The single characteristic that defines the term Liberal or Liberalism is the belief that good government is the ultimate key to providing a society the ability to attain liberty, freedom, genuine opportunity and the pursuit of happiness promised in America’s Constitution.
Since the days of FDR in the 1940’s – when he came to New York City to seek help in winning a primary election for his fourth term as President and formed a third political party – the Liberal Party to assure it – liberal government meant a focus on developing constitutionally protected regulations which offered working families opportunities they had never possessed as it supported the idea that humanity and not money ran the show.
It made sense then because the working class in America found its voice during and after World War 11. For the first time it was able to work essentially free from the embattled and often violent environment of endless labor vs management conflicts. And the result was another first: working class families could own a home, a car, take vacations and send its children to college.
Eighty years of a strong liberal bias, and with it an active two party political system essentially operating government with a strong Constitutional connection and a fully developed system of rules and regulations.
The Republicans knew what they stood for and the Democrats knew what they stood for.
But no more.
Gone now and with it the essentially political base of both Democrats and Republicans.
It may be that climate change has already managed to alter our atmosphere even if we cannot see the differences or remember that it was our atmosphere that carried the Covid virus to a worldwide pandemic.
Not so for today’s political atmosphere. MAGA Republicans are no longer Reagan’s conservative Republicans which had a sprinkling of liberals within it. Leaderless Democrats gave away a Presidential election refusing to fund a sitting President with significant physical and mental problems that he and his wife refused to deal with – until they had no choice.
These realities are clearly telling us that this America is not what it used to be…not the nation that so many grew up in.
The changes are coming at us thick and fast clearly indicating that unless we wake up, this nation has seen its best days and they are behind us.
Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who just passed away, had warned us that our failure to teach civics – that was once a part of everyone’s elementary education – has led to a country full of people who are totally ignorant of the Constitution and what it means to the day to day operation of government. The national ignorance opens the door to the reality of a takeover of government by those who would simply erase the rules and laws established by it resulting in an authoritarian approach destroying the democracy we have known since our founding.
Just days ago, the World’s Catholic Church told an undeniable and valuable truth. The Church named an American, Pope. And in just two days of deliberation. History had never seen such a decision. Explaining it quite simply, the Vatican said that for years America was such a power, with so much under its control that they did “not want to give the Catholic Church to it.”
But now we are living in this America and we have an American Pope
CHANGING THE LIBERAL TUNE
As the 20th Century came to an end, so did the overwhelming power of labor unions whose demands often raised the price of America’s overall economy.
The Democratic Party, under Roosevelt and those that followed him, was living in a very different American environment by the time Ronald Reagan became President.
The Liberal Party and its labor-heavy unions, academics and attorneys, had worked closely with the Democratic Party and openly liberal Republicans, to bring a new level of good government to the country. With working class Americans, they produced Fair Labor laws, much improved teacher salaries, a level of academic freedom never seen before, affordable health care, rent control in major cities, criminal justice reform, a level of fairness and representation in political redistricting as Americans had the freedom to move for better jobs , a voting rights law that opened the door to voting for the poor, the black population and the very hard working and respected immigrant community.
But corporate America was not happy. Manufacturing, which hired millions of the working class, began to disappear from America…moving first to Mexico and Canada as part of an American law that encouraged it…and then to Europe and parts of Asia.
The move became a flood and soon the strength of unions diminished to such an extent that the Teacher’s Union, among the weakest of all unions, became the largest union in the country.
Suddenly the Democratic Party had a new source of campaign funding – from the all- powerful corporate world and as they did, they no longer became the party of the working class because that class was slowly disappearing from positions of leadership.
But as the corporate world began to dominate, the Democratic Party, clinging to its liberal base, passed regulating laws that increased costs within the economy.
Major building of transportation links – whether on New York’s Second Avenue or in California where they planned to build high-speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco, stalled for years.
The cost of building housing became outrageous and soon homelessness in California alone, was stunning.
The cost of child care rose prohibitively and in a society where women wanted to work, living in certain communities became so prohibitive that population loses were soon evident in California, New York and Illinois.
People were moving to Florida, Texas and Arizona. And as people continue to move, the balance of political power, influenced by the numbers of people living in certain States, moved with them.
Democratic Party leadership faded and with the coming Presidency of Donald Trump, American politics and attitudes took a decidedly different turn.
MAGA RULES
Donald Trump wanted to run for Governor of New York against Andrew Cuomo.
He was told by the New York Republican leadership- Ed Cox, who married Richard Nixon’s daughter – that he would be involved in a primary contest. Trump would have no part of it and ran for President.
The public saw him as a brilliantly successful businessman, totally ignoring at least half a dozen business failures – and a man absolutely devoted to their personal needs and concerns after watching him for 15 years as the host of a reality TV show on a major network.
Much to his stunned surprise, he became President of the United States.
He had no idea what to do and stumbled through four years as President, changing close staff members as frequently as people change toothbrushes.
The Democratic Party, without any spokespersons but Bernie Sanders, turned to a man they had ignored for more than forty years and three previous attempts and the public, stunned by Trump’s incoherence during Covid, gave Joe Biden the job he had long sought. And during Biden’s Presidency, the Heritage Foundation worked with former Trump staff members to design a genuine conservative approach to taking the Federal Government down and replacing it with authoritarian power…waiting for Trump to return.
The Republican Party exists but in essential silence.
The Democratic Party exists but in almost total silence.
It seems that Donald Trump has attained the ultimate power – able to wheel and deal for money as if there are no laws at all.
On June 14, the Army plans to celebrate 150 years since its formation with a Washington parade that rivals anything we have seen from Germany, Russia or North Korea.
June 14th is Donald Trump’s birthday.
There seems to be no question that the parade will take place – because budget needs will not be a problem with private money available.
The only question will be whether those soldiers marching will be in goose-step.
I was member of the Liberal Party for many years and left it a few decades ago. We used to be a political party with a platform for progressive change … but these comments about goose-steps only reveal how stupid the party leadership has become … the important issues are the war in eastern Europe, hostages in Gaza, the unacceptable situation there, Iran only moments away from having a nuclear bomb, unsustainable trade and budget defecits and so forth …. oppose Trump with better ideas, not hateful character assignation. That was Alex Rose’s and ben Davidson approach.
It is good to hear from someone who remembers the work of Alex Rose and Ben Davidson, the founders and leaders of the Liberal Party.
But this is not the same America as we have been detailing for many months. Nor is it the same Liberal Party.
It is interesting to note that the concern here is about “character assassination” and the final comment regarding the $45 million dollar parade to celebrate Mr. Trump’s birthday on June 14.
Perhaps the writer will view the parade with pride ignoring the feeling that we are back in the 1930s seeing military parades for Hitler or parades in Russia and North Korea in more recent times.
Perhaps the writer will ignore the plotted takeover of Congress by the new Administration and blame us for “character assassination”.
We think he knows better.
Perhaps he knows that it is not about Trump’s character but about America’s.
Goose stepping is irrelevant. 40 massive tanks and military equipment are not.