tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post4656288807208162177..comments2024-03-19T11:28:58.168-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: What Tuesday means to meDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-17176972421932674192012-11-16T07:55:05.256-05:002012-11-16T07:55:05.256-05:00For some reason, in CT, I did not find the choice ...For some reason, in CT, I did not find the choice of voting for Jill Stein on my ballot so I voted Libertarian. Like you said, it doesn't really make a difference in CT but I felt a little better having thrown my vote for a Third party. I was one of those disappointed by the lack of change. What do you think our chances are of getting a viable third party this time around?<br /><br />I just put up a post about the cycles of wealth inequality in U.S history that you might find interesting. <br /><br />http://mysticalsea.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/an-echo-in-the-spiral-of-time-2/<br /><br />I use a modified form of Strauss Howe, measuring the cycles the old fashioned way -- by the night sky. I'm still surprised by how successful this is for purposes of objective dating. Hopefully mentioning that to you doesn't inspire you to run the other way, but if you can bring yourself to avoid *how* I refined the dating, i think you would be quite interested in the article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-30814244961751725972012-11-10T14:19:53.079-05:002012-11-10T14:19:53.079-05:00I seem to recall articles on demographics stating ...I seem to recall articles on demographics stating that the population has purposely shifted, due to automobility, etc. to the regions (Southwest, Northeast exurbs, inner city, etc.) due ot personal preference in terms of lifestyle and political leanings over the last generation or so. Along with purposeful gerrymandering this makes for an extremely divided nation on election night and throughout the year. If you live in an area where most people think like yourself for example you will not be open to new ideas. Add to this the separate medias for each consumer group (talk radio, internet blogs, etc.) and it is like people are living in separate nations altogether. Ethnically and racially this is strongly divided by zip code and perhaps only the male/female divide overcomes this as women and men have to suffer one another's presence in the household regardless of big politcal questions ( I don't know really much about my parent's political views-silent and GI generation as they did not talk about it but me and my wife have heated discussions). <br /><br />I suppose before the age of nuclear family and cheap airplane trips to grandma for Christmas (so the kids can remain Californians, etc. while grandma is in Kansas or whatever) things were different and large family groups and ethnic clans mulled over politics organically and with lots of heated arguments over many years. Now they just get on a plane and buy a house elsewhere to avoid uncomfortable scenes with gay or christian fundie brothers and sisters. The food (walmart, big macs, etc.) and culture (mulitplex, cable TV) all the same so that being a from blue or red states is no different except whether you go to church or not or can suffer the presence of "brown people" without cussing under your breath in some long since un-PC language. <br /><br />Apparently Obama is wildly popular overseas (90%+). This must be the Bush effect. Anybody but repubs. But if the next dem prez candidate is a white male the voter advantage will be more minimal in the growing minority groups of hispanics and blacks and asians and there are not many minority governors and senators to pick from (does Cuomo or even Bloomberg as Italian or Jewish count as "minority" nowadays anymore than Catholic JFK in 1960 when it comes to candidacy for president?). This is the danger of a multiculturalization-i.e. white flight-cultural identity recreation in separate areas. Think of other countries like in Pakistan or India or Africa where regional, ethnic and religious division helps tear the countries apart. Nasty. <br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-40751889707381285982012-11-09T18:41:24.533-05:002012-11-09T18:41:24.533-05:00To Bruce Post,
Yes, we are the same age, and c...To Bruce Post,<br /><br /> Yes, we are the same age, and cast our first votes in the same year. I am glad to have you as a reader, but I don't see a vote as "a sign of consent." I see it as a choice between the available alternative,s one which I simply have to make. (My wife by the way is more like you--she voted green this year. Of course, in Massachusetts it didn't make much difference.) I admit you are probably correct--Obama is not likely to be drastically different--but Romney would have been much worse.David Kaiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-55415124537014507122012-11-09T15:01:07.245-05:002012-11-09T15:01:07.245-05:00Professor
Many thanks.
Mostly quite correct, I ...Professor<br /><br />Many thanks. <br /><br />Mostly quite correct, I am afraid.<br /><br />Using only the existing tools of tax or spend, without talking about some more integrated, meritocratic, internally inclusive and externally exclusive, and top down, national (rather than merely state local national and international separate and together) economic commercial and investment policies for jobs and investment here, we are not going to solve problems here that have dogged us almost since the beginning of this republic. Sorry, but that is what I see, and have long seen.<br /><br />All the best,<br />GMBozonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18078858723231122013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-68287293621482744652012-11-09T14:04:54.300-05:002012-11-09T14:04:54.300-05:00I think we are both about the same age: 65. Ther...I think we are both about the same age: 65. Therefore, I hope your wish for another 25 years is realized quantitatively and qualitatively for both of us.<br /><br />I first voted for President in 1968, about one month after I turned 21. I voted for Nixon, but four years later, I was on Hubert Humphrey's Democratic presidential primary staff. In 1980, I was John Anderson's congressional chief-of-staff when he ran for President. You might say that I have had some experience with presidential campaigns and with some highly-qualified and respected individuals.<br /><br />Over those years, I voted for a winning candidate twice: Nixon, 1968, and Obama, 2008. This year, I turned 65. Where 1968 was a milestone because I cast my first vote for a presidential candidate, 2012 was significant, too. I did not vote for any presidential candidate.<br /><br />I consider my vote a sign of consent. Quite frankly, Romney was beyond the pale for me, but so, too, was Obama. His actions in the drone wars, Guantanamo, civil liberties, financial reform, etc., are so objectionable to me that I can neither rationalize them nor ratify them with my vote.<br /><br />I believe, as is written on one of the statues outside the National Archives, that "What is past is prologue." Therefore, I doubt that Obama will be much different than he was in his first term. I peg the odds of moving in the right direction at much less than the "less than 50-50" you cited.<br /><br />I hope, however, that the discussions over the "fiscal cliff" will be held in the open, where they belong.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942176720917710954noreply@blogger.com