The GOP Has So "F'ed" Everything Up In This Country It Seems Almost Hopeless

[TheMastersNemesis]

30 years of GOP/Reaganomics has pretty much trashed jobs, labor and the economy we now have a low paying service economy with mostly part time jobs and no benefits. The official labor stats are almost a myth.

Religious fanaticism supported by the GOP has pretty much blurred any separation of church and state. Now we have quasi religious states writing religious laws pretty much condemning women to third class status. Animals will have more rights in the end.

Supporting gun nuts and quashing any reasonable control has turned the country into an armed camp.

The assault on the budget with tax cuts for the rich and tax havens overseas sinks our country deeper. There are budget deficits everywhere and cuts in services.

And our level of debate makes a toilet seem sanitary.

And I wonder where it will end because we can't keep going this way.

[deutsey]

1. K&R

I've been feeling the same way.

[MindPilot]

2. They certainly didn't do it alone.

Nothing is going to change as long as we have two parties that in many ways are ideologically indistinguishable.

[LWolf]

5. +1

[silvershadow]

21. ^This. What happened to the real Democrats? nt

[RKP5637]

28. +1, n/t

[Bully Taw]

34. +1

n/t

[antigop]

61. Noam Chomsky - Clinton's Vision - December 1, 1993 (free trade, NAFTA)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017111501

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. The Democrats Allowed Themselves To Be Pushed To The Right By NOT Fighting Hard Enough.

[Laelth]

56. If only it were that simple.

It appears to me that many Democrats didn't fight back because they didn't want to.

The us/them good/bad dichotomy no longer works when one considers that many Democrats were complicit in every boneheaded scheme the Republicans dreamed up and foisted on the American people. This includes the ACA--a Heritage Foundation plan from the 1990s.

-Laelth

[Newest Reality]

4. It is already over for us

and you just have to check into the stats and facts to see that.

In that sense, our reactions are only a delayed death knell and the GOP has become the spasms of rigor mortis.

The screen reads:

Game Over!

Play again?

[valerief]

6. Whores who have an insatiable love of money have fucked things up. nt

[liberal N proud]

7. Reagan was the biggest pox on this nations history

Hoover had the great depression as a result of his policies, but Reagan has the death of the entire class of people pinned to his legacy.

The bu$h's that came after him were mere minions sent to insure Reagan policies did their job.

[Soundman]

10. Right on!

It makes me want to smash myself with a hammer every time I hear someone praise that fuck stick. We have to face the truth, they have elevated the art of manipulation to new highs. And unfortunately, as long as we raise an entire population on superstition they will continue on unabated.

[calimary]

32. Welcome to DU, Soundman!

Glad you're here! I still despise ronald reagan. Thought, at the time, that he was THE MOST Dangerous Man in America, if not the world, because he made it all sound SOOOOOOOOOoooooooo nice and folksy and harmless and amiable as hell. He made it all go down easy, swallowed whole, and had all the swallowers begging for more.

He singlehandedly did more damage to this country than anyone short of Lee Harvey Oswald, Nixon, bush/cheney, and Mohammed Atta.

If I were unencumbered and a lot younger, I'd launch a campaign to follow around whoever that asshole is - who's determined to stick ronald reagan's name on schools, highways, public buildings, parks, and sewers too, I suppose, in every state or county or whatever it is, and DISMANTLE whatever he just did.

[nightscanner59]

38. Direct... the hammer... elsewhere. We need your vote.

[Atman]

8. But, being good little Democrats, we'll just sit back and allow them their free speech.

After all, it is in the Constitution. Now corporations are people, so they can speak freely. We can't deny them their rights! The poor, poor corporations need the government to help them -- but don't ask for help if you're actually a REAL person.

I tend to agree with the OP...I think we're fucked. This situation won't change with a some two-bit legislation. In a few years -- 5, 10, 20? who knows -- history will repeat itself. The real people will finally get fed up. But it probably won't happen until after the TV is turned off.

[mountain grammy]

9. You left out the environment. Half of American rivers

are too polluted to sustain life. So much for the "free market" self reporting bullshit. Ask the people in West, Tx. how that worked out for them. 270 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the middle of town. What could possibly go wrong?

[RKP5637]

29. Where're living in our own trash and pulling the lid over the garbage can! n/t

[AAO]

11. There will be a Tidal Shift at some point.

And that will be the end of the Republican party. That thought keeps me going...

[Orsino]

12. The problem is the money.

That it (predictably) paralyzed the GOP first doesn't make it a uniquely Republican ailment.

[nxylas]

14. Far from it

It's quite common for corporate donors to buy off both Republican and Democratic candidates in swing state elections in order to ensure indebtedness whoever wins.

[Chathamization]

51. The problem is most don't care

We're a city that went 91% for Obama, and just had an election where a progressive candidate that refused to take any money lost to the corrupt party machine candidate, 28% to 32%. But with only 10% of the registered voters voting. So that means 2.8% to 3.2%. We couldn't get 4% of progressives, in a progressive city, to turn out for a progressive candidate.

Matthew Yglesias encouraged people to vote in this election...for a Republican that signed Norquist's pledge and is in favor of corporations - even ones contracted with the city - donating to politicians. And this is a guy many consider an important figure on the left.

People don't vote, don't organize, and they pay attention to fairly horrible bloggers/talking heads. That's the problem.

[xtraxritical]

13. Also, the obscene military and quasi-military (cops).

[nolabear]

15. Don't let the terrorists win!

It's not fear that any terrorist is seeking; it's a feeling of helplessness, that you are without power. I don't care HOW much they've done, I truly believe we are the hope of the planet and of the civilized part of civilization, and if we collapse then they have won.

Please, please try to gin up some irrational optimism and spread that around, because that's what makes heroes and successes and leaders. DU can either be a bastion of optimism for change or a breeding ground for pessimism and helpless rage.

[freshwest]

23. ^^^This is where the ones who care will be^^^

Thanks, nolabear. Been a while since I've seen your posts, or I just missed them.

[secondwind]

50. I read your post just in the nick of time. thank you!!!!!!!!!

[DallasNE]

16. Vietnam Screwed Everything Up

And eventually led to the Rehnquist Court which gave us some of the worst decisions in the history of the Court, including removing all restrictions on Gerrymandering and look at what has happened in places like Pennsylvania.

[WCGreen]

17. It will end in fascism...

it always does...

[RKP5637]

30. Or some religious dystopia. n/t

[ErikJ]

18. 1980 Zeitgeist demanded a change

Last edited Tue Apr 23, 2013, 12:50 PM - Edit history (1)

In 1980 there was a general disatisfaction because of stagfaltion and the "misery index" high inflation and unemployment.
Carter seeming weakness didnt help things but it started with the huge debt of the Viet Nam war which Nixon extended for 4 more years after secretly sabotaging the Paris Peace talks of 1968. He also ended the gold standard completely but the main thing that caused inflatioon were the mideast oil embargos of 1973 and 79. So people were ready for a big change in 1980 in the name of cowboy Reagan.

He set in place all the trickle down, supply side economics we are still under, very low taxes on rich and deregulation of banks and industry.

[KauaiK]

19. Just when I think the GOP cannot get any more extremist....they do.

I couldn't agree more. And I am deeply disappointed in Obama's unwillingness to use the power of the Presidency to push through legislation - like common sense gun control.

Liberals and moderates outnumber right wing extremists. We need to utilize those numbers. PLUS education is key. The emasculation of education by the right wing is deliberate. They KNOW educated people will not support their crazy agenda.

[KG]

20. unfortunately, there's no opposition party to counter the goppers.

[TheMastersNemesis]

22. Reply To My Own Post

I really hate to feel negative about the direction of things politically. It just seems like the GOP and RW'ingers still control the debate and conversation. When Obama started talking about the deficit and austerity he seemed to surrender to their terms.
The conversation should be about economic and social fairness. If that conversation is too communistic or socialistic so be it. Aggressively promote it rather than be defensive.

Push unionism and a second economic bill of rights, living wages, business responsibility, reasonable regulation, health care and jobs as a right etc. Push all the things that make for decent society. Brand the Republicans as a bunch of right wing, religious right wing racist and bigoted bastards for Christ's sake.

There is NO future where we are going and we will fail if we allow obstruction to continue.

[cantbeserious]

24. You Have No Reason To Apologize - Your Thoughts Are Shared By Many

eom

[marions ghost]

26. Agree

we have no choice but to fight for what we want to see happen. No need to be defensive about it at all.

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[RKP5637]

27. It's no longer a question of "if" it will collapse, but when. Some articles I've read indicate

the banking/financial sectors are well on their way to fucking over the country again. It would be better if they all collapsed.

[Laelth]

58. I agree. It would be better if the financial industry collapsed.

My argument on that subject is here: http://laelth.blogspot.com/2011/01/turning-american-ship-of-state.html

Only when the rich feel some pain will they be willing to embrace reform.

-Laelth

[blkmusclmachine]

31. DEM "leadership" bears a serious indictment in all this.

DEM "bipartisanship/triangulation" by our so-called New DEMS/Third Way/Blue Dogs aid and abet the enemies. At almost every turn.

[abq e streeter]

37. I'm with you; I always put quotation marks around Democratic "leadership".

A sad state of affairs. They are partly to blame for allowing all of this poison and ugliness to fester.

[0rganism]

33. where it will end:

or maybe

[harmonicon]

35. Oh, it can keep going that way, and it probably will.

It's pretty much already the case that the country is made up of a very small ruling class and a vast majority that is desperately poor. The gap between the two will simply continue to grow. It's already the case that there is effectively no middle class in the US, and the US is no longer a first world country (so far as the average citizen is concerned), but these are huge lies people seem to still need. When will it become impossible to believe those lies? If it hasn't happened yet, I'm sure it will be awhile.

I'm afraid it's not all at the feet of the GOP though. They're just a symptom of the problem.

[Kennah]

36. I continue to cling, however foolishly, to the slim glimmer of hope for the future

If the U.S. average price of a gallon of gas hits $8 to $10 a gallon, it will work wonders to cause rapid realignment and cause lots of positive change.

Reduced global military presence, massive investment in alternatives to petroleum (solar, wind, tides, waves, etc.), investment in mass transit and high speed rail, reduced imports and increases domestic manufacturing.

[nightscanner59]

39. Despise adding the worst here but...

The Koch's have dumped enough pollution into the waterways to extinguish all marine life. I lose sleep nightly about this, and other ways the repug's particularly have pushed. It truly disturbs me how calloused they can be, how much in denial americans are about this. I do believe our climate change situation will begin to speak far louder than the pundits can shout soon... very soon. A magnanamously disasterous dust bowl where the republican-voting midwest once grew a couple green plants to make the last one look like a minor drought is already starting. The toxic sludge stream making it's way down to the gulf from arkansas GP plants represents a creeping death from the bottom of the food chain up. There certainly won't be 7 billion humans 500 years from now, if any survivors, will be struggling.
I don't know how people responsible for this calamity can live with themselves. Idiots think some cruel god will save us, B'wana he no home.
What we can turn around will likely be far too little, too late. Once the aliens land here from Andromeda, the only remnant of mankind will be one plastic tab blowing across the sand. The alien will pick it up, it will take all their computers to decipher:
"Sealed for your protection".

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. "And I wonder where it will end"...

When "Conservative" is synonymous with "Assho,..."

Oh shit! We've arrived!!!

[Chaco Dundee]

41. does anybody wonder?

People could not wait to get in line to vote for reagen,bush and bush.now they wonder.it's not like there was no choice.it only matters now if some will learn.

[diane in sf]

42. Unfortunately they got a lot of help from the corporate Dems.

[DAngelo136]

43. It Can Get Better...

The Reagan Administration ushered in a new era of divisiveness and greed. Sure enough, it began with the walkout of the "Dixiecrats" from the 1948 Democratic Convention led by Strom Thurmond, through the "Southern Strategy" of the Nixon campaign and then culminates with the Reagan administration's "October Surprise".
Republicans made a Faustian deal with those former Dixiecrats, neo-conservatives, and free marketers in order to gain office and gain power. Led by the "Goebbels Of AM Radio", Rush Limbaugh and given ideological cover by think tanks funded by the shadowy Koch brothers like the Cato Institute, they ran roughshod over liberal institutions who as Christopher Hedges contends became morally bankrupt and was powerless to oppose the onslaught. And for a while, everything went the Republicans way. Even Democrats seemed to have drank the conservative "kool-aid" ( I wonder how the Kool-Aid company feels about that phrase?) You could see the results of their nasty campaigns: Rural pitted against urban; young against old; Black against White (even more so); rich against middle class and middle class against poor. All the while, the Republicans aiding and abetting the gutting of country and the theft of the Treasury.
And now, the day of reckoning is nigh. Not that we didn't get any warning; the Keating 5, the Savings & Loan debacle, Iran-Contra and Enron. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the conservative "boogie man" was gone, so they found another; the "terrorist" but even then, it wasn't the same.
So here we are, financially broke, spiritually bankrupt and sensory deprived. We have become numb to our decline and we now escape to "reality TV" (an oxymoron, as if there ever was one) But here, now, we will discover who we are as a nation. We have to find the courage within ourselves to no longer accept things the way things are. We've seen behind the curtain and found that there are no wizards, just men and women who can be replaced BY US. Laws can be changed, policies altered and politicians voted out of office. Now the choice is ours; we can choose to master our collective fates or sit back and watch it all go away. I have made my choice; I have no alternative.
Peace!

[erinlough]

53. Hopeful post. Thanks.

[Laelth]

60. As the late, great Molly Ivins was fond of saying, on the other hand ...

... things can always get worse. This time, I hope you are right.

-Laelth

[School Teacher]

44. Do It For Your Own Integrity and Self Worth

Friends, I am still working in the Peace Movement and other causes. When I feel hopeless, I remind myself that there is satisfaction and
joy in doing the right thing, even though we may not win. Do the right thing so you can face yourself and know in your heart that a well lived life in service to The Good is its own reward. I will die happy knowing I did all I could for Peace, Brotherhood. Carry the banner proudly.

[Laelth]

59. Welcome to DU.

You have expressed some noble and enlightened sentiments in the post above. Thank you.

-Laelth

[Kablooie]

45. Once the next civil war occurs, without a Lincoln, it will end.

And the US will crack up into several facist countries with varying degrees of Taliban like governments.

[ladjf]

57. I don't think your prediction will come to pass. The U.S. population is to heterogeneous to allow

such a breakup along political and geographical lines. Perhaps over a long period of time the population might shift enough to accommodate the divisions that you described.

[Kablooie]

63. Each new country will then have its own civil war due to population differences.

And the beat goes on.

[Hoops59]

46. The MastersNemesis

Notice how Two Texas Sen. that always vote against fed aid, are begging for... Federal aid for Texas? We hate government until a plant blows up, help.... gutless cowards.

[reformist2]

47. It's darkest before the dawn. For the first time in a generation, the majority have figured it out.

The only resistance left toward liberal/progressive economic reform is big money. It's a huge resistance, needless to say, but the majority have at long last stopped worshipping the wealthy.

[Heywood J]

48. The first time I read your thread title, I saw it as

The GOP Has So "F'ed" Everything In This Country It Seems Almost Herpes

To me, it seemed a rather apt comparison.

[valerief]

49. Feudalism lives thanks to poor men who wield guns to protect very, very rich men. nt

[vi5]

52. It will end only when we get a real Democratic party

20 plus (and I'm being generous here) years of Democrats agreeing to Republican terms of debate, and agreeing with Republican tropes and lies as starting points for "truth" have done more damage than the Republicans could ever have done alone.

I'm in my mid 40's and have been a loyal and active Democratic voter and supporter since I was a kid and wrote Jimmy Carter a letter saying how much I respected him and thought he was a great president and a great man. And I've never been so disgusted with my party as I have with each passing day and month of the past 10-15 years.

[Nye Bevan]

54. The GOP has held power for the last 30 years?

I must be getting old and confused.

[Laelth]

55. True, but they had a lot of help from Democrats. n/t

-Laelth

[SamKnause]

62. Politicians

This was done by politicians, lobbyist, and Wall Street.

The Republicans and Democratic politicians share the blame.

They accepted brides to keep their positions and power , in doing so they destroyed this country.

They have enriched themselves further by taking advantage of insider trading, which is perfectly legal. Funny how that works. The lawmakers slanting the law in their favor.

They have destroyed the American dream for the majority.

They have cannibalized the wealth of the citizens, diminished their power in government and labor and are on the path to destroy any hope of earning a decent wage.

They have war mongered the world over and created 1000's of new enemies and drained the countries wealth.

Free Trade Deals are not good for the 99% of this country.

The 1% own and control everything.

The Republicans and Democratic politicians did this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!