Let’s Get Real – What We Call ‘American Ideals’ Are a Sham.

by Staff May 20, 2013 13 Comments News Opinion Politics Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) While this country professes to honor the ideals of freedom, independence, liberty, and justice, that’s just lip service. We have a long history of stifling each and every one of those ideals, and anyone who doesn’t believe that should simply try suing a major corporation for an injustice, or try embracing the “freedom” to live an unconventional lifestyle. This country frowns upon those things just like any other country. Gays and women are learning that lesson as we speak.
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All of the institutions that are supposedly designed to protect our freedom and justice are nothing more than facades that are actually designed to give us the ILLUSION of freedom and justice. While I don’t want to throw a monkey-wrench in anyone’s comfort zone, it’s very important for us to wake up and be realistic about what we DON’T have, in order to work towards actually achieving what I choose to call “The American Wish List.”
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According to “TakePart.com, “In 2008, eight states had no laws requiring students recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school. That number has recently dwindled to five, with Nebraska being the latest state to adopt a statewide mandate.”
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Many conservatives, enthusiastically advocate that children recite “The Pledge of Allegiance.” Conservative talk show host, Sean Hannity said, “Why wouldn’t anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?” Notice that even in Hannity’s statement advocating the recitation of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” which guarantees “Freedom and Justice for all,” you can hear a clear indictment against those who may choose not to recite the pledge.
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That’s the kind of gross and narrow-minded hypocrisy that makes people not want to recite it in the first place – “I love the freedom, liberty, and justice in America so passionately that I’m willing to take it from you to get you to love it like I do.” That’s also what makes us look like the Beverly Hillbillies of the “free world” – rich and powerful, but as presumptuous, backward-thinking, and unsophisticated as they come.
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The problem with many conservatives like Hannity, Limbaugh, and other’s is they’re so blind that they fail to even see the hypocrisy of their position. Thus, as a middle-class African American male – in fact, as a human being of good conscience – I take great exception with making it mandatory for our children to recite a lie as fact at a time in their lives when their thinking is being molded without their consent, or the consent of their parents. Because the Pledge of Allegiance represents the worst kind of hypocrisy, and it serves no useful purpose other than to brainwash the nation’s children.
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One would think that as a conservative Mr. Hannity would recognize that the very essence of freedom is the freedom of parents to raise their children according to the philosophy that they see fit. Therefore, forcing a pledge down the collective throat of America’s children constitutes an unconscionable intrusion by government on a family’s rights. It’s un-American by definition, and it violates the very pledge that our children are being forced to recite.
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A mandatory pledge is a blatant act of indoctrination. What other motive can we have for forcing children to recite a pledge that they don’t even understand? When I was a kid coming up during the height of the civil rights struggle, I was forced to pledge my allegiance to a nation that frowned upon everything I represented, and was dead set on thwarting anything that I ever hoped to become.
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At the same time, so-called “patriotic Americans” – while enthusiastically insisting that we recite The Pledge – simultaneously lynched African Americans, bombed black children in church, and formed angry mobs to show up and jeer black children attempting nothing more than to go to the school of their choice.
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And shortly before that, these same “patriotic Americans” forced Black WWII heroes (the Tuskegee Airman) returning from Europe to give up their seats to German prisoners of war. Yet, there I was, standing there reciting the Pledge of Allegiance – “and to the republic for which it stands” – every morning. Even as a child, if I had understood the meaning of the words that I would later have to dredge from my brain just to be able to think clearly, I would have refused to recite them – regardless of the consequences.
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And beyond the pledge being morally disingenuous and a monument to the worst kind of hypocrisy, the entire text is, literally, a lie: “. . . One nation under God.” In light of what I’ve just described, what is that supposed to mean? “Indivisible.” The Civil War demonstrates that’s a lie. “With liberty and justice for all.” I won’t even waste the ink to address that issue. So again, other than brainwashing, what other motive could we possibly have for requiring our children to start off every morning with a lie of that magnitude?
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Now, I realize that I sound like a wild-eyed radical, but if I do, it’s only because I have a very low threshold for bullshit. I love this country, but I love truth and clear thinking much more. So I’m eclectic in my views. I believe in clear, unadulterated thought, and addressing every issue on its own merit. As a result, sometimes I agree with liberals, and at other times I agree with conservatives. That doesn’t always make me very popular, but I’m more than happy to forego popularity in return for moral and intellectual clarity. I was taught that’s what it means to be an American. Maybe I’m naive, but I took that lesson seriously.
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I’m in pursuit of truth, not an agenda. For that reason I stand with conservatives on issues like set-asides based on race, because moral and intellectual consistency dictates that if you’re against discrimination, you must be against all discrimination. Thus, if we’re going to set aside resources for the poor, those resources should be available to all of the poor, regardless to race, creed, or color. Our failure to recognize that fact ran a lot of White people who marched with King right into the arms of the Republican Party during the Affirmative Action controversy.
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Yet, I stand with liberals in being against vouchers. The mere fact that conservatives want to create an entitlement program “in the best interest of minorities” immediately sends up a red flag for me. Creating schools run by corporations is the fastest way that I can think of to create young fascists who are running around speaking in fundamentalist tongue.
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A voucher system would also lead to a two-tier society. What would happen to low and middle-class children if private schools raised tuition beyond their parents’ reach and the public school system have been destroyed? I’ll tell you what will happened – the parents would be chained to corporations to work for crumbs just so their children could learn to read and write.
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Proponents of a mandatory pledge contend that our children should be taught to love and respect our country. It is my position that too much nationalism and not enough principle is what caused the kind of animosity toward this country that led to 9/11. We need to teach our children to embrace high ethical standards and principles, and then if the leaders of our country followed suit, the nation would benefit from the uncoerced love and respect of its citizens and the world.
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Thus, the Pledge of Allegiance should not be a pledge at all. It should be presented as a goal. Then instead of lying about who and what we are, it would encourage us to focus our energies on actually becoming the society that we profess to believe in. Maybe then we’ll create the kind of nation where brainwashing our children for their allegiance won’t be necessary.

Staff Writer; Eric L. Wattree

More thought provoking articles feel free to visit; The Wattree Chronicle.

13 Comments

CD Smith says:

May 23, 2013 at 9:28 am

Eric..With all respect, you are quite literally making up history as you go and changing the subject. Therefore, I will change the subject.

You claim to be a “Progressive” but are you AWARE of the racist history of the Progressive movement and their associations with the Eugenics Movement?

Your Progressive lineage included people like Margret Sanger(founder of Planned Parenthood), Woodrow Wilson, George Shaw, G. K. Chesterton to name a few

This movement gave credence to the notion that black people were intellectually inferior. Margret Sanger started the “Negro Project” to reduce the number of “undesirables” in the black community.

If I am to be ashamed of being a pro-black, self-help, God fearing supporter of “traditional” family values, are you PROUD to associated with a white-elitist, economic and socially stifling ideology that has reduced to you being nothing more than bag of chemicals to be controlled for your own good?

How does controlling your own wealth, allowing one to acquire more of it, being free to use your own tax dollars to educate your child as you see fit, given the “respect” as a MAN to stand toe to toe to compete against someone enslaving?

The problem is that you liberal, progressive blacks believe that you are inferior. In your MIND, you say, “Why have limited government, the racists will put me back slavery?”, “Why have more wealth, the smart people in D.C, know how best to use my money?”, “The government is my Savior and Lord, they love me”, “The good white liberals understand and feel my pain”, ” They know I am “disadvantaged” and are trying to help me”…

What happened to Black Pride?

Reply
Eric L. Wattree says:

May 22, 2013 at 2:55 pm

Decarter910,

Black conservatives are predictable, because they tend to speak in talking points, so you’re easy to anticipate. So Here’s a little something else for you:

What Do Conservatives Really Mean When They Spit Out the Word ‘Liberal?’
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The one factor that contributed most to the downfall of the Democratic Party during the seventies and eighties was allowing conservative Republicans to seize control of the political rhetoric. Much like they are today, the Democrats simply sat back and allowed themselves, their constituency, and their agenda to be redefined in the eyes of the American people by conservative “spin doctors” without rebuttal. As a direct result, they’ve allowed the term “liberal” to become a bad word in the political lexicon.
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When you consider how methodically the conservatives went about mounting their assault on the liberal agenda you can’t help but recognize that it was a stroke of genius. Ironically, the conservatives took the Democratic Party’s strength and made it a political liability. First they took the party’s penchant for being concern with the plight of the poor and downtrodden and coined phrases such as “bleeding heart liberals” and “tax and spend Democrats.” They then played on the frustration of the middle class by tying civil rights legislation, welfare, and crime into one neat bundle as the source of middle class woes; then they attributed all of these problems to what they called the Democrat’s tendency to be ” bleeding heart liberals.” Once the connection was made between minorities, welfare, crime, and the liberal agenda, it was just a matter of repeatedly hammering the message home.
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In addition, conservatives used such tactics as spitting out the word “liberal” as though they were saying rapist. In that way they not only implanted a negative attitude toward liberalism in the mind of the voter, but it was said in such a way that the implication was made that it went without saying that all the negative stereotyping of liberalism was true. Or in other words, their attitude seems to suggest, “I could substantiate what I’m saying about liberals, but I don’t think it’s necessary, since we all know what they’re like.” And in the election that spawned the “Republican revolution” the voters said, “Yes, we do.”
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Through these strategies conservatives accomplished three goals with one ingenious stroke – they defined minorities as slovenly criminals, they define liberal Democrats as “soft on crime,” and they allowed themselves the freedom to place these thoughts in the American psyche without having to substantiate their facts. Moreover, they accomplish all this in every sound bite, and without seeming to be racist, with the use of just one word, “liberal.” In fact, conservatives have been so thorough in their disparagement of liberalism that at this point the word “liberal” is treated like vulgarity, and simply referred to as “the L word.” But don’t be fooled. The word “liberal” as used by the GOP is political shorthand for “nigga lover.” That’s why it’s repeatedly used, and used with so much venom.
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If people would actually take the time to look these terms up instead of deriving their definitions from the implication of Rush Limbaugh’s intonation of the words, they would begin to realize that “liberal” and “conservative” are not so much fixed political philosophies as they are personal predispositions, so they can only be defined in the context of the political environment in which they’re being used.
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“Liberal” means open to change, and “conservative” means dedicated to “conserving” tradition. Thus, a conservative in a country with liberal traditions would be predisposed to conserving those liberal traditions, and a liberal in that same country would be more open to considering traditions that we in this country would consider more conservative, because, by dictionary definition, a liberal is open-minded, while a conservative is dedicated to tradition.
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So, again, the only way that you can ALWAYS tell the difference between liberals and conservatives, in ANY political context, is to understand that liberals tend to be open-minded, and conservatives are more doctrinaire – if a conservative is not doctrinaire, by definition, he’s not a conservative.
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But the issue becomes more complicated when we add religion to the mix, because major religions cross geographic and political boundaries, religious conservatives are predisposed to strictly adhering to their respective religious tenets, while liberals tend to be either areligious, or open to varying forms of religions. That’s how a handful of more fanatical Black people find themselves defending, and even advocating, conservative traditions that are dedicated to subjugating them, and everything they represent. While time has erased the memory of the event, here’s how Black people were initially indoctrinated into the religious conservative mind-set:
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The Conversion
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“Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me.”
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“Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don’t love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa.”
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“Shut up, nigga. I’m talkin’.”
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“Listen, you been blessed already, and you don’t even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don’t have to worry ’bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?”
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“Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I’s so happy.”
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“Now, listen real good ’cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon’s wife (unless we tryin’ to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?”
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“Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?”
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“Dat means people, fool – real people! Dat don’t go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place.”
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“Dat’s right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin’ what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart.”
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“I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word.”
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“The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God’s will bein’ done. And if you listen to me, you’ll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven.”
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“Live like you, massa? A nigga ain’t got no business livin’ dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain’t got sense enough to run nothin’ like this.”
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“Just shut up, nigga!” When you dead you gon get some sense – the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too.”
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“Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin’ me all dis. I’m gon be a good nigga – the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I’m gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin’ me so good a massa.”
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“Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin’! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don’t won’t you talkin’ to him when you s’pose to be workin’.”
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“A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin’? I’s so dumb. I don’t know why you put up with me, Sir.”
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“How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?”
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“Yes Sir, I’s a shuttin’, Massa. I’s a shuttin’, right now.”
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“Now get yo ass out there in that field and let’s get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her ’bout the Lord too.”
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“Yes sir, Massa.”
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“And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin’, tell her I’m playin’ in my tree house.”
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“Why you gon go fibbin’ to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann.”
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“Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin’ ’bout the Lord, so it’s gon be like chuch.”
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“Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy.” . . . “Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . .”
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That’s what makes the concept of a Black conservative so ridiculous. How can ANYONE want to align themselves with a group that is philosophically dedicated to “conserving” a tradition that relegate them to the status of second-class citizen at best, and an animal, at worst?
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Go figure it.
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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-blind-faith-of-organized-religion.html

Reply
dcarter910 says:

May 22, 2013 at 2:03 pm

You responded way too fast for that to have been a thoughtful response. Unless you are typing 200 words per minute and thus should consider employment as a legal stenographer or you had that response copied and pasted which means you are anticipating responses and have prepared a weeks worth of objective research.

Either way…whether you are brain washed by others or self brain washed, it doesn’t matter. That political party you worship will fail you and you will be standing by with an excuse why they failed you. So thus, they can do no wrong.

Wish you the best, though I know the outcome.

Reply
Eric L. Wattree says:

May 22, 2013 at 10:07 am

Dcarter910,

Instead of following the facts wherever they lead, you’re corrupting the facts in order to contort them into a configuration that fits what you want to believe. The facts are so clear that this is an issue that doesn’t even warrant debate. Who was the last Republican president who didn’t drag American under a bus?
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THE GOP: A ONE HUNDRED YEAR RECORD OF SWINDLING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
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In 1921 — eight years before the great depression — Republicans took over the helm of this nation for 12 years. During that time there were three Republican administrations, the first of which was the administration of Warren G. Harding. History remembers Harding’s administration for one thing more than anything other — scandal. It was during Harding’s presidency that the Teapot Dome Scandal erupted. His administration was considered the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States — until Nixon’s, then Reagan’s, and finally Bush’s.
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Next, in 1923, came Calvin Coolidge, the president that Ronald Reagan is said to have most admired. Coolidge’s policies of large tax cuts, allowing business a free-rein, and his encouragement of stock speculation contributed greatly to the impending stock market crash and the great depression that was to come.
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Then in 1929 Herbert Hoover came to power. During his administration the stock market crashed, starting the great depression. In spite of the fact that by 1933 the unemployment rate was at 33.3% with 16 million people out of work, the Republican, Hoover, just sat, thinking that the economy would eventually rejuvenate itself. During Hoover’s administration 15,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington demanding that they be paid what they were owed by the government. Hoover responded by calling in federal troops to throw these ex-servicemen off government property.
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Finally in 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a liberal democrat, was elected overwhelmingly. He immediately surrounded himself with a group of the finest minds in the country, including Columbia professors Adolph A. Berle, Jr., Rexford G. Tugwell, and Raymond Moley, known at the time as the “Brain Trust.” After assembling these men and others he went about the business of developing a” New Deal” for the working class people of this country.
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The New Deal had two components — one to help the economy to recover from the effects of the great depression, and a second component to give relief to the American people and to insure that they were never be placed in a position of total destitution again. To help heal the economy Roosevelt created programs that regulated business, controlled inflation, and brought about price stabilization; to bring relief to the people he signed The National Labor Relations Act which guaranteed workers the right to collective bargaining, and he created the Social Security Administration to guarantee workers some sort of income once they became too old to work. He also signed the Fair Labor Standards Act which protected workers rights and set a minimum wage for workers.
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With his New Deal in place Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this “bleeding heart liberal”, not only led this country out of the worst, Republican generated, crisis that this country has ever faced, but went on to lead the free world in victory over Hitler in WWII. He then ushered in the most sustained prosperity that the world has ever known.
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One would think that conservatives would have seen the light, but their passion to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes seems to supersede all logic. Therefore, from the moment that the New Deal went into place, conservatives have been determined to dismantle it. The closest they’ve come to succeeding started during the Reagan administration with Supply-Side Economics, or, “Reaganomics” — and the battle is currently raging in Washington D.C. as we speak.
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Supply- Side Economics was a scheme hatch by U.S.C. economist Arthur Laffer and the Reagan crowd which was supposed to cut the deficit and balance the budget. The theory behind Reaganomics was ostensibly, if you cut taxes for business and people in the upper tax brackets, and then deregulated business of such nuisances as safety regulations and environmental safeguards, the beneficiaries would invest their savings into creating new jobs. In that way the money would eventually “trickle down” to the rest of us. The resulting broadened tax base would not only help to bring down the deficit, but also subsidize the tremendously high defense budget. When the plan was first floated, even George Bush, Reagan’s vice president to be, called it “voodoo economics.”
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Reaganomics, for the most part, sought to undo many of the safeguards put into place during the Roosevelt era and create a business environment similar to that which was in place during the Coolidge Administration. What actually took place, however, was even more like the Coolidge era than planed.
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Instead of taking the money and investing it into creating new jobs, the money was used in wild schemes and stock market speculation. One of these schemes, the leveraged buy out, involved buying up large companies with borrowed funds secured by the company’s assets, then paying off the loan by selling off the assets of the purchased company. This practice cost the citizens of this country its industrial base. In addition, the bottom fell out of the stock market. On Monday, October 19, 1987 the Dow-Jones Average fell 508.32 points. It was the greatest one-day decline since 1914 – 15 years before the Great Depression.
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And what about Ronald Reagan’s promise to balance the budget and lower the deficit? By the time he left office he was not only the most prolific spender of any president, but he also added more to the deficit than all of the other presidents from George Washington to his own administration combined. And what does the Republican Party propose to do about that? One of the Republican proposals was their “contract with America,” a capitol gains tax cut — for the rich.
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Due to the continued freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions with assets of over $125 billion.
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Then in 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of “breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest.” The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement . . . MORE
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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2010/10/gop-one-hundred-year-record-of.html

Reply
dcarter910 says:

May 22, 2013 at 9:27 am

Eric,

Man there is something seriously wrong with you. How many times do we have to go on this marry-go-round where we agree that both the GOP and the Democrats are evil, just so you can write another article the following week stomping on the GOP and praising the Democrats. There appears to be a real disconnect here and as intelligent as you appear to be…I cant figure out why you have a hard time addressing more than one enemy. To succeed in combat you must first recognize all the enemy combatants on the field. You must then determine their capabilities and weapons that they will launch at you and then you must build your defenses and plan your counter attacks.

You are very good at pointing out the GOP enemy but you cant see the other enemy on the field and the enemy you cant see is the one that will get you every time.

This is asymmetrical mental warfare (chess) and you are stuck playing checkers.

One thing I would like to point out when you say that Democrats always do a better job on the economy. One year after Clinton left office came the first .dotcom bust, plus it was the policies of easy creadit-no credit implemented during the Clinton years that forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide loans to those who couldnt afford them. That resulted in the 2008 housing crash. Yes, Bush allowed the policies enacted by Clinton to continue but in the aftermath he didnt jog around the media pointing the finger at Clinton…when every economist will tell you that it was Clinton’s policies that lead to the crash.

P.S. Every Democratically ran city does extremely well, until the taxes get too high, the union and city official’s trust funds and benefits packages gets to high, the lack of investment in the schools and police force leads to run away crime, the number of welfare recipients sky rocket and the city government and economy collapses. Then a Republican state Governor has to come in an seize control of the city and undo the problems created by the decades of Democratic City mayors and council members.

Example: New Orleans, Atlanta, Detroit, All of New Jersey….oh and soon to be added to this list Chicago and New York City. Yeah, like the U.S. debt problem, democrats do a great job until they run out of other peoples money and they can no longer hide the corruption.

Reply
Ulo says:

May 22, 2013 at 12:48 am

Eric, good comment. Just saying on some level ALL humans are flawed. We all are hypocritical in some way, yet we like NO LOVE to point out faults in others. Thats being Human LOL.

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Eric L. Wattree says:

May 21, 2013 at 11:17 pm

CD,
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Here’s a little more from Forbes Magazine. I come with facts and evidence, not delusional opinions:
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Economically, Could Obama be Our Best President?
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BBBB – Firstly, let’s review just how bad things were in 2009. In 2000 America was completing the longest bull market in history. But by the end of President Bush’s tenure the country had witnessed 2 stock market crashes, and the DJIA had fallen 58%. This was the second worst market decline in history (exceeded only by the Great Depression,) and hence the term “Great Recession” was born.
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In 2000, at the end of Clinton’s administration, the Consumer Confidence Index was at a record high 140. By January, 2009 this index had fallen to an historic low of 25.3. Comparatively, when Reagan took office at the end of the economically weak Carter years the Confidence Index was still at 74.4! Today this measure of how people feel about the country is still nowhere near 2000 levels, but it is almost 3 times better than 4 years ago.
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Significantly, in 2000 America had a budget surplus. By 2009 surpluses were long gone and the country was racking up historic deficits as taxes were cut while simultaneously outlays for defense skyrocketed to cover costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, banks were on the edge of failing due to unregulated real estate speculation and massive derivative losses.
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Today the Congressional Budget Office is reporting a $200B decrease in the deficit almost entirely due to increased revenue from a growing economy and higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. The deficit is now only 4% of the GDP, down from over 10% at the end of Bush’s administration – and projections are for it to be only 2% by 2015 (before Obama leaves office.) America’s “debt problem” seems largely solved, and almost all due to growth rather than austerity.
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We can largely thank a fairer tax code, improved regulation and consistent SEC enforcement. Also, major strides in health care reform – something no other President has accomplished – has given American’s more faith in their future, and an increased willingness to invest.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/05/16/economically-could-obama-be-americas-best-president/

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Eric L. Wattree says:

May 21, 2013 at 11:09 pm

CD Smith,
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You’re completely out of touch with reality. I can see a person being uninformed, but you’re refusing to believe your lying eyes when the fact’s are both clear, and available. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you also believe in talking snakes:
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GOP Leaders Remind Voters that the Economy Does Better Under Democrats
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The verdict on President Bush’s reign of ruin was pronounced even before Barack Obama took the oath of office. January 9, 2009, the Republican-friendly Wall Street Journal summed it up with an article titled simply, “Bush on Jobs: the Worst Track Record on Record.” Just days after the Washington Post documented that George W. Bush presided over the worst eight-year economic performance in the modern American presidency, the New York Times on January 24 featured an analysis (“Economic Setbacks That Define the Bush Years”) comparing presidential performance going back to Eisenhower. As the Times showed, George W. Bush, the first MBA president, was a historic failure when it came to expanding GDP, producing jobs and fueling stock market growth.
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a recent Time poll showed Americans not only prefer President Obama over Bush by a twenty-point margin, but blame Dubya for the economic disaster 61% to 27%. Last week’s Washington Post-ABC survey revealed a staggering 73% have some or no confidence in Republicans’ ability to make the right decisions for the country’s future. And by a 42% to 34% margin, the public still trusts Democrats to do a better job handling the economy. But the larger truth about the free enterprise system trumpeted by Pete Sessions is this:
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When it comes to GDP, employment, the stock market or just about any other measure of the health of American capitalism, the historical record is clear: the economy almost always does better under Democrats.
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http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/gop-economy-does-better-under-dems

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CD Smith says:

May 21, 2013 at 10:05 pm

Eric, I read that article previously and commented.

My slightly revised response below:

First, your commentary is “misleading”. Progressive is just another term for “liberal”. Progressivism is on the “Left” end of the political spectrum.
That is why you tend to “advocate” for the Democratic Party.

And your facts are a distortion of history. Most of what you propose as history is personal opinion. These few questions challenge your entire argument:

1. What was the political ideology of “free” blacks before the creation of the Republican Party?

2. Why is it that in nearly all major American cities that are controlled by the Democratic Party(Progressives) for decades, blacks experience the highest crime rate, highest unemployment and the lowest levels educational achievement?

4. Please identify a Republican controlled major city in the US?

3. Why is it that black liberals(progressives) cannot name a specific conservative policy that directly harms black people?

4. Since the Republican Party is racist, who are the white liberals in the Democratic Party who fight for black peoples self-determination, economic independence and community uplift so they do not have to depend on government to feed, clothe and house them?

History:

5. Why did you not mention that Franklin Roosevelt appointed KKK Lawyer Hugo Black to the Supreme Court?

6. Why did you not mention that Jim Crow, Black Codes and other segregation laws were instituted by the Democratic Party?

7. Why did you not mention that the Republican Party voted in majority House and Senate in 1964 for Civil Rights Act of 1964?

8. Why did you not mention that Bill Clinton awarded his mentor, segregationist J. William Fulbright the highest civilian honor?

9. Why did you not mention that Al Gore’s father voted against Civil Rights Act of 1964?

10. Why did you not mention that the Democratic Party had a former KKK leader, Robert Byrd as a member since 2010? He voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well.

11. Why did you not mention that the Democratic Party supports an organization that are aborting black children at nearly twice the rate as whites?

I could go on as your commentary as many other holes in it but please follow your own advice and portray yourself as you are; which appears to be a liberal, socialist.

As far as Limbaugh’s comment, I did not know we were obligated to follow “bad” policies and want political figures to succeed at implementing them.

How much support did you give George Bush policies? I bet you wanted him to succeed. (LOL)

By the way, I am black and conservative because of the existence of evil in the world and need to for men to control other men.

I am conservative because as a Black man, I need to the ability to “control” my money and my “environment” as I dictate. I should not have to be obligated to wait for the good “white” liberals to come in rescue me or pay me off with the “crumbs” of their guilt-induced charity that our black leaders have conjured up over the decades.

I agree the Republican Party is in trouble because they are criticized when they attempt to reach out to the black community and vilified when they don’t. They lack the voice to confront the black progressives because the progressives hide behind their black skin and scream racism when their arguments lack substance. They are looking to black people to say it for them, like the Democrats do; but the Democrats hand out money to people and nobody hates Santa Claus.

Lastly, Black conservatives “champion” the ability of the individual to reach as high as their abilities can take them. The problem with most Black progressives is that don’t believe in the ability of the black community to build their own viable economic enclaves. They want to emulate all the style of their white liberal friends but lack the substance to sustain it. The progressives only solution is to attempt to bring everyone down. The equal distribution of “misery”. That’s the progressive version of equality and fairness.

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Eric L. Wattree says:

May 21, 2013 at 8:33 pm

CD Smith,
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Per your request:
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An Irrefutable Truth About the GOP
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A gentleman by the name of James W. Lewis recently commented on my article, “Who’s In the ‘Dark,’ the Black Community, or Dr. Ben Carson?” In his comment he posed a question which under ordinary circumstances would seem to be very reasonable, and one that seems to currently be on the mind of a surprising number of younger Black people. He asked the following:
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“There’s one thing that has always bothered me about black folks. We constantly battle trying to prove we’re not all the same, especially what’s portrayed on television. We come from a variety of backgrounds, and our unique upbringings shape our beliefs, including political beliefs. If that’s the case, why do we ALL have to be Democrat (or even Independent)? The Democratic Party was once pro-slavery with obviously no, to very little African American support. The shift began in the 1940s with FDR’s New Deal. African Americans have been generally pro-Democrat ever since. If African Americans can change the face of the Democratic party, can’t the same be said for the Republican party?”
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James, in a word, no.
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People often suggest that I tend to advocate for the Democratic Party over the GOP. In response to that, first, I’d like to make it clear that I’m not a Democrat, and I haven’t been since my early twenties. I’m a independent progressive thinker, as oppose to a liberal or conservative. There is a difference.
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Liberals and conservatives are both ideologues, and as such, tend to be different sides of the same coin. They both have a propensity to give ideology priority over unadulterated truth. So when truth fails to conform to their particular ideological position, they both have a tendency to try to bend and contort the truth in order to mold it into a more comfortable fit within their political philosophy.
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Progressives, on the other hand, are non-ideological. We believe in following truth wherever it leads and regardless to who’s ox it gores. Truth is our only constituent, so we tend to look upon the political landscape as though we’re observing an ant farm, rather than from a partisan perspective.
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At this point it must be granted, however, that progressives do generally come down on the liberal side of the ledger, but there’s a reason for that, and since we believe in truth, that reason should be obvious. The current Republican Party has become a refuge for scoundrels for some, and a refuge from reality for many others. So while I’m not advocating FOR the Democratic Party, I routinely and vociferously advocate AGAINST the Republican Party with my every keystroke, because the current GOP is filled to the brim with some of the most dangerously malevolent people in this country.
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Simply ask yourself, when was the last time a party had to, literally, hide their last president and vice president during an election? Granted, I’m not a historian, but I can’t think of another time in our history. But the Republican Party had to do it twice – in both the 2008 and 2012 elections – and with good reason.
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George W. Bush and Dick Cheney spent their entire eight-year reign enriching their cronies. In addition, during their time in office they didn’t do one solitary thing to help America, or the American people, and that’s been the Republican record for nearly ONE HUNDRED YEARS. The GOP has a clear and irrefutable one hundred year record of swindling the American people, which I clearly lay out in the following link.(http://wattree.blogspot.com/2010/10/gop-one-hundred-year-record-of.html).
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Thus, the GOP has clearly become the domestic enemy of the United States. So to even try to be nonpartisan with this group would constitute colluding with the enemy against the American people.
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Am I engaging in a hyperbolic rant? I don’t think so. Let me prove it: Who was the last Republican president who didn’t drag America under a bus? That’s a real brain teaser isn’t it? Now try to name one good thing that the GOP has done for the American people in the last 30 years. Let me answer that for you – Absolutely nothing.
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Rush Limbaugh was foolish enough to make his feelings known out loud – “I don’t want Obama to be successful” – and as everyone knows, Rush speaks for the Republican Party.
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Thus, Rush gave the Republican Party their marching orders at the very beginning of President Obama’s administration – that the GOP should do everything in its power to prevent America from succeeding, regardless to the level of suffering that the American people may have to endure, and they’ve stood steadfast to that agenda.
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In yesterday’s vote on gun control, in spite of the fact that a majority of 54 senators voted to approve the measure, the Republicans used the threat of filibuster to block true democracy and thumbed their nose at nearly 90% of the American people in favor of their corporate cronies. That, is the literal definition of a domestic enemy . . . MORE
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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-irrefutable-truth-about-gop.html

Reply
CD Smith says:

May 21, 2013 at 11:01 am

Wow..I don’t know where to begin.

You have proven, masterfully, that we live on the planet Earth and not in Heaven. You are correct in that pledge is reminder of that goal. The problem is that thanks to the our current education system, the meaning is lost and distorted.

With all due respect, compared all the current societies that exist on this planet, your children do live in the most just nation, not the most perfect nation.

1. From the perspective of 6,000 years of human history, name a better nation than America. Please review the concepts of the divine right of kings ,natural law for starters.

2. The ideas of America were always understood in the light of “guiding” principles. No other nation in the history of mankind has made those principles as the foundation of their government. If you are looking for a society that has always done what they put in writing, you are on the wrong planet.

It is those guiding principles that have brought about the most sweeping social changes in the world. Women vote, blacks are no longer “legal” slaves. Those change came with COST as any changes will. No struggle, No Progress — Fredrick Douglass

3. Homosexual lifestyles clash with my Christian beliefs but I support their right to participate. There are many lifestyle choices I disagree with also. However, they don’t have the right to make me affirm their choices or to change the traditions I hold dear.

3. Freedom never meant that we should accept everyone’s view of reality. That is hedonism. Hedonism is not option for a viable society. The question that should be asked, is this good for society? Is it good for society that men lie with men and women with women? Is it good for society to violate the law of God? Is it good for society for heterosexuals to be unmarried and have children?

4. Freedom in this context never meant freedom from hatred, racism, poverty or bad cooking. We are on earth. The idea is that everyone has the “opportunity” to live free to the limits of commonsense.

Comment on Education:

I don’t know if you noticed, but black children are already victims of a two-tier system education.. One where the educators are not required to ensure your children are educated (public school system) and the parents are not held responsible and the other one. One is monopoly and one is not. Monopolies do not work for the good of society. Vouchers break the monopoly.

Finally, you are certainty a liberal, I can respect that; but as a black man I just don’t get what is empowering or liberating about liberalism or being a Democrat. Like you, I was born a Democrat, as all blacks are, but as I got older, I grew tired of being viewed by liberal whites as a “special case” a victim, a minority, someone with a disadvantage. Their true attitude is revealed once they realize that you are more capable and competent than they. I am tired of set-asides. I want the whole loaf. I have learned that “respect” has to be earned not given. I am MAN and child of God. No one on this earth is greater than me or beneath me.

Liberalism does not require me to be MAN, a leader in my family, community or even to be free.

Please explain in an article why you are not conservative. But please do us a favor and actually study and explore the tenants of conservatism in relation to empowering the black community. At the very least, please review the meaning of freedom and liberty in a viable society.

Reply
Eric L. Wattree says:

May 20, 2013 at 9:33 pm

Ulo,

I sincerely hope that I never get over my disgust with hypocrisy. And I also hope that I never begin to think of slavery and genocide as a little “exploitation along the way.”

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ulo media says:

May 20, 2013 at 9:17 pm

Mankind will Never be Free. Get over it and live with what you have. As little as we have in America, No other place comes near. Everyone exploits someone along the way. How you think you got that mac meal for a dollar?

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