Don't call it a 'Defense Budget.' The case for Build Back Better. Texas history. Republicans say- Vote Democrat.
Norman Solomon exposes the defense budget fraud. Fareed Zakaria makes the case for Build Back Better. Texas history revisionism embarrassment. Republicans to Republicans: Vote Democratic.
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4th Personal Note
Norman Solomon, the cofounder of RootsAction org, discusses the Defense Budget and much more.
Register: Ask Egberto Anything. It is Saturday, November 6th, at 11:00 AM Central.
Fareed Zakaria: Why Build Back Better and not tariffs is better for the American worker.
Worthwhile Reads
CAUGHT ON TAPE: Texas administrator heard forcing teachers to teach alternative history to students.
Republicans urging Republicans to vote Democratic in 2022 and 2024
4th Personal Note
Politics Done Right in Washington DC
I continue to be thankful to all those who have made my difficult temporary move to Washington DC a bit more bearable. The constant requests for updates on Ashley are heartwarming and continue to prove my belief in the innate humanity of most.
I started airing my media/radio show Politics Done Right out of Washington DC for those who are not yet aware. As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, I will be taking care of my daughter, who had a 2nd stroke in 20 months. She was three months away from graduating from medical school. She tells me she intends to finish no matter what it takes. She has my support and the support of our posse.
Ashley’s latest update: Ashley has completed a week in extensive rehab. She is now walking even with a very weak and compromised left side. Ashley is a trooper and determined to come back to her apartment as soon as possible. She still only has half her vision field but is learning how to compensate more deterministically. She has minimal use of her left hand but is trying hard to stimulate neuroplasticity. I visit with her every day for the 4 hours allowed given COVID restrictions, and we make the best of it. It can get very lonely in these hospitals, especially with COVID restrictions.
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Norman Solomon, the cofounder of RootsAction org, discusses the Defense Budget and much more.
The co-founder of RootsAction org, Norman Solomon, did not disappoint as he discussed the obscene nature of the Military-Industrial Complex.
The co-founder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org recently, Norman Solomon, published the article “Stop Calling the Military Budget a ‘Defense’ Budget” that everyone must read as soon as possible. He wrote the following.
It’s bad enough that mainstream news outlets routinely call the Pentagon budget a “defense” budget. But the fact that progressives in Congress and even many antiwar activists also do the same is an indication of how deeply the mindsets of the nation’s warfare state are embedded in the political culture of the United States.
The misleading first name of the Defense Department doesn’t justify using “defense” as an adjective for its budget. On the contrary, the ubiquitous use of phrases like “defense budget” and “defense spending” — virtually always written with a lower-case “d” — reinforces the false notion that equates the USA’s humongous military operations with defense.
Solomon expanded on the article in our interview as he tied this pilfering with our socio-economic state. It is an important note that puts our national spending into perspective.
Norman Solomon is the cofounder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention and is currently a relaunched Bernie Delegates Network coordinator. Solomon is the author of a dozen books include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
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Fareed Zakaria: Why Build Back Better and not tariffs is better for the American worker.
This Fareed Zakaria piece would make a good ad for President Biden's Build Back Better policies. It points out the need for a robust social safety net.
Fareed Zakaria was discussing something that progressives will need to rethink as they frame their policies. Adam Posen's prescient article titled "The Price of Nostalgia: America’s Self-Defeating Economic Retreat" is an important read. We will discuss it on Politics Done Right.
A new consensus has emerged in American politics: that the United States has recklessly pursued international economic openness at the expense of workers and the result has been economic inequality, social pain, and political strife. Both Democrats and Republicans are now advocating “a trade policy for the middle class.” In practice, this seems to mean tariffs and “Buy American” programs aimed at saving jobs from unfair foreign competition.
Any presidency that cares about the survival of American democracy, let alone social justice, must assess its economic policies in terms of overcoming populism. The protectionist instinct rests on a syllogism: the populist anger that elected President Donald Trump was largely the product of economic displacement, economic displacement is largely the product of a laissez-faire approach to global competition, and therefore the best way to capture the support of populist voters is to firmly stand up against unfettered global competition. This syllogism is embraced by many Democrats, who are determined to recapture an industrial working-class base, and many Republicans, who use it as evidence that the government has sold out American workers in the heartland. For politicians of any stripe, playing to districts where deindustrialization has taken place seems to offer a sure path to election.
Every step of this syllogism, however, is wrong. Populist anger is the result not of economic anxiety but of perceived declines in relative status. The U.S. government has not been pursuing openness and integration over the last two decades. To the contrary, it has increasingly insulated the economy from foreign competition, while the rest of the world has continued to open up and integrate. Protecting manufacturing jobs benefits only a small percentage of the workforce, while imposing substantial costs on the rest. Nor will there be any political payoff from trying to do so: after all, even as the United States has stepped back from global commerce, anger and extremism have mounted.
In reality, the path to justice and political stability is also the path to prosperity. What the U.S. economy needs now is greater exposure to pressure from abroad, not protectionist barriers or attempts to rescue specific industries in specific places. Instead of demonizing the changes brought about by international competition, the U.S. government needs to enact domestic policies that credibly enable workers to believe in a future that is not tied to their local employment prospects. The safety net should be broader and apply to people regardless of whether they have a job and no matter where they live. Internationally, Washington should enter into agreements that increase competition in the United States and raise taxation, labor, and environmental standards. It is the self-deluding withdrawal from the international economy over the last 20 years that has failed American workers, not globalization itself.
One should read the entire article.
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CAUGHT ON TAPE: Texas administrator heard forcing teachers to teach alternative history to students.
A Dallas, Texas area education administrator was caught on tape instructing teachers to teach alternative history to their classes.
MSNBC Correspondent Anthonia Hylton reported the following story that should make one's blood boil. The Dallas Morning News reported the following.
A Southlake Carroll schools leader recently told teachers that, should they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also have materials that show an “opposing” perspective, NBC News reported. The news outlet -- which has chronicled the deeply divisive fight in Southlake over how to teach race and racism in schools -- obtained an audio recording from a district meeting that included discussions about how to comply with a new Texas law, which lawmakers say was intended to bar “critical race theory” from classrooms.
From the start, educators vehemently opposed the bill, saying it was vague and would have a chilling effect on their ability to have honest conversations about America’s past and present. The new law -- similar to ones passed in other conservative states -- lists several broad topics that can’t be discussed and sets guidelines for talking about “controversial” subjects. It comes as conservative pundits and politicians have conflated critical race theory with schools’ diversity and inclusion efforts and anti-racism training, among other ideas.
A society, a country is in decline when it starts changing history; especially its own. There is a reason why Conservatives are intent on living in an alternate state of reality, and it is something that many don't immediately see. I explain in the video.
Republicans urging Republicans to vote Democratic in 2022 and 2024
Republicans Christine Todd Whitman and Miles Taylor have an important message for Republicans to save our democracy.
The two ‘Republicans’ wrote the New York Times article, “We Are Republicans. There’s Only One Way to Save Our Party From Pro-Trump Extremists,” They stated the following.
Rational Republicans are losing the party civil war. And the only near-term way to battle pro-Trump extremists is for all of us to team up on key races and overarching political goals with our longtime political opponents: the Democrats.
Their rationale is a cogent one that I am sure enough Republicans will heed. Nor all of these Conservatives are as crazed as Fox News, OANN, and NewsMax would have you believe. These news outlets are much of the catalyst for Trumpist misguidedness.
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