"You'd Think, After An Eternity Of This, They'd Be Better"

[filkertom]

The Right, constantly wrong:

The extreme right record of utter and total failure to stop the march to progress is the reason we should not have to bear their craziness anymore. The record is numbingly clear: They were wrong about Social Security. They were wrong on integrating the military forces under President Truman. They were wrong about McCarthyism in the early 1950's. They were wrong about passing civil rights legislation in the 1960's. They were wrong on Medicare. They were wrong about women rights. They were wrong about 'trickle down economics.' They were wrong about tax breaks for the rich. They were wrong about the war in Iraq. They were wrong about climate change. They were wrong about LGBT rights and they are wrong about healthcare reform.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Considering that the vast majority of social advances were proposed, not merely not by the right, but by people considered in their time to be radical liberals, that list isn't shocking at all. The only thing shocking is that people who have traditionally been privileged think that nobody else will notice when they're trying to retain that privilege at others' expense.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

Erm. While I fully agree with this list... Well, I might as well come out and say it. I'm not happy with the healthcare reform we got last week. In fact I'm really kind of upset about it. There are some good things -- the prohibition against recission and restrictions on denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions -- but it's the mandate that bugs me. Yes, there are tax credits for it... but like a lot of things, the people who just barely don't qualify for them will be the people who can't financially survive without them. We've been fed to the wolves by the sheepdogs. Now I don't side with the teabaggers. I can state some very good reasons why this is something government should regulate if not provide. And the tea folk are really playing with fire in their rhetoric and I'm afraid it's going to be a bloody summer. But right now I'm not exactly a fan of the Dems, either. :(

Seriously, does anyone else think that this is going to be barely a speedbump to the only industry that makes its profits off of denying services to its customers? They're already raising premiums as much as they think they can get away with.

I know that what we got is better than nothing, for the most part... but without a strong public option, or better yet a single-payer system, we're just fodder for the literally murderous health insurance industry. And our elected officials put us on the platter to be served up.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I'm extremely unhappy about the mandate. Although somewhat heartened by reports that the IRS doesn't plan to pursue it aggressively. It still shouldn't be there, and ideally we'll find a way to get rid of it. I have hopes for Grayson's buy-into-Medicare-early scheme.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

So why would they want to ruin a perfect record?

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

They're conservatives. That means they don't like to change.

[capplor.livejournal.com]

The thing the Right is best at is organizing people to walk in lockstep.

Certainly THAT must count for something?

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a woman, they are still wrong about my rights. Then again, I've never been quite clear about why someone else should be talking about granting or not granting me, a human, rights. Or anyone else, for that matter.

And yes, it is really late for me. Tomorrow I would likely come up with a much better way to say all of this, but there ya go.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

What is change without challenge?

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Change without challenge is negative lle.

Well, I think it is. My math is a little iffy right now.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The last thing I recall the Republicans doing right was when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Of course, it was a very different party, back then, and the Democrats were also very different.

Oh, wait. Nixon got those giant pandas for the National Zoo. That was cool.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Actually, wasn't Nixon in favor of a Nationalized Health-Care plan?

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Let's go back further:

They were wrong about Women's suffrage.
They were wrong about slavery.[1]
They were wrong about limiting the vote to landowners.
They were wrong -- and happily balked -- about declaring the U.S. a Christian nation in the Constitution.
They were wrong about remaining loyal to the British empire.

[1] The Republican party that formed to end slavery is not "the right."

[zellion.livejournal.com]

Yes, I rewatched the musical 1776 right around the time of the presidential election and posted to my own journal how I got chills when I got to Cool, Cool, Considerate Men (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JDNTS2wHHo)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

HEY!

All this wrong wrong wrong bad dog bad dog no donut stuff HAS GOT TO STOP.

We will NOT get this done by bashing. You beat something into a corner like that they turn around and bite. HARD. It already is. See also, the violence post-HCR-vote... and (you're gonna love this) they're blaming *supporters* for *making it look like* they are backlashing. Nevermind that I can't imagine any of y'all doing such things.

Less stick. More carrot. Wag more, bark less.

Change is fsckin' scary. And they're scared, and they're reverting to fight-or-flight. It's up to us to get them *un-*scared, so we can do this together. Because as long as you have an opposition that big? You're going to end up with things like the clusterf*ck we have. (I'm with Tom. The mandate has GOT to go. Preferably drop-in replaced by the public option.

People are people. Treat them with respect. "Love your enemies and drive'em nuts!" (-- Brother Dave Gardener, circa 1963) Yeah, they done some crappy things. If we think we're better than that? Let's prove it.

[tsu-doshaman.livejournal.com]

Can I get an "Amen" from the choir!?

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Actually, the latest data indicates that they were *right* about Anthropic Global Warming. That is, however, offset by the fact that they were *wrong* about government being able to solve their favorite set of problems.

Tom

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Oh, and didn't the released KGB files after the fall of the Soviet Union indicate that the Communists *had* thoroughly infiltrated the US Department of State and that McCarthy, if anything, underestimated the degree?

Tom

Link please

[baronet.livejournal.com]

As I heard it, the latest data indicated that *a* set of data supporting Global Weirding wasn't kosher. I also hear that if you get a monkey to drop apples from trees that it doesn't mean Newton was wrong about gravity, even if the apples were bad.

If you have data that indicates that the mean temperature of the planet is, please share it. If you even have data that indicates that CO2 isn't a significant contributing factor, please share it. If you have data indicating that we aren't putting a metric ton of CO2 into the air, please share it.

If all you have is a link saying that some of the scientists were acting like monkeys, then please share that. But that doesn't mean that climate change is the biggest hoax perpetrated on the american people or that the people saying it is are right about anything except right of center.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

First it was; "Global Warming doesn't exist."
Then it was; "Okay, Global Warming exists, but it's not man made."
Then it was; "Okay, Global Warming exists and it's man made, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Then it was; "Okay, Global Warming exists and it's man made and we can do something about it, but... Al Gore rides in a private jet, which proves that Global Warming doesn't exist."

Now we're back to "Okay, Global Warming exists, but it's not man made."

The only thing cyclical around here is denial!

It's also funny how the same people who dismiss science when it comes to things like... EVOLUTION (Eek! He said the "E" word! Stone him! He's a witch!) are positivly RABID to scratch up ANY and ALL scientific data that they can link to the denial of Global Warming no matter HOW much of a stretch it takes!

[ztrooper.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking, I try to avoid politics discussions on the internet. However, I would like to point out that most of the obstruction of the civil rights bills of the 1960's were caused by democratic senators, not Republicans. for reference, I provide a relatively neutral link source, Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Passage

Now.. I've not had the time to research all of the accusations above, but, one should, at all times, take the time to research the facts for one's self, especially when dealing with blanket statements of wrongdoing.

In my honest opinion, neither party is particularly innocenet of corrupt behavior. This is why I tend to identify myself as a libertarian these days. We need to act responsibly toward our elected officials, and take appropriate action when they fail in their duties to represent us. There are good people in office, but the corrupt system that we have in place now almost certainly assures their downfall, even with the best of intentions...

[holzman.livejournal.com]

You have confused "The Republican Party" with "the right."

A hundred twenty years ago, the Republican Party was founded to oppose slavery, among other things. Slavers and their (literal and figurative) descendants lived in the Democratic Party in retaliation until the '60s. Per the article you cite, the Democratic Party introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1964 over the objection of the "Southern Democrats." They were able to get it passed by weakening it enough to get enough Republicans to vote to override a filibuster and vote for the bill. The Republican party then invited the Southern Democrats to become Republicans in retaliation, and they did so. (Google "Southern Strategy" for more on this.)

This had the effect of shifting the Democratic Party to the left and the Republican party to the right. There's some irony that Richard Nixon would be considered far too liberal to be a part of the modern Republican Party.

No argument about all parties having an element of corruption, but Tom's point isn't about corruption, it's about a track record of wrong and bad policies literally older than the Union.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

On this topic, I ran across the amazing http://www.whitehousetapes.net/ site yesterday, and found this conversation between President Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humprhies:

http://www.whitehousetapes.net/clip/lyndon-johnson-hubert-humphrey-lbj-and-hubert-humphrey-democratic-party

Worth a listen. Sounds familiar, don't it?

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Man, you just made an unwarranted attack on one of my best friends and a well-respected scientist.

And you don't think that's not being civil?

What do you do when you're not being civil?

Tom

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Sorry, this comment is misplaced. It belongs up a couple of comments right after lumpy asks Tom if he no longer has to be civil.

My apologies to other readers, it's late.

Tom

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Wanna find out? I can do a lot worse than "That explains plenty."