It’s Not Easy Bein’ Blue

We are not a conservative country. We like to think we are, but the facts show otherwise. Even under the watchful eye of a majority of so-called conservative presidents, look at the facts: TV is lewder than ever, promiscuity is higher and beginning earlier, marijuana use is practically mainstream, music is more violent and hateful than ever, and (to top it all off) government spending is higher than ever. Someone explain to me how America, as a whole, is truly conservative.

I think it is a mistake to assume that all progressive ideas are good and correct. The term progressive is often used to describe people who do not have a moral compass. Young people are the least experienced, and are often lacking in maturity. Each generations that comes along believes they know more than the last generation. Sometimes it takes a few years to realize how little they really know. A little respect for others never goes out of style. Also beware of any party that tries to silence other points of view. Some day it could be your voice they try to silence. I am concerned that the radical left is out of control as is the mainstream news media. When this centralist country has enough of the left they will by their votes correct the situation.

The "conservative epoch" began to unravel at the hands of two Texans. George W Bush, and Tom Delay.
They had all the conservative talking points, but when it came to governing. They spent like drunken sailors on shore leave. They ignored the Constitution that they claimed they were strict constructionist, and Privacy in this country became a cynical joke. The leaders of the "conservative epoch" have proven themselves to be anything but conservative. Unless the definition is so elastic its come to mean greedy and dishonest. The American People want to trust their leaders, not live in a hall of mirrors.

I think you need to change the title of the article. America is getting more progressive, it is just the 40 something % of ignorant, of which about 20-30 are uneducated, who keep on restraining the country from moving forward. As younger people become more educated, the more progressive we will get. Also, many progressive and liberal democrats were very successful with their vision. Best example, FDR. Meacham, it appears that you are working for the McCain campaign. Please do a better job, I expect more from an educated man.

From: Jordan C. Fan, Prophet Of Environment.

My message is urgent. I am writing to you hoping you can convey my message to your fellow Americans. I am a Prophet and Prophecies are well established and have been accepted by many people worldwide. The Environment is in no mood to deal with people such as Barack Obama. If Obama was elected, the Environment will go ahead and let all Americans suffer like they have never been before then destroy the United States in less than two (2) years without mercy. During the Bill Clinton presidential administration the United States was trying to the Environment saying Democrats are concern about Environmental
protection while increase pollution and drastically wasting the
world's natural resources. The current Republican Administration has in fact contributed to Environmental protection and resource conservation much more than their Democrat predecessor. Such deceptions cannot be forgiven. John McCain is the only chance the United States have. If he is gone I, as Prophet, will have no choice but to prophesy the final fall of the USA. I urge all of you to take My Prophecy seriously otherwise all you media people will be punished. If you don't believe me you should investigate further. I am the true leader of the world and will decide who is going to the U. S. president. Electing Obama will do more harm to himself and the Black community than good.

"[Our system of government] has enabled us to muddle along for well over two centuries, always expanding, not contracting, individual liberty under law." -- Always expanding? Sure about that? You know, for someone who understands, apparently instinctually, that America is center-right, you do not understand anything about what conservatives believe. Forget the neocons, forget the Christian Right, real conservatives are ashamed of what their movement has become: authoritarian and bigoted. Besides -- and back to the quote, I thought Americans were wary of liberal reform, yet "individual liberty under law" has "always expand[ed], not contract[ed]"? I guess that's why those liberal elites over at the ACLU are celebrating as we speak over the latest "expansion" of our cherished civil liberties: the continued detention of thirteen Chinese Muslims who are not guilty of anything yet are permitted by our "activist" courts to languish in prison because Bush thinks they could possibly pose a danger. Habeas corpus rights have no meaning if our judicial system can be corrupted in this manner.

So to summarize, your assertion about liberty in this country is wrong, and even if it were right, you've just admitted that America is growing more and more liberal. This essay is a mess, Meacham.

"[Our system of government] has enabled us to muddle along for well over two centuries, always expanding, not contracting, individual liberty under law." -- Always expanding? Sure about that? You know, for someone who understands, apparently instinctually, that America is center-right, you do not understand anything about what conservatives believe. Forget the neocons, forget the Christian Right, real conservatives are ashamed of what their movement has become: authoritarian and bigoted. Besides -- and back to the quote, I thought Americans were wary of liberal reform, yet "individual liberty under law" has "always expand[ed], not contract[ed]"? I guess that's why those liberal elites over at the ACLU are celebrating as we speak over the latest "expansion" of our cherished civil liberties: the continued detention of thirteen Chinese Muslims who are not guilty of anything yet are permitted by our "activist" courts to languish in prison because Bush thinks they could possibly pose a danger. Habeas corpus rights have no meaning if our judicial system can be corrupted in this manner.

So to summarize, your assertion about liberty in this country is wrong, and even if it were right, you've just admitted that America is growing more and more liberal. This essay is a mess, Meacham.

P.S.: Wow, aarshad, he's saying this is a conservative country. Chill out my friend.

Seriously though, you're not seeing the forest. You're missing the liberal progression of our history because you are viewing it through the lens of Reaganism. Here's how America came to be: cavemen, then monarchy, then republican laissez faire democracy, then liberal New Deal democracy, then civil rights reform followed by post-Nixon Church Committee reforms, then cavemen, then the dismantling of Church Committee reforms, then GIGANTIC LIBERAL BACKLASH -- coming soon.

"[Conservatism] is not a new phenomenon." -- Damn Meacham, you crack me up!

The whole concept of left and right, liberal and conservative is dead and should be junked.
I live in a grungy neighborhood in Los Angeles, and I really do not enjoy sharing my living space and neighborhood with the homeless. An article in my local paper LA City Beat pointed out that it would cost the taxpayers between $10,000 to $ 25,000 to rehabilitate a homeless person. (and there are programs that work.) That's expensive. But it's a lot cheaper than current dysfunctional system of jails, police sweeps, and emergency wards that we have now.
As a retired teacher from an inner city high school, I know that most violent criminals were abused as children. It costs money to provide therapy for an abused child, but that therapy is far cheaper than a jail cell in a maximum security prison. Similarly, providing kids in inner city schools with full-paid scholarships if they keep up their grades and avoid gangs sounds expensive. But it far cheaper to send a boy from the 'hood to a UC or state college for a year than to put the same boy behind bars.
It's cheaper to maintain bridges than to rebuild them. Fixing the levees in around New Orleans or spending the $ 13 to 14 billion to restore the Mississippi Delta sounds expensive, but it was a lot cheaper than the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
California State Senator Sheila Kuehl has done extensive research on health care and she has concluded that single payer health insurance cheaper than the subsidized private health insurance that McCain proposes. Look at WHO ratings of national medical delivery systems. We have the most expensive and most inefficient medical system in the industrialized world. France, which occupies 1st place or Austria which occupies 9th place are both cheaper than our private system.

Right now our carbon dioxide count is 385 part per million. The carbon count is increasing by 2 parts per year. We need to get down to 350 or below ASAP. It will cost billions of dollars, even trillions of dollars, to jump start the technology we need for green energy technology. but that's a bargain if you consider the disasters that await us if the sea level rises 20 feet. and that will happen sooner than we expect if don't act NOW. (Check out NASA Scientist James Hansen's latest warnings if you don't believe me.)

I could go on ad infinitum, but you ought to get the point. Conservatives operate on the rather childish principle of fly now and pay later. They live in a Peter Pan Never Never Land where everyone refuses to grow up. The bill for this folly is now due. Liberals understand that making crucial investments now means fewer taxes in the future. Liberals are the only true fiscal conservatives.

Comment: After 9/11, the US government started rounding up Muslims without cause and without due process of law, like we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. The Bush administration called it's main internment camp Guantanamo Bay. While there are certainly many guilty terrorists held in Guantanamo, there are also many innocent American citizens who have been held illegally for years without even being charged with any crime. They have been tortured by our government. Some of them have died.

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in the matter of Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court Justices were NOT on the side of the terrorists. They were on the side of the Geneva Convention, that says you can not torture POWs, and on the side of US laws that state you can not imprison a person without charging them with a crime and bringing them to trial. I'm sure that like most Americans, the Justices who voted against the illegal, immoral doings at Guantanamo didn't feel sympathy for the terrorists. They felt sympathy for the laws of AMERICA, the land of the FREE, where even rat finks get a fair trial.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the Bush administration is busy trying to build a smokescreen to hide the CRIMES they have committed. Those pesky weapons of mass destruction. Just think, the National Debt went up over 6 trillion dollars under Bush. More than 2 TRILLION of it went directly into the pockets of Halliburton, a corporation owned by the Cheney family. Halliburton is now a DUBAI corporation and therefore is not subject to US taxes. All that money they took out of the US Treasury is going into the coffers of a MUSLIM country.

Did you hear about how the US government is being charged millions for Halliburton deliveries of sand into Iraq from Kuwait? Sand. Like there is a shortage of sand in Iraq? Another contractor shipped sand from Idaho to Iraq at our expense. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses these and other excesses of our current government's out of control spending in Iraq.

Your grandchildren will be working like slaves to pay off this debt, so that the Bushes and Cheneys can live the high life in Dubai.

Yeah, they're patriots, Bush&Co. They wear flag pins. And hide the money they stole from America in Dubai.

And they want me to believe that Obama is a socialist. Right.

In case you think McCain is any different than Bush, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

Comment: THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that
Stand up and hold them accountable
Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
Elect Obama Biden 2008






Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

Comment: THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that
Stand up and hold them accountable
Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
Elect Obama Biden 2008






Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

Comment: Comment: People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

Comment: Comment: People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.