I have observed elections since 1952 when

[INdemo]

Ike and Adlai Stevenson were campaigning for the White House..but you know that was back when elections were an admiral function of our Democracy..
Now it is a dirty, dog eat dog activity that Republicans conduct against their rivals and have for years and years.
Even back in 1960 after we had seen that Nixon was a total crook ,I often wondered even then if Nixon's vote count was really that close to Kennedy's.
Then in 1968 with the shenanigans he pulled with the peace process in Vietnam to postpone it so Johnson or Democrats would no get credit for a peace agreement, that pretty much confirmed the fact that yes maybe he did find a way to nearly steal the election of 1960 too.

Well here we are 2018 and the Republicans are still playing the dirty politics as I am observing in the Wisconsin 1st District for House of Representative race.
I believe the Republicans were sponsoring Cathy Myers Randy Bryce's primary challenger. All she had was a negative platform to run against Randy Bryce...but it didn't work.
Now Republicans are running negative ads right out of the starting gate against Mr Bryce and the hell of it is Cable news stations are giving the Republicans those free ads when they discuss this race.

Well I think the Republican's are desperate and they know in all likely hood they will lose this seat but it will take lots of work from us Democrats especially those of us in neighboring Midwestern states.
I for one will be contributing $$$$$ regularly and will be phone banking as we near the election.
Republicans cannot win on negativism and they do not have any platform to run on except the false accomplishments they will try and push off on voters but I don't think that it will work this time around.

[Hortensis]

1. If half of America had your long view of what most

conservatives do with power, we would never have gotten in this mess. My observations are the same, and I've come to believe strong conservatives are very unsuited to govern competently, in any form of government, but especially liberal democracies.

They've been doing extremely well with that hyperfocused negativism that opposes everything liberal. Although they previously had no positive replacement for that, though, the base is now becoming energized by the new ideology in the air: fascism, of course. Not that they call it that. They're becoming aware of a new, positive goal of an authoritarian, socially conservative government ruled by their own sort. And an end to the liberal democracy that has been outvoting them for decades.

"See ya" on the phones.

[INdemo]

2. Absolutely you will see me on the phones and I have to say this

Randy Bryce is a a Union member of the Ironworkers. (short story)
I have been a Union member since 1972 and I am now a retired union worker of a skilled trades union.
Millwright Union..Never in my lifetime did I ever visualize a union member supporting a Republican.

I made a comment to a Union member a couple years ago when a coworker was bashing Liberals.
I suggested that he go down the street and work for a Scab outfit and earn about $15.00 hr less with no benefits..
I told him that "you like your hourly rate,your benefits and yet you will go into the voting booth and vote for the son-of-bitch that wants to take that all away..Everything went quiet and that particular employee didn't speak to me again.

[Hortensis]

3. He's no doubt holding onto his union job for all it's worth. :)

I hope at some point his eyes have been opened to what you said. But I'm not aware of any conservative who changed his mind after we explained that we all owed our good wages and benefits to collective bargaining, not just union jobs but jobs with companies that had to compete for good people.

When people talk about wanting the return of manufacturing jobs, it's of course not manufacturing per se they really want but what they were paid to do those jobs.

Not exactly a propos, but Hillary wanted to institute a universal basic income as president but couldn't make the numbers work for the 2016 campaign. With production and profits soaring and actual jobs not, it's obvious the time will come. If Democrats are in power.

[MineralMan]

4. Me, too. I was 7 years old in 1952.

We had just gotten a television set, and I was glued to the news, oddly enough. I never got over it.