Yup. So very true......Bashar of Syria is the ultimate winger."
Sadly, that wasn't always true of the Republicans. When Buckley was the major influence, it was just the opposite. When the Know Nothings took over with the Reagan revolution, that started to change.
I didn't pay much attention to politics and the feds until Bush took over in 2000. As I have said repeatedly, I knew instinctively in 2000 that something very bad had happened. Of course, I didn't know to what degree......it has turned out to be far worse than I expected. But my new interest in politics and gov't required me to go back in time and see what developments occurred that led to Bush. I assumed it would be Nixon but you can see clearly that the real development started under Reagan.
Ironically, I don't think Reagan was the ideologue that some of his successors have become but rather a strange cross between a bozo and this faux iconic figure that still inspires the nation. Whomever he put in place.......the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds, et al....Nixon's former cronies......they are the ones who actually let their ideology rule and sowed the seeds that has led to this country's current decay and confusion. In my mind, they are the model for the present day Republicans. Its their modeled behavior which has allowed the extremists in that party to take over and become the American version of Israel's Likud party.
Frankly, I am not sure the country can recover. Their corruption extends all the way up to the USSC and has so infected Congress that the institution barely functions. We now have this heroic president who is smart, competent, clever, charismatic, etc but who is having a hell of a time turning this ship around. I don't think Americans really understand how bad it is.......they get the economic part...but they don't get the incipent corruption and incompentence that exists in most GOP ranks and in some Dem ranks, or they wouldn't have put so many Rs into Congress last election. Its a very dangerous time for this country and I am afraid the current prognosis is not looking good. |
