Reading time – 3:09; viewing time – 4:58 . . .
There are conservatives who espouse worthwhile conservative ideas; however, not even one of those ideas includes Trumpian behavior, like:
Cabinet picks and agency bosses who are determined to take down everything in their control
A secretary of state with financial ties to our most dangerous adversary
Treating immigrants cruelly
Insulting our closest allies
Mocking the disabled and selling out the disenfranchised
Mocking our war dead and our war heroes
Trashing the regulations that ensure safe, clean air and water
Refusing science and demeaning learning and wisdom
Calling for our most dangerous adversary to hack our elections
Repeatedly attacking the judiciary, our intelligence community and the press
Lying – not being mistaken or misdirecting – lying 78% of the time
You’ll never hear a true conservative support an idea or policy that includes Congressional actions, like:
Allowing mentally unstable citizens to own guns
Refusing to vet a Democratic president’s nominee for the Supreme Court
Allowing internet service providers to sell your personal information
Claiming to be pro-life but advocating for the death penalty
Voting against anything a Democratic president supported solely to prevent him from having a win and regardless of the cost to our country
Somehow “conservative” and “Republican” have come to mean ensuring that the maximum amount of money flows to rich people, including our congressmen and senators. Those labels mean that all regulations must be eliminated, no matter how many West Virginia rivers get polluted or towns destroyed or our planet hard boiled. Every obstacle to greater wealth and power must be removed for the benefit of the wealthy and they leave it for others to pay the price with yet more suffering. Nothing else seems to matter to them. Today’s Republicans have made their party into a values bankruptcy machine.
Talkin’ ’bout you, Republican!
I have conservative friends – people who are true conservatives, not just those who assume the label for their own benefit – who abhor what today’s Republicans have done to their party and are doing to our country and who are disgusted by the lack of Republican will to stand up to this tyrant president. Such patriotic folks really do exist – actually, there are a few are in Congress.
I want center-right Republicans to stand up and be counted. The time for head down silence doesn’t exist. I want them to speak for what really is conservative, not the hateful, unpatriotic stuff we’ve suffered since Newt Gingrich, in a self-important hissy fit, shut down the government in the 90s.
Do you know centrist Republicans? Tell them to stand up, to speak up and to run for office. Our country needs them now more than ever.
In Other News
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has asked for immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the FBI. President Trump has weighed in on Flynn’s bargaining, tweeting,
The thing is, when you hunt for witches, sometimes you find a witch. And if there’s a witch discovered in this hunt, their actions won’t be found to be of the magic wand, fairy tale type; they will be found to be treasonous.
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Finally, I send many thanks to the good folks at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Evanston for your wonderful hospitality at our meeting last week where I presented Money, Politics & Democracy: You Aren’t Getting What You Want. I’m grateful for your insightful questions and comments and enthusiastic engagement.
We need to spread the word so we can reclaim our democracy. If you’re connected to a group of concerned citizens who will benefit by learning about the enormous and corrosive effect big money has on our politics and our democracy and who want to know what we can do about it, call or drop me a note. I’ll do a presentation for your group – freebie. I don’t want money. All I want to do is to save democracy for our children and grandchildren. They’re counting on us.
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.
YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage. Thanks! JA
Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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