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46890. judithathome - 2/25/2017 11:36:50 PM Someone posted this on my forum today; no idea who wrote it but it's great.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN:
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee.
The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance -- now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses and walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these benefits because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker's compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It's noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
46891. judithathome - 2/25/2017 11:37:20 PM (Con't)
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.
The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electricity.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself, so Joe wouldn't have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.
Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have." 46892. Trillium - 2/26/2017 1:08:08 AM The writer's stretching a bit by bringing in subways (which are an urban, overwhelmingly Democrat phenomenon: D.C., NYC, LA). Republicans tend to remain "closeted" in those "Uniparty" cities. Trump, though recently identified as "Republican", was obligated to join the Democrat Party while building in NYC because it was the only way to get anything accomplished in that urban location.
Additionally, recent Republican leadership overwhelmingly supported Clinton/Democrat Party during the last election.
"George Bush Sr. Was Just Outed as a Clinton Supporter" by Michal Addady, Sep 20, 2016
Neither of those leading name brands are the same gang as they were in 1860... or 1960... 46893. Trillium - 2/26/2017 1:08:43 AM Came here wondering what devoted Democrats think about the Perez pick. 46894. judithathome - 2/26/2017 1:23:44 AM I'm disappointed and think he's a bad pick...what is needed is a Howard Dean 50 state soultion and I think Perez has no way to understand that...I think Ellison would have been a far better choice. 46895. judithathome - 2/26/2017 1:24:32 AM "solution"...sorry... 46896. arkymalarky - 2/26/2017 2:05:26 AM Of the main ones I prefered buttigieg, but I'm fine with Perez. And the term is Democratic Trill dear. 46897. arkymalarky - 2/26/2017 2:08:22 AM I think that Independents and Democrats should just start thinking of all the creative ways they can pull a letter or two out of the word Republican. You could have all sorts of fun with that.
46898. arkymalarky - 2/26/2017 2:18:46 AM "Republicans tend to remain "closeted" in those "Uniparty" cities."
False. A lot of top pols and businessmen in NYC and other largely Democratic cities and states do just fine as open Republicans. Since Trump has had no core political values that have ever been identifiable, he's a poor example of switching party for convenience. 46899. arkymalarky - 2/26/2017 2:20:40 AM I mean, he's a good example of identifying with a party for personal convenience and gain, and a poor example of switching parties despite an opposing set of beliefs. 46900. Trillium - 2/26/2017 6:52:19 PM According to Business Insider, the populous Williamsburg, NYC voting precinct had ONE Republican voter. Either the Republicans are closeted, non-existent, or their votes are being tossed somehow (which I recall happening to an independent non-Republican candidate for school board on the Upper West Side, many years ago; not an improbable event in this very corrupt political system) but they don't show up on the records.
There is an astoundingly low number of GOP voters in New York City
I rest my case. 46901. Trillium - 2/26/2017 6:55:59 PM I had not heard anything about Buttigieg before you mentioned him. Interesting guy with an interesting record of getting seedy housing either fixed or demolished. Worn-down, war-zone neighborhoods are demoralizing.
He's a Rhodes Scholar, an honor often associated with presidents/presidential candidates
Buttigieg 46902. Trillium - 2/26/2017 7:15:47 PM Buttigieg also did his thesis on Puritan influences. The Puritans were unusual for their time because of their insistence on literacy for all, and resulting representation in the science of the time (Merton Thesis). "7 of 10 nucleus members of the Royal Society were Puritans. In the year 1663, 62% of the members of the Royal Society were similarly identified"
Puritans
Merton Thesis
The purpose of the literacy goal was for individuals to be able read and interpret the Bible for themselves (without priestly intervention and Catholic/Habsburg political interference.) A side effect of this was much the wider cultural impact that comes from asking people to think and judge for themselves.
46903. Trillium - 2/26/2017 7:16:48 PM lots of typos here, very distracted. Time to get back to work 46904. judithathome - 2/27/2017 7:45:41 PM "Pete" Buttigieg was favored by Howard Dean but I think in the first go round of votes, he got less than 5....Dean wanted someone "youthful" and I heartily agree...face it, the Democratic party needs to focus on the future and that is the younger genertation.
Look at what a shambles it is NOW...anything would be better than what we got this last year. 46905. arkymalarky - 2/27/2017 8:53:34 PM One of Rush Limbaugh's most successful tactics (and an old, simple one) is building a seemingly strong argument on a patently false premise. That's what trillium is doing with the whole Republican identity in the cities thing. There's no evidence that Republicans are closeted or denying to be the party that they are, only that their numbers are low. Now voting for Trump, you might have an argument for that. There is evidence that a lot of people are loath to admit that in public. In fact, fewer people are identifying Republican than they were before the election. 46906. arkymalarky - 2/27/2017 8:58:15 PM Home with the flu--first day of fever below 102 since Fri., and looking thru info found this fascinating in depth look at political demographics and trends from 538:
538 46907. arkymalarky - 2/27/2017 9:12:32 PM Perez will be good for several reasons. First, he's had a lot of experience in the area of civil rights, second, his skill organizing and increasing the efficiency of large unwieldy entities like the labor department, third, being Hispanic, a demographic Democrats need to do a better job of reaching out to, fourth, being connected to Obama and Obama's structure and money connections the man is, after all, still a huge rock star) fifth, as with most of the other top candidates, he understands that you have to start at the most local level. He said what I've been saying which is that you cannot let a position of doggcatcher go without a Democratic candidate running. Every time I think about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her total neglect of the state and local party it makes me mad. I certainly saw it here, but now my locality has an indivisible group as does Mose's and most other areas in this state. There is no reason Republicans should control the Senate right now. I blame dws for that. What Perez has said, which is what Howard Dean has said, is that this needs to be an all zip code strategy.
I'm actually going to contact the Democratic party and start trying to do some work with them at the local level. I had a lot of experience with the rural organizing I did a few years ago, and There are a few pretty simple techniques that frankly the GOP started using in 08 that has brought them amazing success, and Democrats actually had the potential to maintain and just didn't. They've got to get back to it. The most important thing for everybody to remember is that democracy is not a spectator sport and if people don't get their asses up and get involved they're not going to win, but demographic Trends are on the side of Democrats in the foreseeable future. 46908. judithathome - 2/27/2017 9:21:36 PM Well...evidently you are reading different things about Perez than I...I hope you are right about him. (or rather...correct...heh!) 46909. arkymalarky - 2/27/2017 10:12:55 PM His record is excellent, I don't know where there's anything that contradicts that, so you'd have to point me to it. TPM happens to have a good blog post on the topic right now. Josh Marshall's concluding paragraphs:
"My own small beef in this is that some Ellison supporters, in their need to vindicate their own take on the race, have needed to rebrand Perez as "corporate Democrat" and "establishment shill." You can only sustain this view if you ignore Perez's entire political career and especially the last decade when he held senior positions running the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and then Secretary of Labor.
The Democratic party will have a hard time moving forward if every contest must be reduced and simplified into a replay of the 2016 primary battle."
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