Mr. Barton,

You’re ashamed of BP suffering through a meeting with the President and having to honor their promise to pay “all legitimate claims?”

As a homegrown Texan, I’m ashamed of your apology to BP. What could have made you do this? Are you running short of campaign funds? Did BP meet with you while they were in town to call in one of your IOUs?

Your late, forced apology was phony and pathetic.

Any politician who puts corporations before their constituency, deserves to be fired.

I’m not eligible to vote against you, but I will send money to your opponent.

Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.

From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men —above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellowmen, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men.

— Albert Einstein, 1931

The first rule of effective communication is stating the positive in your own terms, not quoting the other side’s language with a negation.

— George Lakoff, The Policyspeak Disaster for Health Care

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.

By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

— Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, Monday, March 4, 1861

We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.

— Edward R. Murrow

Remember the Miraculous – In the final analysis, the future of ice and climate change on this planet depends on how humanity deals with the nexus of energy and economics. So let me end this book with one last thought about energy supply. Paradoxical as it seems, hydrocarbon energy sources – oil, coal, and natural gas – are not ordinary fungible commodities like, say corn kernels or pork bellies. They are a distillation of life and time in a way nothing else is. Long ago, in the dust of ancient epochs, an infinity of animals and plants were born, grew to whatever maturity was their destiny, fed, inhaled, exhaled, lived in communities, and propagated their young. Their existence – all of it based on photosynthesis – concentrated the blazing light of a trillion sunrises into their bodies, just as our own animate life does today.

The essence of those past lives and vanished sunrises is now being passed to us, transmuted into the clear liquid drizzling into our gas tanks or the flickering of a light bulb or a picture dancing across a television screen or hundreds of other daily events we never notice. We gobble up the heat and electrons in nanoseconds, and then they are gone. It is a process both wondrous and awful. Remembering the miracle of this transformation might inject some much needed grace and humility into the engine of our consumption.

— James Balog, Extreme Ice Now

This is a fundamental debate in our society: Are we a nation of citizens or a nation of consumers? … Consumerism appeals to the greedy and selfish child part of us, the infantilized part that just wants someone else to take care of us. … What is at stake today is the very nature or our democratic republic. If we accept an identity as fearful, infantilized consumers, we will be acting from our baby part and allowing corporate America and an increasingly authoritarian government to fill the role of the parent part. … To save our democracy we must crack that code and bring back the code so well understood by the Founders of this nation: that we’re a country of barn-builders, of communities, of intrinsically good people who work together for the common good and the common wealth. We begin this process by speaking to the responsible part of us, the part that enjoys being grown up and socially responsible.

— Thom Hartmann, Cracking the Code – How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America’s Original Vision.

The Old Enlightenment view of reason is not sufficient for understanding our politics. In deed, it gets in the way. It not only hides the real threat to our democracy, it all too often keeps many of our most dedicated political leaders, policy experts, commentators, and social activists from being effective.

— George Lakoff, The Political Mind – Why You Can’t Understand the 21st-Century Politics with an 18th-Century Brain.

Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds. They would march America into a dictatorship and probably feel that things had improved as a result. … And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going away.

— John Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience

The ‘war on terrorism’ can never be won solely by plans to find and destroy terrorists, since any individual, anywhere, at any time, can become an active terrorist.

— Philip G. Zimbardo— The Lucifer Effect

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment — this was the time — when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

— Barack Obama, June 3, 2008.

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

— Thomas Paine

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. — Abraham Lincoln – Paraphrase of 1838 Lyceum address.

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

— Attributed to Sinclair Lewis

This is the tenth in a series about the results of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

The Pew Research subtitle for this survey was “Political Landscape More Favorable to Democrats.” Their survey showed a 39% decrease in preference for the Republican party and an 8% increase for the Democrat party. The survey also showed that Independents favorable view of Republicans has dropped 30% since 2001.

Pew Research also provided their summary of the survey. It stated on page 3 that the “Average percentage difference between the answers of Republicans and Democrats on 40 questions asked consistently through 20 years of interviewing” has increased 40% since 1987, or 1.3% per year. Since 1997, the difference has increased by 5.5% per year.

I prefer the following subtitle alternatives for the survey, “Conservatives Without Conscience Continue To Drink The Kool Aid” or “Conservatives Without Conscience ‘Consume Mass Quantities’ of ‘Truthiness’ from the Fox ‘Noise’ Channel and radio talk shows.”

The two tables below highlight the dichotomy between the Republicans and the rest of the country in 2007. The first table shows those issues where others averaged higher than the Republicans. The second table shows those issues where others scored lower than Republicans. Each table includes a statement of the issue, the support level for Republicans and others, where others includes Democrats and Independents, and a comment, which I either derived from the available survey information or copied from the survey. The number in parentheses after the issue statement is the page # in the survey report where the data shown was reported.

The results from the 32 issues highlighted below is that Republicans are, on average, 20% out of sync with the rest of the nation and, as Pew Research indicated above, the difference between Republicans and ‘others’ is growing at about 1.5% per year based on seven of the issues described below. The 20% divergence is just for the 2007 survey results and is just a snapshot of the Pew trends stated above.

This differnce is likely even greater for the conservatives without conscience. For example the survey stated, “Six-in-ten moderate and liberal Republicans favor giving undocumented immigrants the chance to gain legal working status, compared with 45% of conservative Republicans. These differences have widened since last April, when 56% of moderate and liberal Republicans and 52% of GOP conservatives favored undocumented immigrants having the option to become citizens someday.”

Why is this divergence so significant and growing? Why are the Independents joining the Democrats? Are the conservatives paranoid and will this divergence worsen their paranoia? What are they scared of? Do they see an enemy around every corner? Does this explain actions, writings and speeches from individuals like Ann Coulter? If this divergence continues, will these conservatives become even more aggressive? Will they become the “masses” that foster a single-party state in these United States?

Summarized below are the major findings from section 8 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

What are the rights of those who are believed or accused of being terrorist sympathizers? There is a major difference between what republicans believe and what the rest of the country believes. According to the survey:

Despite the modest overall shift in opinions on this issue, Republican support for warrantless searches of those who may be sympathetic to terrorists has grown substantially. Nearly half of conservative Republicans (47%) now believe such searches should be allowed, up from 34% in 2003. The change among moderate and liberal Republicans has been even more striking. More than twice as many favor warrantless searches of possible terrorist sympathizers’ houses than did so four years ago (49% vs. 23%).

By contrast, Democrats are less supportive of allowing the police to conduct warrantless searches of the houses of people who may sympathize with terrorists than they were four years ago. Among conservative and moderate Democrats, 37% believe such warrantless searches should be permitted, compared with 40% in 2003. And just 19% of liberal Democrats believe such searches are acceptable, down from 28% in 2003.

Another dichotomy between republicans and the rest of the country, is on the subject of giving up civil rights in the hope of curbing terrorism. According to the survey, “There continue to be partisan differences in views of whether average people will need to give up some liberties to curb terrorism. Most Republicans (51%) say such sacrifices will be necessary, but just 35% of Democrats and 37% of independents share this belief.“

In the current survey, however, there has been a sharp increase in partisan differences over whether the nation needs stricter environmental laws. Currently, 95% of Democrats and 85% of independents say that stricter environmental laws are needed, but just 65% of Republicans agree. The views of Democrats and independents have not changed significantly since the previous values survey in 2003. But fewer Republicans support tougher environmental laws and regulations than did so then (79% vs. 65%). And the partisan divide on this issue, which was 17 points in the last survey, has ballooned to 30 points. In 1992, the first time this question was asked, partisan differences were much narrower (seven points).

Summarized below are the major findings from section 7 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

According to the survey, ” … the idea that, in general, corporations make excessive profits is now more widely shared – and more strongly expressed – than a few years ago. While 65% agree that corporations make too much profit, 30% completely agree with this statement. This is the highest percentage expressing complete agreement with this statement in 20 years, though the increase from 2003 is not statistically significant (29%). … There are sizable political differences in views of business, including whether or not corporations make too much profit. Seven-in-ten Democrats express this view and 68% [69%?] of independents agree, up from 60% in 2002.”

In terms of political affiliation, the survey put the corporate fairness issue this way:

“Republicans are evenly divided on this issue (50% say business corporations strike the right balance, 47% disagree), while Democrats and independents are much more critical of business in this regard. Roughly six-in-ten Democrats (62%) and independents (61%) reject the idea that corporations strike a fair balance between profits and the public interest.”

Even more people believe that major corporations are too powerful. Roughly three quarters of the public (76%) believe there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies, a number which has varied very little over the past 20 years. People with annual household incomes of $75,000 or more are somewhat less concerned about the power of big business; even so, 68% say there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies. Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to express this viewpoint (84% vs. 63%, respectively).

In terms of political affiliation, the survey put the corporate favorability this way, “As has traditionally been the case, younger people and those with more education have the most favorable opinions of business corporations. In addition, Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to hold a favorable view of business (70% vs. 53%, respectively).”

Summarized below are the major findings from section 6 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

Relative to the public’s satisfaction with their government, the survey stated, “While public satisfaction with government and elected officials has ebbed and flowed over the past two decades, the current trend is one of growing frustration and criticism. A good deal of this dissatisfaction comes from Democrats, whose views largely reflect their judgments of the current administration. By comparison, in the mid-1990s Republicans were considerably more critical of government and politicians than were Democrats.”

Summarized below are some findings from section 5 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

The survey stated, “Seven-in-ten Americans say they favor ‘affirmative action programs to help blacks, women and other minorities get better jobs and education.’ That is a 12-point increase since 1995, with support increasing among most demographic and political groups.”

“The public also remains split on the broader question of whether the nation has gone too far in pressing for equal rights. … Republicans (60%) are far more likely than Democrats (35%) to say the country has gone too far in pushing for equal rights.”

“There also have been striking changes since the late 1980s in how people of different races view black-white dating. In 1987-88, fewer than half of whites (44%) said that interracial dating was acceptable; that number has nearly doubled (to 81%) in the current survey. Two decades ago, about three-quarters of blacks (74%) felt interracial dating was acceptable. Today,nearly all African Americans (97%) believe that interracial dating is acceptable.”

Then we have this, which can be confirmed at the Washington Post:

Click on image for larger view

The Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007, states, “About eight-in-ten Americans say they have no doubt that God exists, that prayer is an important part of their lives, and that ‘we will all be called before God at the Judgment Day to answer for our sins.’ … But the intensity of agreement with these indicators of religiosity has shown a modest decline in recent years, after increasing through much of the 1990s. … The survey also finds that the number of Americans who say they are atheist or agnostic, or choose not to identify with a religious tradition has increased modestly over the past two decades. … There also is a growing partisan gap in religious belief.”

The survey also showed that, “surveys taken over the past 20 years show that the size of the secular group has remained constant over time within each age cohort. In other words, the number of seculars within each generational group is about the same in 2007 as it was 10 or 20 years before.” Note that the difference between Republicans and Democrats is not that different in spite of what we hear from the media.

Social conservatism is on the decline and is being accelerated by the generational change. There has been a steady decline, even among Republicans, for 6 different measures of attitudes on social values. In addition, the younger score lower on those same attitudes.

The survey provided these examples, “… in 1987, 73% of white evangelical Protestants agreed that school boards should have the right to fire homosexual teachers. Today, just 42% do so. And in 1987, 60% of white evangelicals believed that AIDS might be a punishment for immoral sexual behavior; today just 38% believe this.”

Summarized below are the major findings from section 3 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

The survey stated at the start of this section that, “Support for the principle of “peace through strength,” which surged in the aftermath of 9/11 but fell sharply after the Iraq war began in 2003, has again declined. And while an overwhelming number of Americans continue to believe the U.S. should be active in world affairs, the number strongly endorsing U.S. global engagement has fallen compared with four years ago.” Since 1994, there has been a small decline in this belief.

Other than a spike after 9/11/2001, the interest in revenge has not changed since 1994.

According to Pew Research, “In values surveys since 1994, roughly half of the public has expressed agreement that one has an obligation to fight for his or her country whether it is right or wrong. … Indeed, there is no evidence that the Iraq war – or 9/11 before it – have had much of an impact on these attitudes.”

On the other hand, being patriotic did show a slight increase after 9/11 and the preemptive invasion of Iraq. The results also indicate that independent voters were more affected by these events than party members of either party.

According to the survey, “Despite revelations of widespread abuses at a U.S.-run prison in Iraq, most Americans do not rule out the use of torture as a way of gaining important information from suspected terrorists.” Blacks, women, liberal democrats, senior citizens and white mainline protestants are least favorable to the use of torture.

There is very little history on this, but I hope the current level of acceptance only goes down from here as we realize we have opened Pandora’s Box and the world is worse off for the lowering of our standards. Just because Jack Bauer knows when and on who to use it, doesn’t mean any one else can be that sure.

There is hope, though, that learning such a hard lesson is possible. This can be seen in the drop in favoritism for preemptive strikes by our military. Since our falsely justified invasion of Iraq, support has dropped overall by 12 percentage points. On the other hand, the neocons are gaining support for such action from all Republicans who have increased their support for preemptive strikes by three percent. This makes it very clear as to who we should elect to run this country.

Another sign of hope and an indication of who to elect is found in the belief in our government’s efforts to keep us safe from terrorism. There has been a sharp decline in this belief just since December 2006, except for Republicans and probably The Happy Channel – Fox News. Republicans feel very safe at 82 percent.

According to the survey, “The public has become more critical of the government’s performance in reducing the threat of terrorism. A narrow majority (54%) says the government is doing very well, or fairly well, in reducing the threat of terrorism, while 44% say it is doing not too well or not at all well. This is by far the most negative assessment of the government’s anti-terror efforts since the Sept.11 terrorist attacks.”

Summarized below are the major findings from section 2 of the Pew Research survey, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007.

There is a recent increase in belief that the rich are getting richer, but it has been stronger at other times historically and it hasn’t changed noticeably since 1994.

There is growing belief that “It is the responsibility of the government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves.”

There is still a strong belief that the poor become dependent on government assistance, however this belief is not as strong as it was in 1994.

Blacks and Democrats are more inclined to believe that “Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside our control,” but this belief has decreased since 1994 for all groups, especially for Republicans.

The survey stated, “The public’s evaluations of personal financial satisfaction is increasingly split along partisan lines and the gap between Republicans and Democrats is the largest it has been since the Pew values surveys began 20 years ago.”

This increase in Republican satisfaction is very puzzling to me. First of all it has been out of sync with the rest of the country since 1994. Secondly, as I have documented in 2006 Tax Cut Update – Evangelical Losses Even Larger, “white evangelical Protestants, all Republicans, are getting poorer and getting less from the 2006 tax cut.”

Why would Republicans be satisfied when others aren’t and they are affected by the same changes? Is it because they all watch The Happy Channel – Fox News? After all, it was launched in late 1996.