Progressive Discussion Week-end Edition 2/11,12

Excellent article on the "madness" under which we are living. This paragraph really resonated with me...

One of the great achievements of free society in a stable democracy is that many people, for much of the time, need not think about politics at all. The president of a free country may dominate the news cycle many days — but he is not omnipresent — and because we live under the rule of law, we can afford to turn the news off at times. A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene. In that sense, it seems to me, we already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes. This is what I mean by the idea that we are living through an emergency."

from: nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/andrew-sullivan-the-madness-of-king-donald.html

Tell it like it is, Bernie . . .

“It is unconscionable that Republican Leader Mitch McConnell silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren because she read a letter from one of the great civil rights leaders, Coretta Scott King, in opposition to Jeff Sessions. When I read the same letter, no one prevented me from speaking. And when I asked to enter the entire text into the record, nobody objected. Sen. McConnell owes Sen. Warren an apology and of course she should participate in this important debate. In the U.S. Senate, you don’t ban a senator from engaging in debate. Donald Trump and Republicans are quickly moving us in an un-American and authoritarian direction. This cannot be allowed to take place in the Senate.” -- Senator Bernie Sanders

Good point, birdgal /Pat about the way Americans have been indoctrinated. I think you are right that we have been conditioned to think that the kind of things which have happened in other places could not happen here. Yet that is exactly the path we are going down right now. I have hope, however, because I do see a lot of people rising up and saying "No! We won't allow this to happen."  We must maintain the momentum of that movement, and not allow ourselves to become complacent.

I especially like the Aldous Huxley quote too.

Really interesting how so many loudly vocal Republicans kept shouting for the past few years how horrible Obamacare was, how everybody hated it, how it wasn't helping anyone despite not having any facts to back their assertions up, but somehow they "always" had heard horror stories about it (which they generated). Now, we're seeing the very vocal protests of ordinary citizens who as a rule don't get involved politically but are terrified now that Republicans dismantling Obamacare might come to pass and it would be devastating for these citizens. I live in a very red state with a Republican governor and Republican state legislature as well as federal legislators and senators. Yet, at a recent town hall not far from me the Republican Congresswoman was shouted down by very angry Republican voters because they do NOT want to lose Obamacare. In fact, she became so flustered by questions from people with cancer, etc. who were depending on Obamacare and grateful to have it that she finally had to say she couldn't answer their questions and conclude the meeting. And just to be clear, these were people who had voted Republican and who always vote Republican. Don't get me started on why they didn't stop to think about this before they cast their vote in the first place. I guess they were too busy dreaming about useless walls.