Subj : Democracy Explained to Kids To : BOB KLAHN From : Lee Lofaso Date : Thu Sep 19 2013 21:02:42 Hello Bob, LL>> Republican Party. Even Michael Steel admitted the GOP goofed. BM>> Agreed.... which only enhances their commitment to a segregated BM>> America (My reference here is poor [black & white] vs. the affluent.) LL>> Not all blacks are poor. Not all whites are rich. LL>> However, an economic argument can be made, and strongly LL>> supported. Bob Dole, as a candidate for president, tried LL>> to make that argument in reference to affirmative action, LL>> and actually had Bill Clinton on the defensive (and on the BK>The point of affirmative action is to insure success is BK>distributed regardless of race. Only those who oppose AA must BK>believe there is no racial compenent to poverty. The point of affirmative action is to discriminate in favor of minorities - in most cases meaning blacks. Once equality has been reached, affirmative action programs are no longer needed and should be dismantled. However, once inequalities re-emerge, affirmative action programs should be put back in place. This on again/off again approach is the only way affirmative action programs can work in a truly fair manner. LL>> ropes). Dole's mistake was not having a viable plan of his LL>> own to replace affirmative action. Clinton managed to get LL>> up off the canvas, making a comeback by suggesting LL>> affirmative action needed to be "fixed" rather than LL>> "scrapped" - thus winning his bid for a second term. BK>Which is true. We need affirmative action for all the poor in BK>America. Bob Dole said much the same thing, but wanted to change it from being a race-based program to being an economic-based program. The problem was, he failed to do his homework, not having any details for his plan. This allowed Bill Clinton to pounce, and come up with his own "fix it" scheme, thus winning the debate on the matter, along with winning a second term in office. LL>> Black folks are more discriminatory of their own than any LL>> other race. There are dark-skinned blacks, light-skinned LL>> blacks, blacks who pass for white ... BK>When you are reduced to survival level your competitors are not BK>those well off, but those like you scrambling to survive. Let's see how well those who are presently on disability (SSDI) manage to survive when their checks are cut by 20 percent in 2016. Let's see how those on disability manage to survive when conservative Republicans undo at least some of Ronald Reagan's 1984 reform that expanded the kinds of disabilities covered. Do you think the Congress will do anything to save the SSDI trust program? By doing nothing, the cuts take effect automatically. What will happen is Republican lawmakers will say something along the lines of "Let's compromise" to the Democrats, and then refuse to go along with anything the Democrats propose. To obstruct, by any means necessary, resulting in getting exactly what they want, while blaming Obama at the same time. After gutting the SSDI program, Republican lawmakers will move on to gutting the Social Security program for retirees age 65 and over. Won't that be grand? Let's defund Obamacare, and gut Social Security. Leave everybody broke and without access to quality medical care. No more social security or medicare for anybody. But let's keep SSI and medicaid, as funding for those programs come out of general tax revenues rather than dedicated trust funds financed mainly by payroll taxes. Imagine that. Folks who never worked a day in their life are better off than folks who worked their butts off their entire lives. What we thought were entitlements are now fast becoming just a pipe dream. Maybe you think working until you drop is the thing to do. After all, there are lots of folks who are in their 80s working as greeters at WalMart. But it seems to me that most folks would prefer having a bit of free time after having worked for sixty or seventy fucking years. BK>When I was young they could tell us, if we succeeded in school BK>we would have jobs. Now they tell kids, if they succeed in BK>school it's less likely they will be the ones without jobs, BK>someone else will be. Not much of a guarantee. Social Security used to be a guarantee. Not any more. Pensions used to be a guarantee. Not any more. Entitlements used to be a guarantee. Not any more. There are only two things that are guaranteed - death and taxes. The only question that remains is which takes us first. BM>> LOL.... irony as it's best... vote for the man who doesn't give a BM>> rat's ass about you. LL>> You have to remember - we boil our crawfish LIVE. :) BK>Hmmm... that seems a bit... disturbing... Not for the crawfish. They wave their little claws out the water and stare at us with those beady little eyes ... --Lee --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2) .