tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post3711480739944861136..comments2024-03-29T02:03:49.151-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: Knowledge gapsDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-43274388715280154982010-10-21T08:49:00.599-04:002010-10-21T08:49:00.599-04:00I just discovered your blog and I find it to be ea...I just discovered your blog and I find it to be easy reading and illustrative of the progressive state of mind. Being a Constitutional originalist I have always struggled with the vagrancies of progressive thought. Progressive intellectual dysfunction seems to me to be the best way to describe how seemingly erudite individuals, I pause here to deal with the anxiety I'm feeling for my country and my families future, inexplicably ignore the principals set forth in the Founders documents. <br /><br />I am assuming a benchmark of knowledge of those documents and I also realize that you have a different interpretation of what seems to me to be a pretty succinct characterization of the founders intent in those Documents. Put this together with the many and varied writings of same I would think some intellectual connection between the founding Principals and progressive policies would and should be the subject of the political debate in this country. <br /><br />I realize that progressive intellectual types relegate the unwashed masses that live outside large cities, Washington and the Capitals of these several states, as uncomprehending of all the intricacies of what is required to "rule" this country, therefore creating the need for the intellectual elite to step in and institute fundamental change. Do you think that maybe, just maybe that those same "unwashed masses" understand the difference between Liberty and tyranny even without peer review.<br /><br />Your family fleeing Russian Czarism is only semantically different from fleeing Communism or any other form of tyranny including progressivism. This obfuscation is another example of progressive intellectual dysfunction. You really don't understand that progressives and czarist are one and the same. A tyrant by any definition is still a tyrant, the only difference is in the means or as John Adams might have said, " in the construction".Bentreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062672478541587853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-81086451287395660142010-10-09T10:18:20.527-04:002010-10-09T10:18:20.527-04:00To Anonymous, above:
My grandparents did not ...To Anonymous, above:<br /><br /> My grandparents did not flee communism or socialism, they fled Tsarism. With the help of the New Deal their younger children went to college and in some cases grad school and became a lawyer, a diplomat, and successful businessmen. My whole family are Democrats and always have been. Don't presume so much, it's very unbecoming.David Kaiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-13397218630825761142010-10-09T10:10:11.572-04:002010-10-09T10:10:11.572-04:00"The country needs a dose of genuine socialis..."The country needs a dose of genuine socialism, just as it did in the 1930s when FDR started the TVA, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the PWA and WPA, and the Democratic Party could have been laying the political basis for it and given itself something positive to run on over the last two years. "<br /><br />It is quite interesting to see that someone whose grandparents fled socialism and communism is<br />now advocating it for the land that they had fled to!<br /><br />I guess you know all other histories besides the history of your own family.<br /><br />Perhaps in one of your musings you can explain to your readers why is it that you are an ardent advocate of something that your own grandparents have fled from?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-5792498228974594642010-10-07T14:48:46.547-04:002010-10-07T14:48:46.547-04:00Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush named visiting fellow...Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush named visiting fellow at Harvard University Institute of Politics<br /><br />http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/former_florida_gov_jeb_bush_na.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-46069200201172955772010-10-07T11:51:10.849-04:002010-10-07T11:51:10.849-04:00Professor
Many thanks for a very informative and ...Professor<br /><br />Many thanks for a very informative and searching post. <br /><br />'Family social history' plays a significant part in how I have come to see things, as I mentioned on my site also, although it took many years to recognize this influence, amid all the others.<br /><br />The 'ignorance factor' you delineate may be the biggest domestic factor in determining the direction the country eventually moves toward. <br /><br />Foreign endeavors will also have a preponderant effect on what goes on here.<br /><br />I was especially grateful for some book references.<br /><br />All the best,<br />GMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-41198505799617931622010-10-05T10:34:24.361-04:002010-10-05T10:34:24.361-04:00To anonymous, directly above:
Yes, and I'...To anonymous, directly above:<br /><br /> Yes, and I'm proud of it. I allowed this particular comment to show my readers that there are indeed bigots out there ready to accuse any white supporter of the President of being a traitor to his race. They don't, however, deserve to call themselves Americans, although the Constitution guarantees their citizenship.David Kaiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-14106370011245407822010-10-04T09:36:57.678-04:002010-10-04T09:36:57.678-04:00GALLUP: OBAMA APPROVAL 91% WITH BLACKS, 36% WITH W...GALLUP: OBAMA APPROVAL 91% WITH BLACKS, 36% WITH WHITES...<br /><br />http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/10/obama-approval-gallup-blacks.html<br /><br />And then there are people like you Dr. Kaiser.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-29747365262553240192010-10-03T15:27:11.045-04:002010-10-03T15:27:11.045-04:00The best politicians money can buy. The whole syst...The best politicians money can buy. The whole system is corrupt. Mr. Smith does not go to Washington anymore. The people have been made successively more stupid by TV, Talk radio. Business controls the propaganda machine. Life and journalism has become superficial. You seem to ignore the logical consequences of the theory to concentrate on the conventional political analysis. Boomers and Xers have their own politics and interests which is not the interests of their parents and grandparents as you see from your own experience, Mr. Keiser. Democrats and Republicans, even modern politics is uninteresting to people, it is enterntainment, not absolutely necessary to survival. A freak show. An earlier generation suffered depression and war and parties and individuals represented real alternative solutions and there was a consensus then too as now. Now the consensus is business oriented(the state is bad,Goldwater/Reagan/Milton Friedman) not social oriented (labor unions, large industrial, FDR/Keynes). To move the consensu back requires a collpase or failure of the big banks and of Free Trade and probably national, state and municipal bankruptcies/defaults. All of both ideological sides are dependent on economic growth. Both parties base their ideologies on a dsitribution of growth made money to the poor or to the rich depending on the party. The future is now one of shrinkage due to global resource shortages and massive overpopulation and climate change. The republican and democratic ideologies cannot cope with these realities. In fact democracy is incapable of coping with giving peole less as they will vote these politicians out of office. This means a new era. Whoever wins is unimportant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-20135354515103888522010-10-03T12:27:11.821-04:002010-10-03T12:27:11.821-04:00I find your view "The Republicans have become...I find your view "The Republicans have become the party of extreme conservatism while the Democrats are if anything the party of moderate" interesting. I disagree with it. I'd say the opposite is true for the most part. republicans have been moderate even liberal in many ways. and democrats have become more liberal. Perhaps we are focusing on different points of interest. I would agree with the statement that democrat voters are less informed however, every time I get into even the most polite discussion with a democrat they can express vague opinions have have no facts to back them up. They also don't want to hear any facts that contradict their beliefs. Usually conversations start with statements from them and end with "I don't want to talk about it" type statements as soon as any disagreement of views is started. They have no response to anything that consists of any value. I would love honest discussion that might change my views but can't get it. I read your thread partly for that very reason. Thank youJoe Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-84576791584580893102010-10-03T08:35:55.430-04:002010-10-03T08:35:55.430-04:00And - I've been wondering about this for some ...And - I've been wondering about this for some time - if I were to have one definitive book or set of books on American history, what would you recommend? Besides the Strauss & Howe works, of which I did let "Fourth Turning" out of my hands and should probably re-acquire.<br /><br />The Grey Badger from 4TPatricia Mathewsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-68364155944394515702010-10-02T18:55:20.726-04:002010-10-02T18:55:20.726-04:00I think you're trying to have it both ways her...I think you're trying to have it both ways here, Dr. Kaiser. The voters are generally totally oblivious to the mechanisms of government, true. But that's not the biggest reason that a lot of Dems (me included) are going to sit this one out, or why many "independents" (typically, the most ignorant voters) are going to pull the Republican lever. Obama and the Dems have spent the last two years doing a wonderful ersatz Republican act. They've disregarded crucial slices of their coalition, in particular, immigrants, private sector unions, blue collar workers. They're explicitly disdainful of their left wing. Finally, they have managed the incredible blunder of identifying the party of FDR with -- the finance "industry"! (Granted, this symbiosis was well underway during Slick Willy's term.)<br /><br />This is really extraordinary political stupidity. Worse, it has set the stage for even bigger, more catastrophic financial criminality in the near future. You can't really blame voters for paying attention to the blindingly obvious.<br />-- sgloverAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com