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"... together they formed what would be called the Republican Party." That kind of statement always bothers me. Forming a political party is not really an action. It's not like saying "and then they cooked dinner." We all know what's involved in cooking well enough, and once a dinner is cooked you have something to point to. But what did those people actually do that formed the Republican Party? What did they really have when they left that schoolhouse?
P to the people. So why are they leaving America faster than your union workers to China. To countries like Canada with low corporate taxes.
"America has the highest corporate tax in the world and the top 10% pay over 70% of the taxes. "
That's just simply not true. In fact it's WAY off.
Actually corporations pay less than 10% of US corporate taxes, while individual taxpayers pay about 47%.
In 1960 individuals paid the same percentage of US corporate taxes they do today, but corportions paid about 23%.
See the chart about a third of the way down at http://npa-us.org/files/thedisappearingcorptaxbase_report.pdf
Google "Compassion Fatigue", and you'll get hundreds of websites about it. It's mostly seen in ER nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, and caregivers for the terminally ill or disabled. I saw it firsthand when I worked in special ed: parents who were oblivious to the distresses of their autistic children.
I worked with one kid - he was about 13 years old at the time - with severe autism. He would bang his head against things until someone stopped him, or he ran out of energy, which could take up to 30 minutes.. His parents had given up on trying to stop him. They just let him do it, even though he was hurting himself. But after 13 years of giving him their all, and not seeing any positive results, they just gave up. They confided in me that they were already on a waiting list to get him in to a group home, and they couldn't wait for that day, so they could get on with their lives. It sounds heartless - giving up on your own child - but I think it's at least understandable. It's a classic case of compassion fatigue.
It happens in places with large homeless populations as well. The homeless people know that if they panhandle in one spot for too long, their donations will eventually go down. The people who come by that spot every day will stop giving. So the homeless move their panhandling spots from time to time.
And with charities too. Like annual money drives for cures for diseases. Eventually, people who give year after year start to ask themselves if their donations are doing any good, because they should have fixed this problem by now.
Anyway, I see a similar phenomenon on a larger scale with the Republican party. How many years can you give money to a cause that doesn't ever seem to improve?
I honestly think that most Republicans would be more liberal with taxes if they felt like those taxes were doing any good. And it doesn't help when certain government policies go against your personal belief system.
One of the problems is that Republicans expect many issues to eventually be solved, and they are never really going to be solved. Problems like poverty, environmentalism, terrorism, etc...
The thought changes from, "We should spread goodwill to the parts of the world that hate us, because we want everyone to like us," to "Fuck it - they're always going to hate us, might as well do what we want anyway."
It's like Eisenhower said and predicted. Defense contractor's lobby, like that of other big business, are a big reason our social programs are disappearing - because they want the subsidy instead. They are in competition with social programs for tax payer money. They are behind the PR campaigns against welfare and the characterization of welfare recipients as good for nothing pikers and cheats. It's they, of course, who are the pikers and cheats.
The defense industry doesn't provide many jobs, comparatively. Defense manufacture is "capital intensive" rather than "labor intensive", i.e., it's mostly automated so it doesn't hire many people.
"Tax the super rich at pre- Reagan rates , and the Tea Party will implode, leaving the Republican Party with a big Boehner hangover."
How would we ever get Congress to do that?
America does NOT have the highest corporate tax rate in the world - America has the highest NOMINAL corporate tax rate, which no corporations pay. America is about average when you compare EFFECTIVE corporate tax rates.
People who make the claim you did are either unaware of what I just said or are purposely spewing BS.
So that's what I have. Compassion fatigue. Thanks Matt. Is there a cure besides weed. Don't touch the stuff.
America has the highest corporate tax in the world and the top 10% pay over 70% of the taxes. What would make you happy 10k. Is there a magic number?
Kend, Kend, Kend, Kend, Kend, capitalism naturally gravitates toward a system of inherited wealth, power and privilege and then sowing it up for just a few families. Without things like free or very affordable college education, unions and other things that prevent too much income inequality there is very little social mobility in a society and social status is, in effect, mostly inherited.
Yes, and Obama is just a much to blame as the rest of the Democrats and the Republicans. The decline of unions and rise of the corporate oligarcy, of which both parties are owned, also share in the blame. Maybe it's the obvious result of exporting jobs or NAFTA, or unsecured borders and flooding of illegal immigrants which has reduced the availibility of many low wage and entry level jobs that some students or those just entering the workforce would take, and thus driving down wages as competition for these jobs increase; the depressing of wages or the increase in private debt (especially school debt). Perhaps it's the corruption of the political system to the point where "reform" is seen as a punchline in some bad joke.
What has been created is essentially a two tier economic system with little or no hope of much social movement with a declining quality of life, and a small and wealthy political class whose tenure is all but assured through district gerrymandering and Citizens United; an oligarcy in place of our democratic republic.
Unions also advocate on common people's issues outside the workplace in the general political and economic arena and every member should be able to participate.
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Big money has placed big idiots in power, which in turn does big harm to everyone except those with big money. The Teapublican Party stands by the big money "Golden Rule," those with the most gold make the rule.
It seems the shift by Republicans to the extreme fascist right has occurred simultaneously with massive tax breaks for the rich and the resulting redistribution/concentration of wealth.
Tax the super rich at pre- Reagan rates , and the Tea Party will implode, leaving the Republican Party with a big Boehner hangover.
ChicagoTim, people still benefit from unions even when they don't belong to them because of the effect unions have on an economy and a society in general that empowers the common worker and citizen. Union negotiated compensation and working conditions set a standard for the whole industry and the whole society and political economy.
It is not democratic for individual workers to choose against democracy. Workers and common, I.e., not-rich, people in general only have political and economic power if they unite. Anyway, the working person who doesn't want membership of a union and is not wildly decieved does not, outside of putative theory, exist.
Unions have represented the foil to the power of the corporations. Unions have served to not just to grow the Middle Class, but to protect the interests of the Middle Class from the greed and power of Big Business. As unions have continued to decline, we've witnessed the corresponding decline of the Middle Class to the point where it doesn't seriously exist any longer as a class, but rather on the same side of the economic gulf as, and apart of, the Working Class.
With unions, we saw more than just better wages and benefits, we saw better and safer work environments, more fair working conditions. We saw better treatment o employees, improved hiring conditions for minorities. Home ownerships increased as did opportunities to attend trade schools and college. In fact we saw an continuing improvement in the overall quality of life, not just for employees, but across the board.
Now, with unions all but gone in the private sector and in trouble in the public sector, we've watched the decline of real wages in terms of earning power, the reduction or elimination of benefits, the near disappearence of the Middle Class, and an increasing mistreatment of workers (a "take it or leave it" attitude by management). Unions, with all their problems, have served the American Workforce as the a counter weight to the power of Wallstreet's boardrooms.
Not only do I think the world's view hasn't changed, I think it has all but forgotten about the disaster, even as the Fukushima disaster continues to slowly unfold. The corporate media has all but forgotten, and it seems the place that even gives it any notice is Japan.
Had the disaster had the impact it should have, we would see more attention and funding of "alernative" energy, namely solar and wind. While there has been some growth in those areas, the focus seems to remain oil and new ways to wring out the last drops through a process called "fracking", along with continued efforts to locate new fields. Only a few countries, in particularly Germany and the Scandinavian countries have shown any serious interest to breaking the oil stranglehold on their economies. I think this a great example of the power oil companies in US politics.
Step One - Find a good weed dealer. Or, just make it legal.
Step Two - Smoke enough weed to make you happy and forget about the problems of the world. (Or, what you think are the problems of the world.)
Step Three - Offer your Republican friends some weed. Who knows - maybe they'll relax a little too?
Honestly, I only smoked weed twice, in my early 20s, and I didn't really enjoy it. Maybe I should revisit it? To see if a decade later I find it more appealing?
Step Four - Try not to stress over things beyond your control. Rainforests are being cut down right now, as you read this. Can you possibly stop it? No. Why stress over it? What's something you CAN control? Buying more local produce, to help the environment. Cool. Do that. That's what I do.
Of course, in Chicago, "local produce" is limited to corn, soybeans, and for some reason basil. There's a basil farm (all greenhouses) not ten miles from here. I just found that out last week.
I'd add a fourth category, although I don't know how to sum it up in a single word: The "tired of giving and not seeing results."
I've sometimes heard of this phenomenon as "compassion fatigue". You can only care about so many problems for so long, and try your best to help, and without seeing results, you just quit caring.
Also the "tired of feeling guilty" crowd.
Also the "leave us the hell alone" wing of the party, prevalent in the rural areas of the country. Aka the "I don't care how you do things in Washington/New York/Chicago/any other big city."
The Republicans have a pretty big tent of their own. :)
I agree with the comments posted here - that both parties are corrupt. The problem with the Republicans is they get elected by the brainwashed population. I've asked those who vote Republican why they do it and it's almost always the same answer. It has to do with their filthy hatred of people of color. This includes First Nation people. The Repubs will keep being voted into office, destroying the environment, wages, etc. by those bigots akin to old Archie Bunker. At the same time the Repubs are wiping out their jobs, income, and country. It's pathetic.
There's also those spoon-fed by lamestream news. When we lost our free press, we lost a major part of our ability to educate them that just can't seem to pull their heads outta their rearends. Without viable, honest, hard-hitting news, people will believe what they are told to believe.
And the Dems. I agree with the previous comments. Clinton crushed Glass–Steagall and pushed NAFTA thru. Momma Clinton isn't going to be any better. I, for one, truly do not want to see another Clinton or Bush in any political office.
My guess is that once the next crash comes (as Thom says, in 2016), then you'll find the citizenry of this pathetic, lost nation will pour into the streets. The banksters will have no more bail outs, the politicans will have no more power, and the police will have a reason to use their military toys. People have truly had enough...they just don't know it yet.
Lindsey Graham doesn't think were spending ENOUGH money on the military! In fact he said yestreday:
"[H]ere is the first thing I would do if I were President of the United States: I wouldn't let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. We're not leaving town until we restore these defense cuts. We're not leaving town until we restore the intel cuts."
So he's wants to spend money so badly, he'd literally force Congress at gunpoint to acheive that.
The Republican Party of today can be described as basically three factions: the rich, the cruel, and the ignorant, and they are not mutually exclusive.
Eisenhower, Roosevelt, or Lincoln would never agree to how the government wastes money today. Back then you sure didn't have five kids from five different fathers and expect the government to support your unreasonable behaviour. Schools had teachers who taught students, not school board buildings full of people doing god knows what. The Republiccans you talk about then wanted to collect taxes to build roads, bridges, and provide fire and EMS services. America is going into debt a trillion dollars a year and no schools, roads or bridges are built. The Republicans today are trying to bring America back to the old days when government spent what they brought in in taxes. Those great men you talk about would never borrow from their grandchildren to make their life better today.
First of all I'll ask Thom, How do you go about "disbanding" the Republican Party?
"The Republican Party is killing itself from the inside." - Philip Henderson
They control both houses of Congress and could very well win the presidency. If this is "killing itself", then what would a thriving Republican Party look like?
Folks, complaining online isn't going to save America. It's going to take ACTION, and I don't mean just voting. The problem is, no one seems to know what actions to take.
No. Obama already looks like a fool to international community. The GOP's letter looks like what it was---an attention getting stunt. America's credibility is pretty much shot anyway.
Since it is obvious that the "Republican Party" has changed, perhaps we should start by changing how we refer to them. I like this quite appropriate and more descriptive British definition:
corporatism |ˈkɔːpərətɪzəm| noun [ mass noun ] the control of a state or organization by large interest groups. Fascism was the high point of corporatism.
Is it time to disband the Democratic Party? Since the Clinton admin., Democrats have enacted more of the right wing agenda than Republicans could have ever dreamed possible. Regarding history: The policies and programs that were implemented from FDR to Reagan took the US to its height of success. Note that what came to becalled AFDC was actually first included in FDR's Social Security Act -- the New Deal. LBJ expanded on this agenda to reflect the social and economic realities of post-WWll America. Our former welfare programs played a vital role in creating the massive middle class we used to have. From Reagan onward, we reversed course. Clinton ended AFDC, and took the first steps to begin similarly "reforming" Social Security, targeting the disabled. Bottom line: It's impossible to save, much less rebuild, the middle class without shoring up the poor, putting the rungs back on the ladder out of poverty. We won't do that. So, we have to accept the inevitable.