The Partisan Divide on Issues

[pbrower2a]

(06-22-2020, 04:57 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(06-22-2020, 01:29 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(06-21-2020, 07:43 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(06-21-2020, 01:45 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: You forget that the Nazi's/fascists were a radical Leftist group too so you may as well add them to the mix competing for power on today's Left as well. I mean, all idiots like you and others here are doing is perpetuating and feeding ignorance and increasing the risk of greater violence and burning more bridges with the American right.

They may be ex-Leftists who found out that selling out the working class to tycoons and large land-owners is more lucrative than sticking with left-wing causes. But that said, they are ex-Leftists. They may be rogues too extreme or violent for Socialists who may prefer to work within the system by seeking votes and parliamentary seats instead of revolution.  Want to see the sparks fly? Pit social democrats against Commies. The social democrats want nothing to do with the "dictatorship of the proletariat". 

Take note that the Far Right is far more likely to adopt the revolutionary rhetoric of the Far Left in an effort to pull off some socialists who don't think enough to recognize the deviation from the more conventional socialists. Fascists often offer the "vertical trade union" in which everyone in the same industry has a common interest for being in mining, agriculture, vehicle manufacture, retailing, banking, etc. Thus a steelworker supposedly has more in common with the tycoon who owns the steel mill than with the lumberjack in the wood-products business.  (In practice, the only way for such to work is for the tycoons and executives to wield even more crushing power than one would expect in a broadly-libertarian society. Such is fascist corporatism, and it inevitably works well for economic elites than for workers. 

Classic X'er, you do not fully understand extremist politics. You fail to recognize the dangers of extremism, Left and Right, and you conflate moderate Leftists like me with Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot.

Not really. Once a leftist always a leftist. How do you tell the difference between a far Left leftist and a far Right leftist these days? Ideologically speaking, I didn't see much of a difference between the two myself. So, do you really think the American Marines, American Air Borne, American Army, American Special Forces are going to ignore their solemn oaths and blindly follow orders and turn their guns on their American brothers and sisters and do what the Left wants them to do for them. Like I said, you better wise up fast and figure out which side you're on before it's to late to do anything about the side that you're stuck on. You don't seem to understand extremist politics or seem to be able to recognize the signs of being politically associated with it either. Me, I do and I'm not afraid to confront.

Contemplate Kinser, who went from being a Stalinist to a fanatical supporter of Donald Trump. 

Quote:This is the "America" that you and your fellow classics believe in and are instituting.

Trump appointee launches assault on Voice of America, affiliates
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/19/o...ffiliates/
Fears rise that this respected source for news around the world will become the next Trump News Network.
By The Editorial Board Updated June 19, 2020, 4:34 p.m.


The bodies continue to pile up at the nation’s government-funded but editorially independent news services, raising fears that they will soon become a propaganda arm of the Trump administration.

If that happens, the loss of credibility to a 78-year-old effort to bring straight news to people around the world where it is often in short supply, will be immeasurable.

The respected Voice of America and its affiliates, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, are all part of the US Agency for Global Media, which this month came under the leadership of Trump appointee Michael Pack. Pack is a conservative filmmaker and ally of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon with whom he has done several film projects.

The global news service, which operates in 47 languages and employs more than 1,100 journalists, was founded in 1942 to tell “America’s story,” but to do it free of government interference, to always observe the “firewall” that separates news from propaganda — a firewall that is at the heart of independent journalism.

Senate Democrats skeptical about Pack’s commitment to that mission — and concerned about a still-pending investigation of his business dealings by the attorney general of the District of Columbia, managed to hold up his confirmation for nearly two years. This April, however, the White House turned up the heat, berating the Voice of America for being pro-China in its coverage of the coronavirus outbreak there. President Trump personally entered the fray May 15 saying, “Voice of America is run in a terrible manner. They’re not the Voice of America. They’re the opposite of the Voice of America.” Senate Republicans got the message and pushed through Pack’s confirmation.

By Monday VOA Director Amanda Bennett and Deputy Director Sandy Sugawara had resigned, telling staffers that Pack “has the right to replace us with his own VOA leadership.” Bennett is a former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.

Bannon celebrated by telling the Washington Times, “Now patriots can begin the process of cleaning up the mess she leaves behind.”

That foretells a horrifying reality about the new agenda at VOA and its affiliates.
In his Wednesday memo to staff, Pack insisted, “I am fully committed to honoring VOA’s charter, the missions of the grantees, and the independence of our heroic journalists around the world.”

By Wednesday night, the heads of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Open Technology Fund, Middle East Broadcasting, and Radio Free Asia, were gone. CNN quoted a source saying the head of the Open Technology Fund, which helps support a free and open Internet, had resigned effective in July but was fired Wednesday anyway.

Another Bannon ally, Jeffrey Shapiro, was expected to take over the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. And conservative talk show host Sebastian Gorka was also reported to be in the running for a VOA post or membership of the agency’s governing board.

Senator Bob Menendez, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement issued Wednesday night, “The wholesale firing of the agency’s network heads, and disbanding of corporate boards to install President Trump’s political allies is an egregious breach of this organization’s history and mission from which it may never recover.”

The latter, of course, is the truly troubling part. VOA reaches some 280 million people in 60 countries — many of them places where free and independent media are virtually unknown.


A congressional inquiry is surely be in order to determine if VOA will continue to abide by its charter which demands it “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.”

Taxpayers deserve to know whether the $637 million in funds the agency is looking for will pay for something they can be proud of, or whether this once respected news service is becoming an international Trump News Network.

Exactly. Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, and Radio Liberty were never intended to be battlegrounds for partisan politics in America. They were never intended to serve the immediate purpose of existing politics. Unless the topic is so blatantly one-sided (what to do about Osama bin Laden) or in which there is no legitimate other side (Jim Crow, COVID-19), there are at least two sides in just about any issue... and such is a consequence of democracy. We might as well be objective about ourselves. We are flawed as a people and most of us know that well. Of course, Donald Trump, whose commitment to democracy and fair play do not exist, wants the official image of America to fit his sick view of the world.

Mercifully, President Trump has little time in which to do his damage. There will be blowback, and it will be relatively easy to undo this damage. Unfortunately, by turning objective media accountable to a wide spectrum of Americans to one accountable only to Trump, we debase our efforts to support those who want freedom where it does not exist now. An essential part of democracy is the debate. At the extreme there is no debate in North Korea. 

We might as well be honest in showing that democracy is messy. Sure. Government is easy in North Korea: Dear Leader commands, and people do as he says lest they wish to bring ruin -- and even death -- to whole families. American racism and fundamentalist Protestantism are not good for export.

All objective evidence suggests that Donald Trump will be a one-term President.