Recall that 'protecting security' and 'ensuring national stability' is generally the first step that autocracies take in suspending constitutional protections. — Wayfarer
A fascinating case of it was Huey Long, the American Stalin. — Mongrel
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (August 30, 1893 – September 10, 1935), was ... a Democrat, he was an outspoken populist who denounced the wealthy and the banks and called for a "Share Our Wealth" program. As the political leader of the state, he commanded wide networks of supporters and was willing to take forceful action.
Long is best known for his Share Our Wealth plan, which he established in 1934 under the motto "Every Man a King". It proposed new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and homelessness endemic nationwide during the Great Depression. To stimulate the economy, Long advocated federal spending on public works, schools and colleges, and old age pensions. He was an ardent critic of the policies of the Federal Reserve System.
What should cause more concern than a hothead screaming about the courts is a court that able to divine every contemporary moral principle from an 18th century document and impose that morality on a supposedly democratic body. — Hanover
He was very forceful, doing a full-court press on behalf of his policies. Bear in mind, though, that he had the "oil trust" (like Standard Oil") as a principle opponent, and they didn't play nice either. — Bitter Crank
I'm curious about how your Buddhism bears on the issue. It just seems that it would allow you to be a little more philosophical about the whole thing. — Mongrel
Had Hillary Clinton won, she also would have used the expansive presidential powers available to her. Would she have used them demagogically? — Bitter Crank
That is to say, Trump's questioning of the Court is an American tradition. — Hanover
What should cause more concern than a hothead screaming about the courts... — Hanover
Demagogues don't generally threaten anything. They gain support by making promises, discover that they don't actually have the power to change anything, resort to race-baiting to explain their failures, and retire to obscurity. That's how American demagogues usually do it.Well, I don't think I've been particularly hyperbolic about it. What I said was the Trump fits the definition of 'demagogue', and nobody has taken issue with that. Consequently, I think his presidency is a threat to civic freedoms, the economy, and the environment; it puzzles me that there are people who can't see that threat. — Wayfarer
Well how do you put a little detachment into your life?(But I'm no model of philosophic detachment, as I am frequently reminded by my wife.) — Wayfarer
You can get it used for cheap from Amazon. I think you'd really enjoy it. — Mongrel
On the Democratic and Republican Leadership
The High Popalorum Speech
"The Democratic Party and the Republican Party were just like the old patent medicine drummer that used to come around our country. He had two bottles of medicine. He'd play a banjo and he'd sell two bottles of medicine.
One of those bottles of medicine was called High Popalorum and another one of those bottles of medicine was called Low Popahirum.
Finally somebody around there said is there any difference in these bottles of medicines? 'Oh,' he said, 'considerable. They're both good but they're different,' he said.
'That High Popalorum is made from the bark off the tree that we take from the top down. And that Low Popahirum is made from the bark that we take from the root up.'
And the only difference that I have found between the Democratic leadership and the Republican leadership was that one of 'em was skinning you from the ankle up and the other from the ear down — when I got to Congress."
What puzzles me is why the left can't appreciate that the right felt just as strongly that Obama posed a threat to America as the left now feels Trump poses. — Hanover
Same.public education — Wayfarer
Same.public health — Wayfarer
Same.social equity — Wayfarer
Nope! X-)free trade — Wayfarer
Yes.scientific progress — Wayfarer
Yes!I don't believe in open borders — Wayfarer
Nope! Guns are good, how else are folks gonna defend themselves?I oppose gun ownership — Wayfarer
Same. Only that you're not very vocal about it...I support traditional marriage — Wayfarer
Yep.action on climate change — Wayfarer
What puzzles me is why the left can't appreciate that the right felt just as strongly that Obama posed a threat to America as the left now feels Trump poses. — Hanover
Progressives hardly need resist the Trump clown show. It's doing a better job of destroying itself than any of its opponents could. Sometimes the only way to teach a baby not to eat its own shit is to let it try some and see what it tastes like. — Baden
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