Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Individual Freedom For Everyone

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

ABC News: 'Political Activist Michael Moore'

Source:ABC News- filmmaker and New-Left political activist Michael Moore.

"Filmmaker and political activist Michael Moore didn’t want you to vote for Al Gore. While he said he thinks Gore is “a decent guy,” he also took the vice president to task in an open letter: “I have spent the last eight years doing what I could, in my own small way, to try and stop the hemorrhaging that your administration caused.”

And Michael Moore really didn't want you to vote for George W. Bush. He told the Texas Governor, “Your possible victory on Tuesday is a threat to our national security.” He went even further, calling Bush “a banal, despicable, and corrupt human being.” 

From ABC News

I actually agree with Michael Moore on something. (Maybe it does snow in South Florida in July) America a country of 310M people the third largest population in the world, we are by far the largest country in the world, to just have a two-party system. 

We are also one of the most diverse countries in the world if not the most diverse country in the world politically. We have large segments of our population that represent the entire political spectrum. From already over to the Far-Right, all the way over to the Far-Left. 

We have Liberals, Libertarians, Democratic Socialists, and Marxist-Socialists on the Left. We have Conservatives, Neoconservatives (who are Progressive Republicans) and Christian-Nationalists on the Right. And we have Independents who basically represent centrism in America, but they are a mixture of liberal and conservative in their ideology. 

This all means that we are left with a Democratic Party thats suppose to represent the left-wing in America and be the liberal party. And Liberals tend to run the Democratic Party, but liberals aren't the only people on the left. And the Democratic Party is made up of more people than just Liberals. 

Democrats have Democratic Socialists on the Far-Left and Progressive-Liberals in the middle. So the Democratic Party is essentially made up of three different factions and when the Socialists and Progressives don't like what the other is doing, they threaten to leave the party of destroy it within. 

The Republican Party thats supposes to represent the right-wing in America and be the conservative party and Conservatives used to run that party and to a certain extent still do, but there are a lot less of them in the Republican Party right now and they are probably in the minority in that party now. And of course the Republican Party is made up more than just Conservatives, but Neoconservatives and Christian-Nationalists and they still have some moderate Conservatives left as well in the Northeast especially. 

Not trying to sound partisan as a Democrat to make it official, but the Republican Party thats supposed to be about limited government and individual freedom, now has an authoritarian factions in it now, Christian-Nationalists, who want to make government bigger and limit freedom. (Conservatives, don't you miss the Grand Ole Party?) So the Republican Party is now made up of three competing factions and when the two factions on the outside don't like what the leadership is doing, they threaten to leave or destroy the party inside as well. 

What America a country of 310M people needs politically, is more major political parties that represent our entire political spectrum. There's more than enough of a movement and people who want this to happen and it could easily happen. Especially if you look at the approval ratings of both the Democratic and Republican parties that are in the 20s or 30s. 

We need the Democratic Party to be the progressive party, not a socialist party, which in the past have done a very good job doing. We need the Republican Party to be the conservative party and not a Christian-Nationalist party. And we need the Libertarian Party to step up to the plate and act like a major political party and represent the 10-20% of Libertarians in America. 

The Socialists need their own party that represents the socialist view in American politics. And the Democratic Socialist Party and there is such a thing and they could do this if they formed a coalition, with the Green Party and the so-called Progressive Caucus (DSA Democratic Socialists, in actuality) in the Democratic Party. 

And the Christian-Nationalists could leave the Republican Party and form their own party. 

And the Independents could have their own party as well that would be the Reform Party and others. 

We are a huge country we are more than capable of supporting all of our political factions and do it in the way where we would still have majority parties in Congress. But they would have less special interests to answer to. 

We officially have a two-party system, but in actuality we have two parties that are both made up of at least three parties each, but they are all under the same roof. (So to speak) In a marriage made for hell because they all have their own viewpoints and special interests they have to answer to. And it makes governing almost impossible because the leaders in both parties not only have to worry about the other party, but what other factions are doing in their own party. 

PBS NewsHour: Jeffrey Brown- 'Watch President Obama's, Speaker Boehner's Full Debt-Ceiling Remarks'

Source:PBS NewsHour- President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) talking about the debt ceiling agreement that was reached with Congress.

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor.[6] It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America's Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nature, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping up Appearances and This Old House." 

From Wikipedia 

"President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner addressed the nation Monday about the approaching debt-limit deadline and the political stalemate between top lawmakers over deficit-reduction proposals. Watch their full remarks plus analysis from Gwen Ifill and Political Editor David Chalian. Read more:PBS." 

From the PBS NewsHour

I believe the President did as well as someone even with his vast communication skills, could do with a national debt ceiling address. Especially with this material sounding very dry for today's reality TV audience and with Speaker Boehner countering him with a false statement where he said the House vote on "Cap Cut and Balance" being bipartisan last week. With only five Democrats voting for it and at least ten Republicans voting against it. There was actually more bipartisan opposition to "Cut Cap and Balance" than bipartisan support. 

I was a little worried Monday afternoon when I heard that President Obama came out in favor of Leader Reid's plan in the Senate, that cuts the debt and deficit through cuts only even though he includes 1T$ in defense cuts, coming from ending military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a left-wing blog Think Progress, the House switchboard has been flooded with phone calls and emails, all about tonight's speeches. I'm guessing hopefully in favor of President Obama's speech. But we'll probably see within the next few days. 

I believe though that enough people did listen to President Obama's speech. And hopefully enough of them liked it enough, to tell enough Republican Representatives, that it's time for the House GOP Leadership to make a deal with the President and Senate. But there's a much different team in the House now, thats not in business to negotiate. 

I believe however that Speaker Boehner is an adult who wants to put the debt and deficit debate aside or at least getting something accomplished on it. And start to move on to other things which I'm sure the Speaker and House Leader Cantor have on their agenda. Even though the House GOP only controls one chamber of Congress and one institution in the entire Federal Government, they believe they hold all the cards because of the 2010 mid-term elections. 

But what the House GOP Leadership doesn't understand is that the voters didn't give them the Senate for a reason, because they didn't like enough of their Senate candidates to give them the majority there. Which left us with not only a divided government but a divided congress as well. 

What Leader Reid did in the Senate on Monday was to offer the House GOP a chance to say yes and move on but they still said no. I'm glad the President has left tax hikes on the wealthy on the table to go along with entitlement reform and budget cuts including in defense. And let's see within the next few days if he was able to move enough Americans to tell enough of their Reps thats its time to make a deal with the Senate and President and compromise so we can finally move on.