We are witnesing the end of an era

[nadinbrzezinski]

(Moderators it was sugested that I post it here as well)

In US history, as I have said I do hold a degree, and was thinking about it
The Nixon Administration started the cycle of dominance of the Right an the GOP. Watergate
bought some time for the Johnson Democrats, but not by much.

When Carter was voted out, the true Republican Revolution started, and like all cycles it went on the ascendant, to the point that Clinton could have and has been called by some the best
Republican President in modern US Politics (and as a member of the DLC and the Third way he
was pushing policies that were on the center)

Today we are seeing the end of this era of US History, we are living through history. The scandal now enveloping the white house has many parallels to the scandal that started it all. It has been an era full of scandals, mostly on the GOP side, as in really serious scandals. It started with Watergate, went on to Iran-Contra, and will end in Leakgate.

Impeachment is a political act hence I do not expect the GOP to eat their own, but in that abuse of
power the GOP (or at least the extreme right now in charge) is outing itself to most Americans for what it is. People are not dumb and yes it took National Security for the People to finally realize that something was very wrong in DC.

Expect many twists and turns, in the coming months... will Libby be turned to the Do? (Fingers pointed in that direction and the office of the VEEP today), or will this go on and on into a national nightmare not unlike Watergate? If the boy who wanted to be Emperor had any personal ethics, he would do that, but somehow I do not see that in the cards.

The Chinese do have a curse, and it seems we have been collectively cursed... may you live in interesting times.

[proud patriot]

1. And these times are certainly interesting

I'm still assesing my emotions and feelings about
all that has transpired in the last 4 days .
I'm still digesting it all .

[E_Zapata]

2. I love your essay, but:

The right wing takeover started with the assassination of JFK.

And that's the truth.

And the people ARE dumb - and the scandals eveloping the WH today is no assurance that it won't just all fall through the cracks. It's a wait and see.

And the present nightmare can in no way be compared to Watergate. I only wish this was "as serious" as Watergate.

Lord -- how many humans on this entire globe have been killed or are suffering interminable conditions because of this administration. Just look at Africa and the AIDS epidemic -- we have alloted the money for lifesaving and quality of life enhancing drugs, and there's a big insane string attached.

10s of 1000s of Afghanis and Iraqis have been killed - who knows how many will be killed when all is said and done.

How many children and families in this country have lost their homes and medical care? How do you measure that suffering?

I could list things all day. But I will conclude that I sorely wish this was comparable to Watergate.

And even with an impeachment -- where do we even begin to repair the damage that has been done.

"People aren't dumb" you say. The reality that is ignored on a daily basis disheartingly disproves that.

Everything and everyone and every nation that this administration sets its eyes on - suffers or dies. Even that motorized sidewalk machione (what is it called?) had to be recalled because it isn't safe. Bush gets on one, takes a fall, and then no more machine till they make it idiot proof.

There should be a civil war going on right now -- and folks are worried about who Bob gave his roses to tonight.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. There is where you are making a mistake

We have gotten plenty of hints especially over the
last two months, that there is a civil war ongoing
RIGHT NOW. It is not a shooting war... which some
seem to desire.

Now it is happening at many levels, from the corridors
of power, were we now have the two main players outed:
PNAC (Office of the VEEP \DoD civlian leadership axis)
against the Realists (State\ CIA), to boards and even
popular culture.

There is a civil war alright and you and I are playing
our role as foot soldiers.

Every time you write a letter to congress (in some cases
letting them into things they were suposed to know
(cough Patriot Act II cough), to every point \ counter point
made on message boards and among neighboors. Every letter
to the editor critizing, every small act of resistance that
we all have engaged in.

The fact that this has not gone to the shooting stage does
not mean that we are not in the midst of a war, because we
are. Now I have been there done that, and I surely do pray
that this civil war remains at the level of words, pens and
verbal vitriol, as a civil war is never civil, and a shooting
civil war would cost billions of dollars, and probably millions
of lifes and I am not sure the Republic would survive this act.

Now as to the main body of this theory, it is based on the
long duree (cycles in history) as well as Rudy Texeira's obeservation
in the comming Democratic Majority... if you have not read the
later, I recomend you read it. Point is, we are at the end
of an era and history is about to turn a page, whether it will
involve force of arms (I pray it does not) or not, the jury
is still out.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Actually...

the right-wing takeover started way back during WWII. The OSS (forerunner to the CIA) was made up mostly of old-money East Coast Establishment types, who went on to become the CIA, NSA, etc. This is the element that whipped up anti-Communist hysteria in the fifties, extended its influence upon government from within over a period of two decades, and really started to reap the fruits of its labours with the election of Richard Nixon.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. We may even argue that the cycle goes back to 1932 and

the election of FDR, and the New Deal.

Father Coughlin was attacking all that FDR did way back then, and was not unlike Limpballs.

But the modern cycle I will argue, really went full force with Nixon... and the irony of how this stage is about to end is just too much.

By the way, I love that comic book Spider Jerusalem has quite a view
of the world.

[7th_Sephiroth]

3. i saw this coming

when they announced his hearing loss thing, it could have only been 1 of 2 things, drug abouse or heavy frequency of hookers, and i doubt he could even get a hooker.

[Jim Sagle]

4. Come one. He does make $25 million a year.

Surely that kind of money would persuade someone.

[Julien Sorel]

7. I'm not so sure.

There are reasons for the 'conservative' ascendancy, mainly, I think, the increasing power of the U.S. Powerful societies tend towards conservatism, because the status quo is favorable to them. It's the saying 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' The problem is, Bush and his neo-con cabal tried 'fixing' something that essentially worked fine, with their foreign excursionism. Wilsonianism has served this country well for 80 years; there was no reason for the radical departure from it. That departure is part of the backlash, along with an economy that is simply stagnant, partially from malaise caused by uninspiring leadership, partly because of an increasingly globalized economic system that is subjecting U.S. workers to competition in areas where they have not faced it before. As long as the U.S. meets the challenge, thereby maintaining its prosperity and power,and I think it will, you'll see the country remain 'conservative,' in the sense that it will resist radicalism.

I think it is telling that the leading candidates for the Democratic nod are both centrists, while part of the reason Bush is vulnerable is because he is seen as an extremist. 'Conservatism,' strictly defined, is really the desire to resist change; Bush has, in this sense, become decidedly un-conservative, with an activist agenda internationally and a mixed, spend-spend-spend, domestic approach, which is neither truly conservative nor liberal.

I don't see the country becoming more 'conservative' in the sense that it becomes more right wing; rather, I see it returning to the centrism of Clinton. The days of the old-school 'liberalism' are over: the big battles are mostly won on the social scene, and economically, no wealthy country is going to veer closer to socialism unless there is a powerful stimulus, for example, the Depression, or Britain losing/jettisoning its empire after WWII. Similarly, I think the rightward drift of the country is essentially at its end: people are at the point where they aren't so concerned about taxes, (the real selling point the Right has had), and the attempt at changing foreign policy has ended in disaster. They are out of ideas. That means, in my view, the two sides will be sparring over relatively minor issues -- gun control, or the difference between civil unions and marriage, and so on. Those aren't the kind of issues that spark radical political movements.

This is, in short, a blip, if a most welcome one. Personally, Rush Limbaugh made me sick from the moment I first heard him, and the whole hate radio phenomenon, a bunch of failed, mediocre hacks competing with each other over who can hurl the most obnoxious invective the loudest and the farthest, can go down with him. The world can only become a better place as a result. It just isn't going to become a much more liberal place.

[ClintonTyree]

9. People aren't dumb? One word........

Caleeefornia.