Anyone else believe in the Great Pendulum?

[ThumperDumper]

The great political pendulum that swings back and forth. Left to right and back again.

We've certainly seen this country move to the right - horrifyingly so. It keeps going too. Further and further. Just when you've thought you've heard everything (the staged pulling-down of the Saddam statue) it gets a little worse (fake press conferences) and then a little worse (threats of violence against judges)...

What will be the extreme point in the pendulum's swing when it will start to move in the other direction? Will we know? Has it already happened? Was it Schiavo? Will it be the "Dems are anti-Christian" event in Kentucky? Something like that adding up to too much religion? The "Nuclear Option"? An attack from Rightwing extremist terrorism? Something else? What? Where will it be and when?

I keep watching and waiting - trying to predict - trying to mark that point. I'm obsessed.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. History seems to indicate it is true....Guess we will have to wait and see

[Pharaoh]

2. unfortunatly , you ain't seen nuthin yet.......

these guys are like Nazi Germany with nukes..........

and they'll use them.....

[HockeyMom]

3. Lived long enough to agree with that

We had the ultra conservative, McCarthy era of the 1950s followed by the backlash of the 1960s. Although I was only a kid in the 1950s, I don't think even then it was quite as far right, especially religious far right, as now. If there is a backlash, imagine how far left it will go this time?

[Mountainman]

18. It was more religious far right in the fifties.

The things that the fundies want now were all a part of the social fabric in the fifties. That's what amazes me today. I thought we would settle these issues and move on but the right wants to turn back the clock.

It is people my age that have to fight for progressivism because the younger people don't know what they are getting themselves in for by being conservative.

[mourningdove92]

26. Amen!

At what point did that pendulum start to swing so far right?

Oh yeah, I remember. When Dubya stole the election in 2004 and used the media to convince America that they REALLY wanted him.

[Paul Dlugokencky]

4. Usually, yes, but...

If the voting machines (and tabulators) in this country can be manipulated, that pendulum ain't goin' nowhere - regardless of the actual will of the people.



http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[MADem]

5. Then, it's the streets, all over again n/t

[ginnyinWI]

17. but doesn't it have to be a close race for them to steal it? n/t

[Bake]

28. That would be true, if we had an honest MEDIA

But if the media makes everyone THINK it's close enough to steal, hen it IS close enough to steal.

Sad.

Bake

[ThumperDumper]

29. I had to think about that

but it's so true. Even if it isn't very close, if the media says it's close it's the same thing as being close - they can steal it without many people suspecting.

[jbm]

6. my mind alternates between the image of the pendulum...

and the image of a frog sitting in simmering water. The frog image comes from something I heard earlier this year that goes something like, "if you put a frog in hot water, he'll jump out, but if you put him in cold water and gradually turn up the heat, he'll literally stay there and let you boil him to death."

I sure hope we're doing the pendulum thing and not the frog thing.

[ThumperDumper]

19. Jeez, man!

That gave me cold chills. I'm going to have to think about that. You just altered my being for the next 24 hours or so. ;)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. I think the children of fundamentalists are the key

As they grow up, having been sacrificed to endless war due to the political beliefs of their parents and come to see themselves as USED, I think there will be HELL to pay

[ThumperDumper]

20. That's interesting.

Rebellion? Children of strict parents always do.

However, a scary trend I've seen among young people is that being conservative is a sort of rebellion against what young people usually do. Especially on college campuses; the conservatives are the "rebels". That frightens me.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. That's what my parents always told me

and that's what I tend to believe. History seems to bear this out.

But then I've seen some weird stuff in my lifetime that I never thought I'd see, so...

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe the Terry Schiavo circus might've been the straw that broke Middle America's back and exposed the weirdos DeLay and Frist for what they are. Still way too early to tell--we'll have to fight and scrape and win in 2006 to see if I'm right.

[ThumperDumper]

21. I wonder...

I do wonder a lot about the Schivo thing. It may or may not have been the "turning point", but maybe it will have gotten enough people to pay attention to the religious nuttistry (new word - just made up) enought for the turning point to happen the next time the Repubs start swinging the Religion stick.

[housewolf]

9. I keep reminding myself

whenever I start to become overwhelmed with horror about what the far right is doing - I remember some of the far-left groups of the 60's and 70's. Think of the Weathermen, the SLA, the Black Panthers, and how they were proponents for violent revolution. I can't help but think, when I'm sending out alarms about the coming of theocracy, that it's really not so different from those on the right who, in the 1970's, were sending out alarms about the coming of the communists, the socialists and the violent revolutionaries. It's the same thing, just the opposite side of the pendulum.

There's one thing that's different now, though - in the 1970's the crazies weren't in positions of power like they are now.

[Just Me]

10. No. I believe life is like a spiral.

In my personal view, what may appear to us as "pendulum shifts" are really a series of events which push us forward, forcing us to expand beyond our habits/patterns of behavior.

I guess I have decided that we operate the same way the universe does, pushing forward and expanding,...except on a more simple level.

[ThumperDumper]

22. I realize that...

the pendulum can never return to the same spot again and again because of the passage of time, technology, etc...

but it's basically the same place relative given the new era.

[Inland]

11. I don't.

I just don't believe that things naturally even out, or moderate, in the political world. Sometimes entire systems just plain stay swung until they disappear, and sometimes they take their entire people with them.

[ThumperDumper]

23. Depends I guess...

too far and the pendulum breaks. As long as our form of government doesn't change. Too far and they start (ahem) tampering with elections or even (ahem) cancel elections.

As long as voters keep getting to pick the leaders I think we're OK. Mess with that...

[MissWaverly]

12. what really scares be is the media support for the extremists

i.e. David Brooks comment that Roe vs Wade is behind the current move on the filibuster, there always seems to be a religious reason for their wholesale trashing of this country which is loudly trumpeted by the media. The voiding of the filibuster is about total control of those now in power, the end of the filibuster is about not being accountable for wholesale ethics violations, the end of the filibuster is about being able to appoint someone like Bolton to the UN.

[meow2u3]

13. How the hell do you think I got my DU handle?

Yes, I believe in the Great Political Pendulum, and yes, I believe it should stop, and if the Pendulum won't stop swinging, resulting in a happy medium, we should make it stop swinging!!

Stop the Extremes! Stop the Pendulum!

[ThumperDumper]

24. Sweet! Alas, we meet!

Wanna be my sidekick? ;)

[cestpaspossible]

14. Absolutely. Look at Montana

however good Schweitzer and the other Dems may have been as candidates, 16 years of Republican control was a bigger factor.

[lala_rawraw]

15. Usually yes, but

The pendulum swing seems to become a smaller and smaller swing each loop around. When a civilization is declining, then the pendulum shift is not one of party or factions or what not. It is more of a measurement of time. In other words, shifting to one side indicates a more rapid decline. Shifting to the other side indicates a slowing of decline.

I hate to be a drag, but my feeling is we are in the great decline and this loop seems to support my theory. I hope I am wrong on every count. I do think that humanity will survive even if this country does not. Many civilizations have fallen and brilliant new ones have replaced them. I do think though that much like Rome, this decline will shift us into a neo-dark ages arena for a while until there is a re-creation of civilization of great progress and creativity.

[ginnyinWI]

16. yes yes yes!

It will definitely swing back to the left. The only question is how long it will take. The more pressure the Dems in Congress can bring to bear, the sooner it will be. I have high hopes for 2006, myself!

[bling bling]

25. Some very wise people I know and trust believe in it.

It can't happen soon enough, IMO.

In the overall spectrum, I know that we've come a long way in this country in terms of freedom and liberty. But there's a long way to go and that's why it's so terribly frustrating for me to see so many people willingly wanting to step backward.

Hearing quotes from people like Ann Coulter saying that women shouldn't be allowed to vote make me enraged beyond words. I hope when the pendulum swings back it swings right smack into her fugly face on the way.

[ThumperDumper]

27. I love it!

I guess that's why we call ourselves "progressives".

[Gimley13]

30. Where can i find that quote? i got to show that to my female repub freinds

[bling bling]

34. Here you go.

"I think should be armed but should not vote. No, they all have to give up their vote, not just, you know, the lady clapping and me. The problem with women voting -- and your Communists will back me up on this -- is that, you know, women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it. And when they take these polls, it's always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care."
-- Ann Coulter, Politically Incorrect, Feb. 26, 2001

[marions ghost]

31. well personally

I want The Great Pendulum to come down from the sky and knock a few corrupt ego-maniac politicians right OFF their pedistals.

I don't think the left/right pendulum theory works very well when one side is busy re-writing all the rules and controlling elections.

[Roland99]

32. I do...but...I don't mind giving that pendulum a little push back

[tedoll78]

33. I don't believe in the Great Pendulum.

Look all the way back to 1900. Voters, overall, have been voting republican (regardless of ideology) since then. For each election since, any Democratic victory has come in strange/unusual/desperate circumstances.

1912: Woodrow Wilson (D) elected when Teddy Roosevelt runs on the Bull-Moose ticket, effectively dividing the Republican segment of the electorate.

1916: World War One

1932: After years of Harding/Coolidge/Hoover-style economic mismanagement, desperate voters turn to the Democrats again. FDR elected. FDR actually tries to help the voters, getting him re-elected in 1936 & 1940. WWII ensures him a fourth term.

1948: Close, but Truman is able to ride the coattails/sentiment/WWII effects to win over Dewey. (my guess is that he would have lost in 1952 to Ike pretty handily).

1960: Kennedy wins, but with questionable vote counts and constant reassurances to the electorate that he wasn't the Pope's tool and that he wasn't too ideologically extreme.

1964: Johnson rides the assassination to election.

1976: Carter rides backlash to Watergate to a single term.

1992: Recession and a third major candidate allow Clinton to slip in with less than 45% of the vote. A very poor candidate choice by the GOP in 1996 - combined with Perot's less-effective presence on the ballot - helps Clinton win a second term easily. Had the GOP chosen a stronger candidate, Clinton could have been defeated.

2000: Hmm..

My recurring theme is that, given how the GOP generally dominates in the electoral college, the shit has to hit the fan for the nation to turn to the Democrats for leadership. My feeling is that our party is the party that people turn to when things begin to get really, really stinky from the GOP's messes. Either that, or the GOP's voters are stupid enough to vote for third party splinter candidates.

Hmm..

[spooky3]

35. I do. I think that more people's economic situations have to get uglier

before it will swing back, however. High and climbing gas prices (perhaps with evidence of collusion by the big oil friends of *, stagnant wages, higher inflation and interest rates, higher unemployment, etc. Unfortunately, I don't think that a lot of voters can see The Big Picture, and many are unconcerned with whether others are harmed by policies. Many of these people have to be hit hard in their own pocketbooks and believe that it is the fault of the current admin. before they will feel the need for change.