However, they cater to them.
After 68 the DNC became a magnet for every Marxist, Anarchist and societal reject.
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- Thread starter migtig
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However, they cater to them.
After 68 the DNC became a magnet for every Marxist, Anarchist and societal reject.
annoyance
New Member
Maybe. But, under a Republican president, this country has come to mirror 50's-70's era Soviet society more than ever.
In what way?
No one's addressed this part of your post yet.
I've commented on part of this before, although the discussion is more like "how can a party that champions the ideals of freedom and tolerance so quickly trounce on those they don't agree with?". And that's because they have a kind of myopia I still don't understand, even though I've observed its symptoms.
Consider two situations almost exactly the same - a liberal professor calling occupants and workers in the twin towers "little Eichmanns" - Ward Churchill - and a Harvard president daring to mention that the brains of women and men are wired differently thus possibly contributing to their lower numbers in the sciences and engineering (Larry Summers).
Liberals were able to force Summers to resign, because those kinds of comments were intolerable. Churchill, however, was hugely supported as being able to make objectionable remarks because, well, that's how free speech works. (He's since lost his position due to other circumstances). When this was in the news, Pat Sajak wrote an interesting piece on the differences. You can look it up if you want.
But basically - there's no political "spectrum" to these far left types. They believe they represent the mainstream's view. They are not "extreme" in their own eyes. There is simply their own "mainstream" view, and those of the "extremists" - the so-called "right-wing". They just don't see a spectrum of far left, left, center left, middle and so on. There's just their view, and the nut cases they disagree with.
It would be as though you had a forum of scientists, and a portion of them believed in a flat earth. You wouldn't give them equal billing or equal time for their views - because they're patently absurd. You don't balance science curriculum with phlogiston theory and the "aether". It's just false.
Some of these violent types feel "threatened" by the right. To them, it's as though skinheads and Nazis were actually gaining power in the United States. They don't feel the need to "prove" their ideas in the realm of public opinion. They just have to stop it.
I don't UNDERSTAND it, but my observations are, this is how it works.
Pete
Repete
Don't naive, you know the government control of the press, the jailing of opposition leaders, the complete secrecy, the execution of dissidents like Moore, Huffington, KOS, the suspension of free elections, the lockdown of communication in and out of the country.
I would like Annoyance to answer.
Annoyance, in what way does this country mirror 50's-70's era Soviet society?
Lenny
Lovin' being Texican
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annoyance
New Member
Use of the bulk of the country's wealth (in this case, the lines of credit) to feed the military machine.
Allowing cronies, through virtually uncontested military bids, to raid the treasury.
W's bypassing the procedures for establishing law, as we've come to know them, through signing statements, thus placing rule in the hands of one party. And the lack of outrage from Congress, the Senate & the citizens.
Wiretapping without oversight.
Patriotism of those opposed to war is questioned, in the not so subtle "You're either with us or against us".
The most disturbing is not just the government's choice to lock people up, but the decision to claim to provide trials to accused enemy combatants and then to tamper with the proceedings. Once it's done in the name of terrorism, it it can be quickly adapted to subvert any opposition.
Yeah, the comparison to the Soviet Union may have been extreme - perhaps I should've claimed a resemblance to a simple banana republic.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
We are? Somebody forgot to send me the memo.
Do we have curfews that I've been blowing off? Speech codes that I've been ignoring? Am I reading illegal newspapers and watching illegal TV? Am I under surveillance? (Oh, obviously not - if I were under surveillance, Bush would know I haven't been adhering to his police state laws, and I'd have been thrown in the gulag by now.)
I didn't see any armed guards at my polling place, making sure I voted the way the government wants me to. Maybe they were just taking a potty break.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Hey!
Look! An issue we totally disagree on!
And the Patriot Act is what? A surveillance act. We live in a nation that could not function with the FBI simply asking to go look closer at some suspected terrorists. No. We needed an entire act, setting legal precedent and circumventing most if not all of the legal process and Bill of Rights if a handful of people feel like it. On whomever they feel like.
We pat down little old ladies and teenagers while Muslim looking males waltz on the plane.
We stand in lines to be searched, the presumption of guilt.
METRO is now exerting the right to randomly search bags.
Private business's are told no smoking whether they like it or not.
New York tells restaurants how to prepare food.
Every police force in the nation has gotten all sorts of money and goodies to be 'first responders' instead of just cops.
Call it PC. Call it police state. Call it what you will. Go through the Bill of Rights sometime and see how many of them are violated, every day, by our government.
How much longer do you think you'll be able to legally have cigarettes?
Look! An issue we totally disagree on!
And the Patriot Act is what? A surveillance act. We live in a nation that could not function with the FBI simply asking to go look closer at some suspected terrorists. No. We needed an entire act, setting legal precedent and circumventing most if not all of the legal process and Bill of Rights if a handful of people feel like it. On whomever they feel like.
We pat down little old ladies and teenagers while Muslim looking males waltz on the plane.
We stand in lines to be searched, the presumption of guilt.
METRO is now exerting the right to randomly search bags.
Private business's are told no smoking whether they like it or not.
New York tells restaurants how to prepare food.
Every police force in the nation has gotten all sorts of money and goodies to be 'first responders' instead of just cops.
Call it PC. Call it police state. Call it what you will. Go through the Bill of Rights sometime and see how many of them are violated, every day, by our government.
How much longer do you think you'll be able to legally have cigarettes?
We should go back to the honor system, because it worked so well.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Ok...
...I can see where this is going.
So, our civil liberties have not been trimmed a good bit the last 6-7 years?
...I can see where this is going.
So, our civil liberties have not been trimmed a good bit the last 6-7 years?
annoyance
New Member
Didn't the MSP spy on opponents to the death penalty as if they were terrorists?
while i dont mind feeling safer on a flight, but the current system of getting pulled over for a "traffic violation" and getting your car searched is a little out of hand. not to mention this has encouraged the states to similarly violate our rights as was evidenced by the MSP's recent revalations about spying on activists.
You mean, as a consequence of 9/11 and DHS, that air travel has become more intrusive? It needs to be, and frankly, always should have been. In Russia, they scoured through every last piece of luggage we had. In France, they picked apart our food. And I understand in other countries, guards walk about with automatic weapons - and these are Western democracies.
Other than that, I haven't seen anything that I have "lost" as a consequence of these events.
Do you mean, that entering and exiting this country has become more difficult, and even crossing into and back from Canada, they've begun to examine more closely? Good. Once, back in 1978, I crossed into Canada wearing army surplus clothing, and was detained at the border for an *HOUR* by the Canadians. In the 70's. An hour. You want to get in another country without documentation? Good luck.
How have my civil liberties been curtailed? Enlighten me. Apparently I don't know what I've lost.
You mean like branding someone a RINO (Another word for traitor) and hounding them from the party?
Or nominating them for President?