Think about it.
What does the flag stand for these days? When I see the flag, I think that there has to be a republican somewhere in the room ready to get on stage and talk in front of it.
When I see a flag on a car I look for the W bumper sticker.
When I think of "Proud to be an American" I think of white rural America at rodeos...
and I'm not alone.
America has really been coopted by one party.
They used to call the Republican party the Bloody Shirt party, in large part because the party of Lincoln, once it started to lose power- would wave a bloodied shirt and shrill at the audience... we died to save the Union.
For a while it won. But that ended when the economy tanked under Hoover.
I'm no scholar, just a reader of books. I think political when I'm bored but I am a man of Jefferson's Charlottesville. I live a mile from Monticello and I understand clearly that the founding fathers feared religion interfering with government, a government that could not change with the will of the people, the party system, and execive consolidated power.
I think they would be horrified at what their land had become and even more disgusted by those who, for political gain, ape that they support the original construction of the constitution.
Jefferson wanted it to be revised every generation- knowing that things change as societies advance.
9/11, for me marked a serious departure for this country. True it was a sea change moment- it was time for the country to come together- unfortunately, I feel that this Republican country saw it as a chance to nail the final coffin in their political rivals.
They spent more time going after democrats than they did bin Laden. They got their man in 2004. His name was John Kerry.
The most corrupt administration since US Grant has all but bankrupted the country. We all know it. We can't afford our standard of living (which means we can't afford shitty healthcare, shitty jobs with no real retirement benefits, etc). This is what they are telling us- Americans need to get used to toning things down in the future.
Huh?
What do we have, really? That is so great? If you have a job right now you are probably scared shitless that it could go away any time now. If you live in a house, any house, you probably realize you got sucker punched. I own two houses (one my ex-wife lives in and I bought with a VA loan) and the one I live in now. If she loses her job I'm pretty much fucked.
I've seen the Republican effect on the economy I work in. Jobs shipped overseas. Mills shutting down, industry shuttered for good. I've seen my clientelle- mostly rich conservative DC types- now unable to afford my goods. I've seen business shrink as a result.
The small business I run went from 2.5 million a year in sales to just under a million since 2004.
This IS how bad it is. And now we have the economic patriot act. Another sea change. The Orwellian Republicans who are against big govt on their ads and posters- but who spend more money than the democrats could ever dream of... are now bankrolling themselves after eight years of bankrolling themselves on real estate, energy, and war.
I haven't heard the term creeping socialism in a while. It was something that my army buddies would throw around to tell me why Gore was a bad man. A new slogan for a new election... replace the old lies with new ones.
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