Political Parties and Elections (Also see Democracy …)

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Despite Trump’s behavioral distractions, he is accomplishing MUCH — but the WRONG stuff!

January 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Powerful interests run their agenda on two tracks: 1. For public consumption, they say nice propaganda, platitudes, etc., and they also put out a carnival of entertainment, scandal, eye candy, etc. 2. Meanwhile, apart from public view they do horrible things. So, for example, while LBJ and Nixon kept saying they wanted peace in Vietnam, they actually were escalating the war. Trump promised jobs, promised to “drain the swamp,” etc., but he has been doing the opposite. Both parties do this, and so does big business with “greenwashing” advertising campaigns while they hurt the environment. We must pay attention to […]

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An important post on this blog still reflects my best thinkig

January 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump, Trumpism and the Republican Party are doing horrible things to the U.S. and the world, while the Democratic Party and many Americans seem clueless. Often I think I should write something for this blog about the underlying problems that led us into this crisis.  Then I immediately remember that I did convey my best thinking in a long essay I have already posted to this blog.  Some of that article I wrote in January 2017 around the time of the inauguration, and I had added more before posting it in the autumn of 2017.  It is still valid, and […]

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Republicans kill fetuses.

January 23, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For decades the Republican Party has claimed to be “pro-life.”  However, their actual policies disable and kill fetuses.  Here are some examples: — Republicans keep trying to take away people’s health care.  In 2017 the Republican-dominated Congress tried several times to take away health care from tens of millions of Americans.  This includes pregnant women and fetuses.  Without adequate pre-natal care, fetuses fail to develop properly, so they result in birth defects, disabilities in newborns, stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and maternal deaths. — Republicans keep trying to take away food and nutrition from poor, hungry people.  Inadequate nutrition hurts pregnant women […]

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Nixon’s scheme against African Americans and against the peace movement

January 12, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

One of President Nixon’s top aides, John Ehrlichman, later reported this: “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did […]

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“A Nonviolent Society for the Common Good”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

In recent years American society has experienced a serious upsurge of anti-government rhetoric, including threats of violence against members of Congress – and in January 2011 an actual shooting. We have seen a continuation of war, torture and human rights abuses by our government, cutbacks in vital social and health services, a mania for privatizing public services, intolerance of minority races and religions, and an overall breakdown in the sense of our common humanity. Are these interconnected?  Do they have common roots? Can we find solutions that will resolve these problems and restore our public ethics and our common humanity? […]

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“Real Democracy, Not Corporate Personhood”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

“End ‘Corporate Personhood’ and Other Power Grabs” In its January 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that big business corporations can give as much money as they want to election campaigns. By a 5-4 majority (all 5 were appointed by Reagan or George W. Bush), they overturned a century of settled law that had protected election campaigns from excessive corporate interference. This decision further entrenched the bizarre notion that money is “speech” and that corporations are “persons” with free speech and the same civil rights as living, breathing human beings. The Citizens United […]

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“Washington State Needs Tax Reform”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The State of Washington experiences recurring budget crises, so the Legislature keeps making drastic cuts.  Revenue keeps falling short of the needs, so they keep slashing and slashing. They have cut funding for state employees, state parks, K-12 education, higher education, health care, assistance for our poorest people, and pretty much everything. But it’s never enough. The Governor and state legislators scrutinize everything on the expenditure side, but they have been refusing to seriously examine the seriously dysfunctional revenue side. They don’t seriously examine “tax expenditures” – various tax breaks, exemptions and loopholes. Some of these have existed for decades […]

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Nuclear weapons industry has much power over Congress and Trump

November 25, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

I have read a great many articles and one or more books by the author of this article, William Hartung. Decades ago I drove to Seattle to hear him speak. He is one of the most knowledgeable experts. The article at the link below is especially relevant to our current crisis, in which the U.S. is starting to replace its entire nuclear weapons arsenal with thousands of all-new nuclear weapons and the triad of delivery systems. This is totally unnecessary and horribly reckless. It will waste huge amounts of taxpayers’ money ($1.7 TRILLION, according to this article) that we need […]

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TV: “How to Talk Politics with People Different from You”

November 17, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s September 2015 TV program deals constructively with our na-tion’s political polarization. We explore practical ways to communicate across the political divide, so we can all move forward. When Americans have such sharply different values and worldviews, we lack a common starting point about what is real and true. This makes it hard to have rational conversations about controversial issues – and hard to solve public policy problems. Are we stuck with escalating polarization? Or can we find better ways to respect the basic humanity even of people with whom we disagree? Of course, when we […]

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TV: “Reform Elections! Restore Democracy!”

November 16, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Watch a 1-hour interview about how to improve democracy by reforming several aspects of our electoral systems. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s July 2017 TV program explores how our nation conducts elections. We identify several kinds of problems and propose solutions that would increase democracy and fairness. The U.S. officially brags about being the world’s greatest democracy, but: • Voter turnout in the U.S. is low compared to other nations. • Rich people and big business fund campaigns that result in governmental corruption. • Most Americans express disgust that the people we elect do not represent us well. • People […]

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TV: “Political Despair or Empowerment: It’s Your Choice!”

November 15, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Watch a 1-hour interview about how to cope with the political despair so many people are feeling after the November 2016 election. This month we’ll discuss the anxiety, fear and despair that many Americans are feeling about our nation’s current political crisis – and what we can do about that.  Many people have been alarmed by the cruel attacks coming from the federal government and other right-wing sources. As a result, some people feel overwhelmed with anxiety, fear and despair. Besides doing things to take care of ourselves, many Americans also are choosing to empower ourselves, work together, and use […]