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Bipartisan Senate group proposes ‘no fly, no buy’ gun measure
(10-11-2018, 12:24 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:
(10-10-2018, 01:42 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: If you dislike fascism, you probably will not like Communism in practice. Life is a privilege, liberty is non-existent, and the pursuit of happiness is sheer folly under Communism, fascism, Ba'athism, or ISIS.

For most of these reasons, you should understand why I despise Donald Trump as President of the United States.

I'd add socialism to the list of terms one should avoid as well.

Socialism is a political curse-word in America. That is unique to America. If one tries to glorify the word in America one usually gets dirty looks. If by socialism one means social democracy, then many who hear the  program without identifying it as socialism like the idea. So if you are telling the children of some farm laborers that they could attend college free of charge or their parents that their kids could get good medical treatment at no cost, then it might be popular. Of course there is no such thing as a free lunch, so social democracy means higher taxes. It also means more opportunity. In practice we have severe inequality of economic result and class barriers to advancement as unstated objectives of the heirs and executives who excel at grabbing whatever they want. For them, maximal profit (their objective) comes with the denial of opportunity and the waste of talent. 

Communism, fascism, Ba'athism, and ISIS are human tragedy.

Quote:I think liberals/blues fail to understand/accept the reality that Hitler and the Nazi party were elected Democratically.


Myth. The Hugenberg-Papen government wanted to avoid an election  and chose to go with Hitler because he seemed like someone who would create fewer problems. Hitler sliced the Communists out of public life as promised -- and also removed the Social Democrats who believed in democracy as well as an activist government on behalf of German toilers then the lowest-paid industrial workers in Europe except for Russia.  Make 45% of the electorate irrelevant because it is too far left for the tastes of the economic elites, and political life goes far to the Right... which is what America's economic elites want. Then lop off conservatives who put democracy above enrichment of the economic elites, and one has fascism.

OK, Trump seems unlikely to set up torture chambers and concentration camps, but we know what the Right wants -- including the obliteration of labor unions. The right-wing ideal for labor-management relations is that the owners and bosses dominate economic life and decide what workers need and what is available to consumers -- maximal productivity for minimal pay.


Quote:I don't think Democratic voters understand that the beloved party of old associated with their parents and grand parents is no longer the party that represents the interests of the common man/ regular folks these days.

America used to be 'whiter' and more formally Protestant. It won't go that way again. Demographic reality is irreversible now. For one thing, the old bogie of miscegenation already makes 'white' identity less important. to be sure, it is not so much between whites and blacks that so appalled the Klan as it is whites marrying Asians and not-so-clearly-white Latinos. You must also remember that almost all American blacks have significant white ancestry, and the smaller the black ancestry, the more likely that a person is to marry someone white. This said, people proud to be white are utterly wrong. Maybe one can be legitimately proud of some European heritage liked to a culture. If one is proud of connections to the Old Country, let us say to the antiquarian heritage of Greece or to the musical heritage of the Czechs, then that is fine. Proud to be white? One is proud more of not being other things.

This said, I pick and choose. I would guess that my musical taste would fit in well in Prague, and my artistic taste would fit Paris.

Quote:Blues should expect the current trend to continue until the political/ideological lines solidify. What happens then? Blue America finds out what it was like to live in Yugoslavia during the time of its demise.

...and so does "Red America". It won't be attractive either way. Tribal politics is ugly, cruel, and empty. This said, anyone who wants any equivalent of a Srebrenica massacre anywhere should know that his fate for bringing about such is a prison cell.



Quote:I agree with the view of Eric Holder, when the other side stoops low, KICK THEM/PUNISH THEM. I'm glad to see that arrogant mother (vile word redacted) is now starting to view and see things OUR WAY too.

Eric Holder is still an Obama man, a law-and-order man with no delusion that crime results from any oppression. Of course you must remember that 'community activists' like Obama had to figure out who the good people in the distressed areas are and who the rotten people are, and try to do good for the good people. The bad people stick knives in the backs of people naive enough to believe that expressions of inter-ethnic solidarity so that the bad people can get some heroin with the proceeds of a robbery, or perhaps some sexual indulgence through rape. The good people are good despite it all, and deserve some help.

The Hard Right has nothing to offer the good people in our distressed urban areas. It is only a matter of time before the good people in rural areas learn much the same thing. When that is over we will have another New Deal-style coalition.  

Quote:It's not going to be long before its going to be open season on all blues. You see, we aren't pissed yet. We are aggravated, disgusted and getting more upset but we aren't pissed yet because we still have faith in the American system.

We Blues have you figured out. We have read Nineteen Eighty-Four and recognize that debasement of language and rejection of logic can create only tragedy. Donald Trump is doing to the English language what Hitler's henchmen did to the language of Goethe and Schiller and what Stalin's henchmen did to the language of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy -- turning words into gibberish at best and lies at the worst.

You are not dealing with a "cultural Marxist" when you debate me. You are dealing with someone more dangerous to your agenda -- a classicist. I recognize a great trove of cultural achievement against which contemporary achievements can face aesthetic judgment. Wise people still read Plato. Donald Trump reminds me of villains in the Bible. Michelangelo, Velazquez, and Rubens remain relevant. I can speak of Bach and Mozart in the present tense. That is not to say that I cannot recognize greatness from outside 'my' heritage. Hokusai holds out well. Yes, cinema is a legitimate art form, and standards are already emerging.

Basically, if one is to break the rules, then one must have a good reason for doing so. "My gut feelings" are not good enough. An expression that simply says "I am horny" or "I have constipation" is not good enough. I do a little painting, and there are things about myself that I cannot hide. I like to believe that I break enough rules to be interesting but not enough to be absurd.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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RE: Bipartisan Senate group proposes ‘no fly, no buy’ gun measure - by pbrower2a - 10-12-2018, 02:45 AM

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