Conservative and Liberal

Quote :

Obama doesn't know my name or yours, neither did Bush, Clinton or Reagan, and neither will the next one.

Actually, E Don, that isn't quite true. My father's company built several vessels for Zapata Offshore, so he new George Herbert Bush very well, and introduced my husband and me to him in 1970, when the elder Bush was running for senator from Texas.  My husband and I both worked on his campaign.  We saw, and visited with both him and Barbara frequently over that year, and ran into them several times in 1976, when my husband was Republican County Chairman and running for Ford's delegate to the National Convention.  Unfortunately (or not - my perspective on many things has changed since then), Reagan won the Texas primary.  Shortly after that, my husband became my ex, and I went back to school to become a teacher and moved to Houston, so we no longer ran in the same circles.  I voted for him in 88, but by the end of his term was disillusioned with the conservative economic policy and switched parties, voting for Clinton both terms  While I didn't know George W personally, I knew enough about him to know I could never support him.

I've seen the wealthy world from the inside.  I do not support its causes.

You and I don't really know each other, either - only the faces we show online.

I do not expect or attempt to change your perceptions of me or political perspectives, or worldviews.  You are welcome to them. I will continue to express mine in my own way, as I am sure you will do as well.

Anytime you or any other members of this forum refer to me by name, BTW, you are being personal.

8/31/2013

                      I wonder what BTW is ? Sounds naughty ?

                                     Cheers..Joe..

When you think you're being talked down to, it might be because you're looking up.

I met G.H.W. Bush when he was vying to be veep candidate. Reagan owned the room that day (the Senate Caucus Room). I was at the piano. They listened to me. They had to. It was a Dixieland band.

Well, Ann if GHW knew you he sure as hell didn't take you into account when he was in office. If he had taken you or any working people into account, he wouldn't have made so many stupid decisions.

And I can't believe it, but would you look at what Stevens posted. He says,

"When you think you're being talked down to, it might be because you're looking up."

Which is exactly what I've been talking about. Al, that doesn't mean a damn thing, it just sounds to you as if it makes you appear smarter, because you're so wise you can quote old sayings. People with brains can say things that they know something about, and not just motivational feel good shit.

I firmly believe people have to remain positive, and I've been a very positive person all my life. I also believe all of our politicians are only doing what they think is best for them, and that is to keep the money flowing into their coffers. None of us mean a damn thing to them, at least not to the ones who actually make decisions, and I can't understand how you people can fail to see that. Open your eyes, corporations are running the country, and they're doing it for wealth and power. And you have to know they get the wealth because they've become so good at keeping it out of the hands of the general population, and the power they have is over the rest of us. We are not even numbers any more, just pieces to move around while they figure out how to use us to make one more dollar.

Are you people adults here, or kids in middle school believing whatever sounds best to you?

Damn...

I asked the question about liberals and conservatives to isolate the elements.  We still talk in generalities with a few posts making the attempt to separate some of the variables.

What I notice is that people will give their opinion and knock the opinion of another person; yet, their values are very similar and their positions not that far apart.  It's just that the rhetoric differs.  The beliefs are close.

In my dad's day, he was a union man.  The union and labor were closely identified with the democratic party.  That's all that mattered to my dad.  He was a one-handle democrat - pull the handle for the entire democratic ticket.  He didn't care about any other positions held by those who claimed to be democrat or republican.

My first year in junior college I dated a teacher who was running for a state office as a republican.  He taught me my first political lesson:  He and I were both poor; he was educated and attractive; he needed a society wife to get the money he needed to attain political office.  So, we could have fun, but not become serious.  Liking me was an accident and it was not going to get in his way.

He did nominate me for the internship in Washington, D.C. where I was thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that the republican party stood for the businesses that created jobs and the wealth of the country.  Management represented education and upward mobility.  Democrats and the labor movement were anti-management and thus not good for the country.  Welfare programs drained resources to support people who did not want to work.  I knew there were plenty of poor people where I came from,  white trash.  One thing about being poor, you could find a label for those with less on the other side of the tracks.

I can identify with what you posted, D.K.  My father was a life-long Democrat until Reagan came along and talked God.  The church that my Dad attended supported Reagan and he for the first time in his life became a Republican.  He was "brain-washed" as were many.  My father is now dead as is my mother.  They would be appalled if they could see what has happened to their country.  Would they recognize the lies told?  I don't think so.  My father worked for the state as a supervisor on road repair.  When the democrates were in office, he had work.  When the Republicans were in office, he was out of work.  Politics played a big role in his life.  When he became a Republican, he once again had a job while they were in office, but he was not the same man after that.

The rift between me and my very close friends (I mean of twenty and thirty years) came when the republican party took on the mantle of religious right. That's about when I left.  My friends who were closer to their church than me became radicalized by their ministers and adult classes that it was anti-Christian not to support the republican party and that anyone with beliefs other than theirs was anti-American and not in support of the young men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  If you questioned anything about the Bush administration, it was anti-American.  I mean, I saw people I knew and loved for decades actually become cemented in their points of view and believing there was something wrong with me because I remained me.

They would not even discuss their positions but just started moving away from the friendship because we could no longer discuss things we used to debate.  Debate ended.  Instead they started quoting Rush Limbaugh and Beck and FOX television.  It was an amazing transition.  At the time, I was still republican leaning, but I wasn't a religious fanatic so I no longer fit.