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Was H Rap Brown being historic or prophetic when he made 2022-12-07 62 - 1 theory
Job's Friends - preachers of the oldest religion on earth! 2022-10-30 5565 - 19 15 568 theory
What's different about dictators and mass shooters? 2022-10-30 7198 - 40 9 1807 theory
Was H Rap Brown being historic or prophetic when he made 2022-10-30 244 - 2 769 theory
soldiers be content with your wages 2022-10-30 212 - 3 205 theory
Bush won by 359 votes in 2000, Trump by 78000 votes in 2022-10-28 479 - 16 2 367 theory
The desire for a hereditary nobility, like that of the 2022-10-27 820 - 2 267 theory
Why did George Washington wear an apron to lay the 2022-10-13 8044 - 94 30 1475 theory
How did rich Southern slaveowners get poor whites to fight 2022-10-07 13477 - 133 59 4715 theory
How does the devil corrupt politicians? It's easy - 2022-08-01 7328 - 173 22 2484 theory
“People every week fill the tank. They see these big 2022-07-10 13 - theory
How minority rule works - 2022-07-10 15 - theory
Why America's founders embraced the Enlightenment ideal 2022-05-05 14 - theory
No different from 1860, really - 2022-05-03 8722 - 2 1 1064 theory
All politics is personal? 2022-04-08 7 - theory
Precepts of Rule of Law that you might hope that anybody 2022-03-07 6 - theory
Political credos for Trumpists, traditional GOP, and Rule 2022-03-07 5 - theory
we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes 2022-02-27 8 - theory
Men are qualified for liberty, in exact proportion to 2022-02-08 5 - theory
Epistemological disputes on rural main streets - 2022-01-27 6 - theory
It's time to realize that the big issue of 2022 and 2024 2022-01-16 8 - theory
If you read the words of the men who appear on America's 2022-01-07 5 - theory

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UPDATED Tue Jul 30 05:07:42 PM PDT 2024

==========


Was H Rap Brown being historic or prophetic when he made
headlines in the 1960's?

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rap_Brown

Historic AND prophetic, it turned out - looking back to
Judge Lynch of the American Revolution -

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch_(judge)

and forward to the Capitol Insurrection of Jan 6, not to
mention the sad and violent trajectory of Brown's personal
life after his 15 minutes of fame were over.

==

One of the inducements offered by rich white planters to
poor whites to get the poor whites to protect the rich
whites, was to offer unlimited violent recreation against
black people.      It was a matter of LAW that it was
not possible for a slaveowner to commit a crime against
a slave -

 https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/thomas-ruffin-1787-1870/

and a matter of CUSTOM that no white people were prosecuted
or convicted for crimes against black people.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_discrimination_in_jury_selection#History

And since the KKK terrorized white people as well as black
people, and sheriffs running for election had to be careful
not to annoy any powerful clans, it was inevitable that
only an external intervention by the Federal government
could break the back of segregation and all its ills.
That was due to an unusual coincidence of JFK, MLK,
and LBJ that made it possible to enact the civil rights
and voting rights acts of the 1960's against the KKK and
their enablers.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/1619/lomax.html

The Dixiecrats have been trying to undo that legacy
ever since, and with a reactionary Supreme Court, they
eventually will.   It's obvious that the Trumpists will
never alienate their base by enacting voting rights or
civil rights for anybody else.    The only solution might
be regional federalism

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html

so the minority can live and pay their way and the majority
can live and pay its way.

==

About political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rap_Brown

=====

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==========


Job's Friends - preachers of the oldest religion on earth!

Job's own final theology is difficult and has had only
limited uptake over millenia - especially among poor
people who realize why the rich and powerful are always
preaching it.

But no matter what their nominal creed, the rich and
powerful of all times and places mostly embrace the
theology of Job's friends because it's so convenient for
them -

God is good and rewards good people and punishes bad
people.  THEREFORE if I am rich and powerful and you are
poor and weak, it is because you are a bad person punished
by God.  FURTHERMORE it would be counter to God's will
for me to help you, so I shouldn't and won't.

Of course, bad things happen to good people all the time
- some due to bad luck in an unpredictable universe, but
often due to acts of free will by other people.  God gave
man reason and free will - made him a little lower than
the angels.    But will is not free unless it is free to
choose to do good or evil.      And many people choose
evil, some knowingly, some not.       Either way, it's
not God's will - it's theirs.  But the rich and powerful
would rather that the poor and weak not reflect on that.

So they invented a divine right of kings, which by
extension applies to all the rich and powerful - it's God's
will! - to choose leaders for the people who will carry out
God's will for the people, for the benefit of the people.
Of course the briefest examination of history shows that
kings and dictators choose themselves by exercise of their
own free will, often by killing their rivals, to carry
out their own will, for their own benefit.

So Constantine, Hitler, Stalin, and Putin found church
leaders who would - by their own free will - endorse them
as God's choice - in return for advantages - often an
exclusive franchise enforced by the state.  So religion
is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions -
but only for the people at the bottom, never the people
at the top.   Socialism for the rich, free enterprise for
the poor!

And in our present day, tax enforcement for the poor,
tax avoidance for the rich.  It's God's will!

 https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/politics/rick-scott-rescue-america-plan-gop/index.html

 https://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/t_share/MTc2NDU4MDc5MDU4NjY2NzA5/unveiling-the-hidden-truth-of-the-book-of-job.jpg

==

More about political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

=====

comments 19
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==========


What's different about dictators and mass shooters?

For everybody, thrice a day meals must be eaten and
digested: thrice a century a new generation must be
engendered

 https://www.bartleby.com/157/3.html

But animals have the same needs.   What distinguishes
humans?

death above all, make them slaves of reality

Consciousness of death has led men to seek immortality of
some kind.  Most women have the option of bearing children.
So it's no coincidence that mass killers of strangers are
almost always men, whether emperors or lone wolves.

Although most spiritual traditions emphasize humility and
disregard for worldly success, the desire for immortality
seems - immortal.    Roman emperors announced that they
were immortal gods - and then died like everybody else.
How many can you name?  What's worse than being dead?
Being forgotten!

==

So from time immemorial, dictators have ignored the
uncertain immortality offered by religion - which many such
leaders profess to defend, perhaps for political reasons -
in favor of striving to avoid the fate of Ozymandias -

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias

Most strove, and strive, and will strive, in vain.
Putin is the latest to launch perhaps endless wars, perhaps
nuclear, in hopes of being remembered as long as Stalin,
Hitler, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, or Alexander.  Who cares
how many nameless losers perish in terrible mortality,
if the leader gains immortality.

 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-rues-soviet-collapse-demise-historical-russia-2021-12-12/

==

And now we have our secular culture that embraces celebrity
in all forms - from sports and entertainment stars to
social media influencers to presidents.    No wonder some
of the losers in the fame and fortune game pick up guns
to set things straight.   it's better than being forgotten!

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/opinion/mass-shooters-motive.html

It's not insanity.    The insanity is the celebrity
culture that breeds them.  If you can't get at least the
immortality of Ozymandias, maybe you can get on the front
page and cable news for a day or two!    More if you set
a new world record for single-handed civilian slaughter.
And thus the highest of the high and the lowest of the low
meet and sometimes collide in their quests for unachievable
immortality.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bremer

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassins_(musical)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Lucheni

==

More on political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/opinion/mass-shooters-motive.html

=====

comments 40
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==========


Was H Rap Brown being historic or prophetic when he made
headlines?

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rap_Brown

violence is as American as cherry pie

Historic AND prophetic, it turned out - looking back to
Judge Lynch of the American Revolution -

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch_(judge)

and forward to the Capitol Insurrection of Jan 6, not to
mention the sad and violent trajectory of Brown's personal
life after his 15 minutes of fame were over.

==

One of the inducements offered by rich white planters to
poor whites to get the poor whites to protect the rich
whites, was to offer unlimited violent recreation against
black people.      It was a matter of LAW that it was
not possible for a slaveowner to commit a crime against
a slave -

 https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/thomas-ruffin-1787-1870/

and a matter of CUSTOM that no white people were prosecuted
or convicted for crimes against black people.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_discrimination_in_jury_selection#History

And since the KKK terrorized white people as well as black
people, and sheriffs running for election had to be careful
not to annoy any powerful clans, it was inevitable that
only an external intervention by the Federal government
could break the back of segregation and all its ills.
That was due to an unusual coincidence of JFK, MLK,
and LBJ that made it possible to enact the civil rights
and voting rights acts of the 1960's against the KKK and
their enablers.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/1619/lomax.html

The Dixiecrats have been trying to undo that legacy
ever since, and with a reactionary Supreme Court, they
eventually will.   It's obvious that the Trumpists will
never alienate their base by enacting voting rights or
civil rights for anybody else.    The only solution might
be regional federalism

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html

so the minority can live and pay their way and the majority
can live and pay its way.

==

More about political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rap_Brown

=====

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==========


soldiers be content with your wages

When John the Baptist offered that advice, was he
speaking about economic inequality in the Roman Empire?
Probably not.

He might have been referring to the always implicit,
sometimes explicit motivation for military service - in
most times and places - freedom to murder, rape, pillage,
and burn.         We can read about it in Homer, hear
about it in Verdi's Il Trovatore

 https://www.opera-arias.com/verdi/il-trovatore/libretto/english/

see about it in Two Women

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Women

based on history

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marocchinate

and it's disputed whether French Marshal Juin promised to
look the other way -

For fifty hours you will be the absolute masters of what
you will find beyond the enemy. Nobody will punish you for
what you will do, nobody will ask you about what you will
get up to.

- if the Moroccans were successful on Monte Cassino -
as they were, climbing rocky mountains in the dark and
dispatching German sentries with knifes rather than guns,
for stealth.

==

And today, it's part of the unspoken premise of the Wagner
Group - from Africa to Ukraine.

 https://nypost.com/2022/02/24/wagner-group-private-mercenaries-fighting-in-ukraine/

So 2000 years later, soldiers are not content with
their wages, and expect their historic fringe benefits
to continue.

==

And it's not just far away.     One of the inducements
offered by rich white planters to poor whites to protect
them, was to offer unlimited violent recreation against
black people.      It was a matter of LAW that it was
not possible for a slaveowner to commit a crime against
a slave,

 https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/thomas-ruffin-1787-1870/

and a matter of CUSTOM that no white people were prosecuted
or convicted for crimes against black people.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_discrimination_in_jury_selection#History

==

More about political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marocchinate

=====

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==========


Bush won by 359 votes in 2000, Trump by 78000 votes in
2016, Biden by 43000 votes in 2020.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-election.html

Such big change resting on such small shifts is not healthy
for democracy.”

 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/10/politics-stress-swing-states-elections/671729/

The knife-edge instability of our political system - based
on an equal number of solid red and solid blue states and
districts, plus a tiny number of closely contestable states
and districts -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-tossups.html

has proven to be an irresistible temptation to do anything
to win, from the Brooks Brothers Riot -

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot

to the Jan 6 insurrection -

 https://news.yahoo.com/watch-live-jan-6-hearing-house-select-committee-trump-capitol-riot-140037781.html

Interestingly, dirty-trickster Roger Stone was involved
in both affairs.  He pled the Fifth.

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322177/Pardoned-Trump-ally-Roger-Stone-pleads-fifth-January-6-committee.html

==

More about political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/10/politics-stress-swing-states-elections/671729/i

=====

comments 16
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==========


The desire for a hereditary nobility, like that of the
Cavaliers who brought their medieval culture to America,
especially in the South,

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed

has been an issue in America from the beginning.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_the_Cincinnati#Membership_rules

 https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/was-george-washington-really-offered-king-us.htm

The opposing desire to elevate earned merit, rather than
inherited wealth or lineage, is just as old.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Beta_Kappa

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#North_America

Nowadays the GOP cleverly arouses its voters against an
imagined liberal elite, that somehow secretly controls
every aspect of government, education, culture, and media,
while defending its megadonors' real wealth and power,
whether earned or inherited,

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/top-election-donors-2022/

by such means as nominally progressive taxation which
is actually regressive in practice - how much do YOU
know about carried interest or pass-through deduction?
Your senator knows - educated by his major donors if
necessary!       Accompanied by intense opposition to
enabling the IRS to audit wealthy GOP megadonors

 https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-congress-business-government-and-politics-0f645387cac1ebbe1551f95524cf3ce1

And equally intense opposition to estate and wealth taxes
on those same megadonors.

 https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/gop-lawmakers-push-to-permanently-eliminate-estate-tax

They used to be quiet about it -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#gop

but no more!

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/27/republican-midterm-debates-abortion-trump/

==

Inherited wealth inequality was just as hot an issue for
Sam and John Adams!

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/26/john-samuel-adams-thomas-hutchinson-elites/

And for the same reasons.

==

More on political scrapbook at

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

=====

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==========


Why did George Washington wear an apron to lay the
cornerstone of the United States Capitol in 1793?

When we ask What's wrong with Trump and Trumpists and
Trumpism? - it's not just high crimes and misdemeanors
against the Constitution, or violent insurrection against
the Capitol where Washington laid the cornerstone, but
also mortal sins betraying the Enlightenment ideals of
America's founders.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-enlightenment.html

#PS1theory

=====

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==========


How did rich Southern slaveowners get poor whites to fight
for slavery, against their own interests?

The same way that GOP megadonors and politicians get poor
whites to vote for benefits to billionaires, against their
own interests.

It's a matter of making elections SEEM to be about culture
war issues that the voters have gotten excited about,
thanks to years of megadonor funded propaganda -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#gop

when the elections are really about preserving and
increasing the power of the megadonor class.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html

Thus Trump started out campaigning for a fairly radical
change in income tax to benefit the middle class,
but quickly lost interest and happily signed off on
billionaire tax relief delivered by Mitch McConnell,
then bragged about it at Mar-a-Lago -

 https://www.one-flat-tax.net/

=====

Only 27 percent of registered voters identify as
liberal. But 62 percent of Americans want to raise taxes
on millionaires. An even greater number — 71 percent —
approve of labor unions. And 83 percent support raising
the federal minimum wage.

Those are very liberal Democratic objectives,
overwhelmingly popular with most Republican voters - but
the GOP megadonors say no, so the GOP politicians piously
talk about the burden of the federal deficit, even while
adding to it with job creator billionaire tax relief.
And so they have to find something else to distract
the voters.

=====

Frederick Douglass understood all this 150 years ago.
Barack Obama came to the same conclusions 30 years ago and
worked out a plan that might address it.     It involves
seeking racial justice as a byproduct of economic justice
for everybody.       Thus rather than reparations for black
people, which is a non-starter in a majority white country,
a guaranteed annual income for everybody, such as

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-ubi.html

Obama realized that counting on judges to deliver policy
victories was a poor substitute for a political realignment
and we see now what a dead-end that is.

Many Trump voters in 2016 had voted for Obama in 2012.
They're still feeling left out.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/trump.html#First%20Trump%20Constituency

Eventually the GOP might elect another unlucky Herbert
Hoover whose bad luck with the world economy might drive
blue-collar workers back to the Democrats.      Obama was
hopeful that the Democrats can get their act together
without waiting that long.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/opinion/obama-lost-book-manuscript.html

Democrats exist because the country belongs to all of us,
not just the 1 percent. With this guiding principle in
mind, everything else becomes easier — picking fights
that focus the media spotlight on a game that’s rigged
in favor of the rich; calling the bluff of right-wing
populists who can’t stomach a capital-gains-tax hike;
corralling activists in support of the needs of working
people; and, ultimately, putting power back in the hands
of ordinary Americans.

==

More about political scrapbook at

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

=====

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==========


How does the devil corrupt politicians?    It's easy -
just whisper in their ears I know that this is really
important but there’s a thing I care about more, and if
I am not in office … I won’t be able to do that thing
I care about more.   And so step by step, compromise by
compromise,  the idealism that motivated a person to go
into politics to do good, becomes a motivation to stay in
office by any means necessary.

Henry Clay said I'd would rather be right than be president
and perhaps he meant it.     As the  Great Compromiser,
he did a lot of good - helped defer the Civil War for 40
years - but had many faults and blind spots.

 https://politicaldictionary.com/words/id-rather-be-right/

In our day we have Liz Cheney.     She has plainspokenly
rejected the advice of the devil echoed by most of her GOP
colleagues, yet without compromising any of her genuine
conservative principles.    She's decided she'd rather
be right than re-elected.      This show of character is
so threatening to her GOP colleagues that they can't stop
denouncing her, worse than Democrats ever did.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/opinion/liz-cheney-trump-jan-6.html

One of Clay's successors, Sam Rayburn, was famous for
saying if you want to get along, go along.     What would
he have done today?       We know which whispered voice
Kevin McCarthy and most of his caucus follow.   If they
are successful they will achieve historical notoriety  for
destroying  American democracy, forever stained by their
embrace of lies and corruption, while Liz Cheney might
appear in some future version of Profiles in Courage.
The survival of democracy and rule of law depend both on
constitutional structures and the characters of individuals
who choose whether to support or ignore those structures.

More about political scrapbook -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

=====

comments 173
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title "Opinion | Liz Cheney Is Prepared to Lose Power, and It Shows"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1722010971476748

==========


“People every week fill the tank. They see these big
prices”

 https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/04/will-gas-prices-get-republicans-control-of-the-u-s-house/

People who don't follow politics - or economics -
can read the price on the pump and be unhappy and vote
the rascals out.       The great thing for those on the
outside is that they only have to provide a sympathetic
ear and a promise to DO SOMETHING.   They don't have to
have an actual credible solution to a global problem.
Of course that will come back to bite them in two years if
the problem still isn't solved by unpredictable external
world events.  All they can do is blame their predecessors
and hope for the best.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
impactrate 0
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posted 2022-07-10
reactrate 0
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title “People every week fill the tank. They see these big
topic theory
wordrate 0
words 109
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posted "07/10/2022 19:07"
reach 13
title "Midterm forecast: Gas prices get GOP control of U.S. House"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1705831329761379

==========


How minority rule works -

Norquist's tax pledge was a neat way to synchronize the
interests of the very rich and the defiant antigovernment
streak of the white middle class

See Albion's Seed for the influence of the English
cavaliers and borderlanders that persists to this day.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion's_Seed

Striking back against a distant oppressive government
was the way that the rich white southern slaveowners (and
their local oppressive government) got the poor whites to
fight for slavery. Then they didn't point out that slavery
decreased the value of free white labor.   Now they don't
point out (unless they are Rick Scott) that the whole point
of no new taxes (and government shutdowns over budget) is
to undo the safety net entitlements - medicaid, obamacare,
medicare, social security. So now should Democrats try
to harness the outrage over abortion by putting tests
to candidates?   After all, in 2018 MeToo energy helped
propel many Democrats into Congress.     But not enough
to make enough difference.

One way to frame such a test - Do you need to conduct a
poll to decide whether there is a constitutional right
to privacy?

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/opinion/democrats-abortion-midterms.html

The radical right is clear that their intent is to undo
everything that depends on an imputed right of privacy,
including contraception and extramarital sex.    And move
on to Independent State Legislatures that are gerrymandered
to perfect one-party rule - as was the case in the South
for a century.    And from there to an imperial presidency
- for Republican presidents.    They have the Supreme Court
they need to do all this.    And it appears they have the
Senate enablers too.

Maybe these kinds of tests can help motivate the left wing
of the Democrats to vote instead of staying home.

Test questions are a way of simplifying complicated issues
into a form that casual voters who don't follow politics
can grasp. So they are invariably over-simplified. These
kinds of tests are designed to make sure that single-issue
voters stay excited enough to go and vote.    There is
seldom any chance that they would go vote for the
opposition.

One could say that part of the Democrats' problem is that
their voters aren't as doggedly single-issue oriented as
Republicans' voters.    And the single issue that does
motivate swing voters the most is - gas prices - a global
problem.  Which Democrats can't do much about quickly, and
neither can Republicans. But educated suburban voters that
Democrats target are much more likely to vote Republican
if unhappy, whereas unhappy Republicans just stay home.

Democrats have to do it the hard way, upholding the rule
of law, eschewing outright lies.     But to do it the GOP
way is to surrender.   Then we might as well have just
one party.     Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer!

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
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posted 2022-07-10
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posted "07/10/2022 18:07"
reach 15
title "Opinion | Democrats Can Win if They Embrace the Politics of Fear"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1705809053096940

==========


Why America's founders embraced the Enlightenment ideal
of separation of church and state.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/05/kirill-bartholomew-orthodox-church-putin/

They had their own examples in their day, but today
we have the Russian Orthodox Church supporting Russia
politically and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church supporting
Ukraine politically.     When church and state prostitute
themselves together, both are degraded.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
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posted 2022-05-05
reactrate 0
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title Why America's founders embraced the Enlightenment ideal
topic theory
wordrate 0
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posted "05/05/2022 20:05"
reach 14
title "Opinion | Russia’s assault on Ukraine is entwined with a religious war"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1657783021232877

==========


No different from 1860, really -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#political%20ideology%20for%20the%20masses

In 2019 Trumpists pretended to be outraged by the New York
Times suggestion that American history started in 1619.

Where had they been?       This was old news in reactionary
Virginia school textbooks in 1957 and liberal civil rights
activist speeches in 1965.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/1619/

Of course, the outraged were not interested in historical
accuracy, only in a present-day culture wars wedge issue
to indoctrinate the masses.

More here -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html

#PS1theory

=PS1boost

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/1619/

=====

comments 2
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rcs 5
reach 8722
reactions 2
sharesimpress 1
title "1619 - an Eventful Year for America"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1656318428046003

==========


All politics is personal?

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/08/conservatives-liberals-personal-is-political/

It's definitely the case that swing voters in swing
states don't follow politics much and usually vote their
pocketbooks.      That's going to be bad for any party
in power during rising inflation, even if it's global.
FDR finally had to impose wage and price controls.  If the
war continues, will Biden?

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
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posted 2022-04-08
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wordrate 0
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posted "04/08/2022 20:04"
reach 7
title "Opinion | Liberals forgot the personal is political. But conservatives didn’t."
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1638448956499617

==========


Precepts of Rule of Law that you might hope that anybody
who cherishes the Enlightenment ideals of America's
founders might embrace -

== Epistemology
       We affirm reason over superstition.  There is an
       objective reality that can be better understood by
       diligent study and empirical inquiry. Subjective
       ideas of reality are not equally valid nor equally
       worthy of study. By definition there is only one
       set of facts; there are no alternative facts.
       We affirm consideration of well-earned authority
       over unthinking deference to received wisdom from
       self-declared authority.  The truth of a person
       depends on the truth of what he says. The truth of
       a statement does NOT depend on the identity of the
       person who said it.  We affirm the Enlightenment
       ideals of America's founders.

== Rule of Law
       We affirm the Rule of Law and reject Cult of
       Personality.  Nobody is above the law and it applies
       to everybody equally.  Voluntary self-restraint
       is a foundation of liberty.  Individual rights
       only exist in the context of the rights of others.
       Long-standing precedents from the past should not be
       overturned without full and careful consideration,
       and similar consideration should precede new
       precedents set for the future.  We reject any
       and all political or financial support from
       racists, Nazis, fascists, communists, rioters,
       terrorists, insurrectionists, and individuals or
       organizations advocating or engaging in violence or
       attempting to overthrow government or change it by
       unconstitutional means, or knowingly disseminating
       blatant false propaganda to foment unrest.
       Established international borders must not be
       changed except by consent of all parties involved,
       and never by force or threat.

== Essence of America and Americanism
       We believe that human progress is possible for
       individuals and institutions, and reject the idea
       that all governments are corrupt and thus no one
       is better or worse than another.  America is an
       idea and an ideal, constantly striving toward
       more perfect realization - rather than a matter of
       ethnicity, sect, class, or other accident of birth.
       America honors personal and collective achievement
       rather than accident of birth.  We affirm equal
       political and economic opportunity for all
       and reject a hereditary political and economic
       nobility.  Concentration of power is inherently
       harmful. Ambition must be made to counteract
       ambition, in government, economy, media, and
       religion.  When church and state lie together,
       both are corrupted.

== Democracy
       Public service in a large complex society is a
       full-time job and a solemn responsibility, not
       an opportunity for self-enrichment. Statutory
       compensation should suffice, and all other
       prohibited.  It should be as easy as possible for
       every eligible voter to vote in every election.
       Every vote in an election counts equally.  Election
       administration must be scrupulously non-partisan
       and governed by law.

Comparisons to Trumpism at Precepts of Rule of Law that
you might hope that anybody who cherishes the Enlightenment
ideals of America's founders might embrace -

== Epistemology
       We affirm reason over superstition.  There is an
       objective reality that can be better understood by
       diligent study and empirical inquiry. Subjective
       ideas of reality are not equally valid nor equally
       worthy of study. By definition there is only one
       set of facts; there are no alternative facts.
       We affirm consideration of well-earned authority
       over unthinking deference to received wisdom from
       self-declared authority.  The truth of a person
       depends on the truth of what he says. The truth of
       a statement does NOT depend on the identity of the
       person who said it.  We affirm the Enlightenment
       ideals of America's founders.

== Rule of Law
       We affirm the Rule of Law and reject Cult of
       Personality.  Nobody is above the law and it applies
       to everybody equally.  Voluntary self-restraint
       is a foundation of liberty.  Individual rights
       only exist in the context of the rights of others.
       Long-standing precedents from the past should not be
       overturned without full and careful consideration,
       and similar consideration should precede new
       precedents set for the future.  We reject any
       and all political or financial support from
       racists, Nazis, fascists, communists, rioters,
       terrorists, insurrectionists, and individuals or
       organizations advocating or engaging in violence or
       attempting to overthrow government or change it by
       unconstitutional means, or knowingly disseminating
       blatant false propaganda to foment unrest.
       Established international borders must not be
       changed except by consent of all parties involved,
       and never by force or threat.

== Essence of America and Americanism
       We believe that human progress is possible for
       individuals and institutions, and reject the idea
       that all governments are corrupt and thus no one
       is better or worse than another.  America is an
       idea and an ideal, constantly striving toward
       more perfect realization - rather than a matter of
       ethnicity, sect, class, or other accident of birth.
       America honors personal and collective achievement
       rather than accident of birth.  We affirm equal
       political and economic opportunity for all
       and reject a hereditary political and economic
       nobility.  Concentration of power is inherently
       harmful. Ambition must be made to counteract
       ambition, in government, economy, media, and
       religion.  When church and state lie together,
       both are corrupted.

== Democracy
       Public service in a large complex society is a
       full-time job and a solemn responsibility, not
       an opportunity for self-enrichment. Statutory
       compensation should suffice, and all other
       prohibited.  It should be as easy as possible for
       every eligible voter to vote in every election.
       Every vote in an election counts equally.  Election
       administration must be scrupulously non-partisan
       and governed by law.

Comparisons to Trumpism at

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html

   America! America!  God mend thine every flaw, Confirm
   thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!

#PS1theory

=====

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title Precepts of Rule of Law that you might hope that anybody
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posted "03/07/2022 20:03"
reach 6
title "Political Credos"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1615965958747917

==========


Political credos for Trumpists, traditional GOP, and Rule
of Law -

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
impactrate 0
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posted 2022-03-07
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title Political credos for Trumpists, traditional GOP, and Rule
topic theory
wordrate 0
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epoch Lifetime
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posted "03/07/2022 11:03"
reach 5
title "Political Credos"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1615739808770532

==========


we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes
and our sacred Honor - Declaration of Independence

That's what patriots do.       They're doing it right now
in Ukraine, and shaming Europeans into action.     Germany,
for instance, long shamed for its historic crimes of
agression against democracy, has met the moment with a
realization that now is its time to champion democracy
against agression and support Ukraine in every possible
way.

But not everybody.   It's not what Putinist/Trumpist
Dixiecrat personality cultists do.      For them,
it's grab whatever you can and devil take the hindmost.
Other people's lives, other people's fortunes, and other
people's honor.      Only suckers put their own skin in
the game.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
impactrate 0
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posted 2022-02-27
reactrate 0
sharesrate 0
title we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes
topic theory
wordrate 0
words 114
epoch Lifetime
ID 1610580615953118
impress 9
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posted "02/27/2022 22:02"
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title ""
type Text
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1610580615953118

==========


Men are qualified for liberty, in exact proportion to
their disposition to put moral chains upon their own
appetites…men of intemperate minds cannot be free. -
Burke

Every GOP politician used to be able to quote Burke,
but that was before Thurmond, Gingrich, and Trump.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/opinion/spotify-joe-rogan-covid-free-speech.html

Self-restraint is a fundamental prerequisite for and basis
of liberty.      If everybody is free to do whatever they
want - eventually most people aren't free to do anything
they want.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
impactrate 0
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posted 2022-02-08
reactrate 0
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title Men are qualified for liberty, in exact proportion to
topic theory
wordrate 0
words 76
epoch Lifetime
ID 1597421327269047
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posted "02/08/2022 21:02"
reach 5
title "Opinion | America 2022: Where Everyone Has Rights and No One Has Responsibilities"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1597421327269047

==========


Epistemological disputes on rural main streets -

 https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-minnesota-religion-9574b717faebdba81f749a0501a8167b

And about Anthony Fauci -

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/01/27/fauci-pandemic-threats/

And about the Holocaust -

 https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/27/opinions/holocaust-remembrance-day-politicization-wilf/index.html

But it's a lost cause for a third of the electorate.
That third doesn't care about objective external reality,
only their internal feelings, and there is a huge media
industry built upon monetizing those feelings and legions
of self-serving opportunist politicians catering to that
third.     Historical revisionism doesn't bother any of
them at all - they embrace it - just as their spiritual
forebears did in Germany in the 1930's.

Epistemology is the essential political issue of 2022 and
2024 in America - and indeed worldwide - yet most voters
have never heard the word or thought about the issues.

How do we know WHAT is true?      How do we know what we
ourselves CAN determine the truth about?  How do we decide
WHO to believe?   Is it even possible for some sincere
assertions to be more true than others?         It's a
debate well known to ancient Greek philosophers and
revived in modern times with the Renaissance, leading to
the Enlightenment and ultimately the ideals of America's
founders - periodically waxing and waning with civil war,
great depression, Obama's election - and now Trumpism -
and Putin/Xi/Kim-isms.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
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posted "01/27/2022 07:01"
reach 6
title "Opinion: Politicizing the Holocaust dehumanizes us all"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1589079098103270

==========


It's time to realize that the big issue of 2022 and 2024
will not be Republican vs Democrat, or Conservative vs
Liberal, but Cult of Personality vs Rule of Law.

We already know what the Trumpist Dixiecrat platform will
be -

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-no-new-2020-platform-trump-agenda

Is it possible to draft a platform of rule-of-law
principles that can be endorsed by traditional conservative
Republicans as well as Democrats, Libertarians, and Greens?
They'll still be wildly different in their other ideologies
and legislative agendas, but can they endorse and support
some of these ideas?

===

=  We affirm reason over superstition.

= There is an objective reality that can be better
understood by diligent study and empirical inquiry.
Alternative ideas of reality are not equally valid or
equally worthy of study.      By definition there is only
one set of facts; there are no alternative facts.

= We affirm consideration of well-earned authority over
unthinking deference to received wisdom from self-declared
authority.

= The truth of a person depends on the truth of what
he says.       The truth of a statement does NOT depend
on the identity of the person who said it.

= We affirm the Enlightenment ideals of America's founders.

= We affirm the Rule of Law and reject Cult of Personality.

= Nobody is above the law and it applies to everybody
equally.

= We believe that human progress is possible for
individuals and institutions, and reject the idea that all
governments are corrupt and thus none better than another.

= America is an idea and an ideal, constantly striving
toward more perfect realization - rather than a matter of
ethnicity, sect, class, or other accident of birth.

= America honors personal and collective achievement rather
than accident of birth.

= We reject any and all political or financial support from
racists, Nazis, fascists, communists, rioters, terrorists,
insurrectionists, and individuals or organizations
advocating or engaging in violence or attempting to
overthrow government or change it by unconstitutional
means, or knowingly disseminating blatant false propaganda
to foment unrest.

= Voluntary self-restraint is a foundation of liberty.

= Individual rights only exist in the context of the rights
of others.

= Long-standing precedents from the past should not be
overturned without full and careful consideration, and
similar consideration should precede new precedents set
for the future.

= Public service is a full-time job and a burden, not an
opportunity for self-enrichment.   Statutory compensation
should suffice, and all other prohibited.

= It should be as easy as possible for every eligible
voter to vote in every election.

= Every vote in an election counts equally.

= Election administration must be scrupulously non-partisan
and governed by law.

= Concentration of political and economic power is
inherently harmful.

= We affirm equal political and economic opportunity
for all and reject a hereditary political and economic
nobility.

===

Is that enough, or too much?    Traditional conservatives
and libertarians might balk at the last two points.

It's an ideological and philosophical platform, not the
platform of a political party, though one would hope
that the Democrats and Greens would include all of it in
their platforms, and the Libertarians and anti-Trumpist
traditional conservatives most of it.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Union_Party_(United_States)

If Trumpism can be put into remission, then liberals and
conservatives can resume contention as usual over the best
practical methods to achieve common higher goals.

In contrast, the Trumpist platform consists of one simple
point -

= We affirm whatever Trump says.

But now DeSantis and maybe others are trying to advance
a slight modification -

= We affirm whatever Trump SHOULD HAVE SAID.

#PS1theory

=====

impact 0
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posted 2022-01-16
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title It's time to realize that the big issue of 2022 and 2024
topic theory
wordrate 0
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ID 1581405462203967
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posted "01/16/2022 00:01"
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title "National Union Party (United States) - Wikipedia"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1581405462203967

==========


If you read the words of the men who appear on America's
money, you find they all believed in God, but none were
Christian nationalists.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/jan-6-christian-nationalism.html

Christian nationalists were, however, an important part of
the Nazi and Fascist movements, the KKK - and even Putin's
party, and the rest of the European countries backsliding
toward autocracy.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/1619/lomax.html

Now Christian nationalism is one of the places
where reactionary voters meet reactionary donors meet
reactionary candidates, to plot the overthrow of America's
Enlightenment ideals, in order to preserve minority rule.

 https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html

#PS1theory

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/jan-6-christian-nationalism.html

=====

impact 0
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posted "01/07/2022 10:01"
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title "Opinion | Christian Nationalism Is One of Trump’s Most Powerful Weapons"
type Link
URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1575758812768632