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President Barack Obama ended his first prime time press conference on the "I" word.
"When I hear people just saying we don't need to do anything...then what I get a sense of is that there is some ideological blockage there that needs to be cleared up."
The ideological blockage the President's talking about is about as big as it gets.
Whose nation is this, what's its treasure to be used for and who gets to decide? Essentially, that's the "blockage" we're talking about and it's the baggage our nation's been carrying around since its start.
When an earlier senator from Illinois gave what came to be known as the Gettysburg Address conservatives hated it.
As Willmoore Kendall, a leading conservative from the mid 1900s, wrote of Abraham Lincoln: "he attempted a new act of founding, involving a startling new interpretation of that principle of the founders which declared that all men are created equal."
"We should not allow him...to 'steal' the game," Kendall wrote. Kendall's quoted in Mike Lux's new book, The Progressive Revolution, just out.
As Lux points out, what conservatives hated about Gettysburg was the proposition that equality was a central principle of US government. They didn't like the idea of a government by a single people, rather than a collection of elites. They certainly rejected the notion that US government should be a government of the people, by the people for the people. They didn't like that.
Into the 21st Century, we're hardly beyond rule by elites. You only have to witness the victory of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, friend of elite bankers, over Congressional leaders and administration officials in designing the bank bailout to know that. (The second gush of bailout money up to elites will be as generous and un-onerous as the first -- at least on banks.)
Nor are we yet one nation -- at least when it comes to paying taxes. Not if the evasive habits of cabinet nominees are anything to go by.
But the notion that government has a responsibility to serve the common good -- by stimulus spending if necessary -- is exactly what has conservatives freaked. Private sector panic that government might spend to benefit the public: that's an ideological blockage that's as old as the country itself.
Looking back, the picture's not pretty. After Gettysburg came a spurt of Reconstruction that benefited equality and the public good. Almost immediately, came reaction. Conservatives won out, ending Reconstruction, selling out African Americans, and setting up the structures that we are so familiar with, namely white dominance over blacks, and corporate dominance over we the people and our government.
All these years on, we need economic, cultural and ideological reconstruction fast. To get there, that "blockage" can't be only a footnote. It's the central feature. If the 21st Century's going to turn out differently, and the US is to survive as a nation, Barack Obama needs to pick that baggage up that and empty it out.
Laura Flanders is the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on Free Speech TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415) on cable (8 pm ET on Channel 67 in Manhattan) and online right here at GRITtv.org or streaming live on The Nation.com Mondays through Thursdays from 2 to 4 pm ET.
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Uhmmm....yeah. Okay.
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 11:45am
Uhmmm....yeah. Okay.
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 11:45am
Forget it. She's rolling.
Posted by Benchrest at 02/11/2009 @ 12:08pm
I think she has been rolling with...Daralaloon.
Posted by YourJomamma at 02/11/2009 @ 12:21pm
Yeah, occasionally Ms Flanders goes into "Annie Wilkes" mode-
"What's the matter? WHAT'S THE MATTER? I will tell you "what's the matter!" I go out of my way for you! I do everything to try and make you happy. I feed you, I clean you, I dress you, and what thanks do I get? "Oh, you bought the wrong paper, Anne, I can't write on this paper, Anne!"
Well, I'll get your stupid paper but you just better start showing me a little appreciation around here, Mr. MAN!"
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 12:24pm
"Labor is prior to, & independent, of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, & could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, & deserves much the higher consideration."
Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
"Labor is prior to, & independent, of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, & could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, & deserves much the higher consideration."
Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
True...but the country was more familar with farm labor...creating a business in a high tech industry requires more education thatn labor...
Posted by YourJomamma at 02/11/2009 @ 2:04pm
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
Always curious about this stuff....what writing of Lincoln's does that quote come from?
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 2:13pm
Posted by YourJomamma at 02/11/2009 @ 2:04pm
What the hell does education necessarily have to do with capital? Another of your self serving shards of reasoning. Witness the financial catastrophe of late and correlate that with education.
Regardless, you are simply outnumbered & there's no poll tax anymore. Good luck, greed monger.
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 2:20pm
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 2:13pm
C'mon, mask. Enough of the 2 step forward, one back stuff. Ask pontificus.
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 2:25pm
Soreass,
Lincoln lived in an agrarian time..we are in a time when manual labor can be found everywhere at low prices...hence, there is an abundance of labor which makes labor a small part of the equation in many industrys, therefore less valuable as it may have been 150 years ago..capital is the biggest issue today and therfore the most important..no capital no labor.
"Witness the financial catastrophe of late and correlate that with education."
I correlate the finacial with the uneducated govt morons who pressured the financial morons to make loans to other morons that under normal times would not get a loan. I correlate the morons who took loans not knowing if they could pay them back or not wwith education.(Think of all the useful things you learned in our public schools..might explain your posistion in the world today..
So education is at the HEART AND SOUL of the financial crisis..and judging by the "plan", it still is..
"Regardless, you are simply outnumbered & there's no poll tax anymore. Good luck, greed monger."
Yes, I am out numbered by your types(nonproducers) who have no idea what it takes to sign both sides of a check and how the real world really operates..
and no, no poll tax anymore but we are up to our asses in many other taxes Lincoln never dreamed could exist, nor our FF..
Luck has nothing to do with anything I do, education, hard work, sacrifice, and past failure play a huge part....and greed has no place since greed is an emotion, greed is useless in real business work,but it is something YOU obviously run on...I am run on practical experience and something you obviously have no clue as to what those who produce do have....relentless drive....which your types confuse as greed since many of us do not settle for mediocrity.
Posted by YourJomamma at 02/11/2009 @ 2:58pm
Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 3, 1861
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 2:59pm
anyone notice that liberty was removed?
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:05pm
anyone notice that liberty was removed?
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:05pm
Now that you mention it.....
The speech police back?
Posted by Benchrest at 02/11/2009 @ 3:08pm
Posted by YourJomamma at 02/11/2009 @ 2:58pm
I'll wager that I perform more labor everyday than you do in a week, you dead- assed prick.
You're on auto pilot, moron.
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 3:09pm
</i>
Posted by frosty zoom at 02/11/2009 @ 3:11pm
C'mon, mask. Enough of the 2 step forward, one back stuff. Ask pontificus.
Posted by Sorelish at 02/11/2009 @ 2:25pm
ba-dum!
(drum thing)
Posted by frosty zoom at 02/11/2009 @ 3:13pm
yeah!
where's larry?
maybe he's given up on us ;=§
Posted by frosty zoom at 02/11/2009 @ 3:15pm
yeah!
where's larry?
maybe he's given up on us ;=§
Posted by frosty zoom at 02/11/2009 @ 3:15pm
It seems he committed some kind of dastardly offense that caused the Nation to pull him off.
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:24pm
I wish I could come up with a comment to address Laura Flanders' column, but after much effort I'm afraid I cannot formulate an appropriate response to inane, seemingly pointless blather. Is this all some sort of lefty-speak that defies traditional linguistics? Can someone translate for me?
Posted by pontificus at 02/11/2009 @ 3:39pm
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:24pm
Welcome back LVL.
Posted by Benchrest at 02/11/2009 @ 4:07pm
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:24pm | ignore this person | warn this person
next time you should call yourself "politically_insane"...
welcome back ya old political retard.
;)
Posted by ibbleblibble at 02/11/2009 @ 4:14pm
Sorelish, the ENTIRE quote is more interesting-
"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits."
Posted by Mask at 02/11/2009 @ 4:32pm
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:24pm | ignore this person | warn this person
next time you should call yourself "politically_insane"...
welcome back ya old political retard.
;)
Posted by ibbleblibble at 02/11/2009 @ 4:14pm Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 3:24pm
Welcome back LVL.
Posted by Benchrest at 02/11/2009 @ 4:07pm
thx,
not sure what my crime was....guess I called Katrina a socialist once too often.
Posted by antisocialist at 02/11/2009 @ 4:33pm
Can someone translate for me?
Posted by pontificus at 02/11/2009 @ 3:39pm
"It's okay stewardess. I speak jive." AIRPLANE
Posted by Benchrest at 02/11/2009 @ 4:33pm
I wish I could come up with a comment to address Laura Flanders' column, but after much effort I'm afraid I cannot formulate an appropriate response to inane, seemingly pointless blather. Is this all some sort of lefty-speak that defies traditional linguistics? Can someone translate for me?
Posted by pontificus at 02/11/2009 @ 3:39pm
V jvfu V pbhyq pbzr hc jvgu n pbzzrag gb nqqerff Ynhen Synaqref' pbyhza, ohg nsgre zhpu rssbeg V'z nsenvq V pnaabg sbezhyngr na nccebcevngr erfcbafr gb vanar, frrzvatyl cbvagyrff oyngure. Vf guvf nyy fbzr fbeg bs yrsgl-fcrnx gung qrsvrf genqvgvbany yvathvfgvpf? Pna fbzrbar genafyngr sbe zr?
Cbfgrq ol cbagvsvphf ng 02/11/2009 @ 3:39cz
Posted by frosty zoom at 02/11/2009 @ 6:07pm
Sorry, Laura, but this is a bit of a stretch. A veiled attempt to use the comments of a few from history to paint a picture of conservatives "always being bad" just because you don't like them today. The "elitist vs "the people" battle was more a facet of the Jacksonian era. Not as much of an issue 35 years later.No more than today, anyway, and not really significant.
And if you want to talk about elitists, lets not forget Hillary Clinton or Al Gore, Sheep-need-a-Shepherd-types if there ever were.
Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 02/12/2009 @ 09:09am
Not allowing the Repubs to filibuster the stimulus bill was a mistake. After they lost that (video of GOP Senators reading from a phone book to block a bill that would help their own constituents---Obama would have had a field day), we would be having a lot less trouble with the shrinking remnant of the far right.
Posted by SK9 at 02/12/2009 @ 11:58am
I think one can argue that the American Revolution, was a continuation of the English Revolution with regard to ideas. America was settled by veterans of both sides of that civil war, and they brought all of their ideas to British America with them. Among those veterans there was no uniformity of belief on religious questions. The ideas of the "Leveller" movement pushed for a "Agreement of the People" which was a precursor of our Constitution and the "Bill of Rights". Some of their arguments would be reflected in the Federalist Papers. No taxation without representation was ancient complaint of the upper middle class in Parliament. They were by no means Democrats, but based their claims to power on property and wealth. The upper middle class would run British America. Voting rights were originally attached to property and wealth (The Poll Tax). While many of their abuses have been corrected, Wealth and property still influence American foreign and domestic Policy.
Posted by P. J. Casey at 02/12/2009 @ 3:31pm