaringly obvious during the War of 1812 -- rather the issue was: how much protective tariff was needed on which kinds of industry to both provide Federal revenues and encourage growth of US manufacturing?
And higher tariffs versus lower tariffs was not always a North vs. South political issue.
There were plenty of voices on both sides in all regions of the country.
However, it did certainly become a Democrats versus Whigs / Republicans, with Democrats favoring freer trade and Republicans more protection for US manufacturers.
By the way, as a big Trump supported, you should grasp the basic idea that Trump is also a big protectionist, not because it helps out wealthy financial elites, but rather because it will return employment opportunities to Americans from their current factories in China, Mexico & other cheaper labor countries.
So, if you are anti-protection, then you are anti-Trump because in this sense Trump is the most traditional Republican protectionist since... since... well, maybe since ole' Abe Lincoln.
DiogenesLamp: "This is why the period after 1860 is regarded as one of the most corrupt periods in US History."
But "corruption" like beauty is in the eyes of beholders.
More important, it's a matter of laws and traditions, so that, to pick just one example, many people today would consider slavery the ultimate corruption.
And yet, throughout human history slavery under certain conditions was not just lawful, but fully enforced and protected by laws, as in antebellum Southern US states.
Today we would say nothing could be more corrupt than slavery, because our laws and standards have changed.
But that was not the case at the time, just as it was not the case during the so-called Gilded Age.
Further, if you google-up "most corrupt Americans" you'll find plenty of modern day people considered corrupt who never-the-less escape legal prosecution.
Point is: I don't buy your description of "Gilded Age" corruption as "the worst ever".
In my view, slavery is the worst ever corruption, and nothing else comes anywhere close.
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