What will it take to make this country more liberal?

[MikeG]

Can it be done with anything short of another Great Depression?

[Celeborn Skywalker]

1. A fair and objective media.

[Nordic]

4. I second that

[Enraged_Ape]

52. I enthusiastically third it

The only difference between any of our major newspapers in this country and Pravda is the Cyrillic alphabet.

[AspenRose]

53. Agree agree agree

If there's ANY way to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine....I'm all for it.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Teach everyone how to read so they can read newspapers

[truthbetold]

2. The country IS liberal...

It's just that the Right have such big mouths...

[ReadTomPaine]

11. Thats the 'donkey' in the room, so to speak.

However if you cut education and pour enough hate and division around, eventually you'll have a lot of conservative Republicans. Just need to wait until the common denominator drops low enough.

RTP

[dolo amber]

36. Good Christ,

you mean it's not low enough yet?? :crazy:

[Kazak]

44. Bingo!

Somebody give this man a cookie.

[OHswingvoter]

3. Depends on how we define Liberal.

What are the goals? FDR style liberalism which strove to help the poor get on their feet? We still need it, but no one is talking about the poor much. LBJ style liberalism for equality between the races? Well, we have made some progress and the job is not done, but I don't hear a lot of talk about this. There are also other things that need to be done. Lots of them.

I think what the Democratic party needs is a big vision--they need some big goals to achieve. (like JFK who wanted to get a man to the moon). Liberals without a big vision? All we offer are a hodge podge of programs that can be picked apart. It needs the over riding vision to pull it all together. That is what I am not hearing. Democrats used to be more idealistic. I would like to see those days again to some extent. But old guys always think that things were better in the past I guess.

[Fovea]

10. But the poor is the most rapidly growing segment of the economy

If the repubs don't talk to them, how will they be able to sell them a new refrigerator box, or a new religion?

We need to realize that the poor are part of our family here in the Democratic Party. They are not a scapegoat, a punching bag, or a wedge issue. They are our family.

[Kanary]

40. Thank you, realpolitik! It's so seldom that I hear anything at all like

what you've just said.

All that seems to matter to Dems anymore is middleclass issues.

Thank you again!

Kanary

[murielm99]

14. I think we do have some of those big vision goals.

Health insurance for everyone, jobs at home, not overseas, and a cleaner environment.

Kerry is talking about those things.

[OHswingvoter]

17. The key is to articulate it

as something big. Like "The war on poverty." Sure we have a laundry list of big programs, but we haven't tied them all together into something sexy. Something that will sell.

[lapfog_1]

16. Here is my list

1. Education - With civics and history taking a larger role in junior
and senior high school.

2. Less concentration of media - this will have to be by law at first,
but as technology gets better, small media outlets can be just as
effective as larger ones, which reduces the drive to have media
merger mania.

3. Energy self sufficiency - we can do this, and do it as an "Moon
Program" with a great deal of money for research coming from the
government, plus a national will (law) to get off our fossil fuel
drug dependency.

4. Outsourcing - I think this is a temporary problem, even as those
cheap labor pool countries perform more and more jobs, they will
want to become consumers and buy the products that are being produced.
The true problem is that there is a source of even cheaper labor,
namely automation. We have just scratched the surface of what can
be automated, and machinery never asks for health care or a raise
So the real question is how do we allow people to make a "living"
or better wage while not really needing their services.

[4morewars]

5. I think most Americans.....

are moderate to liberal now. However, they don't all vote. I could be wrong.

[RobinA]

31. Totally Disagree

I don't find people liberal at all. People only think of themselves. The argument that "Society as a whole would be better off if...." just doesn't resonate. People are so afraid that one of their tax dollars might go to help a poor woman that they'll vote for a lying war-monger. As long as it doesn't affect them. And the military, whom it does affect, appears to be so brainwashed that they prefer a draft dodger to an actual soldier, as long as the draft dodger wants to outlaw gay marrage and continue to execute poor people.

[NewJeffCT]

34. disagree

While many people are hit by Republican talking points that they find it hard to disagree with (i.e., capital punishment; gays in the military; tax & spend liberal elitist; god & guns; etc) I think many are truly at least moderately progressive when it comes important issues:

1) The environment - most people think preserving the environment, even if it is sometimes against Big Business, is a good thing. Unfortunately, the Corporate Media don't really question Bushco's prettily named anti-environment policies.

2) Universal Health Insurance - if it was given a straight up or down vote by American citizens, I am guessing the "Up" vote would win in a landslide. No empirical data on that, just think most would want it.

3) Progressive taxation - again, if given and up or down vote; the rich would pay a higher tax rate than the middle class & the poor.

4) Public schools & colleges - most know that if their children are to have a better life than them, they need good schools & colleges. Many of those small gov't Southerners & Midwesterners would be horrified if they had major cutbacks at good ole' State U. They take a lot of pride in a UNC or a UVa or aUniv of Florida being as good, or better, than a lot of them Yankee schools.

[burythehatchet]

39. Robin, you've actually brought up a very central issue

And its the reason why we need to have this discussion.

The other side knows that people are, by their nature, liberal. We are an enlightened form of life. So they manufacture a social and cultural set of circumstances that force people to go against their basic nature.

If you want to see the most apparent example of that, look at the matter of war between nations. What percentage of people do you think really want to fight wars? If you put 100 Iraqis and 100 Americans in a room, maybe 10 total would want to war.

Our lives are constsantly manipulated to go against our best interests.

People are generally Liberal.

[RobinA]

56. People are Only Generally Liberal

when it's just a theory. Very few people "want war" when it's hypothetical, but how many want war when some liar convinces them with demonstrably thin evidence that there's a bad guy to be shot at? How many boomers who smoked pot in college think the DARE program their kid gets in elementary school is just peachy? What are the stats on support for the death penalty? How many people believe that gay marrage should be legal? How many people will vote for the guy who's honest about increasing taxes to pay for increased social services? How many seniors will vote for better Medicare, but complain about rising school taxes?

I do not find people to be generally liberal when push comes to shove.

[Kanary]

60. I'm agreeing with all you're saying. It's only good if it's in our own

interest...... in other words, if it benefits *me*, then I'm for it.

This country used to have a sense of what was best for the whole. That has gone up in smoke, and now it's everyone for themselves. Just watching the interactions here on DU illustrate that.

True liberalism is wanting what is best for the society as a whole, not just your own personal interests.

There are progressive exceptions, of course, but most people only are interested in what affects them directly. If they aren't directly affected, they're not interested. Can't make much liberalism from that.

Kanary

[OnionPatch]

65. I doubt even ten at those odds

[info being]

69. Maybe they don't want to go to war because they are selfish

[jdj]

7. I really believe the internet is the answer.

It is diversity and access that cannot be controlled.

It is people being able to choose their own input, which they used to be able to do before tv and when there was more than one rag in each town.

The internet is our last, best hope, I think.

Having one source ( and that is what we have, the one source is the repuke party) for news in this country is ill and sick.

It just doesn't work for people to try to be "objective". In media it's a sham and a scam of the highest order. Since we can't go back to the days of breeches-clad paper boys yelling "Extree" from every corner with competing rags, we have to promote the next best thing, and that is partisan or pov oriented news, with the understanding that that is what it is and that WE CALL IT WHAT IT IS. That's what it is now, but it's like a hooker dressed up like mother theresa.

It's insulting the American public to give media credit for "objectivity", anyway, since the middle of the road never makes the money.

[rniel]

62. One idea...

The press won't be objective and fair so if more and more people turn to the internet and boycott the mainstream news on tv then they will have to take notice and maybe it would bring about change.

I have not watched tv news for about 2 years now. Except for the daily show. he he

[MikeG]

8. Liberal enough to pass universal health care.

Liberal enough to have a more equitable tax system.

[slinkerwink]

9. fair and objective media as well as "critical thinking" being taught in

public schools instead of standardized tests.

[jdj]

12. I don't believe in "the media"

Now there are lots of people all with varying points of view running around interpreting world events...and the only ones of them I trust and want to listen to are the ones that ADMIT they have a point of view and that their raison d'etre is to fight for that point of view instead of copping some bogus bullshit about being objective.

That's where I come in...I read this guy and that gal, and listen to the other gal and the other dude, and then I DECIDE what I think about all of it. What is it about putting someone in front of a camera or behind newsprint that gives them the superhuman power of "objectivity". Before feminism they used to say that men were more "objective" when what they really meant was 'androcentric', and that they were "less emotional", which easily translates into borderline sociopathic as a result of childhood emotional abuse and conditioning". It all depends on your point of view, and anyone who pretends they don't have one is either deluding themself or trying to mislead me. No thanks.

[Kanary]

13. To be honest, no, I don't think anything short of catastrophe

is going to change anything.

Look at all the people driving big honking SUVs, and when told about the impending peak oil, just either shrug and say, "so what", or get angry and defensive.

Look at all the people who KNOW the deficit is now huge, and say little or nothing about it, and don't worry about what the war and our "defense" is doing to our ability to take care of ourselves in the future.

Look at the inability of people to actually work together. There is so much ego involvment in *everything*, which certainly doens't bode well for liberal causes.

Look right here at DU -- most threads about any poverty issue sink right to the bottom. A plea to write emails in support of Whoopie gets pages of responses, but a plea to write about an impending cut to the safety net gets maybe 3 or 4 responses. If those who call themselves liberal can't be moved, then how is there much hope?

Nope, I don't hold out much hope.

Kanary

[tabasco]

59. I think you may be correct.

We have learned nothing from history. Americans think they are different than Europe and the rest of the world. It will possibly take a major calamity to wake people up to the fact that they are pawns of the rich. The cabal will try to delay the collapse as long as possible to keep their cash cow alive. But their policies inevitably lead to economic/social collapse or a war or both. I am truly ashamed of many of my countrymen for their selfishness, short-sightedness, and lackadaisical ignorance.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. A better economy

shared among all races and classes.

Truthful mass media.

Better education, with a thorough, critically presented grounding in history, politics, economics, literature, the arts, writing, and languages. (Thanks to the sacred concept of "local control," though, dumb towns tend to have dumb schools, and I don't know what we can do about that.)

[Dukkha]

18. Peace.

http://www.rymarart.com/usa-global.htm

How could this enormous outpouring support for America be completely squandered away and make the USA the most hated nation on Earth?

[T Town Jake]

19. Liberals need to aggressively...

...return to their FDR, Harry Truman, & LBJ roots, IMHO. I once heard someone quoted who said something to the effect that all Democrats had to do to be consistently successful was to have a decent right jab and a strong left hook (I think it was the late Democratic Senator "Scoop" Jackson, but I'm not sure). Which is to say, the Party must be very strong on liberal domestic concerns (Social Security, Health Care, Civil Rights, Good Jobs, etc.) and at least as strong as the GOP on national security issues.
Clinton was partially successful in this regard, but I think John Kerry will be more so when/if he's elected (assuming the thing's not stolen).

[Blue Wally]

24. Clinton

Was successful only in defusing the security issue because during his era security was not an issue. We are still paying for 1972 on the security issue.

[T Town Jake]

27. "We are still paying for 1972 on the security issue"

You are absolutely right - I completely and totally agree. That is an 100% correct assessment that many would either contest (with howls of outrage) or ignore here. But it is true, nevertheless. Putting aside the GOP voters in the 1972 election and focusing strictly on the Democrats whom voted for Richard Nixon that year (without whose votes he could never have won the landslide he did), it becomes readily apparent that most of them recognized that "Tricky Dick" was probably a shifty "crook" and liar (and he wasted no time in subsequently confirming their suspicions in the months following that election) - but they nevertheless felt that he would keep them safe from external threats to the United States, and voted accordingly. He won so big for the exact same reasons he lost in 1960 - Jack Kennedy reassured voters on the "security" issue in the '60 presidential election, and once that's off the table as a concern for the electorate liberal candidates for high office nearly always win.
Thankfully, I think we have such a nominee again - and I'm convinced we'll win.

[Classical_Liberal]

37. So we need pro viet nam dems

real smart. That should do it yes! Rolling eyes! We already have a party that votes for phoney trumped up wars.

[T Town Jake]

38. ...Ummmm....

...what?

Sorry, didn't catch any coherence there...:shrug:

(Hint: try speaking clearly, in vernacular English, next time)

[VOX]

20. Tough challenge to get everyone's thoughts shifted from "me" to "we"...

For decades now, it's been all about the "me" in this country: My taxes, my expenses, my money, my kids, my values, my God, my SUV, my rights, my guns, my patriotism, etc, etc. etc. Persistent media prods mixed with a blind nationalism have led to a terrible sense of personal entitlement among Americans.

This has to be shifted away from the fear-centered "me" and "my," and turned instead toward thinking about what is better for the greater good of the whole.

Sadly, only in times of recent tragedy have Americans been willing to briefly put aside their own agendas and come together as a whole.

Without changing the fear-mongering focus of the media, I'm not sure how this shift to a perspective of "what's good for the group is good for me" would be feasible at the present.

[Kanary]

30. You certainly got that right!

But, even here at DU, it's no different, so I don't expect any changes anytime soon.

That's why I wrote that I don't see any move to more liberalism until almost everyone is suffering deeply. It people aren't willing to change their thinking without being forced into it, then usually that "force" will show up.

Kanary

[Warren DeMontague]

21. How about governmental representation proportional to population?

33 Million Californians: 2 Senators.
500,000 Wyomingians: 2 Senators.

Just because it's always been that way doesn't make it the way it needs to be.

[AspenRose]

54. Just as an aside on that thought

I'd like to see DC get representation.

http://www.dcvote.org

"There are only three groups of people denied voting rights in our country: children, convicted criminals and citizens of the District of Columbia!" --Mayor Anthony Williams

[Tsiyu]

22. And a little child shall lead them

I don't know why that came to mind, except that children ARE the future.

If we don't love them, encourage them, keep them safe, take them seriously, teach them how to take care of themselves and how to get along with others ( by our example, not our empty words) we have no future to worry about.

[info being]

66. This country treats youth very poorly

Even 20-somethings. The boomers and extremely disrespectful toward youth and you don't find that in other countries. Other countries are more youth-dominant. Just one of the many reasons I'm moving away.

[mandyky]

23. Take on some of the right's issues like smaller govt and

fiscal responsibility. We are already working on the defecit, now we need to cut the size of some Federal programs but send the money to the state level version of some of them. While I don't like the way shrub is doing it, I think faith based initiatives could work with some tweaking.

We, the grassroots, have a lot of power and responsibility, too. Also, we need more Air America's and liberal media outlets. Just as Rush and Hannity have made liberal a dirty word, liberal media needs to pound home how dishonest and selfish the right wing is.

[Killarney]

25. The media needs to change. Especially radio.

[Disturbed]

26. LIberals

The move of the Dem Party to the right was and is a big mistake. B. Clinton is not a liberal and neither is Hillary. J.Kerry and J. Edwards are not liberals either. Check out their voting records. The Dem Party is the party of appeasers and pleasers. It is weak and the only reason for any unity now is because the Neo Fascists are in power and Dems know damn well that they will turn Amerika into a 3rd world police state in another few years. Amerika is a Plutocracy. The Dems serve it but the Neo Fascists serve it more boldly and effectively. What Amerika needs is another Revolution. The people won't rise up until things get real badbut then look like things are getting better but then they don't. This is how most Revolutions occur.

[RobinA]

32. Yet...

people who tell me they don't like Bush will be holding their noses and voting for him because they consider John Kerry a socialist. Now, I know this is ridiculous, but the perception is there for whatever reason, and Kerry being MORE liberal is not going to turn anybody into a Kerry Republican.

Clinton had it right, whether we like it or not. Liberalism is not going to win the day in these times.

[sadiesworld]

28. The dems have to take on Corporate America and the Wealthy Elite.

[RobinA]

29. In A Word...

No.

It's going to take a major disaster. Or the draft. This is why, every now and then, I have thoughts that it might be best for the country in the long run if Bush wins. Kinda like a alcoholic has to hit rock bottom before accepting help, I fear it's gonna take a train wreck to make people face reality. Torture and a lied-about war, make that ANOTHER lied-about war, don't seem to be doing the trick.

[Kanary]

41. Sadly, I agree with you completely.

The slow deterioration is acceptable to Merkins. It would take a big rush to the bottom to make a dent in people's brains.

Kanary

[info being]

68. The economic system will collapse

There's no other way. The only people who believe infinite growth can continue indefinately on a finite planet are madmen and economists.

So it is only a matter of time before the system will collapse...either intentionally or unintentionally. I'm not sure long-term investments are such a good plan.

[Dogmudgeon]

33. Destroy the RW philosophies

That's how the RW did it -- by actively, aggressively destroying all public support for liberalism. And they did almost all of it with two little rhetorical devices -- the Straw Man (e.g., "libbruls love taxes") and name-calling.

It's easy to see that they are very keen on universal laws, absolute moral systems, etc. But beyond this is an even stronger, more subtle train of thought. Conservatives believe that everyone must have a Philosophy, and it's really Philosophies that compete, not people.

Ayn Rand is especially lucid on this point.

None of them understand how this puts them in league with Naziism, Fascism, and Communism. All totalitarian movements assert that A Philosophy is the keystone of their crusade. Marx, Hitler, and their fellow "thinkers" were all vehement on the point. Without a Philosophy, the individual thinks independently. If a "meme" is a unit of virally-acting thought, a Philosophy is the RNA/DNA system of a complex organism of ideation.

Philosophy could said to be the operating system of totalitarianism.

Until Liberal and Progressive activists learn how to fight not just a particular philosophy, but political "Philosophism" in general, the Right will continue to exert its powerful and pervasive effect on politics. Most people think that adherence to Philosophy is a normal and good thing. "Attack" that, and there is a chance that the Conservative will question the basis of his attachment to this uniquely American form of totalitarianism.

--bkl

[natrat]

35. A fly on the wall in the White House

who could report back to the sheeple. Then it would be common knowledge just how corrupt these skank are and we would live happily ever after basking in the glow of the republic. )

[RobinA]

57. With a Recording Device

Without it, the administration would just say that the fly was a liar wanting publicity for his book.

[Strelnikov_]

42. Like Windows, The System Has To Be Occasionally Rebooted

"19% think they are in the top 1% of incomes, and 20% of the remaining think they will be there someday."

I think this poll illustrates that America is the largest, most elaborate Potemkin Village ever built. Until a super-majority (60%+) face up to realities of the problems facing us today, the politics of greed will continue.

Can't the economic policies of the GOP be summed up by 'you could be rich, too, if the poor didn't have it all'.

We have had a good run the last 60 yrs., and most people have become 'fat, dumb and happy'. I think that the system is going to have to be rebooted in order to shake them from their torpor.

[BlueJazz]

45. I think your analogy to windows is quite correct.

As a tech and networking engineer I sometimes have to tell the customer:
"Look, the inf (information) files have become so corrupt, so many files are cross-linked, your Registry is in shambles, the system files have been replaced by programs that point to nowhere, that the only true way to "Clean up the mess" is to save your most important data, Format the drive and start all over again.
Replace INF files with Talk Radio.
Replace Registry with Congress.
Replace cross-linked files with "usual perception by Americans".
Replace System Files with "Military Industrial Complex"....
and you have a fair idea why it will be necessary at some point in time to wipe the disk clean and start all over.

[LibDemAlways]

43. In F 9/11 Jim McDermott

says that if people are afraid, you can get them to do anything. This was driven home to me the other day at the Seattle airport - my 1st airport experience since 9/11 - where I witnessed the unthinking compliance of the American public to the most insane, stupid, intrusive misuse and abuse of government authority imaginable. An elderly man forced to get up out of his wheelchair to be practically stripsearched. An elderly, hunched over woman in a wheelchair having her shoes ripped off her feet. A child crying while her teddy bear was snatched away - after being x-rayed - to be swabbed with some sort of chemical for explosives. No one outwardly questioning whether any of this has anything to do with safety and security. I think it has everything to do with fear and intimidation.

We are already too far gone as a nation. The question isn't what can be done to make the country more liberal. It's what will it take for people to wake up and start fighting back to reclaim their country?

[Zan_of_Texas]

47. 1. Deconsolidate the media. 2. Count the votes.

The two major parties and the media are in a three-legged race, locked in a death grip with each other, hopping along to take us over a cliff.

Depending on any of the three is a flawed foundation.

Support independent media with your bucks. Places like this, like Common Dreams, like TruthOut, like Pacifica and other community radio.

Support counting the votes. Bev Harris and Andy Stephenson are breaking BIG news, but the big media will have to you YOU force them to report it -- there has to be a tidal wave REQUIRING them to report it.

HERE's the big news - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2268452&mesg_id=2268452

Read it for yourself.


My summary: The media have been complicit in holding this shit back.

Now, the game is over.


So, say you're a company that has machines that counts votes. Let's say you had a job for a software programmer. Not just any job -- this is likely the most sensitive software programming job in the company -- VP in charge of programming the central tabulator that tabulates the votes from the precincts, sometimes counting up to 2 million votes -- in the case of Georgia or Maryland, every vote for the whole state.

Suppose you had a guy had previously served time in jail, a convicted embezzler on multiple counts -- his tool of choice -- computers. Why did he embezzle? Why, he was being blackmailed for his involvement in a manslaughter situation.

Now, is that your man to fill the position?

If you're Diebold it is. Diebold, one of the 4 largest electronic voting machine companies in the country, paid that man to program the vote counter for entire states (Georgia, Maryland, hello out there)!

Diebold.

How long has this software -- with THREE sets of books that can be changed by writing six lines of code -- been in use? Three years.

Diebold is in thirty states.

The software is not "flawed" not just "inadequate;" it is RIGGED to allow easy access for crooked election fixing.

It is a bigger scandal than Enron.

Just like Enron, it wasn't just one or two rogues inside a company. Every step of the way, those charged with keeping tabs on them and keeping them honest failed. In the case of Enron, it was internal and external accountants and lawyers, the board of directors, the SEC, stock analysts, the Commodity Futures regulators, FERC, the banks who loaned them money in deals that smelled, and the financial press (except Bethany McLean at Fortune) that failed to do their homework.

In this case, no one inside the company stopped the corrupt programmer. Election officials like Cathy Cox and Linda Lamone of Georgia and Maryland and their staffs made excuses for the Diebold equipment even in the face of documented evidence that it has fatal flaws. Media like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have put their hands over their face and pretended not to see. The certification entities are not independent, have no federal oversight, and they approved this junk. The state legislators paid for this junk. The US Congress passed HAVA, which started the stampede into electronic voting, and the US Senate has sat on its collective duff instead of getting behind the Rush Holt legislation (just like it sat on its duff when the Black Congressional Caucus pleaded with ONE Senator to take up the cause, as seen in Fahrenheit 911). Bob Ney blocked the Rush Holt bill in the house.

To clarify-- those last 3 paragraphs are mine, not a summary of what Bev or Andy have said. Regardless, if you give a damn about this stuff, go read their report at DU and at their site.

[Endangered Specie]

46. A real, advanced education system, equal for all.

Its no suprise that most professors (aka Smart people) are liberal.

[Kanary]

49. And all those highly educated people, with good jobs

and 3 SUVs are voting...........

RW.

Kanary

[leesa]

48. Undoing the FCC changes Reagan made.

[SeekerofTruth]

50. Look at ourselves first?

Why are Democrats considered the tax&spend party? Maybe because everything we recommend changing involves more government programs. Let's instead have the government and free market work together like it does in building roads.

Imagine a healthcare system that's not corrupt like ours or the Canadians or the French. Can't we learn from other mistakes and create something that actually works?

[newyawker99]

61. Hi SeekerofTruth!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[info being]

67. I kind of see where you're going, but question a few assumptions

1) Building roads is any different from how the rest of the government works. Government always reaches out to the private sector for projects.

2) I don't know that the Canadian or French system is corrupt. I guess you'd have to explain how.

[midnight armadillo]

51. Start teaching history and reform schools

Children learn the "Great Man" theory of history in which Great White Men Make Things Happen, and the people follow along. On top of that, they never seem to make it past the civil war at best in school. It's an effective means of keeping a docile population if they're indoctrinated from an early age to believe they are powerless.

The school systems, starting around middle school and into high school, are designed to turn out docile, obedient, and incurious students who are ignorant of their own history and are not capable of assessing current events. They are trained in consumerism and not making waves. They are taught that youth and energy (via zero-tolerance, cops in schools, etc) are things to be feared and suppressed.

Teach them the truth about citizen's movements and how great changes come from the people, the strength of organizing, etc., how to think, and slowly things will shift.

[JackDragna]

55. Bloodshed.

That's what it'll take. The media is far too corrupted now by the influence of major corporations to assist in the raising of a conscientious, skeptical public. Public education no longer produces enough critical thinkers. Despite all the advances we've made in civil rights, many people are still bigoted and afraid.

Perhaps most devastating, however, is how well we've been trained to just not think deeply about things. It stems from a combination of poor education, a societal distrust of intellectualism and a media which focuses on sensationalism and glorifies simple answers to complex questions. People in America do not naturally respond well to politicians, authors or pundits who have well-thought-out ideas about how to fix social ills. We have been trained to think at the most shallow, basic level, to adopt axiomatic political truisms simply because we think they make common sense. Take the average conservative views on taxation, for example. Most conservatives cannot complain enough about the evils of taxes. When one points out the ill effects of gutting taxes on the national infrastructure, the conservative thinks you're cracked. To the conservative, it is plainly obvious that putting more money in someone's pocket will help the economy. Arguments about the necessity of having a decently-sized progressive tax system as a backbone of a market economy are wasted on such a person.

Americans are therefore prone to simple answers to problems and, by extension, answers that are laden with patriotic buzzwords. When one doesn't think deeply, one allows jingoism and personal emotion to severely cloud one's judgement on political issues. I thought at one time Americans could be weaned from such shallow thinking, but not anymore. We will only change when the disparity of income in this nation and loss of civil liberties becomes so great that the selfish, shallow-thinking masses are shaken out of their stupor and join those of us who saw what was coming in a civil war.

[WoodrowFan]

58. another disaster under the Repukes

that the press covers honestly so people know the Repuks are to blame.

[bamacrat]

63. theres the catch

for the press to cover something honestly would take a liberal nation
plus so many people are brainwashed by the "fuhrer" i doubt even an obvious republican sponsored attack would help much.

[Dhalgren]

64. And I think you are probably right.

Welcome to DU bamacrat. Come early and come often! :hi: