This quote about Republicans is as true today as when Harry Truman said it in 1948:
“They approve of the American farmer — but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home — but not for housing. They are strong for labor — but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor a minimum wage — the smaller the minimum the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all — but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools... (1/2)
…They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine — for people who can afford them... They condemn “cruelly high prices” — but fight to the death every effort to bring them down. They think the American standard of living is a fine thing — so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it. Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life." (2/2)
@augieray Wild how this sounds like a pretty scathing condemnation of Republicans, even by modern standards (like, I could see a modern Democratic politician getting this from their speechwriter and saying, "Can you take it down a notch? We don't want to seem too uncivil"), and yet Republicans literally call Dems cannibal Satanic pedophiles and don't GAF.
Reps are showing up to kick ass, while Dems are still going, "Now now, we wouldn't want to untie that other hand from behind our backs." SMH
@kagan @augieray The purpose of the Democratic Party is to capture left-leaning political energy and channel it into activities that won't upset the status quo. The Dems don't fight back because they don't really want to. Their campaigns are funded by the same set of people and organizations that fund the Republican's campaigns. Their "opposition" is largely cosmetic.
The Democratic party is a big tent. The problem with a "big tent" is that it is impossible to keep everyone happy.
And unhappy Democrats have a track record of not showing up to vote.
This makes it hard for the Democrats to take the razor-sharp political positions that Trump and the Magattes are able express.
@augieray This quote applies equally to the post-Clinton Democratic Party. The U.S. has a two-party political system in which both parties are right-wing.
@augieray I think this was true of republicans a few decades ago. Now the “Overton Window” has shifted so far right that you could copy-paste any speech given by Truman about the Nazis and it would apply to the modern day Republican Party. This speech that you quoted here applies more to the Democratic Party now since they have moved into the space on the political spectrum that was vacated by the Republicans as the Republicans slipped down into the Neo-Nazi bloc.
@ramin_hal9001 After the last election, I was hoping we'd see fewer posts like this. Let's be clear, the Democrats are disappointing. But every single political party that must operate in the real world will always be disappointing. Stop expecting some fantasy version of perfection, and start voting and supporting the parties that are closest to the world you want. Posts like yours, that bash the Democrats, are exactly why we have Donald Trump destroying the nation today.
Posts like yours, that bash the Democrats, are exactly why we have Donald Trump destroying the nation today.
@augieray what you call “bashing” is what I would call a mild and fair criticism of their recent behavior.
Presumably you think the Democrats can improve, but do you seriously expect the Democrats to ever improve if you aren’t allowed to “bash” (criticize) them?
@ramin_hal9001 Suggesting the Democrats are in the "Neo-Nazi bloc" is several steps beyond "mild and fair criticism." We desperately need people to vote for Dems in the future, but why would they when people are suggesting their Neo-Nazis?
No one said you can't criticize Dems. I suggest we get much more careful with our language so that we don't inadvertently discourage people from voting for the party of sanity.
Suggesting the Democrats are in the “Neo-Nazi bloc”
@augieray sorry, I realize what I wrote was unclear, I edited my comment to make it more clear. You misunderstand what I wrote. I was trying to say that the Republicans are in the Neo-Nazi bloc.
The Democrats have shifted rightward to where the Republicans used to be some 40 years ago during the Reagan administration.
@augieray @ramin_hal9001 from the far-left Europe (just joking, but in comparison...), all the Dems campaign looked like they were alienating their voters, inducing them to depression and losing the willing to fight for anything better, less to vote. The current Dem party leadership (down to many levels) must be held accountable for the current situation and forced to stand down with disgrace. However, not ever a refounding is enough, the political system in the USA require a complete overhaul.
@augieray I did not know that! Thanks for posting.
@augieray And we could add entries about democracy, freedom of speech, the rule of law and a bunch of other things, old and new. Plus ça change...
@augieray Sounds like a U.K. Tory……
@augieray he must have been some damn commie!
Wait, he was an anti-communist who said that the US should stop the spread of communism? Wow, it's almost like making people's lives better isn't some radical anti-american idea :P
@augieray Harry S Truman was an optimist, charitable and generous even to his foes.
The dude didn’t even frank his postage for personal correspondence.
@augieray
Wow. That's an eye opener. I thought the GOP "came" to be this way in the last couple of decades. I was way off.
@stargazersmith @augieray Read "No Ordinary Time," by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The Republican industrialists refused FDR's plea to begin shifting to wartime production until he agreed to give them preferential bids on Pentagon contracts. Patriots, my eye!
Actually, they are no longer strong for labor, and educational opportunity for all isn't favored any more.
There is a strong push to make an official American caste system that keeps people of color, women, and the poor from advancing at all.
Nice quote though.