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cilla4progress

(24,585 posts)
Mon Jan 2, 2017, 11:42 PM Jan 2017

When did we so manifestly lose control of our country?

Yes our power and stake has been waning since the 70s. But for the 1st time it feels that no shame, no dishonor, no crime, no treason can bring down the incoming regime.

I struggle to fight the urge to check out entirely until this thing either blows over or we are all incinerated.

23 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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When did we so manifestly lose control of our country? (Original Post) cilla4progress Jan 2017 OP
After Reagan. CrispyQ Jan 2017 #1
Pretty much this. Willie Pep Jan 2017 #8
On the other side of the aisle we have the Clinton model which allowed the Democratic party KittyWampus Jan 2017 #16
it goes back to the media based on everything i see JI7 Jan 2017 #2
When Fox news came along True_Blue Jan 2017 #3
I totally agree with your opinion. nancy1942 Jan 2017 #4
Putin has been into trump since at least 1990. pangaia Jan 2017 #5
Ding, ding ding! You hit the nail on the head. Tatiana Jan 2017 #6
I suspect you're right True_Blue Jan 2017 #7
Final Blow - Repeal of Key Sections of the Voting Rights Act... RealityChik Jan 2017 #9
When we elected a black man as President, twice!! MiniMe Jan 2017 #10
Whenever the US media was taken over by the rw that required Cha Jan 2017 #11
So where and how does it end? cilla4progress Jan 2017 #12
We let money vote. Orsino Jan 2017 #13
Take your pick... Zo Zig Jan 2017 #14
Message auto-removed Name removed Jan 2017 #15
Mostly agree with you. If Russia did directly mess with our machines, that's one thing...if they JCanete Jan 2017 #18
Message auto-removed Name removed Jan 2017 #19
If nothing else comes of this...I'll definitely be leaning that way myself. I'll hold my cynicism JCanete Jan 2017 #20
When Reagan took office. Rex Jan 2017 #17
Yup. this. Joe941 Jan 2017 #23
Cumulative: Reagan + right-wing media + black president. Paladin Jan 2017 #21
I agree with your assessment. kairos12 Jan 2017 #22

CrispyQ

(36,221 posts)
1. After Reagan.
Mon Jan 2, 2017, 11:52 PM
Jan 2017

The right funded think tanks & bought all the radio syations, while the dems ran as fast as they could, away from the word liberal. Thirty- five years of 'we suck less' strategy, & 'vote for the lesser of two evils' advice, & here we are, with prez-elect, Trump. This is what happens without a true opposition party.

Willie Pep

(841 posts)
8. Pretty much this.
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 01:03 AM
Jan 2017

The Right funded an alternative media and alternative academia (their think tanks) and developed a powerful narrative that explained why things seemed to be getting worse in the 1970s. They blamed things like stagflation on big government liberalism and labor unions. Unfortunately, many Democrats agreed that the era of New Deal liberalism had passed and accepted some aspects of the Reagan Revolution.

The Democrats are not alone in this. Most center-left parties in the industrialized countries moved to the Right by the 1980s. The center-left didn't have a coherent answer to the problems of capitalism in the 1970s and at the time many people saw theories like monetarism as correct or at least useful in dealing with the problems facing Western economies at the time.

Now we are at a point where the neoliberal order is breaking down and we are due for a swing back to the Left, I think, but unlike the 1930s there has been no resurgence in institutions like labor unions that provided the impetus for positive change. This is why I still think we need a stronger labor movement despite all of the problems that unions have now. Even in their weakened state I don't see any other institutions that are capable of presenting a narrative and program that working Americans need.

The Democratic Party always needed to be pushed in a more liberal direction, whether by unions or by the civil rights movement or whatever. That is not a knock on the Democratic Party, it is just the reality that political parties are only as strong as the institutions and movements behind them. A weakening labor movement has been a huge blow to the Democrats and this explains why the Republicans are so intent on destroying unions.

 

KittyWampus

(55,894 posts)
16. On the other side of the aisle we have the Clinton model which allowed the Democratic party
Thu Jan 5, 2017, 01:43 AM
Jan 2017

apparatus to atrophy.

Happened under Bill Clinton. Howard Dean at the DNC pulled the party back from extinction and then Obama listened to the Clintons and put their cronies Kaine and DWS in at the DNC and we slide into this current hell.

I voted for Clinton in this past primary and National election. But I had grave misgivings about how she and her husband approached party politics.

JI7

(89,172 posts)
2. it goes back to the media based on everything i see
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 12:06 AM
Jan 2017

they seem more on reality tv level than actual news reporters.

check out foreign news to see the difference.

and then there is the changing demographics in the country that many white people do not like.

True_Blue

(3,063 posts)
3. When Fox news came along
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 12:16 AM
Jan 2017

And talk wing radio. The people that only get their news from these sources are completely clueless about what's going on in the world. This is why need a free press.

But this Russian coup had to be a long well thought out plan. I wonder how much of this country has already been infiltrated by Putin. I suspect most of the MSM. I never thought this could happen to America.

Tatiana

(14,167 posts)
6. Ding, ding ding! You hit the nail on the head.
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 12:37 AM
Jan 2017

Fox News -- they brainwash the public and they are everywhere.

As far the Russian interference, I'm sure they have infiltrated every major political system we have in this country. Definitely the mainstream media. Also, I think some of the provocateurs during the Democratic convention may have been Russian plants. At this point, I have to assume the DNC is compromised, as well.

RealityChik

(382 posts)
9. Final Blow - Repeal of Key Sections of the Voting Rights Act...
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 02:24 AM
Jan 2017

by the Supreme Court in 2013. The original law protected against discrimination of voters by requiring individual states to get federal permission before changing voting rules. The Supreme Court declared those sections obsolete because there is no more discrimination so it was no longer necessary, right?

We all know how THAT worked out for us. There have been attempts by Dems in Congress to restore those sections, but they rolled over and gave up the fight like they always do. If we don't fight to restore integrity and transparency to our elections, we may as well pack it in and move to whatever country would be willing to accept us. As of Election 2016, we are now teetered on the edge of oligarchy. What's next...dictatorship?

Cha

(295,899 posts)
11. Whenever the US media was taken over by the rw that required
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 10:56 AM
Jan 2017

manipulation and manufactured "news" for their agenda.

I have no idea when that started.. I stopped in November 2002 after watching for 2 years.

cilla4progress

(24,585 posts)
12. So where and how does it end?
Tue Jan 3, 2017, 11:08 AM
Jan 2017

Do we wrestle it back, or do we become a Russian substate? How long does that take? Does it require a bloody revolution?

Rather than it being an internal battle, it seems to me that the groups around the world who oppose fascism and corporate rule should band together against our overlords. We have the tools. Families, intellectuals, and yes, working people, need to seize our strength and peacefully overthrow them.

Zo Zig

(600 posts)
14. Take your pick...
Wed Jan 4, 2017, 11:09 PM
Jan 2017

Assassination of Lincoln
Assassination of Kennedy
No impeachment of Nixon
Election of Reagan
No impeachment of Reaguns
Bush v. Gore
Citizens United
Election of Dump?

Response to cilla4progress (Original post)

 

JCanete

(5,272 posts)
18. Mostly agree with you. If Russia did directly mess with our machines, that's one thing...if they
Thu Jan 5, 2017, 03:31 AM
Jan 2017

Last edited Thu Jan 5, 2017, 05:24 AM - Edit history (1)

blackmailed people in anyway, that's something to be concerned about also, especially as it pertains to compromised politicians in power...

but if all they did was generate fake news, hell, we're already neck deep in that shit from our own news media. Russia's is a pale-full by comparison.

Response to JCanete (Reply #18)

 

JCanete

(5,272 posts)
20. If nothing else comes of this...I'll definitely be leaning that way myself. I'll hold my cynicism
Thu Jan 5, 2017, 05:23 AM
Jan 2017

til the inauguration though...not that I expect that to get derailed in any way, even if there was some big discovery.
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