Disgusting display and a sorry indication of the level of collective consciousness in the US. Note that in sociology, "collective conscience" is sometimes used for "collective consciousness."
GOP Candidates Compete Over Who Will Commit Most War Crimes Once Elected
Murtaza Hussain
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http://lh5.ggpht.com/-WjzTsaqItK0/ToXGerAds4I/AAAAAAAABXs/Xczs9ERLqWA/s1600-h/Prison4.png
"Smoking gun" chart. 1980. Wow.
The saddest part of the post-1980 industrial policy is that it has been very popular with voters, who have continued to re-elect the its advocates.
Around 1980 the majority of swing voters turned authoritarian-rentier, with strong political demand for locking up or executing nasty-looking dark skinned minorities, for driving down wages with the destruction of unions and unlimited immigration and exploitation of oaf-looking brown skinned minorities, and the redistribution of purchasing power via a series of capital gains, from the unproductive, property-less lower classes to the propertied middle and upper classes. Plus switching the bias of family and criminal law from pro-male/husband to much more pro-female/wife.
Except for the last bit about switching gender bias, I call the resulting picture the dream of a plantation economy, with a small number of plantation owners in their hilltop manors, a layer of affluent supervisors around them in handsome mini-manors or white picket fenced cottages, and a mass of of serfs (largely colored) in camps made to work the plantation for the benefits of the other two groups. The Dixiefication of America.
As to the causes, this is in part a reaction to the leftist excesses of the 60s/70s, in particular the constant strikes, the drug culture, the minority riots.
I think that those contributed, but I think that it was also as Johnson said the signing of the Civil Rights Act losing the south to the Democrats for decades.
But most importantly I think it was the irish/jewish/italian working classes traditionally represented by the Democrats (to this day many of the big names in that party have obvious ethnic roots) moving into the middle class and in particular into propertied status, with share portfolios and real estate, thanks to the high wages and benefits won by the unions. Their dream was if not to become plantation owners at least join the plantation supervisor layer.
Grover Norquist described several aspects of the new politics in some of my "favourite" quotes:
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0903/0903norquistinterview.htm
"The growth of the investor class–those 70 per cent of voters who own stock and are more opposed to taxes and regulations on business as a result — is strengthening the conservative movement. More gun owners, fewer labor union members, more homeschoolers, more property owners and a dwindling number of FDR-era Democrats all strengthen the conservative movement versus the Democrats."
Particularly pathetic is this fawning over him :)
"The unique opportunity to hear Grover Norquist speak in Chicago at a conservative gathering in May of this year. In my mind, he gave the most activist talk of the entire convention. By the end of it, I was ready to burn my property tax card and move to a state that does not steal one's personal revenue. I thank him for responding to this interview request, and also because his words accomplish something fairly rare in conservative circles: he motivates one to act. One of the ways that you, as reader, can act is to disseminate his ideas."
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11699
(link now broken)
"The 1930s rhetoric was bash business — only a handful of bankers thought that meant them. Now if you say we’re going to smash the big corporations, 60-plus percent of voters say “That’s my retirement you’re messing with. I don’t appreciate that”. And the Democrats have spent 50 years explaining that Republicans will pollute the earth and kill baby seals to get market caps higher. And in 2002, voters said, “We’re sorry about the seals and everything but we really got to get the stock market up."
Very very cynical people.
Enjoying watching Hillary and Rubio crash and burn, which is the biggest political story tonight.
Is incredible how similar the GOP and ISIS are at their core, both kind of kowtow to degenerate destructive nihilism.
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