Tristan Scott

Excuse me? I said that it started for ME with Reagan, get it? Malachi151 said that that it did not start with Reagan, so I said that was his opinion. Do you understand?

Regardless of who his ties were with, Nelson Rockefeller was a liberal republican. My statement had nothing to do with whether he was a swell guy, or if he had a cute sister, I simply named him as a liberal republican. If you have evidence to the contrary, please state it. Shit thinking Standard Oil doesn't say anything about the guy's politics.

John Hancock

Opps! SORRY I really need to pay closer attention.

John Hancock
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"Fascism,should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." Mussolini

Malachi151

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

The problem in discussing this is still the dualistic view.

Syaing that the Republicans have been a problem does not mean that they are "bad", or have malicious intent, I don't think they do. I think they all have good intent, just like I think that Hitler had good intent, and Stalin, and Fidel Castro, etc.

People do what they do because they think its the right thing to do.

As I said, I think that what happened was that the Republicans got down to a very small group in the 1930s and 1940s.

At that point they got despirate. They took on the WASP agenda, as well as big corporate money. Their agenda became the protection of white, Chrisitan, wealth and cultural and economic domination of the country "the way it was supposed to be".

They took on the ideology that the ends justify the means. I contend that during the 1930s a fascist Republicans agenda was building, they consolidated power, and after the war a powerful fascist Republican party emerged, that has been undermining democracy in this country since the 1950s.

Also notice that prior to Reagan the Republicans had a hard with the Supreme Court, so that became a major objective, to put fascists on the bench, which they have done to a degree.

Tristan Scott

Is that why they picked Alf Landon and Wendel Wilke to run against FDR? Landon was a progressive Republican that worked on Teddy Roosevelts campaign in 1912, and Wilke was a liberal democrat. The republicans may have indeed been desperate by 1940, but they were certainly not fascists.

Sounds like you are thinking of Lindbergh and his "America First" crowd.

Malachi151

Well true, but I think part fothe problem in this discussion is too broad a use of terms.

Okay yes "Republicans" is a big groups, and certianly not everyone within that group things the same way.

I mean you have "America", which then breaks down into various groups, which break down into various groups, etc, etc. I goes all the way down to the individual.

Obviously any group does not have a single unified view, and there are various levels of factions within every groups down to the individual level, ultimately every individual is his own faction.

So, what I'm saying is that during the 1930s and 40s these factions began to form within the Republican Party. By the end of the war, these factions began exerting more and more infuence, and IMO when Nixon became president is the point at which fascist type agenda emerged as the prominate power in the Republican Party.

ohwilleke

One of the really important political issues for our age is where the people who used to be liberal Republicans, the Teddy Roosevelts and Nelson Rockafellers of their day are going to resurface in the modern political divide.

Arnold S. and Colin Powell have cast their lots for now with the Republicans. But, the ill treatment they receive in the Republican party is disgusting more and more moderate Republicans. So far Jeffords is the most notable defector. But, I'd like to see more. Many of the internet millionaires (Rutt Bridges is a big one in Colorado) have left leanings on many issues but great wealth, that makes them uncomfortable in either major political party.

Tristan Scott

Look at the treatment given by this present crowd to even the moderate republicans like Whitman and McCain.