As a Proud, Long Term, Liberal Activist, I will continue to do as I've always done.

[bvar22]

I will continue to OPPOSE:
*Increasing the Power and Wealth of For Profit Corporations.

*Increasing Military Spending (Decrease by 50% immediately)

*Continuing the phony WAR in the Middle East (Out Now)

*A Free Pass for War Criminals and Torturers

*The Privatization of our Common Wealth and Common Responsibilities, including Social Programs

*The use of the "Secrecy" classification to avoid civilian oversight


I will continue to SUPPORT:
*Medicare for anyone who wants it

*The immediate break-up (Trust Busting) of everything "Too Big to Fail".

*Fair Competition Legislation that lets Mom&Pop (small locally owned businesses and farms) compete with Big Box and Factory Farms on a level playing field.

*An end to "Free Trade" (Race to the Bottom)

*Organized LABOR and local co-ops.

*An end to the two-tiered Judicial System

*Prosecution of rich American War Criminals and War Profiteers. (Oh yes they did!)

*An END to "Corporate Personhood"

*Strictly Enforced Publicly Financed Elections (severe penalties for criminals)

*Transparent and Verifiable elections (Why isn't this a front burner issue with the Democratic Party?)

*Re-Regulation with strict oversight of Banking/Investment, Transportation, Communications, Trade, Energy, Utilities, and Insurance.

*NO Public Money for private Prisons, armed Private Police, armed Defense Contractors, private intelligence agencies, or For Profit Health Insurance Corporations.

*Immediate Civil Rights and Equal Protection for ALL. (No Exceptions)

*Free Quality Universal Education to everyone who wants it.

*Strong Social Safety Net and Consumer Protections.

*An end to The Patriot Act and a return to The Constitution.(especially Habeas and privacy protections)

*A refutation of the "Unitary Executive", and legislation to ensure it NEVER happens again.

*An END to Republican/Corporate influence INSIDE The Democratic Party !
(NO! They DON"T deserve a seat at the table!)

These are values I strongly believe in. I have fought for these values long before I ever heard the name "Obama", "triangulation", or "Centrist" Democrats. I will keep fighting for these values no matter who is in the White House.

It is an "Issues" thing, not a matter of Political Personalities.
When politicians move toward the above, I will support them.
When they move away, I will oppose them.

I have been deeply disappointed over the last year as the White House has made concession after concession to Republicans, but when the Progressive Democrats held out for the Public Option, or opposed increased WAR funding, or offered up a Pro-LABOR challenger to an entrenched Anti-LABOR Senator, The White House sent the Winged Monkeys after them....Chicago Style.
I have seen no such effort to bend Centrist" Democrats or Republicans to his will during the first 1 -1/2 years of the "CHANGE" administration.

I don't expect to get everything, but I DO expect respect for these values, and a voice in the Party that is asking for my money and support.
If a Political Party does not at least acknowledge these values and give them a seat at the table,
I will find another Party that will.
If these values are no longer welcome at DU, so be it.
If Standing Up for these issues and pointing out when the Democratic Party falls short is seen as an attack on the President...so be it.

"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.--FDR

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights

THIS is the Democratic Party I joined 44 years ago.
THIS is the Democratic Party I love.

I find that my FDR/LBJ Democratic values are increasingly unwelcome in the Democratic Party, and has been construed as "not supporting the President" by some.
I disagree.
The very best thing I can do to support the Democratic Party and President Obama is to point out where the Party and our Leadership have drifted away from these values, and to call out for a return to the Working Class values that the Democratic Party once embraced.


"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[Donnachaidh]

1. +1000000 k&r n/t

[Dappleganger]

2. K&R

[KonaKane]

3. You are the reason we will win.

Thank you for reminding us why we are here.

[amborin]

4. K&R

[Octafish]

5. What bvar22 said.

"THIS is the Democratic Party I joined 44 years ago.
THIS is the Democratic Party I love."

K&R.

[laughingliberal]

27. What bvar22 & Octafish said! nt

[glitch]

64. All of the above. nt

[yowzayowzayowza]

6. How does the highest-purest-current expression of Democratic values,

the hundreds of Bills passed by the Democratic CONTROLLED House of Representatives, suit you?

[w8liftinglady]

7. consider yourself a motivator of this video...and me.Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkSN_buNl4Q

[Blue_In_AK]

8. You speak for me, bvar22.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Odin2005]

9. +1,000,000,000,000,000,000

[H2O Man]

10. Thank you.

Outstanding OP. Much appreciated. Happily recommended.

[inna]

11. Huge K&R and thank you, always!

:applause:

[Lorien]

12. All those, plus stronger environmental regulation, reduction of greenhouse gasses

and protection of biodiversity. None of the other issues matter if the planet can't sustain life because we've polluted and pillaged it to death.

[GrannyK]

163. Hear! hear!

That is so true Lorien. If we continue to trash our home and forget that we are connected to every other entity on this planet, our destruction is ensured.
Sad to say, we've made a significant head start.

[mod mom]

13. me too!

:hi:

[PA Democrat]

14. K & R. Great Wellstone quote in your sig line as well.

[Dragonfli]

15. K&R Thank you for a Democratic post (Old school "Pro People" Dem Party)

The one I still remember and want back....

[The Straight Story]

16. And as I proud liberal i will support "your body, your choice" and freedom

as well as more govt regulations when they make sense.

[OhioChick]

17. K&R n/t

[Duncan Grant]

18. Proud to K&R for the "underground".

:kick:

[Bryn]

19. Excellent Post! [phone]

:fistbump:

K&R

wish Paul Wellstone was still around. He is missed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

20. !

:applause:

[Lifelong Protester]

21. A huge kick and recco

for giving a great summary of our aspirations, even if we fall short, we should remember what our apsirations are.

[laughingliberal]

22. Huge REC! nt

[chill_wind]

23. K & R.

Amen, Amen. :thumbsup:

[Swamp Rat]

24. k&r

[leftstreet]

25. K&R

Nicely done!

[sabrina 1]

26. Excellent Op, thank you.

I also love the Paul Wellstone quote.

:kick: & Rec'd

[JDPriestly]

28. I'm with you bvar22.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cate94]

30. K & R

[annabanana]

31. Yes.. 100%.. THIS is The American Dream.

It is the idea of THIS reality that made all peoples look to America. THIS is what all peoples aspire to. THIS is our strength and our hope.

[annabanana]

32. Bookmarked, in case I forget in all the noise and confusion. . .n/t

[MissDeeds]

33. Well done

K&R

:kick:

[Agony]

34. I'm with You!

(but didn't you leave out the bit about "The right of everyone to unfettered access to garden porn"?)

[LWolf]

35. + 1,000,000

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

36. Well said, eom

[pundaint]

37. How's that blanket party support been working for the last 30 years?

What's going to change if the corporations get all the legislation their way, and the Representatives who cast those votes keep getting rewarded at the ballot box? It's time to consider all the candidates in each race and support the one that matches what we want, not a vote to guess who will win. We've seen in the last year the power a swing voter can have over the whole majority. What if there were a few outrageously and defiantly liberal swing voters in each House?

[KoKo]

38. Well Said...Printing and Keeping it posted where I can remind myself of why I'm a Democrat.

Good Job!

[Poboy]

39. Unchecked corporations are the single most largest threat to our

democracy, our land, and our lives. We have a situation that these corporations have bought off our only protections from them.
They own the politicians. They own the courts. The curtain has fallen, and we see with horror, the betrayal.

Great post.

[Enthusiast]

76. Unchecked corporations are

a FAR greater threat to 'our freedoms' than any terrorist.

[westerebus]

40. How about DU adopts FDR's Economic Bill of Rights as it's banner?

[KonaKane]

157. YES!!!

I believe that FDR's "Second Bill of Rights" is the most understated but vitally needed revision to our political views, in our history.

[defendandprotect]

168. Yes -- also UN on Human Rights: Food/Shelter/Clothing/Medical Care -- !!

[KonaKane]

180. Another YES. They have the right idea.

[Spike from MN]

41. I'm with you, bvar22.

If you ever decide to run for office, you'd have my vote in a heartbeat.

[racaulk]

42. I'm very proud to K&R this one!

I stand with you, bvar22.

:pals:

[dgibby]

43. Outstanding!

I'm printing it out and framing it for my office wall. This should be required reading!

K&R!

[daleanime]

44. Tried hard to find something to disagree with...

couldn't do it.:bounce:

[Dinger]

45. DU Should Bend The Rules For Threads Like This And Allow Multiple Recs (nt)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

46. [phone]!

[nashville_brook]

47. shit howdy. k n r.

[snot]

48. Here, here!

[Eyerish]

49. K&R

I'm with you bvar!!:applause:

[Tailormyst]

50. I wish I could recommend this 1000 times

I stand beside you on EVERY word of that post.

[NorthCarolina]

51. Well said. Glad there are still some genuine Liberals/Progressives here on DU

I know many have already left, and with the new DU rules shifting the site rightward, I fear that our numbers here may dwindle further.

[Spheric]

52. Well said. K&R /nt

[BeFree]

53. Diebold

It doesn't matter what we want as long as Diebold counts our votes.

All the things we stand for are so very correct, so why aren't we getting the correct stuff? How do the son of a bitches that oppose us keep getting elected if we are so correct?

[Karmadillo]

54. K&R

nt

[Jackpine Radical]

55. What amazes me as I read this is that there are large numbers of people

who have been somehow deceived into thinking that these shouldn't be universal aspirations.

[suffragette]

56. K&R

Excellent post.

[SidDithers]

57. Good!...

And I hope you can do it within the rules set out by the admins of this site.

K&R

Sid

[sellitman]

59. Will all who agree with this post be Tombstoned?

If so it has been fun.

Start with me.

K&R

[axollot]

81. I have missed something. DU rules changed and a thread like this not

supported anymore?! That's insane. No more $$ for DU if threads like this do not receive support and/or are removed.

Cheers
Sandy

[TwilightGardener]

58. "Chicago style", huh?

Unrec just for that.

[Radical Activist]

60. Maybe they were sent thick crust pizzas and loaded brawts.

[niceypoo]

65. Every time I hear the phrase 'Chicago style' ...

...I think 'pizza.'

[TwilightGardener]

74. Every time I hear it on DU, I think it's an expression of contempt against Obama

and his administration.

[kenfrequed]

80. Rec to counter.

Personally I wish I had two recs I could give.

[unapatriciated]

177. Here is the second rec.

K&R

[EFerrari]

108. It's more about Rahm and in reality, Rahm brags about being from Chicago

and plays off of the mythology. Like here:

'When Emanuel and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York met with Dean to ask him to shift money to congressional races, Emanuel mocked the former Vermont governor as a political lightweight from a tiny, rural, homogenous state. "No disrespect, but some of us are arrogant enough, we come from Chicago, we think we know what it means to knock on a door," Bendavid quotes Emanuel as telling Dean. Emanuel "slammed his hand on the table," then continued his tirade: "Look, Chuck comes from Brooklyn. I come from Chicago. It ain't Burlington, Vermont. Now, we understand that Burlington knows a lot about grassroots politics and we know nothing. I know your field plan -- it doesn't exist. I've gone around the country with these races. I've seen your people. There's no plan, Howard." '

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/05/08/rahm_emanuel

[TwilightGardener]

112. The poster specified "The White House". By that, he surely must have meant

Obama and his administration. The phrase "winged monkeys"--is that like goons, or something? Is Obama a thug? A gangster? A mafia boss? Sorry, there's no way I can NOT see what I see when I read this.

[EFerrari]

116. You do know that Rahm is Chief of Staff, right? In the Obama administration?

[TwilightGardener]

119. I'm sorry, are you Bvar? And expressions of contempt, including insinuations

that the White House and the administration are operating in a corrupt or immoral way, simply by virtue of where the President and his Chief of Staff hail from, are objectionable to me. It's unnecessary, and I can't and won't excuse or ignore it. The poster should have left that reference out.

[defendandprotect]

169. Oh. . . sad . . . pitiful . . . the tough guy act?

[alarimer]

129. They by and large deserve the contempt.

ESPECIALLY (but not only) because of what they are doing to schools. They are essentially enacting Republican party plans. Privatization of almost everything has long been an aim of the Republicans but it takes a Democratic administration to sell it and implement it (see NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Steagal, and "welfare reform". All REPUBLICAN ideas foisted onto us by Democrats.

Obama and company are doing exactly the same thing with the war, with civil liberties and with education. I have nothing but contempt for most of their actions on those fronts.

[bvar22]

137. It was not meant as an expression of contempt.

It WAS an acknowledgment that Obama CAN and WILL play hardball to get what he wants.

There is a chronic if misinformed belief that President Obama is too soft, too nice, too diplomatic, too cerebral, can't fight, and is too willing to compromise. This is not based in reality.

Chicago is KNOWN as a tough town for Politics. President Obama managed to fight his way to the TOP in CHICAGO.
He did NOT accomplish this without the ability to play hardball (or Politics Chicago Style).

President Obama KNOWS how to play the game.
When some members of the Progressive Caucus were refusing to vote FOR the War Funding in 2008, they received an offer they couldn't refuse.
Some of these freshmen Congressmen had campaigned on "No More Money for War."
They received a visitor from the White House, and were informed that:
*The White House Doors would be closed to them
*Their "projects" would go to the bottom of the pile
*The White House would come to their districts and campaign against them
President Obama got what he wanted
THAT is Politics Chicago Style.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/17-5

I am disappointed that these tactics were used against the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party,
and NOT against conservative Democrats or Republicans during the HCR debacle.
I wish he had sent his enforcers to Arkansas for a conference with Blanche Lincoln when she was holding out against the Public Option.

[TwilightGardener]

142. If you meant hardball politics, then I can forgive that. Problem is, the GOP

has used the Chicago thing against Obama ever since he won the election, and the implication is not simply "tough politics", the implication is corruption, dirty dealings, and just a whiff of racial dog whistle in there as well. So while I used to chuckle at it myself ("he brings a knife, you bring a gun...he puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue"), I don't agree with its use against the President anymore, even if it's not meant the same way.

[kenfrequed]

146. nice duck

Seriously way to duck the the guy's post completely. He points out how the White House is using Rahmian tactics to bend the arms of progressives and push them to cooperate and doing nothing remotely like that to the clusters of conservadems that have been screwing us over repeatedly.

[leftstreet]

179. Nicely stated!

:thumbsup:

[TwilightGardener]

187. Huhn? I didn't "duck" the post. I objected to ONE phrase within.

There's nothing to "duck".

[Truth2Tell]

171. this ^^^^

Best post on the use of "Chicago Politics" ever on DU Bvar. U rock.

[Tailormyst]

77. Politics is not sporting event.

Out of that entire well thought out post all you saw was some perceived snipe at Obama and that alone was enough for you discount everything else.

That is a prime example of personality over issues.

[TwilightGardener]

96. In an otherwise good post, the poster could have certainly left out

a characterization that some might read as personal contempt or hostility toward the man himself, one that echoes the attacks of Republicans. Republicans use "Chicago" whenever they can, to imply Obama's "thuggishness" and corruption. That's what that little phrase betrays, to me, and that is unfortunate. It's like a little poisonous turd in the punchbowl--small, but ultimately impossible to ignore. Edit to add: by using that phrase, it is ultimately the POSTER who cannot let personality go and just stick to policy issues and disagreements.

[Tailormyst]

110. You disregarded an entire post over your interpetation of an old phrase

So what do you think about his comments on issues that he places an importance in? Beyond the one phrase you feels goes against Obama, what do you think about the rest of it?

[TwilightGardener]

113. I don't "feel" it goes against Obama. It's a slam against Obama and his administration, and one

that is frequently employed by Republicans to discredit our President. And it's not based on policy, or anything objective.

[Tailormyst]

117. Well, I tried.

You are stuck on what you are stuck on.

Have a nice day.

[TwilightGardener]

120. You too.

[azul]

61. Truly said, but it is money against common sense

presently in this political process, and much else.

Seems too many people get pleasurable and emotional rewards in their brains from money, and it clouds their thinking, and so actions. And it may be contagious.

Money-crazy behavior is an addiction like drugs or sex, and will ruin us all unless it is recognized as such and protections put into place.

[defendandprotect]

170. ... and the BP catastrophe in the Gulf is evidence of that -- !!

[grahamhgreen]

62. "If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."


Great quote!

Sums up the current position the party must take to win.

[fascisthunter]

63. kick (nt)

[niceypoo]

66. I have found the right ward shift of the party disturbing

Particularly given the extremism of the last eight years under Bush. Your post is refreshing.

[mike_c]

67. BRAVO!

:applause:

[hippywife]

68. This should be the purpose of the party faithful.

To keep the party in line with the ideals they purport to represent. Just don't elect them, hold their feet to the fire. Right now we keep electing them and expecting better results, and then dare to be disappointed when it doesn't happen, when the results don't match the rhetoric.

That is how REAL CHANGE is accomplished.

:* :loveya:

[me b zola]

69. K&R!

:applause:

[geek tragedy]

70. FDR was not the god you make him out to be.

He coddled segregationists and lynch mobs--but of course that doesn't count for some reason.

[Enthusiast]

78. FDR might not have been a god

but compared to other presidents of the 20th century he was as holy as it gets. FDR didn't initiate lynch mobs and segregation, they existed long before. And FDR's successor did desegregate the military. So there was progress behind the scene. Maybe FDR was a god after all.

[geek tragedy]

82. FDR didn't do shit for civil rights during the era of Jim Crow.

If someone offered that kind of defense of Obama-- "Obama didn't initiate DADT and anti-GLBT discrimination"--they'd rightly get ripped a new one here.

FDR did initiate racist concentration camps for people who committed the crime of having yellow skin.

He had a terrible civil rights record--time to end the myth making.

[Name removed]

100. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RaleighNCDUer]

141. OTOH, during the war he forbade defense plants discriminating against

blacks. He used the tools he had, and worked to create new tools.

As for the internment camps, he did not blanketly imprison all Japanese and Japanese-Americans. He authorized the transport and detention of West Coast residents who might be suspect (very broadly defined) as sympathetic to the Japanese. Notably, there were also thousands of Germans and German-Americans who were similarly detained, mostly from the upper mid-west.

[geek tragedy]

144. No, you are completely wrong on the Internment.

As for the internment camps, he did not blanketly imprison all Japanese and Japanese-Americans. He authorized the transport and detention of West Coast residents who might be suspect (very broadly defined) as sympathetic to the Japanese.

no, no, no, NO!



Roosevelt's order gave the US military the SOLE discretion to round up and expel anyone they saw fit:

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=74&page=transcript

It was the greatest abuse of executive authority in the history of the United States.

[RaleighNCDUer]

159. It was the greatest abuse of executive authority in the history of the United States.

I don't disagree - but the sign you cite itself specifies those 'living in the following area'.

Japanese living in Chicago were not rounded up. Nor in Pensacola. Or anywhere east of the Rockies.

It was more like the anti-Muslim hysteria after 9/11 - with the thought that the west coast was about to be invaded, they simply treated all Japanese as potential threats ON THE WEST COAST, the potential invasion site. And certainly, far more Japanese were interned than Germans or Italians, because they were more easily identified by their look, but thousands of Japanese-Americans served in the European theater from the very start of the war.

It in no way is evidence of FDR's supposed racism.

And do you really think that Eleanor would let him get away with a racist agenda?

[defendandprotect]

192. Agree . . . and War Dept initated this request .... Supreme Court later found Constitutional...

During his first term Roosevelt condemned Hitler's persecution of German Jews. As the Jewish exodus from Germany increased after 1937, Roosevelt was asked by American Jewish organizations and Congressmen to allow these refugees to settle in the U.S. At first he suggested that the Jewish refugees should be "resettled" elsewhere, and suggested Venezuela, Ethiopia or West Africa — anywhere but the U.S. Morgenthau, Ickes and Eleanor pressed him to adopt a more generous policy but he was afraid of provoking the men such as Charles Lindbergh who exploited anti-Semitism as a means of attacking Roosevelt's policies.

In practice very few Jewish refugees came to the U.S. — only 22,000 German refugees were admitted in 1940, not all of them Jewish. The State Department official in charge of refugee issues, Breckinridge Long, insisted on following the highly restrictive immigration laws to the letter. As one example, in 1939, the State Department under Roosevelt did not allow a boat of Jews fleeing from the Nazis into the United States. When the passenger ship St. Louis approached the coast of Florida with nearly a thousand German Jews fleeing persecution by Hitler, Roosevelt did not respond to telegrams from passengers requesting asylum, and the State Department refused entry to the ship. Forced to return to Antwerp, many of the passengers eventually died in concentration camps.<3>

After 1942, when Roosevelt was made aware of the Nazi extermination of the Jews by Rabbi Stephen Wise, the Polish envoy Jan Karski and others, he told them that the best solution was to destroy Nazi Germany. At Casablanca in 1943 Roosevelt announced there would be no compromise whatever with Hitler. In May 1943 he wrote to Cordell Hull (whose wife was Jewish): "I do not think we can do other than strictly comply with the present immigration laws." In January 1944, however, Morgenthau succeeded in persuading Roosevelt to allow the creation of a War Refugee Board in the Treasury Department. This allowed an increasing number of Jews to enter the U.S. in 1944 and 1945. It also financed Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg's work in Budapest, where he and others helped to save 100,000+ Jews from deportation to death camps. By this time, however, the European Jewish communities had already been largely destroyed in Hitler's Holocaust.

In any case, after 1945 the focus of Jewish aspirations shifted from migration to the U.S. to settlement in British mandate of Palestine, where the Zionist movement hoped to create a Jewish state. Roosevelt was also opposed to this idea. When he met King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia in February 1945, he assured him he did not support a Jewish state in British mandate of Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt's_record_on_civil_rights




Japanese Internment --

Ex Parte Endo and the End of Internment
Full Text of Court Cases
Korematsu v. United States
Ex Parte Endo
Hirabayashi v. United States
Yasui v. United States
The court’s decision to uphold internment came just as internment was beginning to end. “Day before, the Army had rescinded its mass evacuation order, told the loyal Japanese and Nisei they could return,” reported Time. “Invasion, the Army explained, is no longer ‘a substantial possibility.’”

The War Relocation Authority, the federal agency that oversaw internment, announced that all camps would be closed by the end of 1945 and that the WRA would cease operations by June 30, 1946.

After making the Korematsu decision, the Supreme Court issued a second decision that made the widespread internment of U.S. citizens impossible. In Ex Parte Endo, the court ruled that Mitsuye Endo, a citizen the WRA conceded was loyal to the U.S., should be given her freedom.

“In reaching that conclusion we do not come to the underlying constitutional issues which have been argued,” wrote Justice William O. Douglas in the opinion. “For we conclude that, whatever power the War Relocation Authority may have to detain other classes of citizens, it has no authority to subject citizens who are concededly loyal to its leave procedure.”

“The court, frankly avoiding a tough constitutional issue in wartime, almost contradicted itself,” remarked Time.

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/On-this-Day--The-Supreme-Court-Upholds-WWII-Internment-of-Japanese-Americans-.html

[axollot]

83. no one is perfect. However those basic ideals for the "commons" was still

sound policy and would be today.

Cheers
Sandy

[geek tragedy]

87. The point is that many of the same people yearning

for the return to FDR and LBJ bash Obama for his LGBT policy and FISA stuff while giving FDR a pass on sandbagging anti-lynching legislation, not lifting a finger to end Jim Crow, taking no steps to desegregate the armed services, and establishing racist concentration camps.

Moreover, many of these same people who uphold LBJ as a paragon of progressivism bash Obama over Afghanistan and Iraq, but ignore LBJ's defining legacy, the Vietnam war.

[axollot]

93. I completely agree with you on those points. I've not personally held

up LBJ much for many reasons. At least he signed the Civil Rights Act but the rest of his legacy to me isnt much. FDR - however *did* do a lot to change the face of America for the better. His concentration camps disgusted me (the same as our current ones for Muslims); I do not know much of FDR's position on lynchings or on Jim Crow laws but his over all position was to move the country forward for the better - yet the war really set him back on civil rights. Who knows where we would be if we never had WWII - progressively we would be much better off IMHO.

There in lies the problem of no one being perfect. FDR did do a great deal with what he had to work with at the time. Obama is doing a great deal too - it's just NOT ENOUGH!!

Cheers
Sandy

[geek tragedy]

99. FDR ordered the New Deal programs like WPA to be racially segregated.

"With strong prodding from Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR appointed more women to federal posts than any president before him and made sure that black Americans were included in federal job programs (although they remained, in most cases, segregated). In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act, the most important and enduring piece of New Deal legislation."

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/roosevelt-franklin.htm

[kenfrequed]

105. Actually, FDR did do quite a bit.

He put justices in place fully aware of their stances on racial matters and a lot of the new deal programs benefited African-Americans and other minorities quite a bit helping set the stage for a civil rights movement.

Your assertions seem to draw from a very narrow line of evidence and you seem inclined to pass off credit whenever possible in order to diminish this president. Hmmph... Obama's critics are far more generous than you are; most of them are willing to blame his mistakes and the bad decisions he makes on Rahm.

[geek tragedy]

107. Rahm serves at the pleasure of the president.

I blame very little on him. Buck stops at the top.

A lot of people refuse to acknowledge the great many accomplishments--progressive accomplishments--that Obama achieves by pointing out the flaws.

If we're going to define Obama by his failures and morally flawed compromises, we should apply that standard to everyone.

[keepCAblue]

147. Yes, Eleanor Roosevelt was an evil racist...my mother witnessed it first-hand...

Mom saw a first-hand display of Eleanor Roosevelt spewing her hatred toward blacks during WWII while in D.C. My mother was a WAVE in the Navy during the war. She and a fellow WAVE were at a Washington D.C. shoe store buying new shoes when who should walk in but First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, followed by 20 or 30 black DC school children. There were no P.R. machines or security teams with Eleanor...just Eleanor and the kids, who, by my mom's estimation, appeared to be very poor. Eleanor had brought the kids with her to the store after visiting a local black elementary school in DC and saw that many of the kids had no shoes to wear to school. Well-heeled whites both inside the store and outside belittled and sneered--some even yelled slurs. Eleanor calmly ignored them and continued shopping, buying new shoes for each and every child with her that afternoon, paying for them out of her own pocket. My mother (now deceased) said she would never forget the symbolic imagery of the stately First Lady, down on her knees, personally helping to fit each smiling child with their new shoes--for some of them, their first.

That was Eleanor Roosevelt. Evil racist, indeed.

[dflprincess]

149. And then there was the whole deal with Marion Anderson and Constitution Hall

Eleanor very publicly resigned her membership in the DAR because of that & helped arrange the concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

[geek tragedy]

152. Who said anything about Eleanor? nt

[keepCAblue]

155. You did.

Many of FDR's social programs, including those aimed at women and minorities, were due to the prodding and persistence of Eleanor Roosevelt.

"With strong prodding from Eleanor Roosevelt..."

[defendandprotect]

176. And then -- very luckily -- she ended up at UN and gave us HUMAN RIGHTS MANIFESTO--!!

[defendandprotect]

175. Love Eleanor . . . !! She was quite something --never heard that story before!!

[TheKentuckian]

183. No, the point very much appears to be to derail this excellent thread

Not once have you debated anything on the substance of the content.

Do you just hate the father of the modern party that much or is it about silencing his economic policy in an effort to keep this quality seed from taking root?

[Enthusiast]

186. I don't ignore LBJ's Vietnam War

and the wrongheadedness of it. I physically protested the Vietnam War. I was there and eligible for the draft. I even took and passed my physical. But, it must be understood in the context of the times. Anti-communism and fear of the Soviet Union and Red China was at a fevered pitch.

On 9/11 we were attacked by religious extremists but not by a specific nation of religious extremists. We invaded two countries that did not attack us on 9/11. This is a much different context.

Still, I understand why Obama has continued his policy in Afghanistan as he said he would during the campaign. I understand it but I don't agree with it.

[kenfrequed]

86. "coddled?"

Interesting choice of words considering the fact that his economic programs benefited minorities quite a bit and the justice department he put into place were advocates of civil rights and would help pave the way for true reform later.

But sure pull one tiny element of his political career, where we can all agree that he didn't stand as boldly as he ought to have and demonize one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century.

Without FDR there would probably have been no reversal of Brown v. Board of education and there would not have been the slightly better jobs and standard of the living that helped with the construction of the the civil rights movement.

[geek tragedy]

89. So you think his sandbagging of anti-lynching legislation to pander

to Dixiecrats was more acceptable than Obama's DADT footdragging?

And how about FDR's concentration camps?

FDR was a great president, but people need to apply the same standard to him that they apply to Obama.

[kenfrequed]

103. massive differences

FDR fought the power with the New Deal he created permanent public programs to improve and empower this nation.

It was a different time and he did move the nation and created the system that eventually ended dejure discrimination.

Obviously the internment camps were wrong and constitutionally there is no justification for it but in some ways it may have saved lives, probably Japanese lives. After Pearl Harbor some Americans took part in vigilante "Jap Hunts" and Life Magazine produced an article on how to differentiate Japanese people from Chinese. An article that would only have existed if there had been some kind of discrimination and possible violence against people that were believed to be Japanese.

Obama actually has a majority of the electorate that now approves of ending DADT. As far as all of his other programs EVERYTHING he did has been in a matter that is incremental, sluggish, and at least partially coopted by corporations.

It amazes me that he had an incredible amount of political capital when he was inaugerated in January of 2009 and his team squandered it on loans to the banks. They played nice with republicans in favor of convincing people of the need for bipartisanship with an opposition party that never had any intention of playing nice. Had he been bold and strong early and often then it would have highlit the most absurdly obstructionist minority party in US history. Instead he tried playing nice and Rahm had him running like it was 1994 all over again.

Honestly this crude equivalency argument gets tiresome. We are here now. We can stand for what is right now. History is what we learn from, the present is where we live in order to make tommorrow a better place.

[geek tragedy]

106. Anti-lynching legislation was popular, but FDR helped squash it.

FDR ordered the New Deal programs to enforce racial segregation. The Federal government was an extension of Jim Crow.

People excuse what they want to excuse. Every pol who gets stuff done has to make ugly compromises.

I certainly must disagree that the federalization of Jim Crow was somehow more acceptable than a slow pace on DADT.

[kenfrequed]

111. FDR had to deal with a lot more than Obama

I think dealing with de jure (legalized) discrimination and racism is far more difficult than having to allow people that theoretically already have human rights to serve in the armed forces.

Oh wait, there was also a depression and the lead up to an actual war, and not some trumped up terrorist neo-con snowjob left over from the Bushies.

[geek tragedy]

115. There was a war in 1932?

Good thing Obama inherited such a spectacular economy from Bush.

Blatant double standard.

[kenfrequed]

133. May I recommend reading comprehension

"...the lead up to an actual war"

Seriously, at least read the entire thing.

And I seriously doubt the Bush deficit is the equivalent of The Great Depression.

Try again. Maybe harder this time.

[geek tragedy]

138. Obama inherited two wars. FDR had nine years

before he had to deal with one.

But, FDR is a sacred cow for people. Tear the current admin to shreds for anything, but excuse segregationism because the Great White Father was a segregationist.

[laughingliberal]

145. I don't 'excuse the segregation.' Nevertheless, his economic initiatives helped the people

and his failings do not change that. The New Deal spurred the greatest expansion of a middle class the world has ever seen. For that, I am grateful for him.

My husband worked for a company in MS in the 70's where he supervised 80+ African American employees, many of whom were a bit older than him. He remembers them talking of their jobs with the WPA very fondly. They certainly indicated to my husband that they appreciated FDR.

[dflprincess]

121. FDR was president in a different time with very different attitudes

Strange as it seems to us now, people were just beginning to wake up to the idea of civil rights.

Was FDR wrong to tank the anti-lynching legislation, yes.

And he was wrong about the internment camps as was Earl Warren who, as Attorney General of California pushed for them & Justice William Douglas (Douglas always shocks me more than anyone else) for finding them Consitutional. Fortunately for all of us both Warren & Douglas got wiser before too much time passed.

I thought we'd all gotten smarter about civil rights and that we know better than give second class status to anyone.

We're 70 years down the road from FDR's bad decisions and it does not make sense to apply that standard to Obama.

[geek tragedy]

123. Well, Obama is much better on LGBT issues than

FDR was on race. He is proceeding with plans to end DADT. Not fast enough, of course, but he is going that direction. FDR on the other hand extended the apartheid rules of the American South to federal New Deal programs.

The overall reality is that in a society as flawed and fucked up as ours, being effective means occasionally making gruesome decisions.

[dflprincess]

124. FDR's footdragging does not excuse Obama

If anything, he should learn from the mistakes FDR made and not repeat them.

[geek tragedy]

126. The point is that we should be honest.

Sure, we can push Obama to do better. But, let's admit that all politicians have deep flaws, and that there is no such thing as 'the good old days.' The Democratic party that brought us Jim Crow and Vietnam is nothing to lionize.

[geek tragedy]

90. It was Democrats who passed the Jim Crow laws, by the way.

Are you arguing that FDR was powerless as head of the Democratic party to do anything about American Apartheid?

[dflprincess]

135. No I am not

I am arguing that Roosevelt lived in a different time and made political deals that, while inexcusable then, look even worse to us 70 years later because attitudes have changed.

You are the one who seems to be arguing that FDR's civil rights failings excuse Obama's.

[geek tragedy]

140. I am not seeking to 'excuse' Obama's flaws, but rather

to place them in context. No leader in American history was without DEEP flaws. Even the best. People need to stop treating the existence of flaws as proof of the absence of merits.

[kenfrequed]

148. context requires

Above all we should take things into historical context and DO better today by the lessons of yesterday, not to hold ourselves to the lowest possible standard or rest on our laurels because gays aren't getting lynched today as black people were yesterday.

Somehow I think the standard of "at least we don't lynch people" is kind of a low one.


Learn from history and do better. And be on the side of those activists that WERE anti lynching at the time, not on the side of the advisors that were shooting for political pragmatism.

[dflprincess]

151. I would like to think that we have passed the point when any kind of bigotry

is written off as a "flaw".

FDR's attitudes may have been a result of the times he grew up in though he would have done well to listen to Eleanor who was ahead of her times in so many ways.

Obama has no such excuse for delaying equal rights.

[geek tragedy]

153. So, if by this time next year DADT is gone, what then?

All of this talk about him being glacially slow will seem stupid.

[saracat]

161. Oh DADT is the end of it? What about Gay Marriage?

Should we just clap our hands when DADT is overturned, IF it is? Are we done? What about women's rights,? What about FOCA? He promised that on video.NOTHING has been done on that.It isn't even mentioned anymore. Should we just stop pushing and be "grateful" for the increments we get?

A DC friend just recently told me that one concern that some in the Admin have is that the WH seems happy to get "anything" and that really isn't the way to go when you have the majority. I happen to agree with that statemnt. I refuse to just be grateful for minor change when so much more was possible.

[bvar22]

125. I will politiely point out this paragraph from FDR's Econimic Bill of Rights:

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed."---FDR

THIS was the opening of a door.
I challenge you to go through the history of the Democratic Party and find a reference to an official Democratic Party Policy of racial, religious, and class equality that pre-dates this one.

While you choose to attack FDR as a racist, I credit him with being one of the first to STAND UP and publicly promote the values of Racial, Religious, and Class equality.

Please respond with direct quotes.

I feel that I have made my position perfectly clear in the OP,
and feel no further need to respond to you in this thread.

Thanks,
bvar22

[Name removed]

136. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PufPuf23]

185. Pretty darn clear what FDR supported as a goal. nt

[defendandprotect]

190. Agree with you -- FDR and Eleanor began to open those doors which later permitted ...

Segregation to be overturned --

And as is frequently said, FDR used Eleanor to move ideas and new thinking into the

mainstream -- out in the pubic.

[defendandprotect]

191. You're saying that FDR "coddled lynch mobs" . . . ? How?

Senate Apologizes For Past Failures To Pass Federal Anti-Lynching Laws

During the lynching years, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House of Representatives. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law.

http://www.blacknews.com/pr/antilynching101.html


Each time the House passed an anti-lynching bill, Southern senators filibustered them — once in a monumental battle carried out on the Senate floor for six weeks in the late 1930s.

http://patterico.com/2005/06/14/la-times-buries-how-senate-obstructed-anti-lynching-laws/



Federal action limited by Solid South

President Theodore Roosevelt made public statements against lynching in 1903, following George White's death in Delaware, and in his sixth annual State of the Union message on December 4, 1906. When Roosevelt suggested that lynching was taking place in the Philippines, southern senators (all white Democrats) demonstrated power by a filibuster in 1902 during review of the "Philippines Bill". In 1903 Roosevelt refrained from commenting on lynching during his Southern political campaigns.

Despite concerns expressed by some northern Congressmen, Congress had not moved quickly enough to strip the South of seats as the states disfranchised black voters. The result was a "Solid South" with the number of representatives (apportionment) based on its total population, but with only whites represented in Congress, essentially doubling the power of white southern Democrats.

Roosevelt did make public a letter he wrote to Governor Winfield T. Durbin of Indiana, in which he said:


Theodore Roosevelt was against the lynchings.“ My Dear Governor Durbin, ...permit me to thank you as an American citizen for the admirable way in which you have vindicated the majesty of the law by your recent action in reference to lynching... All thoughtful men... must feel the gravest alarm over the growth of lynching in this country, and especially over the peculiarly hideous forms so often taken by mob violence when colored men are the victims – on which occasions the mob seems to lay more weight, not on the crime but on the color of the criminal... There are certain hideous sights which when once seen can never be wholly erased from the mental retina. The mere fact of having seen them implies degradation... Whoever in any part of our country has ever taken part in lawlessly putting to death a criminal by the dreadful torture of fire must forever after have the awful spectacle of his own handiwork seared into his brain and soul. He can never again be the same man. ”

Durbin had successfully used the National Guard to disperse the lynchers. Further, Durbin publicly declared that the accused murderer—an African American man—was entitled to a fair trial. Theodore Roosevelt's efforts cost him political support among white people, especially in the South. In addition, threats against him increased so that the Secret Service increased the size of his detail.<36>
---

Federal Action and southern resistance

Anti-lynching advocates such as Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter Francis White campaigned for]i] Franklin D. Roosevelt as President in 1932. They hoped he would lend public support to their efforts against lynching. Senators Robert F. Wagner and Edward P. Costigan drafted the Costigan-Wagner bill to require local authorities to protect prisoners from lynch mobs. It proposed to make lynching a Federal crime and thus take it out of state administration.

Southern Senators continued to hold a hammerlock on Congress. Because of the Southern Democrats' disfranchisement of African Americans in Southern states at the turn of the century, Southern whites for decades had nearly double the representation in Congress beyond their own population. Southern states had Congressional representation based on total population, but essentially only whites could vote and only their issues were supported.

Due to seniority achieved through one-party Democratic rule in their region, Southern Democrats controlled many important committees. Southern Democrats consistently opposed any legislation related to reducing lynching or putting it under Federal oversight. As a result, Southern white Democrats were a formidable power in Congress until the 1960s.

In the 1930s, virtually all Southern senators blocked the proposed Wagner-Costigan bill. Southern senators used a filibuster to prevent a vote on the bill. However, the legislation did herald a change; there were 21 lynchings of blacks in the South in 1935, but that number fell to eight in 1936, and to two in 1939.

A lynching in Miami, Florida, changed the political climate in Washington. On July 19, 1935, Rubin Stacy, a homeless African-American tenant farmer, knocked on doors begging for food. After resident complaints, Dade County deputies took Stacy into custody. While he was in custody, a lynch mob took Stacy out of the jail and murdered him. Although the faces of his murderers could be seen in a photo taken at the lynching site, the state did not prosecute the murder of Rubin Stacy. <1>

Stacy's murder galvanized anti-lynching activists, but President Franklin Roosevelt did not support the federal anti-lynching bill. He feared that support would cost him Southern votes in the 1936 election. He believed that he could accomplish more for more people by getting re-elected.

In 1939, Roosevelt created the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department. It started prosecutions to combat lynching, but failed to win any convictions until 1946.<40>


With their emphasis on federal remedies, the New Deal and Fair Deal eras seemed a suitable time to renew the drive for a federal anti-lynching law, and the NAACP, then headed by Walter F. White, did so vigorously in the years from 1933 to 1950. The chief House sponsor in the 1930s was Democrat Joseph Gavagan from New York, while Robert F. Wagner, also a New York Democrat, headed the Senate effort. The NAACP mobilized impressive support among ethnic minorities, labor unions, women, liberal churches, and civil rights and civil liberties groups, a coalition that effectively set in motion the mid-century civil rights movement. Although opposed to lynching, the Communist Party-USA distanced itself from the anti-lynching bills because of ideological differences with the NAACP. The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching also stood apart from the NAACP bills for fear of federal intervention in southern life. Eleanor Roosevelt, however, lent the NAACP her open support and consulted regularly with Walter White about strategies in the Capital. She urged her husband and his White House advisers to back the cause, but the administration gave only tacit encouragement rather than offend southern Democrats who largely controlled both houses of Congress through committee chairmanships. The NAACP bill passed the House in 1937 and in 1940, but the customary alliance of northern conservative Republicans and southern segregationist Democrats stopped its progress in the Senate. They protested that a federal law would violate states rights prerogatives, but they really worried that expansions of federal authority would undermine the economic and social controls that their various supporters had long enjoyed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States

NAACP anti-lynching bills suffered the same obstructions after World War II, despite being part of President Harry S. Truman's civil rights packages from 1947 to 1952. Nevertheless, the threat of a federal law had put the South on notice and helped to hasten lynching's decline after the mid-1930s. In the expansive social justice climate of the 1960s, Congress enacted a section of the 1968 Civil Rights Law that established some federal protections against lynching.

http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/egd_01/egd_01_00042.html



L.A. Times Buries How Senate Obstructed Anti-Lynching Laws
http://patterico.com/2005/06/14/la-times-buries-how-senate-obstructed-anti-lynching-laws/




Franklin D. Roosevelt's record on civil rights - Wikipedia ...
African-Ameri...|Japanese...|The Holocaust...|External...If I come out for the anti- lynching bill now, they will block every bill I ask ... Financier and FDR confidant Bernard Baruch was called the "Unofficial ...


In June 1941 Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). It was the most important federal move in support of the rights of African Americans between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The President's order stated that the federal government would not hire any person based on their race, color, creed, or national origin. The FEPC enforced the order to ban discriminatory hiring within the federal government and in corporations that received federal contracts. Millions of blacks and women achieved better jobs and better pay as a result. The war brought the race issue to the forefront. The Army and Navy had been segregated since the Civil War. But by 1940 the African-American vote had largely shifted from Republican to Democrat, and African-American leaders like Walter White of the NAACP and T. Arnold Hill of the Urban League had become recognized as part of the Roosevelt coalition. In June 1941, at the urging of A. Philip Randolph, the leading African-American trade unionist, Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Fair Employment Practice Commission and prohibiting discrimination by any government agency, including the armed forces. In practice the services, particularly the Navy and the Marines, found ways to evade this order — the Marine Corps remained all-white until 1943. In September 1942, at Eleanor's instigation, Roosevelt met with a delegation of African-American leaders, who demanded full integration into the forces, including the right to serve in combat roles and in the Navy, the Marine Corps and the United States Army Air Forces. Roosevelt, with his usual desire to please everyone, agreed, but then did nothing to implement his promise. It was left to his successor, Harry S. Truman, to fully desegregate the armed force


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt's_record_on_civil_rights

[Lucian]

71. K, R, and [phone]

Can I write your name in for president? :)

[Individualist]

72. K&R

[axollot]

73. Proudly kicked and rec'ed!! Would you mind if I quote you later on a fb note? n/t

[Enthusiast]

75. I agree with every word.

You have stated my position perfectly.

[NBachers]

79. Every time I see that picture I think of this guy

Kesey

[bluethruandthru]

84. A huge K&R!! n/t

[geek tragedy]

85. Unrec'd for the Republican talking point of "Chicago style"

Also, you ignore the bad parts of LBJ and FDR--and they had some truly awful things in their legacy.

[Hydra]

88. Epic post

And a reminder that without these principles, we're just chasing smoke and mirrors.

"We won!"
"Won what?"
"...We just won, OK!"

[PufPuf23]

91. Thank you Bvar22

The part of our "Big Tent" that are silent in this thread is telling.

[Raksha]

158. And the part of our "Big Tent" attempting to deflect the momentum building here

by starting side arguments is also very conspicuous. There was a time (very recently, in fact) when I used to play that game. But not any more.

[Steely_Dan]

92. Wonderful Post

I wish I had written myself. Thank you so much.

-P

[Raksha]

94. K & R - I couldn't agree with you more!

Every last bit of it, including "if these values are no longer welcome at DU, then so be it." I love this site, but I love my country and my future and my children's future more. The Democratic Party is (or used to be) a means to end, not an end in itself.

[myrna minx]

95. K&R n/t

[disillusioned73]

97. Thank you

[saracat]

98. Thank you. What a wonderful post This is what being a Democrat means to me.

[EFerrari]

101. K&R

:hi:

[democrank]

102. Bravo, bvar22 !

I`m an old Liberal in total harmony with what you posted.

Every single time I see something you`ve written, I click....and nod. Bless you for ALWAYS standing by your principles. You set a wonderful example for Democrats, young and old.

~PEACE~

[placton]

104. since the current leadership

if by "leadership," you mean spineless DINOs, is in power, will you work to re-elect them. They sure dont support any of these values.

[fauxpas]

109. An end to the two-tiered Judicial System

*An end to the two-tiered Judicial System

Can you explain a bit of what you mean by this? I intensely agree with your other bullet points, but in this case I'm not familiar with the argument.

Thanks! :)

[bvar22]

165. It is fairly simple.

There is one set of rules for the RICH and CONNECTED,
and a different set of rules for all the rest.

If you can afford a decent lawyer, the outcome of a dispute with legal authorities is way different than if you can't afford that lawyer.

This inequity NEEDS to be corrected.

[fauxpas]

173. Thanks =)

Thank you for the clarification. :)

[Oilwellian]

114. Well said

You said exactly what I've been feeling but just couldn't put it into words. Thank you Bvar22. K&R

[Grinchie]

118. With a plank like that, Bvar22 might be our next president.

Instead, we will most likely see Ron Paul, becasue he has actually stated his intent to Abolish the Federal Reserve, which I believe cause most of the issues that Bvar22 notes in the OP that is destroying the country, controlling the government official, and placing unborn Americans into debt slavery even before they are conceived.

You could add "No privatization of Space Travel" as well.

Audit the Fed (Annually)
Audit Fort Knox (We know it's empty)
Cut the military budget by 2/3rds (That's more than enough)
Promote Solar Energy and subsidize it until you can buy photovoltaic panels like wallpaper.
Never subsidize Nuclear Power until after the above policy with Solar Power is completed.
Abolish the notion that Water is a commodity to be pumped in one region, then bottled and shipped halfway around the world for profit.
Abolish Ethanol until they can prove it is not a net energy loser.
Label all GMO ingredients, no matter where they are used in the food chain (including use as Animal Feed)

Well done Bvar

[dflprincess]

122. Or he could move back to Minnesota

We have a senator he could challenge in the 2012 primary.

[Grinchie]

143. I wouldn't advise anyone to become a politician without consulting their doctor.

My wife has forbade me from entering politics, especially when I get the dreamy eyed energy to think that I could actually be able to fight the machine and all the miscreants that are embedded into the system.

I'm happy preserving my tract of land, no matter how much work it is to protect it.

There are too many people that despoil their home, and then move on, leaving a desecrated, depleted, used up patch of salted earth, only to repeat the process somewhere else that isn't despoiled yet.

This behavior encompasses individuals with either (R) or (D) affiliations, and it's part of the sickness caused by consumerism, lack of education, and a void where the Spirit should live.

Sadly, I think it may be too late to effect meaningful change. The behavior of this administration is supporting evidence for my belief that many people are now realizing that we are 1 second to midnite on the day of Overshoot.

They are abandoning the Space Program to the Corporations for Christ Sakes... Maybe they've been told to clean up the mess on Earth before humanity goes out and despoils another planet for profit. Kind of like the message in the movie Avatar.

[bvar22]

164. Thanks for the plug,

but I'm not anywhere near clean enough to survive the screening.
I have a "colorful" history including all the mistakes and indiscretions of a standard misspent youth including a few that I take credit for inventing, though I still consider most of my learning situations to be a badge of honor.

Hi, Minnesota!
I miss the stark beauty of February in Minnesota (seriously).


The Heat Index is 107 here today,
and we haven't had real rain for a month.

[alarimer]

127. I agree with you.

But I think the answer to stop supporting the Democratic Party by default. Instead we should support those candidates, regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof, who will uphold those values. In fact I think the place to start is in non-partisan elections: school boards, city councils, etc. Once we get some kind of progressive critical mass, then we can talk about third parties. Actually I would prefer banning political parties altogether and simply identifying candidates by what they actually believe.

There is a reason the founding fathers warned us against political parties: they are engines of corruption and they are BOTH equally corrupt and more intent on saving the asses of people who play nice than in doing the people's bidding.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

128. That was what the Party I used to belong to --

not only believed in but worked towards.

When they get back to that, I'll happily be getting back to them. :(

[Catherina]

130. Hear! Hear! Rec'd.

[Catherina]

131. Hear! Hear! Rec'd.

[Karmadillo]

132. Think how energizing it would be if people could join a party devoted to these principles.

nt

[Overseas]

134. Yes Indeed! //nt

[Uncle Joe]

139. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bvar.:thumbsup:

[socialist_n_TN]

150. As a proud, long term socialist..............

I agree with EVERY ONE OF THESE!

[southern_belle]

154. K & R

Now, send this to the President and our Democratic Congress people!

[unapatriciated]

181. maybe we should all send them a note with this OP attached.

[unapatriciated]

182. Thanks for reminding me why I need to stay involved.

I was getting weary of it all.
Great post agree with every word.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

156. Thank you for this post

You captured exactly how I feel about the Democratic Party and our President, When politics becomes more about the personality and not the principles and policies, count me out.

[OwnedByFerrets]

160. K and R

Too bad our corporate owned democrats dont hold these convictions.

[Paper Roses]

162. If you told me 20 years ago that I'd be rec'ing a post like this,

I'd wonder what the heck you were talking about. Thirty or 40 years ago, I'd recommend they put you under observation. None of this could ever happen.

And here we are,

K&R

[The Wielding Truth]

166. ThIs should be always in the home page. Who we are.

[defendandprotect]

167. Great post . . . LOVE all the reminders of true values -- and FDR's words to encourage us!!

[earth mom]

172. Huge K & R!

:thumbsup:

:applause:

[Little Star]

174. Great post!!! k&r

[WillyT]

178. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said...

Bravo !!!

:applause::applause::applause:

:kick:

:hi:

[TheKentuckian]

184. + infinity and beyond!!! That's the old school tent revival preaching

[bbgrunt]

188. k and r: "If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to

"recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

eggsactly.

[ProSense]

189. "Administration should have engaged in a far more comprehensive...aid to the poor and unemployed"

That is the Roosevelt Administration:

On March 4, 1933, when FDR took the oath of office to become the 32nd President of the United States, America was a country in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Since the onset of the Great Depression—initiated by the crash of the stock market in the fall of 1929—over $75 billion in equity capital had been lost on Wall Street, the gross national product had plunged from a high of $104 billion to a mere $74 billion, and U.S. exports had fallen by 62 percent. Over thirteen million people, nearly 25 percent of the workforce, were now unemployed. In some cities, the jobless rate was even higher. In Chicago it had climbed to 40 percent, in Detroit, a staggering 50 percent. Caught in a web of despair, thousands of shabbily dressed men and women walked the streets in search of work, or a bit of food, doled out from one of the hundreds of soup kitchens set up by private charities to keep the wage-less from starvation. In rural America, meanwhile, thousands of tons of unmarketable crops sat rotting in gain storage bins, while farm income plummeted and thousands of families were forced to abandon their homesteads. Reeling from the pressures of such a massive economic downturn, more than 11,000 banks had closed their doors, and the U.S. banking system had all but ceased to function. The nation, in short, appeared to be falling into an economic abyss that might well result in the total breakdown of order. Some observers even feared that without immediate and dramatic action, the country might well slip into revolution.

FDR's response to this unprecedented crisis was to initiate the "New Deal" — a series of economic measures designed to alleviate the worst effects of the depression, reinvigorate the economy, and restore the confidence of the American people in their banks and other key institutions. The New Deal was orchestrated by a core group of FDR advisors brought in from academia and industry known as the "Brains Trust" who, in their first "hundred days" in office, helped FDR enact fifteen major laws. One of the most significant of these was the Banking Act of 1933, which finally brought an end to the panic that gripped the nation's banking system. The success of the Banking Act, depended in large measure on the willingness of the American people to once again place their faith—and money—in their local banks. To ensure this, FDR turned to the radio, and in the first of his many "fireside chats," convinced the American people the crisis was over and that their deposits—backed by the newly established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) — were safe.

Other significant New Deal measures included the establishment of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The most famous measure of the New Deal was the 1935 Social Security Act, which led to the establishment of the Social Security Administration and the creation of a national system of old-age pensions and unemployment compensation. Social Security also granted federal financial support to dependant children, the handicapped, and the blind. The New Deal also led to the establishment of a number of significant regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), set up to stave off a further crash of the Stock Market, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which ultimately made home ownership affordable for millions of average Americans, as well as the National Labor Relations Board, the Civil Aeronautics Authority, and the Federal Communications Commission.

While the New Deal did much to lessen the worst affects of the Great Depression, its measures were not sweeping enough to restore the nation to full employment. Critics of FDR's policies, on both the right and the left, use this fact as a reason to condemn it. Conservatives argue, for example, that it went too far, and brought too much government intervention in the economy, while those on the left argue that it did not go far enough, and that in order to be truly effective, the Roosevelt Administration should have engaged in a far more comprehensive program of direct federal aid to the poor and unemployed. But the New Deal's greatest achievements transcend mere economic statistics, for in a world where democracy was under siege, and the exponents of fascism and communism flourished, the New Deal offered hope and restored the faith of the American people in their representative institutions. It also transformed the federal government into an active instrument of social justice and established a network of laws and institutions designed to protect the American economy from the worst excesses of liberal capitalism.

One of the most striking benefits of the New Deal was that it restored the confidence of a deeply discouraged population. FDR's use of the media, particularly his mastery of radio communication with the American people through his "Fireside Chats," restored the spirit of the nation as he worked to lift the economy out of the Great Depression.

(emphasis added)

I originally posted this here, but the link is no longer active: http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/the-new-deal

Still, sound familiar? Interesting to note that three years before FDR took office, the economy had already suffered the worse. In other words, his tenure began long after the mood of the country had already reached complete desperation.

From the current OP:

"I find that my FDR/LBJ Democratic values are increasingly unwelcome in the Democratic Party..."

"The very best thing I can do to support the Democratic Party and President Obama is to point out where the Party and our Leadership have drifted away from these values, and to call out for a return to the Working Class values that the Democratic Party once embraced."

Obviously, the left in FDR's time felt equally compelled to criticize the President, and his policy turned out to be historically significant. Criticism is expected, and everyone should expect that there will be support for the President also, and that support shouldn't be held up as not helpful or somehow less effective in strengthening the President's ability to get things done.

The other day the administration unveiled a plan to end homelessness and very few people acknowledged it.

Today the President's goal to reform the financial system moved one step closer to becoming a reality. He will be the first President since Roosevelt to enact sweeping reform.

There will also be times when some of the critics acknowledge that the President is actually making significant strides in support of Democratic values.

[bobbolink]

193. Thank you for including "a strong social safety net", and I can sign on to the rest, also.

The "strong social safety net" is usually missing from these lists of priorities, so I very much appreciate seeing it there.

:hi: :applause:

[Moochy]

194. K&R

Because this deserves more air time than sanctioned zombie sock puppets.