Politics in America

Posts on the FM website about politics.  Also see

• Obama, his administration and policies
• America – how can we reform it?

Contents

Click on the title to jump to that section.

1. About American politics
2. About political protests and reform
3. About liberals and the Democratic Party
4. About conservatives and the Republican Party
5. About the Tea Party movement
6. About Occupy Wall Street
7. About elections (in general)
8. About the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008
9. About the 2012 Campaign

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(1)  About American politics

1. The USA *after* this financial crisis – part I, about politics, 13 October 2008
2. Migration from the south into America: new people, new foods, new political systems, 4 November 2008
3. America’s elites reluctantly impose a client-patron system, 5 November 2008
4. Immigration as a reverse election: our leaders get a new people, 6 November 2008
5. Please read this. For the sake of yourself, your children, and their children, 25 June 2009 — Matt Taibbi looks at Goldman Sachs
6. More about the tottering structure of the American political regime, 17 August 2009
7. Please put on every milk carton: America’s political class is MIA, 17 November 2009
8. The key insight to understanding America’s wars, 11 December 2009
9. The breakdown of the American political system, pointing to a new and better future, 2 February 2010
10. Today’s reading: “Let Them Eat Dogma”, 21 March 2010
11. Some thoughts on the political effects of a long recession, 27 July 2010
12. Programs to reshape the American mind, run by the left and right, 2 August 2010
13. The quest for Black’s civil rights was not like the quest for same sex marriages, 11 August 2010
14. Which political party will best protect our liberties?, 10 September 2010
15. Our leaders have made a discovery of the sort that changes the destiny of nations, 1 September 2010
16. Polarization and hot rhetoric conceal two similar political parties. Will we ever notice?, 29 October 2010
17. We have the leaders we deserve. Visit McDonald’s to learn why., 30 October 2010
18. In America, both Left and Right love the long war, 30 March 2011
19. The downgrade of US credit rating by S&P shows the political forces working against us, 7 August 2011
20. The good news:  America’s politics are neither polarized nor dysfunctional.  That’s also the bad news., 16 November 2011
21. A tool of the 1% tells us about the wonderfulness of unemployment, 8 April 2012
22. Two vital lessons from the election so far, about lies and force, 29 August 2012
23. At the Tampa Convention Right & Left display our great illness: Tribalism, 2 September 2012

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(2)   About political protests and reform

1. How to stage effective protests in the 21st century, 21 April 2009
2. More people participating in politics: is this good for America?, 20 June 2010
3. Five steps to fixing America, 19 October 2011
4. How do protests like the TP and OWS differ from effective political action?, 26 October 2011
5. See the power of our ruling elites, displayed by the picture of a kitten, 28 October 2011

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(3)  About liberals and the Democratic Party

Most posts about the Democrats are on the FM reference page Obama, his administration and policies.

1. America gets ready for new leadership (or is it back to the future?), 14 November 2008,
2. The Democrats believe we are stupid. Are they correct?, 19 December 2008
3. Why liberals lose, 1 July 2012

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(4)  About conservatives and the Republican Party

1. Let’s play “Name that Liberal”
2. Let’s play round 2 of “Name That Liberal”
3. Let’s play round 3 of “Name That Liberal”
4. What happens to the Republican Party after the election?, 2 November 2008
5. R.I.P., G.O.P. – a well-deserved end, 7 November 2008 — A history of the New GOP, an ugly story.
6. Conservative reflections about America – starting to use their time in the wilderness to think, 15 November 2008
7. Conservatives should look back before attempting to move forward, 5 December 2008
8. President Bush gets in a few last blows on America before he leaves, 13 January 2009
9. Republicans have found a sure-fire path to victory in the November elections, 5 February 2010
10. Whose values do Dick and Liz Cheney share? Those of America? Or those of our enemies, in the past and today?, 14 March 2010
11. The evolution of the Republican Party has shaped America during the past fifty years, 8 May 2010
12. Two contrasting views of the Republican Party, 23 May 2010
13. Will people on the right help cut Federal spending?, 19 June 2010
14. Conservatives oppose the new START treaty, as they opposed even the earlier version negotiated by Ronald Reagan, 24 July 2010
15. The Republicans are serious about the budget. The results could be ugly., 24 November 2010
16. Why do Rep Ryan and the Republicans want to gut America’s military defenses?, 14 April 2011
17. Why Conservatives are winning: they use the WMD of political debate, 28 April 2011
18. Mitt Romney and the Empire of Hubris.  Setting America on a path to decline., 10 October 2011
19. Are *YOU* a good Christian, like Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army?, 16 October 2011
20. A modern conservative dresses up Mr. Potter to suit our libertarian fashions, 17 November 2011
21. Ron Paul’s exotic past tells us much about him, the GOP, libertarians – and about us, 27 December 2011
22. The key to modern American politics:  the Right-Wing Id Unzipped, 15 February 2012
23. Why Republicans Need Remedial Math: Their Budget Plans Explode the Deficit, 16 March 2012
24. What every American must know about the Republican Party, 16 October 2012
25. Let’s list the GOP’s problems. They’re all easily solvable, 12 November 2012
26. The Republican Party is like America, and can quickly recover it strength, 14 November 2012

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(5)  About the Tea Party Movement

1. Are the new “tea party” protests a grass roots rebellion or agitprop?, 1 March 2009
2. Our ruling elites scamper and play while our world burns, 11 March 2009
3. The weak link in America’s political regime, 16 September 2009
4. More examples of Americans waking up – should we rejoice?, 10 October 2009
5. Does the Tea Party movement remind you of the movie “Meet John Doe”?, 27 January 2010
6. Listen to the crowds cheering Sarah Palin, hear the hammerblows of another nail in the Constitution’s coffin, 8 February 2010
7. The Tea Party movement develops a platform. It’s the Underpants Gnomes Business Plan!, 8 March 2010
8. About the Tea Party Movement: who they are and what they believe, 19 March 2010
9. The Tea Party Movement disproves my recommendation for the path to reforming America, 20 April 2010
10. At last we see a Tea Party political platform, 13 May 2010
11. Kinsley – “My Country, Tis of Me – There’s nothing patriotic about the Tea Party Patriots”, 15 May 2010
12. Why has wild man Mark Williams become a top leader of the Tea Party movement?, 13 June 2010
13. More people participating in politics: is this good for America?, 20 June 2010
14. Obama scores again against the Constitution. The Tea Party is right about the battle, but AWOL., 28 September 2010
15. Today’s tea party propaganda: the wonderfulness of slavery, 8 July 2011
16. God and the Tea Party Movement, 30 March 2012

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(5) About Occupy Wall Street 

1. Occupy Wall Street, another futile peasants’ protest, 5 October 2011
2. How do protests like the TP and OWS differ from effective political action?, 26 October 2011
3. See the power of our ruling elites, displayed by the picture of a kitten, 28 October 2011
4. Civil disobedience by the “Occupy” movement is a challenge to our rulers, 21 November 2011
5. Occupy & Tea Party are alike, both saving America through cosplay, 18 October 2013
6. Lessons from the failure of Occupy Wall Street, its lasting legacy, 7 May 2014

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(6) About elections (in general)

1. Lilliput or America – who has a better way to choose its leaders?, 19 November 2008
2. About campaigns for high office in America – we always expect a better result from the same process, 17 June 2009
3. The economy speaks – and votes, 12 August 2010
4. The winners and losers from this election, hidden amidst the noise, 3 November 2010
5. Why do awesome people – like us – have such inadequate leaders?, 2 April 2012 — Because we vote.
6. The presidential debates are performance art. They’re Kabuki., 4 October 2012
7. A reminder that debates are fun, not politics: Reagan had Alzheimer’s in 1984 and we didn’t notice., 5 October 2012

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(7)  About the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008

1. How the Iraq and Vietnam wars are mirror images of each other, 7 February 2008 — Now we have McCain, the leading Republican Presidential candidate, talking of an open-ended commitment to victory in Iraq.
2. Our metastable Empire, built on a foundation of clay, 3 March 2008 — We can elect leaders with vast ambitions (foreign for McCain, domestic for Obama), but can no longer afford them.
3. Why McCain will lose the election, 1 July 2008
4. McCain believes we are stupid. Is he correct?, 30 August 2008 — What does choosing Palin say about McCain?  Esp note the intense discussion in the comments.
5. Alaska is near Russia, and Gov Palin’s other foreign policy experience, 1 September 2008
6. It’s is not just McCain who believes we’re dumb – it’s a crowd, 3 September 2008
7. Spengler describes “How Obama lost the election”, 5 September 2008
8. Governor Palin as an archetype for our time, 9 September 2008
9. Before we reignite the cold war, what happened in Georgia?, 12 September 2008 — Notes from Palin’s first interview.
10. Stratfor says that our war in Pakistan grows hotter; Palin seems OK with that, 12 September 2008 — More from the ABC interview.
11. Campaign Update – news from the front, 25 September 2008 — Includes part 1 of Couric’s interview of Palin.
12. Gov Palin speaks about foreign policy, 26 September 2008 — Part 2 of Couric’s interview.
13. What happens to the Republican Party after the election?, 2 November 2008
14. Sources of information about the election results, 6 November 2008
15. Conservative reflections about America – starting to use their time in the wilderness to think, 15 November 2008
16. Liberal reflections on the causes of the Republicans’ defeat at the polls, 16 November 2008
17. A comment about “turkey-gate”, 23 November 2008

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(8) About the 2012 Campaign

1. Campaign finance reform = incumbent protection, 20 December 2009
2. Republicans have found a sure-fire path to victory in the November elections, 5 February 2010
3. Mitt Romney and the Empire of Hubris. Setting America on a path to decline., 10 October 2011
4. The hidden dynamics of the 2012 campaign, and what it’s doing to America, 9 March 2012
5. President Romney will prove an effective President, reshaping America for his constituents., 17 April 2012
6. Romney back on top. More evidence that the campaign news matters little. It’s the economy!, 19 July 2012
7. The significance for America of Romney’s choice of Ryan as VP, 11 August 2012
8. Our choice of a leader reflects our true self. What does 2012 tell about America?, 19 September 2012
9. Last week’s dark prediction becomes this week’s news about the campaign, 26 October 2012

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