Posted on 02/08/2024 5:10:12 AM PST by CFW
“So you’re voting for Du-taxus?” a woman said to me in 1988. I was a lowly receptionist at a gym called “Women Only,” which was probably later sued out of business. I had to answer the phone with, “We have the way, Women Only, this is Sasha, may I help you?”
I was undoubtedly blurting out this mouthful when the client noticed my Dukakis pin, because why wouldn’t she? I told her yes, I was, though I wasn’t “political” back then, and I had no idea why I was voting for Dukakis. He was a Democrat. Being a Democrat wasn’t something I chose. It was something I was. Some guy I was dating probably handed me the pin and told me to wear it, so I complied.
Understandably annoyed, the woman said, “Figures. You probably never even went to college.” I remember this story all of these years later because it’s still surprising to me that a Republican would insult a Democrat’s lack of education. But it tells you everything you need to know about who had the power back then and who didn’t.
[snip]
I have been a willing participant in taking us to this desperate moment we now face, where both political parties seem crippled and bottlenecked, but only one of them has turned to corruption to stay in power. Only one of them has blocked any challengers to their preferred candidate. And unfortunately, it’s the one I chose to support.
I supported a party that became corrupt over time, and in supporting them, I became corrupt too. If you’re wondering how seemingly respectable people like Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow, Rob Reiner, Barbra Streisand, or Stephen King can go along with such obvious corruption of our trusted institutions, that’s why. They are who I used to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at sashastone.substack.com ...
bkmk
Which is it, Sasha. Respectable people, or Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow, Rob Reiner, Barbra Streisand, or Stephen King?
"seemingly respectable"? No, I don't think so...
When you do have time to read it, make sure to read some of the comments as well. There are numerous people stating they made the same journey as Ms. Stone and will be voting for Trump in November as well. Some say they will be voting for RFKjr in the primary, but I see no one saying they will be voting for Biden again.
The complete lack of a sense of humor. The being extremely judgmental, self righteous and preachy. The certainty that they hold a complete monopoly on morality. The eagerness to oppress others.
Yep. They're just like the first group of Puritans at heart.
BTW, I used to mock Lou Dobbs in the 90s for going on and on about illegal aliens and outsourcing all the time. I used to scoff when labor unions would complain about outsourcing and say it was their own fault for being so greedy. I used to think federal law enforcement were the good guys and could mostly be trusted to do the right thing. I supported the Iraq war. I supported big business/Wall Street. I supported Defense Companies. I was for the Patriot Act. I voted for Dubya. I was against tariffs and was for "free" trade.
I look back and all I can say is "ooooof". I have reversed 180 degrees on all of those. The corruption I see today is unbelievable. It is something I never ever thought I would see in the country I grew up in. Given what is going on, it is difficult to even be proud of the country anymore and I've always been fiercely patriotic. I have lost all trust in just about every institution in the country. They've all been corrupted.
It’s a long read but worth the time. I, too, was once a liberal.
The inflation of the 70s helped me to find my way out of the fog. The 15% mortgage on our house was a punch in the nose of reality. Wow! That stung!
“They’ve all been corrupted.”
That’s the key sentence. “They’ve all been corrupted”.
Both the DNC and RNC work together to dole out the various house and senate seats in a way that benefits and works for both parties but does the most harm to the people.
The entire legal system and the courts are quite openly corrupt. It simply does not work the way I was taught it did in law school.
When I started doing my own reading of primary sources years after graduating college as a history major, I discovered I had been taught a very incomplete and biased version of American history. The reality was often the exact opposite of the prevailing narrative. Looking back, this was also true of law school. My law profs were very hazy about the legality/constitutionality of what happened during and after the War for Southern Independence. What actually happened was the original constitution was overthrown and a highly centralized system erected - one which was no longer voluntary and was now based on threats and violence instead of consent.
Before and during business school I was taught classical economics, David Ricardo specialization and exchange, etc. I was taught free trade was good and made everybody wealthier. Sure, there would be some losers in the process but it was all just a political question fairly dividing up the bigger economic pie.
That may be true in theory but in reality, the people hurt by outsourcing for example, were never compensated for their losses. The Coastal Elites just pocketed almost all the benefits for themselves. And that's to say nothing of the national security implications of allowing China to get a hammer lock on rare earths, global manufacturing, medical equipment, even antibiotics and over the counter pain meds, etc. The globalist model works great....until it doesn't. Until somebody like China decides - after gaming the system to get control over critical areas - to apply pressure by cutting off or even slowing down the delivery of critical products. When that happens, you're just completely screwed. They never covered that part in school. As for those who lost their livelihoods, we were taught it was sad, but they'll just need to be retrained and ultimately it will be better for them because they'll acquire new skills and go into areas that pay better. That never happened.
What I was taught was just a bunch of self serving BS that benefits the Establishment. It took a couple of decades of experience for me to see that for myself.
Bump for later
Its more than that. The courts have been corrupted. The people who are supposed to oversee Big Pharma get their funding from Big Pharma and have the promise of getting hired into lucrative jobs by Big Pharma if they "play ball" while serving as regulators. That goes for both politicians and bureaucrats.
Its not limited to Big Pharma though. The exact same thing is true of the military and defense contractors. If the intel agencies and Big Tech. Of financial regulators and Big Banks. Its called "regulatory capture". ie Big Business really owns and runs the US federal government in many ways and as Adam Smith told us whenever business leaders and government get together, it is inevitably to screw the public (and the big companies' smaller competitors).
Federal prosecutors and judges and juries in certain select jurisdictions are just openly corrupt. They don't give a damn what the law is. They will automatically twist it to give them the political outcome they want.
Academia has been totally corrupt since at least the early to mid 90s when the 60s radicals had worked their way through the system to the point that they could decide who gets hired and who gets tenure.
The media consolidated to the point that only 5 companies control 90% of it....then they just completely dispenses with any pretense of objectivity or any kind of professional standards 15 years ago. Sure they were biased before, but some people in the media still actually cared about professional ethics. It honestly meant something to them. No more.
The professional class claims to be acting for "compassionate" reasons but they're really incredibly self serving, disconnected from the concerns of ordinary people whom they hold in utter contempt....and they are completely given to their virtue signaling fads (Gaia Worship, Trans everything, abortion up to and after birth, overt racial discrimination, whatever other insanity they can think of). We no longer have adults in charge. We are no longer a serious country.
What an admission by someone from the Left. It’s rare that the reality of the situation can break through to someone and they can be honest with themselves and others about it. If only more people would wake up.
I did read the whole article, and I did read the comments. I hope more people come to the same realization that she did.
I did read the whole article, and I did read the comments. I hope more people come to the same realization that she did.
!
What I objected to was that the people who had created the manufacturing system (the electricians, plumbers, machinists, mechanics...) had given their creative work to their employers and their fellows upon the reasonable assumption that it would assure continued employment, by which to raise their families.
Once the manufacturing system was understood well enough to export it, Wall Street did it, and cashed in on that capital value by forcing the few creators they needed to sell out their peers teaching foreigners how to do what they knew. Whole cities and towns were destroyed and their tax base decimated. Retraining? By whom and for what? Older people don't "learn to code" so easily.
What I especially bewail is the knowledge that is now gone, much of which was in their hands. It was those machinists, electricians, plumbers, welders... we now need to rebuild this country, and for the most part they have retired or died. It's a tragedy for the freedom Wall Street plundered. See tag line.
You and me both.
You are correct in that it is more than the politicians. Every federal agency, financial institution, courts, the military, the medical field, education, law enforcement, etc has become corrupted. However, if it wasn’t for the corrupt politicians the corruption in the other institutions would not have been allowed to take hold and grow to the point it is today.
The corruption has been growing bit by bit ever since our country was founded. However, it really blossomed under Obama’s Presidency and there was no longer any attempts to keep it hidden. When Eric Holder (Obama’s wing-man) flipped off Congress with no repercussions was when I knew the corruption was so deep that it would take something earth-shattering to return our nation to the correct path.
Our nation was not designed to be governed by immoral men. That fact is more obvious now than at anytime in our past.
Is Sasha their daughter?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.