Learning The Lessons Of Republican History, And Fighting Back
By: Christy Hardin Smith[I’m making a plea today on behalf of more and better Democrats: we need more of them in office shaping the policies and actions of the Democratic party. Let’s call this another $10 day — pick a Blue America candidate of your choice and make a donation. Call up their election HQ and volunteer to make calls or stuff envelopes or knock on doors. Do something to help get better people into office in November. And do it today! — CHS]
… The sole reason the right’s message machine is failing is because their lies aren’t working any longer. Because people are too worried about affording necessities and keeping their jobs and their homes to shell out for some snake oil falsehoods on the side.
But that tiny group that is still buying it, including GOP stalwarts and party elders? They’ve either bought into the lies altogether, or they are too steeped in them to ever publicly admit they are part of the problem because it would ruin their reputation and their access to all that wingnut welfare fundage.
As a result, they replicate these failures over and over again. And we are all reaping what they’ve sown with George Bush and Dick Cheney, who have so run the Republican brand into the ground that, as Sidney says, their candidates for President this year tried to avoid mentioning him at all costs. With a media which is more suited to repetition of the prefab narrative PR image of John McCain, we are all going to have our hands full from here to November if we want to see any change in the status quo.
Here is what I know: people are hurting right now, and our political and social structure is so off kilter that we could have started rectifying problems years ago and it still would not have been soon enough. What we need is real leadership on a whole host of issues. And we need it now. Would that the leadership were coming from those we elect as our representatives.
To that end, I’m making a plea today on behalf of more and better Democrats: we need more of them in office shaping the policies and actions of the Democratic party. Let’s call this another $10 day — pick a Blue America candidate of your choice and make a donation. Call up their election HQ and volunteer to make calls or stuff envelopes or knock on doors. Do something to help get better people into office in November. Let’s get to work…
While I’ve quoted a lot here, there’s much more in this post by Christy [formerley known as Reddhedd] on Firedoglake. It’s worth reading in its entirity. Several years ago, I discovered Firedoglake looking for anything that might be a respit from the painful news in the Media. I happened on Firedoglake, which back then was mostly Jane Hamsher with occasional postings by someone called Reddhedd. As time passed, Reddhedd morphed into Christy Hardin Smith, a lawyer with the right politics and time to write right-thinking things. This morning she’s onto the question that obsesses me – why has this utter bullshit consumed our government and populace? I was in medical school when Goldwter wrote his book and ran for President. My first ever vote was for Goldwater. It wasn’t because of his politics. It was because I thought that Lyndon Johnson was a crook [which he was] and because Goldwater said that he was going to end the Viet Nam War one way or another. Back then, all I cared about was that I didn’t lose any more friends in that pointless venture. When my then girlfriend found out that I’d voted for him, she was incredulous – given my other politics [and hers]. Now, 45 years later, she [now my wife] read the Lyndon Johnson biography and finally agrees with me. I kind of wish Goldwater had won. His Conservatism might have grown healthily in the light of day instead of festering under a rock and turning into today’s cancer.
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