tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post115721437492863708..comments2023-10-19T08:49:35.405-05:00Comments on Aún Estamos Vivos: FDR's First 100 Days and the Saving of DemocracyJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157381166166459822006-09-04T09:46:00.000-05:002006-09-04T09:46:00.000-05:00Hi Steve,Yes, I've often heard senators and congre...Hi Steve,<BR/><BR/>Yes, I've often heard senators and congressmen say that the rancor and bitterness between both sides of the aisle is worse today than it's ever been. You're right, money seems to have completely corrupted the process. How do we go about fixing it?<BR/><BR/>Liam,<BR/><BR/>I hope that the arrangement for writing your dissertation full-time is one that suits you. Perhaps you enjoy teaching, but I'm sure it's nice to be able to concentrate your time and energies on one thing that needs to get done. My brother-in-law has been teaching at Holy Cross and he's had a tough time trying to keep up with his classes at the same time he's been doing research and making edits at the request of a publisher.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157374609294522122006-09-04T07:56:00.000-05:002006-09-04T07:56:00.000-05:00Hey Jeff,I don't have to teach this year, it's all...Hey Jeff,<BR/><BR/>I don't have to teach this year, it's all-dissertation, all the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157371869693687502006-09-04T07:11:00.000-05:002006-09-04T07:11:00.000-05:00Great post Jeff. I find myself in the middle of th...Great post Jeff. I find myself in the middle of the two parties all the time. And these days, I don't care much for either party. <BR/><BR/>What bothers me most about the current political dialog is that there really doesn't seem to be much dialog at all. Both parties seem to vilify each other, and that sound-bite tit-for-tat is about all that seems to come from politicians. <BR/><BR/>I remember a few months ago hearing Bob Dole interviewed on NPR. He talked fondly about the spirit of competition tempered with cooperation for the common good that was more noticeable 'back in the day.' These days it seems that national & state politicians are driven & controleld by the money chase, the media, PAC's, the party-machine and yes-men. The power & money have aligned with the extremes - and that pulls even good-intentioned folks in those directions.Steve Bognerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11372621294204774480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157325105320642352006-09-03T18:11:00.000-05:002006-09-03T18:11:00.000-05:00Crytsal,Thanks. Your grandfather sounds like an i...Crytsal,<BR/><BR/>Thanks. Your grandfather sounds like an interesting character, from what little I've heard about him. You should write about him sometime. :-)<BR/><BR/>Cowboyangel,<BR/><BR/>That's a great post you made. In my opinion, MLK was the greatest American of the last half of the twentieth century, and was certainly the most irreplaceable. It is interesting how in those days Christian witness was welcome in the employ of progressive causes, but now seems to be unwelcome. <BR/><BR/>Just a sidenote on Frank's book about Kansas, did you happen to read his chapter about the self-styled "Pope Michael" who lives there?<BR/><BR/>Nice to hear from another fan of <I>Without Feathers</I>Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157308200292306502006-09-03T13:30:00.000-05:002006-09-03T13:30:00.000-05:00Jeff,A thoughtful, well-written post. "Social con...Jeff,<BR/><BR/>A thoughtful, well-written post. "Social conservatism and economic liberalism." That's how Martin Luther King, Jr. is often described. He was a Republican until the 1960 election, and then moved towards Kennedy. I think of him often when wondering what happened to the Democratic Party and to American politics in general. While he's such a hero to Liberals, I've always thought they misunderstood him - to their own detriment. You can't hear one speech or read one of his books without him explaining at length the concept of Agape love. What this did was to give him incredible spiritual and moral authority when he talked about economic and social justice. With the exception of the Religious Left, this approach seems to have been abandoned completely by Liberals after he died. He was able to change the hearts of people who didn't agree with him because I think they knew he was speaking truths, most of which came right out of the Bible that they so loved. Liam and many of us ask what happened to the Dems, but I've always thought they handed over the spiritual/relgious element to the right-wing. It explains also why they lost a lot of the populist element: farmers and blue-collar workers may have been economically radical at one point, but they were also socially conservative. With the coming of Clinton, the Dems finally abandoned BOTH principals, via things like NAFTA and gays in the military. Tom Franks can ask What's the Matter with Kansas, but he and other Liberals never really look too closely at some of the answers they don't want to hear. Most people want economic justice, I think, because so few of us are in the 5-10% who control most of the wealth, but people, especially Americans, are also fairly conservative when it comes to social issues. To expect them to support issues that grieve them to the religious core is asking a lot.cowboyangelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13452987299073540171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157225972011979312006-09-02T14:39:00.000-05:002006-09-02T14:39:00.000-05:00Jeff, great post! I have major respect for FDR. ...Jeff, <BR/><BR/>great post! I have major respect for FDR. My grandfather was a democrat of that era ... all the things you mentioned reminded me of him ... and it's because of him and those values and ideals that I became a democrat.<BR/><BR/>Liam, I'm not having password problems, so far.crystalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05681674503952991492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157223237413662562006-09-02T13:53:00.000-05:002006-09-02T13:53:00.000-05:00Hi Liam,Great response, and I've enjoyed how you'v...Hi Liam,<BR/><BR/>Great response, and I've enjoyed how you've written eloquently on this topic from your own "house".<BR/><BR/>No, I haven't had the password problem today, but yesterday I had a heck of a time getting a commbox to come up on your site. It's happened over at Crystal's too.<BR/><BR/>I shouldn't give the impression that I think all identity politics was bad. Some of those issues really needed to be addressed, but I do think the Democrats have focused on those to the extent that the've taken their eye off the ball. <BR/><BR/>Very true what you say about Clinton. He rammed NAFTA, for instance, down the throats of the very people who had elected him. <BR/><BR/>Have you started teaching classes yet, or are you taking a sabbatical from teaching this year?Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-1157221903598536522006-09-02T13:31:00.000-05:002006-09-02T13:31:00.000-05:00This is Liam, signing in as anonymous because blog...This is Liam, signing in as anonymous because blogger/google will not accept my password for some stupid reason. Is anyone else having problems with this?<BR/><BR/><BR/>Jeff, once again another excellent post -- well-written, passionately argued, and historically informed. <BR/><BR/>I also have thought for a long time that the Dems need to recuperate populism in order to succeed. I'm not sure what happened to the Democratic Party -- I think it is true that identity politics have helped fracture it, especially as civil rights has gradually been seen as only important to the parties involved -- blacks, women, and homosexuals, for example -- and not necessary for the moral health of the country on the whole (as it was seen in the 60's). Some of this has to do with many groups envisioning themselves this way, and some has to do with Republican approaches to dealing with civil rights that are sometimes subtle (labelling affirmative action as "positive discrimination") and note so subtle (Nixon's "southern strategy" which used racism to divide rural whites from rural blacks to deliver the south to the Republican party).<BR/><BR/>Republicans have also been very successful, since Reagan, at creating forms of public discourse that Democrats have not had the ability, vision, or guts to counter. "Class warfare" is a big one.<BR/><BR/>Clinton was also a problem. Right-wing Republicans really used him as a target to create the division in this country that would be known as the red state/ blue state divide, and Democrats, divided into groups around specific issues (most of which I support, though I think they should present all the issues as part of singular vision for social justice as opposed to what is easily labelled "special interests") misread the reasons for Clinton's success. Clinton was not successful as president because he promoted a pro-business economic agenda that was to the right of Nixon, but only because he was one of the wiliest political animals of the second half of the twentieth century.<BR/><BR/>I think Democrats are beginning to wise up, and Republicans are beginning to fall apart. Perhaps I'm being optimistic. Money is still so important, and the average voter has been trained to react to sound bites and resist sacrifices.<BR/><BR/>How I have been babbling on! Thanks for another stimulating post, Jeff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com