tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post115369695490819898..comments2023-10-16T02:46:52.844-07:00Comments on palosverdesblog: Progressive ConservatismBill Lamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092428206818183253noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1153936152038999822006-07-26T10:49:00.000-07:002006-07-26T10:49:00.000-07:00"Millions are free as a result." Hopefully, you me..."Millions are free as a result." Hopefully, you mean the Soviet Union....and in that case, I wouldn't give all the credit to Reagan. The Vatican and your hated George Soros also helped immensely. And containment was a policy that worked, as opposed to the mess we now have in Iraq. If you actually meant that we freed the Vietnamese or the Iraqis, that is laughably absurd statement and simply shows how ideology can overcome brains, like in Bill's case. Yes, Saddam is gone, but when 14000 people have died violent deaths in 2006 alone, you have to wonder what reality the "procons" are living in if that is the standard of "freedom".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1153837068171366732006-07-25T07:17:00.000-07:002006-07-25T07:17:00.000-07:00Way to go Bill! Great post!Way to go Bill! Great post!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1153801794727215892006-07-24T21:29:00.000-07:002006-07-24T21:29:00.000-07:00Very well written. I agree with everything you wro...Very well written. I agree with everything you wrote, and completely identify with the term Procon. And proudly so!!!!<BR/><BR/>BeverlyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1153708951747839072006-07-23T19:42:00.000-07:002006-07-23T19:42:00.000-07:00I suppose the mossback millionaire conservatives o...I suppose the mossback millionaire conservatives of the late 19th century also thought they were the ones with the forward looking ideas. On close inspection, however, these ideas were about holding on to what they had and forget about those who were being thrown to the side of the track as their private Pullman car raced on into the night. And this is just as true today, just trade in those luxuriously appointed Pullmans for upholstered private jets.<BR/><BR/>Progressive Democrats today are in the position they’ve found themselves in off and on for over a century. They face the challenge of fixing the mess into which conservatives of various stripes have twisted our economy and society. This was true in the days of the first Progressives who, around 1900 found the powers of the untethered capitalism of the Gilded Age crushing the life out of the American Republic. It’s true today. <BR/><BR/>T. Roosevelt, H. Taft (yes, even Big Howie from Ohio was a progressive) and W. Wilson all carried the banner of progressivism into the political fray. They won votes, elections and enacted reforms ranging from conservation to an income tax, from pure food and drug laws to worker safety legislation. Many states led this charge. Wisconsin had its La Follette and California had Hiram Johnson–both opposed the octopus monopolistic power of corporations. All progressives held that the “problems of democracy could be solved by more democracy.” By more democracy they meant more government, government being the tool of the people to control the money power interests controlling their lives. <BR/><BR/>And progressive political leaders (usually, but not always Democrats) have repeated this pattern for a century now. The business administrations of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover were straightened out by the New Deal and Fair Deal of F.D. R. and H. S. T.. Ike’s gray, do nothing, ride the wave years, and JFK’s “where’s the middle of the road” administration were overturned by L. B. J. ‘s Great Society initiatives.<BR/><BR/>Domestic progressivism, however, foundered again and again on the rocks of foreign policy adventurism. We have been dragging through Cold Wars and hot wars, preemptive wars and shadow wars, for a generation now and the strain on the home front is staggering. Truly progressive Democrats will sweep aside the centrists in the party, the Clinton stronghold, the Democratic Leadership Council which harbors the Bayhs and Bidens and the embarrassing Lieberman. This truly is the “no ideas” segment of the party–domestic and foreign.<BR/><BR/>Progressive Democrats, the true soul of the party, should read the historical tea leaves, note that once again the people’s government is in the grip of reactionary, narrow and unbelievably greedy corporate business interests. Progressive Democrats should ignore gay bashing Republicans, the anti-choice warriors for (MY) God, the flag burning fear mongers, the Ten Commandments on every state house lawn crowd and push for what is fair and needed. For starters: fairness in taxation, intelligent spending of the people’s money, medical care for all, protection of pensions and social security, financing of public radio and TV, and generally follow the leads of Thomas Frank’s _What’s the Matter with Kansas_ and Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook’s _The Winner Take-All Society_.<BR/><BR/>Foreign policy? Easy. Borrow from the fountainhead of true Republican conservatism, Edmund Burke. He knew that the world and nations are complex entities. Created out of long and incredibly twisting and maze-like historical developments, foreign cultures/governments shouldn’t be trifled with, let alone “preempted” or feebly “democratized.” The world and life in it just doesn’t work according to plans cooked up by deep thinkers, let alone an undistinguished frat boy and a couple of his daddy’s last hurrah friends. In the world today, we have to play to our strengths not to cockeyed optimist dreams. Our strengths have been misused and weakened. We need to pull back around the world and become that City on the Hill Bill speaks of. It’s a beacon and example, a light, to be nurtured and touted. It’s not an armored shaft of mayhem and destruction to be thrown will-nilly out into the world in the wild hope that it will hit some target.gary dailyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06649278809690706179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1153702799093491202006-07-23T17:59:00.000-07:002006-07-23T17:59:00.000-07:00Righ again Bill. Very good description of today's ...Righ again Bill. Very good description of today's real conservative. And yes, WE are the progressive, creative ones with all of the ideas. Not the party throwing darts at every idea.<BR/><BR/>And isn't it true about JFK; he wouldn't recognize today's Democrat - especially that bloated windbag of a brother of his.Katy Grimeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00990099801243520229noreply@blogger.com