REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Political crap over here!

POSTED BY: SPOOKYJESUS
UPDATED: Monday, December 12, 2005 20:11
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Monday, May 10, 2004 11:05 AM

SPOOKYJESUS


"This very week in 1989, there were protests in East Berlin and in Leipzig. By the end of that year, every communist dictatorship in Central America had collapsed." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2003

It's funny cause he's dumb.


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Monday, December 5, 2005 9:39 AM

CHRISISALL


lol, hey lookey at this here real old thread I found!

Time travelin' Chrisisall

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Monday, December 5, 2005 10:25 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Is it even funnier that Bush is smarter than Kerry? I mean, based on their Yale undergrad courses and grades, along w/ the Intelligence test which both took, Bush scored higher than Kerry.




" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Monday, December 5, 2005 10:53 AM

SPOOKYJESUS


It's ok - to get smarter he built himself a robot Albert Einstein




What's that?
Bush Supporter?
Got a problem? - Don't take it out on me, just sit back, relax and enjoy your economy!

See you in 2006 when Commi-China buys your asses!!!!

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Monday, December 5, 2005 11:39 AM

CHRISISALL


lol, hey Spooky! Brings ya back, don't it? (That was before my time)
You finally got replys to it
And so much has changed (But not Bush's IQ- Dumbest man to ever hold the office, even dumber than Regan!! Maybe if I sniff some glue, I too could rule this country?)
(I mean, puppet-rule this country)


Kookla Fran & Ollie Chrisisall

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Monday, December 5, 2005 12:28 PM

SPOOKYJESUS


I know, I think it got buried under more heated political stuff back in the day - this was meant as a counter point kind of thing.

Eh......

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Monday, December 5, 2005 1:53 PM

KHYRON


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
...along w/ the Intelligence test which both took, Bush scored higher than Kerry.



Just shows you that intelligence tests don't work.

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Monday, December 5, 2005 3:31 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by Khyron:
Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
...along w/ the Intelligence test which both took, Bush scored higher than Kerry.



Just shows you that intelligence tests don't work.



Wow, thank you Captain Specious Reasoning!

Bush did better in school and scored higher on a standardized intelligence test, and you ridicule the test ?

Are you a teacher, by chance? Might explain a lot if you are.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Monday, December 5, 2005 3:58 PM

KHYRON


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Wow, thank you Captain Specious Reasoning!

Bush did better in school and scored higher on a standardized intelligence test, and you ridicule the test ?

Are you a teacher, by chance? Might explain a lot if you are.



That was a joke dude. Although I do actually have a problem with standardised intelligence tests, but I'm not in the mood to go into that here.

BTW, nope, thankfully I'm not a teacher. My life is stressful enough without having juvenile delinquents trying to purposefully make it even worse.

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Monday, December 5, 2005 4:04 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Depending on the type of test my results range from blazingly brilliant to just above average. A magic 8 ball would do better.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Monday, December 5, 2005 4:15 PM

CHRISISALL


I scored 130, and I'm an idiot.
(It's been said)

Genius-challenged Chrisisall

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Monday, December 5, 2005 4:19 PM

DREAMTROVE


Quote:


Originally posted by Auraptor:
Is it even funnier that Bush is smarter than Kerry? I mean, based on their Yale undergrad courses and grades, along w/ the Intelligence test which both took, Bush scored higher than Kerry.



This would be funny if true. Do you have any sources to back this up? I'm being serious here. I'd laugh my ass off if you had proof of this.

Right now, late in life, I'd have to grant Kerry does seem to fall into that all encompassing category "smarter than Bush." But that's not saying much, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I tend to go by vocabulary usage, which I admit is a primative tool, but an amazingly effective one. It's very seldom wrong, except in the case of autistics, and that is neither of these doofs.

But prove to me that Kerry is indeed, or was in college, dumber than Bush and my hat's off. Kerry's not on my favorite people list, and 'dumber than bush' would be a great one to add to it.

That said, Bush is still a moron.

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Monday, December 5, 2005 4:59 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


I found a very long article which attempted to correlate SATs, military IQ "type" tests and (to some extent) grades with IQs. It was less than convincing. I would post it but it's far too long. Just google 'bush kerry iq'. It should be first on the list.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Monday, December 5, 2005 5:59 PM

SERGEANTX


We've been talking about this some at the Serenity board.

Personally I don't think he's as dumb as he acts. He doesn't seem particularly bright either, but I try not to let his airheaded public persona influence my perception of his intelligence unduly. I think that Bush, much like the prototypical "Dumb Blonde" has learned his bubba schtick as a defense mechanism. I've heard older debates and speeches he's made and he clearly has greater aptitude for public speaking than he utilizes as president.

But the stammering, the mis-statements, the awkward humor, etc.. they basically make it impossible to hold him accountable for anything he says. It also engenders a folksy, drinking-buddy image that makes a lot of people feel comfortable. I just think he's learned it's safer bumbling around the way he does and it's a helluva lot easier. Why bother being explicit and clear when it's going to be held against you at your next press conference? There's a certain political advantage in having most of what you say written of as pablum generated by your handlers.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 8:28 AM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by SergeantX:


But the stammering, the mis-statements, the awkward humor, etc.. they basically make it impossible to hold him accountable for anything he says. It also engenders a folksy, drinking-buddy image that makes a lot of people feel comfortable. I just think he's learned it's safer bumbling around the way he does and it's a helluva lot easier.


I've always sorta felt that.
But smarter than stupid still ain't sayin' a lot

Chrisisall, one of the thousand points of light

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 12:44 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

This would be funny if true. Do you have any sources to back this up? I'm being serious here. I'd laugh my ass off if you had proof of this.


Well, here's one article. Kerry's grades are described as 'lackluster'.
Quote:

Kerry's weak grades came despite years of education at some of the world's most elite prep schools, ranging from Fessenden School in Massachusetts to St. Paul's School in New Hampshire

While the article goes into some detail about Kerry's grades, it barely mentions Bush, mainly toward the end.
Quote:

. He received one D in his four years, a 69 in astronomy.
(Kerry received 4 D's, all in his freshman year, while at Yale.) http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/07/yale_
grades_portray_kerry_as_a_lackluster_student?mode=PF


And then there's this....

Quote:

Mr. Bush’s score on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test at age 22 again suggests that his I.Q was the mid-120’s, putting Mr. Bush in about the 95th percentile of the population, according to Mr. Sailer. Mr. Kerry’s I.Q. was about 120, in the 91st percentile, according to Mr. Sailer’s extrapolation of his score at age 22 on the Navy Officer Qualification Test.

Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. “People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can’t understand,” Professor Gottfredson said

http://txfx.net/2004/10/25/bush-had-higher-iq-than-kerry





" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:18 PM

CAUSAL


Quote:

Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I tend to go by vocabulary usage, which I admit is a primative tool, but an amazingly effective one. It's very seldom wrong, except in the case of autistics, and that is neither of these doofs.



I'm not sure this is as accurate a tool as you think it is. There's a difference between the way you use language in a prepared speech, in written form, and off the cuff. Everybody does better at some of these than others--restricting your opinion of someone to their off-the-cuff speaking ability seems a little unfair.

Quote:

But prove to me that Kerry is indeed, or was in college, dumber than Bush and my hat's off...That said, Bush is still a moron.



These kinds of discussions always make me remember a concept from a Sociology class I took. Selective Processing: people tend to interpret information according the beliefs they already hold. To wit: if one already believes Bush to be intelligent, they'll take a test score as evidence of Bush's intelligence. To someone who already thinks Bush a moron, that same test score is merely evidence of faulty testing. These things never matter. Each side just walks away more convinced of their own opinion.

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:28 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I tend to go by vocabulary usage, which I admit is a primative tool, but an amazingly effective one. It's very seldom wrong, except in the case of autistics, and that is neither of these doofs



Yep, seems your mistake is a common one, made by many.

Quote:

Linda Gottfredson, an I.Q. expert at the University of Delaware, called it a creditable analysis said she was not surprised at the results or that so many people had assumed that Mr. Kerry was smarter. - “People will often be misled into thinking someone is brighter if he says something complicated they can’t understand,”


Translation: Kerry sounds much smarter than he is in reality.


" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 3:56 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Have you ever listened to Kerry?

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 7:46 PM

DREAMTROVE


I still think vocab is a good measure. Not perfect as I said, but it beats anything else I have to go on. Anyone telling you specifics are going to have an agenda on one side or the other.

I just think it's funny. I liked the picture juxtaposition. It's entirely possible Bush did better than Kerry in school. I'm not predisposed to like either one of them, I think everyone here knows I hate them both intensely.

Yes, I've listened to Kerry's speeches, even before he ran for president. I've also heard Bush's, from before he ran for president. There's several things I've found here.

1. Both were much more intelligent.

2. Bush in particular has gotten dumber, but I know people who know him, and they say he really has gotten dumber, like he's back on drugs or something. He used to be coherent.

3. The idea that Bush is an intellectual match for Kerry is beyond absurd, I just think it's funny.

4. Kerry is an intellectual, something which can lead one to think that they are smarter than they are.

5. Bush is an ex-elist phony cowboy, but really he's a druggie. Whatever ability he once had is now just a fog. clearly without constant monitoring he is hopeless.

6. I'm not predisposed to think either is particularly smart. Kerry does have some understand of international politics, but he's also been drastically wrong on occassion. By comparison, Bush can not figure out how to hold a hammer.

Here's a little insight I think I've gained into Bush's brain. Once, there was a brain. It knew stuff. It worked, it played, and it played some more. Mostly it played golf. Then along came the happy dope. There were some happy times with the happy dope. Now everything is a fog. The brain knows that it once knew stuff, but it can't seem to find it again. So it wanders through the fog waiting for someone to pull it in the right direction.

This brain has friends. Dick and Condi. Dick is not a good friend, but he's a powerful one, and a very smart one. Dick has plans, and he tells the brain what to do. Condi is a good friend, possibly an orgasm friend, and a very smart one. She tells the brain what it wants to hear because she is not powerful, and she wants to be powerful. She has ideas that are sometimes better than Dick's but she has no influence, so she supports torture too.

There are other friends, and they are always leading the brain in a direction. Sometimes it seems like they're all going in different directions, and the brain feels like it will be torn apart. This is when money is good. Follow the money, the brain remembers this thought. But sometimes there is no money, and there's nothing but debt and it's everywhere, and then the brain just wants to shrivel up into a little pink raison. But then it remembers the happy dope and it forgets all about debt and money and torture, and it's happy foggy brain again.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 12:02 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Quote:

In 1985, Gottfredson participated in a conference called "The g Factor in Employment Testing." The papers presented were later published in the December 1986 issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior, edited by Gottfredson. In 1986, Gottfredson was appointed Associate Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Delaware, Newark. That year, she presented a series of papers on general intelligence factor and employment.

In 1988 Gottfredson received the first of many grants from the Pioneer Fund for work on educational differences and occupational policy. In 1989, University of Delaware's promotion and tenure committee denied Gottfredson promotion to full professor, citing "flawed" and "unscholarly" research. She was promoted to full professor the next year.

Gottfredson's research and views have stirred considerable controversy, especially her testimony on public affirmative action policy and her defense of The Bell Curve. Since that time she has written a number of articles on race and intelligence, especially as it applies to occupational qualification.

I give you Linda Gottfredson, the right-wing equivalent of Ward Churchill.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 12:48 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Quote:

In 1985, Gottfredson participated in a conference called "The g Factor in Employment Testing." The papers presented were later published in the December 1986 issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior, edited by Gottfredson. In 1986, Gottfredson was appointed Associate Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Delaware, Newark. That year, she presented a series of papers on general intelligence factor and employment.

In 1988 Gottfredson received the first of many grants from the Pioneer Fund for work on educational differences and occupational policy. In 1989, University of Delaware's promotion and tenure committee denied Gottfredson promotion to full professor, citing "flawed" and "unscholarly" research. She was promoted to full professor the next year.

Gottfredson's research and views have stirred considerable controversy, especially her testimony on public affirmative action policy and her defense of The Bell Curve. Since that time she has written a number of articles on race and intelligence, especially as it applies to occupational qualification.

I give you Linda Gottfredson, the right-wing equivalent of Ward Churchill



Ward Churchill? Riiiiiight. This is so absurdly juveinle! Just get over it. You can't deal w/ the hard cold facts, so you try your best to muddy the waters w/ lame character assassination and inane references to that extremist whacko Ward Churchill.



" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 8:15 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Dreamtrove: I was watching a show on Rove, and in it they had many clips of the young GW Bush as he was stumping Texas for his dad and the Republican party. I was startled... and mean really startled... to see how responsive, oriented and articulate he was at the time, and how he appears now. He glad-handed his way though crowds like a man who knew wehre he was going. He didn't need a little box on his back to tell him what to say then. Something is seriously wrong with the Prez. Maybe he's medicating himself and then others are medicating HIM, or maybe he has a permanent disability but... wow.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 2:31 PM

RUXTON


Let us not forget those long years of hard boozin', which did his brain exactly NO good.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 4:30 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Let's see ... Gottfredson .... participated in a conference then edited the journal that published her works from the conference. Took beaucoup research money from the Pioneer Fund, classified as a hate group. Failed to get tenure b/c of weak academic work, then later got tenure - perhaps b/c of her sex ???

Sterling academic credentials. Impeccable ethics.

That's what makes her opinion so ... invaluable.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 9:30 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Let us not forget those long years of hard boozin', which did his brain exactly NO good.
HEY! I resemble that remark! And it hans't hrut me nonne!





---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 9:32 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Sterling academic credentials. Impeccable ethics.

That's what makes her opinion so ... invaluable.

HAHAHA! Her letter of recommendation probably included phrases like "You'll be lucky if you get her to work for you" and "Fifteen years on the job and she's still learning".

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, December 9, 2005 4:57 PM

DREAMTROVE


I've seen young g.w. and it's quite a contrast. I think he's a burnout.

I have to come at this side fight.
Linda S. Gottfredson is right wing?
Ward Churchill is left wing?
I think people are using this wing thing way too much. These are a couple of people so far outside the mainstream that their political ideas don't come anywhere near those of the democratic or republican parties, which is normally fine, except that you've picked a couple of serious loons here. I'm not voting for either one. If they ever get nominated as candidates, I'm probably going to end up reminiscing about the days when we had Hillary and Jeb.

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:24 AM

HAOLEHAOLE


... Bush is embarrissing. Living in a foreign nation, folks here always ask ME what the hell's going on . . . It basically sucks.

... Still, Kerry didn't bring much to the table. I still think Dean could have won, had he not lost his mind mid way through his campaigning.

... But Bush is a Republican, and GENERALLY, they tend to tax folks less than the Dems (note - I said GENERALLY)... which is a good thing. The Dem ideas and drives to "tax the evil rich" is insane. Hell, we'd all be best off quitting work and going on welfare so gov't could take care of us all, eh.

... Libertarians are cool. Do what you want - so long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. Big government is a sham and a scam (gov't loves your dependence). Economically very conservative, socially very liberal. Gay marriage? Who cares? Go for it. Pot? Light up. Ain't hurting me at all... etc.. They're far from perfect, but better than what I've seen in the last eight years or so.


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Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:42 PM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by HaoLeHaoLe:
Do what you want - so long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. Big government is a sham and a scam (gov't loves your dependence). Economically very conservative, socially very liberal. Gay marriage? Who cares? Go for it. Pot? Light up. Ain't hurting me at all...


Nailed me in just a few sentances.

Chrisisall, NeoLT

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 4:14 PM

CHRISISALL


You know somethin strange, DT? I've always considered myself a conservative, in the strictest sense of the word.
I want to conserve wildlife, forests, human life and such.
I believe in small, efficient government.
I think welfare needs major reform.
Corruption and nepotism needs to be eradicated.
The only place I'm liberal is socially, where I think the government has no place tellin' us that our civil rights can be limited or changed as the government (our employees!) sees fit, or that marrage is defined by gender or species.(last part was a joke-don't get weird)

So all this 'conservtive'/'liberal'/right wing/left wing stuff seems like a big funny to me.
There's peeps that want our government and this world to make sense, and those that have unseen or twisted agendas guiding their decisions, as far as I can see. Democrat or Republican really don't matter IMHO.

I'm really glad you showed up here at the RWED, dude. Keep shootin' down the clay pidgeons that get tossed up, you do it well.

Chrisisall, for Truth, Justice, and the real American way

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Sunday, December 11, 2005 6:02 PM

HAOLEHAOLE


... Sadly, it seems, far too many people in the US feel a need to "define themselves", and place themselves in one of these two huge categories of "conservative" or "liberal" (aka "progressive").

... Before I moved out of the country, I used to think of myself as a "conservative", only because I was so weary of the "lefties" running amok, not because of any definate ideas I had in my own head.

... Move 10 thousand miles away and watch from a great distance . . . and things start to clear up as the years roll by. At least they did for me. Left or Right, Lib or Con . . .It's not nearly that simple, is it? (rhetorical question).

... For example, I am appalled by the stories I hear from friends back home who have kids going to public (gov't run) schools... for a great many reasons (I am as opposed to the idea of the book "My 2 Mommies" as I am opposed to that farce, "Intelligent Design"). I don't know where to put my son... Japan is no good. China is questionable... America... having serious doubts . . .

... Sadly, most people laugh off the "True Faith" (Libertarianism ). It's not among their two options. Most people are sound byte, 10 second attention span, reality-TV addicted moronic zombies, so maybe it's too late . . .

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Monday, December 12, 2005 11:10 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


OOC (out of curiosity) where abouts are you? How is the education system where you are? And, is it public or private?


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Monday, December 12, 2005 1:13 PM

TRAINEEALTERNATE


The problem with corruption is that it is universal, no matter what party is in charge. Power corrupts, and every rare time a good honest person is put in office, there are about 20 greedy opportunists and idealogical extremists lurking in their staff. Same goes for a bad leader. Honesty and corruption run on both sides of the aisle, but are generally greater in the party that is in charge, just because that is where the money and power is.

...Not that the current president is one of the former...

---------------------------------------------
"Pretty lights...angels.... [thud.]"
"That's why I never kiss them on the mouth."
"When do I get to get sexed up?!"
"This is my most favorite-est gun..."
"Y'mean she's a witch?!" ...." She's in Congress?!?!"

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Monday, December 12, 2005 8:06 PM

DREAMTROVE


Chrisisall,

Thanks. I have to shoot down a clay pigeon here though. Restricting civil liberties is Bush, but it's not conservative. It's pro-big-govt., which antithetical to American conservatism.

I just spent all day reading the wikipedia entries of the presidents, one by one. It was pretty interesting. The one thing that struck me was this thing people have been saying "oh the parties switch, left is right, right is left" is hogwash. It's simply not so. The GOP have been solidly in the same ideological position since John Quincy Adams, and the Dems have been more or less in the same place since Andrew Jackson. There's been a little shift of the Democrats towards the center, and less shift in the Republicans.

But what there has been are aberrations. Someone will get elected on a ticket who isn't really a Republican, or isn't really a Democrat. This looks at first like a shift in the party, but it's really just an abnormality. Afterwards things tend to return to what they were before.

Example: Herbert Hoover was economically influenced by European Socialism. His policies were an effort to bring some of what he saw as positive changes in Europe into the American economy. It worked like a well planned disaster. History would prove those changes didn't all work well in Europe either, but they worked a lot worse here. He was a Republican by virtue of being on a GOP ticket, but he wasn't a small r republican in the sense of believing in the ideology that Adams, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Taft had believed in, which was similar to, and derived from, Jefferson's idea of 'republicanism.'

After Hoover, the GOP reverted to what it had been before, and Eisenhower, Nixon, and Ford followed close to the model of those who came before Hoover, discounting Hoover as a glitch to be skipped over. To a lesser extent Reagan and a greater extend Bush Sr. continued in this vein, and now we have Baby Bush, who is another abberation. With luck things will eventually return to normal. But I don't believe in luck, so I plan to work so that it becomes so.

Another thing which worries me slightly, is that Hoover was followed by 20 years of Democrats. Not that I really can't stand Democrats, just that I don't tend to like having them as president. I had real hope for the Democratic party with Carter, who I quite likes, and thought was both taft-style internationalist, and eisenhower-style business minded. I thought the much-maligned Chrysler loan was actually a work of brilliance.

But now I look at it and it looks as if Carter was the abberation, the Democratic Party's Hoover. A glitch to be skipped over and corrected. Now the Democratic Party has reverted to what it was before. It's agenda is globalist, social militarist, and it's economic ideas are based on state control and regulation, with little trust placed in independent enterprise.

Looking back at past conservatives, the respect for individual freedoms is definitely greater than in Democratic presidencies. But I tend to be more a small 'r' republican, I vote for the person who has bacic conservative jeffersonian republican (ie. as jefferson defined the word) values. Usually I expect that person to be on the big 'R' Republican ticket, but if they aren't and happen to be on the Democratic ticket, then that's the ticket I'll vote for. Kerry wasn't that ticket. I Kerry seemed much more a Johnson or Truman. But Bush isn't that ticket either. He's another Hoover, a ringer for a different ideology.

Hopefully we can get back to what we used to be.



From wikipedia
Quote:


Jefferson's term was marked by his belief in agrarianism, individual liberty, and limited government, sparking the development of a distinct American identity defined by republicanism.


If I could add something to that, things I believe to have been part f\of the initial value set, fiscal responsibilty and respect for process.

Here are some important ideas added to the philosophy by some GOP presidents:

John Quincy Adams, restraint, the idea that we should not lend ourselves to the idea that we have the right to take over and alter another man's society.
Adams and Lincoln: Abolitionism, and by extension intollerance for any labor practice that might resemble slavery, forced labor or forced employment as an assault on basic human liberty.
T.R. Environmental Conservation, and T.R. and Taft The Anti-Trust, the notion that freemarket capitalism is only truly possible if monopolism can be kept at bay.
Taft, Internationalism, a doctrine that peace is only attainable through arbitration where all effected, and all with power to change, have a say in the outcome. This became the basis for modern diplomacy.
Coolidge for the implementation of laissez-faire in American public policy.
Eisenhower: the doctrine of containment, a military strategy that uses a stationary non-combative force as a deterent strategically places in areas that are not yet at war, rather then directly becoming embroiled in already ongoing chaotic conflicts.

What separates out these who added to the philosophy from abberations such as Bush, is each of these men looked at the classical philosophy of American republicanism and said "all that, plus this." People like Bush, by contrast, take things out, cross them out,

introduce new things that are contrary to previously held conservative views. If conservatism doesn't conserve its own core values, than what is it?

I found this as I was wandering around, from the Wikipedia entry on John Adams Sr.:
Quote:


Adams wished to warn his fellow Americans against all revolutionary manifestos that envisioned a fundamental break with the past and a fundamental transformation in human nature or society that supposedly produced a new age.



So to me, the ideology, republicanism, does matter, but I agree, the party does not. I saw these values in Carter, and I saw them in Perot, and may see them some other time in other candidates. I'd be happy to see them someday on the republican ticket again, after all this madness of King George can be done with.

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Monday, December 12, 2005 8:11 PM

DREAMTROVE


rue,

who are you asking?

trainee,

I don't believe it does. Power, corrupting, that is. I'm with Nietzche, I believe the corrupt gravitate to power, and push the corruptable with them. I agree Bush has no power, and lots of corruption. But I think most people, even most people in office are decent folk. What we have at the moment is a problem. A particular corrupt circle which is in power, and either it is one entity in two parties, or it is two entities one in each party, but if so, both are descended from the same circular conspiracy, and it's just an inner squabble, they'd all much rather see the rest of us burn than their buddies. Just want to make sure this doesn't get boiled down into "they're all bad, what can you do?" because I don't think that's the case.

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