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Category Archives: Nurturant State
Tracking the Growth of American Authoritarianism
“Can There Really Be Fascist People In A Democracy?”Since the 1971 Powell Memo, America has moved closer and closer to Fascism.
What Socialism Is, Has Changed
Democratic Socialism is about social responsibility for all citizens through expansion of democracy in both our political and economic systems. Continue reading
Replacing Current ABNORMAL With an IMPROVED NORMAL
We need a new and BETTER NORMAL that not only re-establishes what we’ve lost since the mid twentieth century, but includes FDR’s Second Bill of Rights (6.), and more. Continue reading
Fiscal Conservatism Has It’s Place – Just Not at the Federal Level
If the federal government were forced into fiscal conservatism and had to balance its budget instead of balancing the economy, our economy could not be rescued or protected from another financial crisis nor could it help solve national problems like it did after other Great Recessions, or needs to do now to minimize the Sixth Great Extinction. Continue reading
American Socialism – Equally Empowering and Protecting All US Citizens
(A cycle of building, destroying, and now renewing/expanding) Even before FDR’s socially responsible New Deal and laws passed since, corporations and excessively wealthy individuals have been stealthily working to put our democracy in chains by neutering the Federal government, eliminating … Continue reading
Posted in Corporate Intrusion, Protect & Empower
Tagged Privateering, The Powell Memo
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As a progressive, am I too extreme?
Am I too extreme to want representatives who will unabashedly speak out against all forms of economic injustice spawned by right-wing extremists and their belief that only the wealthy deserve government aid? Am I too extreme to want representatives who … Continue reading
Modern Money Theory/Practice – Fixing an Under-capacity Economy.
From Intro To Modern Money Theory: “Modern Monetary Theory is partly a description of how our modern fiat, floating exchange rate currencies actually work, and partly a prescription of what we ought to do with this knowledge. MMT realizes that … Continue reading
What I Would Teach a Child in My Care
That self-made individuals are a myth. That empathy is natural and requires nurturing. That we are all responsible for ourselves and each other. That equality is an honorable goal. That we must protect and preserve our common wealth for our … Continue reading
Growing Our Democracy, Economically, Is Key to It’s Survival!
This growth must go beyond reversing voter suppression, improving public education, and expanding civic participation. Maximizing the rule of democracy for our government of, by and for the PEOPLE must also include democratizing our economy. Record economic inequality must be … Continue reading
Bashing Loses – Speaking Values Wins
Complaining about the idiocy of the opposition is such a distraction – a waste of time – and provides little incentive for Democratic voter turnout. Democrats need to talk about how they will address the massive economic, social, racial, and … Continue reading
Protection, Empowerment, Freedom from Injustice, and Participation – Rebuilding the Middle Class
As an American Baby Boomer, I’ve lived under two different systems of government: Post depression/post WWII and pre 1980s government: Government of, by, and for the People requires: Government with the moral purpose to equally protect and empower ALL the … Continue reading
Two Definitions of Government – Progressive vs Corporate
This was a response to part of business editorial on DJT’s “Wheeling and Dealing” over the Carrier jobs. _______________________________________ I agree that DJT’s approach to governing is frightening. What I take issue with is this statement from the editorial: “The … Continue reading
Winning in Politics – Inspiring Your Supporters to Vote
Know Your Values and Frame the Debate Communicating Our American Values and Vision Why You Can’t Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th Century Brain The essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic The above list provides the subtitles … Continue reading
Checks and Balances – Supporting the United Steel Workers
The founders of America included a fundamental idea in our Constitution: checks and balances – one branch of government checks another. This important idea is basic to our way of life and applies to any situation where abuse of power … Continue reading
The Texas Democratic Party Wanted to Know …
I just responded to a Texas Democratic Party Survey. Here are their questions and my answers: What do you think we could have done differently? All organizations that are working to elect Democrats need to coordinate their activities to reduce … Continue reading
Functioning Democracies Require Citizen Participation and That …
Government is crucial for building a public infrastructure that equally protects and empowers every citizen Citizenship dues are necessary to fund this public infrastructure and that these dues are in proportion to the use of said infrastructure so as to … Continue reading
Contested Concepts – The “O” Word
The following quote is from a blog posting by Marc Farinella : “Two final points from Lakoff; here’s the first: Don’t be fooled by contested concepts,which are abstract ideals such as fairness, justice, caring, equality, and liberty that appear to … Continue reading
We Are All Born Equal — Just Not With Equal Opportunity
Progressives claiming that right-wing authoritarians are irrational is like right-wing authoritarians claiming minorities are mentally inferior to whites. They both ignore basic biology. The human brain works the exact same away in every human without physical brain damage. This is … Continue reading
Unions Must Lead The Fight Against Climate Disruption
Demand freedom from Climate disruption – increased weather extremes and human costs resulting from significant, unseen, and rampant releases of greenhouse gasses. ———————————– Naomi Klein spoke to the members of UNIFOR, a new mega union created by the Canadian Autoworkers … Continue reading
America’s Two Party System – The Good, Bad, and The Really Ugly
First of all, a short summary of The Lucifer Effect. It explains how events like Mi Lai, Abu Ghraib, and The Stanford Prison Experiment turned good people evil. Part of this explanation involves “bad barrels.” A bad barrel is an … Continue reading
Posted in Authoritarianism, Corporate Intrusion, Protect & Empower
Tagged Bad Barrel
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What’s Really Best for an ‘Unwanted’?
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks … Continue reading
Avoiding The Right-wing Authoritarian Future – The Moral Values Way
(Unless otherwise noted, this posting includes extensive excerpts from Appendix VII, The New Patriotism, of the The 15% Solution, by ‘Jonathan Westminster,’ which is a penname for Steven Jonas. The second edition of this book that was just published, does … Continue reading
Moral Values of the Left and Right – History Shows Which Works for All Americans
Throughout this blog, postings have provided details about the strict father and nurturant parent worldviews. Charts in some of those postings show how the dominance of one or the other of these two worldviews affects our economy. Not only did … Continue reading
Corporate Governance Erodes Democracy As Education is Privatized
Corporate governance destroys democracy by replacing accountability to citizens with accountability to a few major stockholders and boards of directors who want reduced costs and increased profits. This change in accountability means moral values, such as protecting and empowering/educating citizens, … Continue reading
Citizenship Dues and Non-profit Investing – Creating and Maintaining the Middle Class
Our recent history shows us how we created and maintained a prosperous middle class and still had a Forbes 400 to write about. The Greatest Generation can add this to their list of accomplishments. Not only is average per capita … Continue reading
The Price of Our Freedoms – Our Children’s Lives?, Our Representative Government?
Based on the recent writings of Professor George Lakoff and the Newtown statements from our President, I posted the following to FB to contrast the conservative without conscience (CWC) and progressive moral values on the recent shootings in Newtown, CT. … Continue reading
Corporate Governance of Social Security & Medicare – An Abominable Idea for Senior Welfare
I’ve sent the following to President Obama via the White House contact web site: You might consider doing something similar to counter all the fiscal cliff fear mongering we will hear for the next several weeks. —————————————————————————————- RE: Fiscal Cliff … Continue reading
What’s It Gonna Be: Representative Governance or Corporate Governance?
Part of President Obama’s 2012 nomination acceptance speech made reference to the different visions and choices for our future. “And on every issue, the choice you face won’t just be between two candidates or two parties. It will be a … Continue reading
Moral Principles – What Conservatives Know and Progressives Take for Granted
Recent political ads lie about President Obama and his suggestions to the states on the national welfare program. As stated in a recent Truthout article, the producers of these ads are targeting “white working class voters” who harbor “deep resentment … Continue reading
Our Empathy and Education Deficits – Nurtured by Right-wing Authoritarians, But Beatable
The two deficits, their causes, and solutions summarized below from writings by former Senator Barack Obama and Professor Henry Giroux, author of many books including Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism, are much more critical to America’s future than the deficit … Continue reading
Posted in Authoritarianism, Empathy
Tagged Fascism - Here?, Fear Mongering, Noble Lie
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Why Scott Walker Won and a Book for Future Progressive Victories
In a recent article by George Lakoff, the author explains how Republicans won the message war and confirmed Scott Walker as the governor of Wisconsin. “Where progressives argued policy — the right to collective bargaining and the importance of public … Continue reading
President Obama Should Meet with Some of the 99%
Here is a letter I sent to the White House today: RE: Dinner with OWS members Mr. President, In the past, you have offered to sit down at dinner with a few of those who have contributed to your election … Continue reading
What is Your Fair Share of American Citizenship Dues and Why Should You Pay?
In my previous article, I pointed out how significant revenue helped to not only reduce our massive WWII debt, but also created jobs through building national infrastructure, providing college educations to millions of GIs, and paying for several trips to … Continue reading
The “Empathy Deficit” and the Growth of American Authoritarianism
The following is a letter I sent to President Obama via their contact page at the White House. In 2006, you spoke about the “empathy deficit.” You said, “There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. … Continue reading
What’s It Take to Win in 2012? More About ‘We’
It will take winning back the swing/independent/biconceptual/dual voters. They were influenced by the empathetic progressive messages in 2008 and by the fearful conservatives-without-conscience messages in 2010. For 2012, the progressive message should be, “The Country We Believe In.” It should … Continue reading
Progressive Facts Are Lost on CWCs, But Biconceptuals Can Understand
Communicating a progressive worldview requires telling a story and countering the “Nobel Lies,” or beliefs, from the CWCs (conservatives without conscience) with facts. For progressives to win back the “biconceptuals,” who are typically referred to as “independents” and recently supported … Continue reading
Posted in Empathy
Tagged Individual or Systemic Causation, You're on your own
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Hundreds of Millions of Consumers Create Jobs – Not Millions in Tax Breaks for the Mega and Ultra Rich
Conservatives without conscience (CWC) are imagining that the mega and ultra rich will create jobs if they are certain they can keep their excessive tax breaks. The only thing certain about job creation is – it’s not happening. First of … Continue reading
Love Rachel Maddow – But for a Progressive Program, There Is Too Much Conservative Worldview
The brain learns by repetition. The more repetition the more, and stronger, the links between neurons for remembering those repeated items. Adding NOT to a conservative statement only reenforces the neural connections for it. Nixon said, “I’m not a crook.” … Continue reading
“When people are voting against their interests, more interest-based arguments don’t help.”
Do you wonder why Democrats have gone from a significant victory in 2008 to looking at big losses in Congress in 2010? Do you wonder what it is the Republicans know and what the Democrats need to learn to avoid … Continue reading
Respecting the Beliefs of Others – If Lebanese Can Do It, Why Can’t Americans?
The population of Lebanon is 95 percent Arab and is mostly of the Muslim faith with a large Christian population, but only around 200 Jews: Muslim 59.7% (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite or Nusayri), Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, … Continue reading
Trust Requires Accessibility and Accountability
At the end of today’s GPS on CNN, Fareed Zakaria, posed the following question, “Who do you trust more these days? Government or big business?” I have more trust for our government, as represented by our elected representatives, to do … Continue reading
Progressives Want Protection not Just from WMDs, but PMDs and LMDs
(This article is dedicated to the former Libertarian in our software development team who just retired and has provided the seed for other postings.) To what extent should the government protect its citizens? Conservatives without Conscience (CWCs), including Libertarians, want … Continue reading
Redistribution of America’s Income – More for The Mega Rich or the Common Wealth?
In summary, America’s common wealth has been hit by a triple whammy: tax cuts for the rich far larger that can be considered fair, tax refunds to the rich via privateering, and by a shift of household income into the excessively reduced upper tax brackets. In addition, accountability for the nation’s common wealth has been transferred from our elected representatives and handed over to rich individuals mostly accountable to themselves and corporate CEOs who are only accountable to shareholders. The ultimate effect of all this transfer of wealth and accountability is that our government less able to protect and empower its citizens.
It’s time we all realize that privateering and tax cuts favoring the very wealthy are not what America needs. Just look at where they have gotten us – The Great Recession, a growing plutocracy, consumer debt at 100 percent of GDP, banks too big to fail, and ultimately the deaths of fellow citizens. Continue reading
American Health Care Emergency – Winning Health Insurance Reform
The following was based on a new article by George Lakoff. Populating the Administration with people from inside the beltway will help in some ways and hurt in others. Progressives are losing the health care reform effort because the inside … Continue reading
Freedom Isn’t Free – What Are We Willing to Pay For It?
Before deciding what freedom is worth to us in this time of financial catastrophe and preemptive war, let’s take a look at what freedom was worth to another generation of Americans. The table below shows the U.S. tax rates and … Continue reading
Total Gangster Government vs. Total Gangster Corporatism
I made the following statements at the end of an exchange with a libertarian coworker on one of current favorite fear phrases of Conservatives without Conscience – Gangster Government. Here is how I see our disagreement. You believe free enterprise … Continue reading
Causation – Paying Taxes Contributes to Everyone’s Success
… paying taxes supports America’s infrastructure and improves the chances of success for all citizens. However, cutting taxes, as the CWCs suggest, especially for the mega rich, only increases the chances of success of the mega rich. Continue reading
Banks Too Big to Fail, Criminals Too High-up to Prosecute – What CWCs Brought Us To and What to Do About It
The title says a lot about where we were going during the few last decades of rule by conservatives without conscience (CWC). It also suggests there is something we can do about it. What is it about the CWCs that … Continue reading
Empathy – Why Is It Under Attack by the CWCs?
Here are samples of how conservatives without conscience (CWC) are responding to the word “empathy.” Be A Good Republican: Attack Empathy, Defend Torture Jeff Sessions Claims He Doesn’t Know What Empathy Is Steele: ‘Crazy nonsense empathetic!’ GOP freaks out as … Continue reading
Employee Free Choice Act – Ron Paul and I Disagree
In late March, I received the following response from Congressman Ron Paul to my request to support the EFCA: Dear Mr. Hailey: Thank you for contacting my office regarding my position on collective bargaining. Please be assured, I do support … Continue reading
Progressives, “Conservatives Without Conscience” and Checks and Balances
Institutions, which humans create, tend to reflect the values of the humans that created/control them. These institutions can be corrupt and harmful or they can do good. The difference is whether the individuals in charge of the institution feel empathy … Continue reading
Employee Free Choice Act – Shifting the Balance of Power, Just a Little
In 1983, two groups of aerospace employees had just had their benefits reduced and were told about it after the fact and in a very cavalier manner by senior management. Soon after, salt was rubbed into the wound when the … Continue reading
Dear Conservative Without a Conscience – A Post ‘Stimulus Law’ Letter
Republican Senator/Congressman: You may be dependent on the voters in your state, but you are a senator in our nation’s congress. You don’t just represent your state. You represent all of we the people and that should have more weight … Continue reading
Just call me Comrade . . .
IF you define socialism as any form of taking tax money from people to provide services and infrastructure, YOU really don’t understand what Socialism actually is. You are dependent on society and society takes care of many of your needs without you even thinking about it. Continue reading
Common Wealth – Key to Our Democracy and Threatened by a Growing Aristocracy
” … to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race of life. “ In my previous posting, I provided a list of critical factors that compare … Continue reading
Family Models and The Market – More on Our Two Political Worldviews
In my previous post, I reviewed the conservative and progressive worldviews from a historical and family model perspective. In this posting, I review these two worldviews according to set of critical factors and how they help define each worldview. This … Continue reading
Two Worldviews – A History, Two Ideal Family Models and The Role of Empathy
In my article on November 12, 2008, I discussed the need to build a progressive empathetic foundation to at least match if not surpass the well developed and obesely funded conservative single-party foundation that brought us torture, preemptive war and … Continue reading
Caring as a National Policy – What Empathy Can Bring Back to America
The talk of change is all around. We are seeing its potential in the transition from one president to the next. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of change that will rekindle the ideas of our founding fathers and their … Continue reading
Posted in Authoritarianism, Nurturant State
Tagged You're on your own
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Turning Point – From Exposing the “Conservatives Without Conscience” Single-party State to an Empathetic State
The primary effort of this blog, with the help of John Dean, Robert Altemeyer, Shadia Drury, Philip Zimbardo and many others, has been about our close call with becoming a single-party state under the likes of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, … Continue reading
Who Should Pay for the Mistakes of Our Leaders and Their Rich Friends?
If I made a major decision that I later came to regret because it is costing me much more than I can manage while still living my life of ‘luxury,’ what options do I have. Should I ask strangers to … Continue reading
Posted in Nurturant State, Personal
Tagged Mega Rich RWA, Unitary Executive
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Tea Bagger 7 Step Program – Replacing Fear with Understanding
The following is extrapolated from an article by Dr. Phil. 1) Acknowledge the purpose. Why do you do it? You have to be able to answer that question. Is it to help you deal with anxiety and stress? It may … Continue reading
Posted in Empathy, Incomplete
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