It's not the Stimulus ~ It's the Response: Gilded Age 1, led to reforms; Gilded Age 2, outcome unknown...

“Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late 19th century was a period of greed and guile: of rapacious Robber Barons, unscrupulous speculators, and corporate buccaneers, of shady business practices, scandal-plagued politics, and vulgar display.

It is easy to caricature the Gilded Age as an era of corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unfettered capitalism. But it is more useful to think of this as modern America's formative period, when an agrarian society of small producers were transformed into an urban society dominated by industrial corporations. …”

The 1^st Gilded Age followed the Colonial ERA, the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era.

We were moving rapidly from an Agrarian Culture to an Industrial Age and in that transitional chaos we let wealthy false prophets take the lead ~ which actually lead us to where we are now in the 21^st Century because the False Prophets (Robber Barons of Gilded Age 1 or Robber Barons of Gilded Age 2 or GOP) never give up their quest for money and power via the manipulation of our government to their benefit at the expense of The People and via their belief in their own supremacy.

(False Prophets for my purpose today is defined as one who claims gifts of prophecy or divine inspiration and uses those gifts for evil ~ otherwise known as the GOP. )

An addition snippet about "then" that is so relevant now:

“African Americans were the not the only targets of racist ideology. Doctrines of white supremacy singled out Anglo-Saxons for special praise, fostering suspicion of Italians, Jews, Slavs, and other non-Anglo immigrants and laying the groundwork for immigration restriction. But unlike American Indians, whose remnants had been confined to reservations, and Asians, who were excluded altogether, European immigrants could at least claim that they were Caucasian. And by 1900, the word “Caucasian” was well on the way to becoming synonymous with “American.”

Anglo-Saxon racism became a crucial ingredient in the emerging ideology of empire. Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Beveridge, and other imperial ideologues assumed that Anglo-Saxons were the vanguard of progress, and they insisted that the United States in particular had a divinely ordained duty to carry forward “the regeneration of the world.” Racial ideology and religious longing merged in an imperial rhetoric of rebirth.

The pursuit of empire satisfied longings for emotional, physical, moral, and even spiritual revitalization—that is, if one accepted the idea that an American empire was the work of Providence.”

The poor, of course, were and are responsible for their own plight!

.

What’s interesting to note is that discontent with vulture capitalism spread then, as it is now. What is also interesting to note is that The People rose up and called for government assistance in managing their debt, insuring fair taxes, curbing corruption, investing in research and infrastructure and ending discrimination, etc., as they are now.


It did not come easy, but it gives me hope for the future:

"Events since 2000 underscore the utter unpredictability of the future. 
 The 2000 election was the first in 112 years in which a president lost the popular vote but captured enough states to win the electoral vote. It took five weeks to determine the election's outcome, which hinged on a few hundred votes in Florida. By a 5-4 majority, the U.S. Supreme Court halted a recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court on the grounds that it violated the principle that all votes must be treated equally and that there was not enough time to conduct a new manual recount that would meet constitutional muster.

On September 11, hijackers turned commercial airlines into missiles and attacked key symbols of American economic and military might. These hideous attacks leveled the World Trade Center towers in New York, destroyed part of the Pentagon, and left Americans in a mood similar to that which the country experienced after the devastating Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

On March 20, 2003, the United States and a coalition of Allies went to war against Iraq, one of the countries (along with Iran and North Korea) that President Bush regarded as part of an "axis of evil."

In 2004, as in the election of 2000, a single state decided the outcome of the presidency, based on the distribution of electoral votes. Ohio’s 20 votes gave Bush the margin of victory over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Still, with a 3.5 million popular vote margin, Bush won the first outright majority in the popular vote for president in 16 years, and the Republican Party succeeded in expanding GOP majorities in the House and Senate.”

Economically, we have been on the GOP course of seriously “drowning government in the bathtub” since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 when “starving the beast” became the GOP obsession… As near as I can tell, the object of that obsession is a federal government that is militarized to “promote” Democracy around the world, to protect U.S. borders and to benefit big money creators via manipulation of government.

In 2007 the Great Recession hit. In 2008 Barack Obama won the presidency. In 2009 the GOP plotted to nullify his election times 2. And today we are at a crossroad…

The 21^st Century can go down in history as the Gilded Age 2 on steroids or we can vote the False Prophets (GOP) out of office in November. The People turned them back once and moved forward on their own behalf and The People can turn them back again and move forward on their own behalf.

But….

We have to be willing to move into the 21^st Century as we push those False Prophets out.

 To do that ~ we need to work with President Obama and the Obama Doctrine … loosely defined by me as: The United States is no longer going to police the world alone at its own cost of blood and treasure and the United States is going to recognize a global economy as key element in foreign affairs and take a lead in creating that economy, elevating the constitutional general welfare of our nation to global status and unleashing the American Spirit around the world.

Those who really follow POTUS know that, despite the GOP nullification of his presidency, the Obama Doctrine is leaking out ~ fighting for the middle class, ending wars, increasing diplomacy and positioning us for the 21^st Century, some of which can be seen in the creativity happening out there. A few examples:

^^^ 3-D printed ultra-sound casts, solar powered super trees and fish farming in ocean waters...

And let me leave you with this ~

And this ~ a little reading you can do at your own convenience here:

The 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR): Leading Through Civilian Power ~ a blueprint for elevating American "civilian power" to better advance our national interests and to be a better partner to the U.S. military. Leading through civilian power means directing and coordinating the resources of all America's civilian agencies to prevent and resolve conflicts; help countries lift themselves out of poverty into prosperous, stable, and democratic states; and build global coalitions to address global problems.

Other links:

Makers and Takers:   http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/21/nation/la-na-tt-ayn-rand-20120820

21st Century Creativity:

http://gizmodo.com/a-3d-printed-ultrasound-cast-that-looks-awesome-and-hea-1564646036

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/singapores-solar-powered-supertree-grove/#!FoXul

http://damontucker.com/2012/02/29/harvest-of-first-farmed-fish-in-u-s-waters-off-the-big-island-shows-promise-of-eco-friendly-aquaculture/

Two sets of Founding Fathers inspired our Nation...

People:  American identity was not founded on the GOP Lie that white British Subjects living in the American Colonies were “taxed enough already” and rose up and dumped tea in Boston Harbor and crafted a Declaration of Independence and a U.S. Constitution in support of vulture capitalism.

It makes me sick to watch the GOP co-opt Real American Patriots while espousing their hatred for their democratic experiment. The real Tea Party, The Sons of Liberty, estimated to be founded in 1765, was not protesting against paying taxes or against paying too much in taxes ~ they were protesting against being taxed without representation! Quite a different story than what the haters spew.

Real American Patriots were a mix of public statesmen and private managers of the rank and file fighting to create a more perfect union ~ not government haters fighting to deny the existence of it as sovereign citizen-like talking Clive Bundy and his minions are … declaring U.S. Federal Courts foreign, declaring Nevada a sovereign state and declaring a range war against the nation.

In fact, Real American Patriots drew on the diversity of their time and place to craft that literary piece of work The Declaration of Independence and that masterful piece of work The U.S. Constitution. And, the Iroquois, primarily through their relationship with Ben Franklin, played a key role in the creation of the United States as a federal union guaranteeing its citizens a voice and well-being…

“The Iroquoian system, expressed through its constitution, "The Great Law of Peace," rested on assumptions foreign to the monarchies of Europe: it regarded leaders as servants of the people, rather than their masters... The Iroquois’ law and custom upheld freedom of expression in political and religious matter... It provided for political participation by women and the relatively equitable distribution of wealth. These distinctly democratic tendencies sound familiar in light of subsequent American political history – yet few people today (other than American Indians and students of their heritage) know that a republic existed on our soil before anyone here had ever heard of John Locke, or Cato, the Magna Charta, Rousseau, Franklin, or Jefferson…To Jefferson, as well as Franklin, the Indians had what the colonists wanted: societies free of oppression and class stratification.”

Ironically, the Iroquois (non-angry-non-whites) demanded the Colonies (non-angry-whites) form a union so they could work together. They found 13 separate entities (sovereign entities) too complicated to work with efficiently and trade regulation.  Quite amusing when one thinks about all of that angry, white, sovereign testosterone flying around Clive’s place as if they are just so damn superior…

A little background…

The Crown wanted the Iroquoian confederation in their camp to fight French creep.

“In order to cement the alliance, the British sent Colonial envoys, one of whom was Benjamin Franklin, to the frontier and beyond. This decision helped win North America for the British -- but only for a time. In the end, it still cost them as the Colonial delegates passed more than wampum over the council fires of the treaty summits. They also came home with an appetite for natural rights --life, liberty, and happiness -- that they saw operating on the other side of the frontier. These observations would help mold the political life of the colonies…

By the early 1750s, Franklin was an Indian commissioner.  His attention to Indian affairs grew in tandem with his advocacy of a federal union of the colonies. Franklin’s writings indicate that as he became more deeply involved with the Iroquois and other Indian peoples, he picked up ideas from them concerning not only federalism, but concepts of natural rights, the nature of society and man’s place in it, the role of property in society, and other intellectual constructs that would be called into service by Franklin as he and other American revolutionaries shaped an official ideology for the new United States.

As early as 1750, Franklin recognized that the economic and political interests of the British colonies were diverging from those of England and he began to think of forms of political confederation that might suit a dozen distinct, often mutually suspicious, political entities. A federal structure such as the Iroquois Confederacy, which left each state in the union to manage its own internal affairs and charged the confederate government with prosecuting common, external matters, must have served as an expedient, as well as appealing, example. As Franklin began to express his thoughts on political and military union of the colonies, he was already attempting to tie them together culturally, through the establishment of a postal system and the American Philosophical Society, which drew to Philadelphia the premier Euro-American scholars of his day.

The London Board of Trade wrote to the New York provincial government September 18, 1753, directing all the colonies that had dealings with the Iroquois to join in "one general Treaty to be made in his Majesty’s name." It was a move that began, in effect, to bring about the unified management of Indian affairs that Colden, Kennedy, Franklin, and the Iroquois had requested.  Franklin was appointed to represent Pennsylvania at the Albany congress in 1754.

Franklin had drawn up a draft of "Short Hints Toward a Scheme for Uniting the Northern Colonies.” His final draft was commissioned two weeks to the day after his newspaper published the "Join or Die" cartoon, a forceful statement in favor of Colonial union.

The Albany Plan of Union gained Franklin general recognition in the colonies as an advocate of Colonial union. The plan also earned Franklin a position among the originators of the federalist system of government that came to characterize the United States political system. According to Clinton Rossiter, "Franklin made rich contributions to the theory and practice of federalism . . . he was far ahead of the men around him in abandoning provincialism.

While the Iroquois and Franklin were ready for a Colonial union, the legislatures of the colonies were not. Following its passage by the Albany congress on July 10, 1754, Franklin’s plan died in the Colonial legislatures … Franklin showed his dismay at the inability of the colonies to act together when he said that ‘the councils of the savages proceeded with better order than the British Parliament.’

Franklin’s plan was also rejected by the Crown, but for reasons different from those of the Colonial legislatures. To the British, the plan was too democratic.  … The separate Colonial governments and the Crown had, in effect, vetoed the plan of the Albany commissioners -- a veto beyond which there could be no appeal. Nonetheless, the work of the congress was not in vain.”

Approximately 20 years later, the colonists took Franklin’s advice ~ hang together or hang separately! (Paraphrased) He brought the Albany plan to the table and the process of negotiations and compromises began behind closed doors. It would end in the formation of the United States of America, per a federal confederation of Native American Nations.

The rest is history, as someone once said, and as we forever strive to create a more perfect union a wise People would disregard the government haters twisted claims of Patriotism and take the time to read some of our founding history, much of the basis of which can be found in the “Great Law of Peace,” and proceed from there to vote the haters out in November!

Let me leave you with a highly relevant snippet of a quote from Forgotten Fathers:

…America can be revived, rejuvenated, by recognizing a Native School of thought.

-- Chief Luther Standing Bear ~ Lakota (Sioux) ~ Land of the Spotted Eagle

G. aka Partisan Democrat

Special thanks is extended to Bruce E. Johansen , author of Forgotten Fathers  for his dissertation work on the topic and for his offering of the book for free online! http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FF.html

and to Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net-aa300) Distributed by the Cybercasting Services Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NTN for his preparation of the Iroquois Constitution.

Others sources of information include:

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/04/16/clive-bundy-speaks-to-tpnn-we-the-people-are-tired-of-the-federal-government-ruling-with-an-army/

http://www.glennbeck.com/2014/04/14/nevada-rancher-i-did-not-graze-my-cattle-on-united-states-property/

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/04/15/Standoff-at-Nevada-Ranch-Americas-Ready-to-Resist

I'm calling BS on anti-Trans-Pacific Partnership Peeps

Some say TPP, or the Trans-Pacific Partnership, will boost the economy among international partners and support the creation/retention of jobs (paraphrased/Wikipedia). Others say it's a secretive agreement threatening to rewrite intellectual property laws across the globe, etc., (paraphrased/Electronic Frontier Foundation).

Here's what I hear in those two paraphrased comments:

The first one says President Obama comprehends that the United States is a part of the 21st Century and he is working to insure prosperity for all of us within the context of the globe. The second one says President Obama will screw America and Her workers even though they cannot know that because it is all a secret.

  Comment #2 is a position that does not compute, therefore I call BS!

Frankly, without evidence, it is not possible for me to entertain the idea that President Obama is out to screw the American worker via some secretive international trade plot to benefit the rich ~ it is not who this President is and if pro-United States voters do not know that, they've got some Google work to do.

Here's what I hear when I go back to 2008 to a brief, non-slick interview of then candidate Barack Obama answering a question posed by Pastor Rick Warren: Why do you want to be President? 

I hear that candidate say ...You know, I remember what my mother used to tell me. I was talking to somebody a while back and I said the one time she would really get angry with me is if she ever thought I was being mean to somebody, or unfair to somebody. She said, imagine standing in their shoes. Imagine looking through their eyes. That basic idea of empathy, and that, I think, is what's made America special is that notion, that everybody has got a shot. If we see somebody down and out, if we see a kid who can't afford college, that we care for them too. ... ( See the key phrase in the meme. ) ( See the entire transcript here . ) 

It does not compute with comment #2 as POTUS is not out to screw America and/or Her People and it is absurd to think that he is.

I've also heard that candidate say somewhere in that same period of time: ...Green jobs are the jobs of the future -- not just because they pay well and can't be outsourced. And not just because they'll help strengthen our economy and lift up our middle class. But because they'll help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and save this planet for our children. ... ( See the largest solar thermal system in the world in California's Mojave Desert 2013 in the photo. ) ( You can see more of then candidate Obama's words here . )

It does not compute with comment #2 as POTUS is discriminating re import/export in the environment in which we live ~ the global community in which we live.

Then there is all of this alleged secret talk ~ as if Congress is, once again, not in the loop! (I still remember when they said that about the collection of bulk data, too, and then we found out about those meetings they just didn't attend. Oops! Below is real time typical Senate Hearing room where the Assist. U.S. Trade Representative Lewis Karesh was sitting in the witness chair informing sometime this year. I think it would be safe to bet if something goes askew those missing Senators will be running to the cameras to say they were not informed either... ( Read a bit more about the not so secret TPP trade talks here . )

It does not compute with comment #2 as a simple perusal of the source ~ the White House website ~ provides evidence of an administration consistently striving to shed light on how the government works for The People.

And then there is the long-delayed fair/free trade agreements signed with South Korea, Columbia and Panama in 2011 ~ long-delayed, BTW, because the GOP did not want to provide training funds for American workers who might be adversely impacted by the agreements but POTUS stuck to his guns because, it seems, POTUS is not really comparable to past trade agreement makers. Contrary to the charges being bandied about he is out to protect the American worker/Not screw the American worker. ( Read more on that here . ) ( And give this a shot, too ~ read an actual fact sheet on the South Korean trade deal here . )

It does not compute with comment #2 as typically because the Truth of what POTUS does is not what a large number of the electorate Google.

I'm going trust you've had enough. It can be a drag wading through international trade information, for sure. Suffice it to say,  if you fear the sky is falling due to TPP Google it and verify it -- or not -- for yourself.

Let me leave you with this though ~ a snippet from the mission statement of your Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which works in a global ( ^^^ )capacity under President Obama: 

American trade policy works toward opening markets throughout the world to create new opportunities for families, farmers, manufacturers, workers, consumers, and businesses...

And, let me leave you with the a link to the source ~ the aforementioned Office of the U.S. Trade Representative here .

If you do your homework, I suspect you will find not much computes with comment #2.

MORAL MONDAYS MOVEMENT MAY BE MID-TERM ENERGY DEMOCRATS ARE SEEKING

Most Democrats know the Democratic Party has the numbers to beat the GOP ~ but the real question is, does the Party have the energy to beat both the GOP AND the Puritopians, too?

(SPOILER ALERT: I BELIEVE WE DO! And I believe that because a movement, the likes of which we have not seen before, is pushing back and rising up in the South and spreading beyond it’s borders ~ The Moral Mondays Movement.)

BTW, I'm defining the GOP as anti-Federalists who lost the battle for a land of sovereign states (as opposed to one nation) and as Confederates who lost the battle for a land split in two (also, as opposed to one nation).

I'm defining Puritopians as Democrats who are unhappy because liberal policies are not being implemented fast enough for them and who dislike GOP-ERS but reserve their greatest disdain for Democratic presidents they attack for not being progressive enough or for being just like GOP-ERS no matter what ~ even nullification.    

Back on topic: Why I believe ...

On Monday, Feb. 8, 2014 North Carolina’s Moral Mondays movement held a “Moral March” and10’s of 1000’s of activists from 32 state protested against right-wing policies and rallied for equality and justice in North Carolina and beyond. Led by an African American in a Southern state, the Moral Mondays movement is growing in leaps and bounds and colors and issues. And NC NAACP President and Leader of the Moral Mondays movement The Rev. William Barber II says we “ain’t seen nothing yet.” (Paraphrased.) 

So, while the GOP fights to return us to The Articles of Confederation and while the Puritopians bitch, Democrats need to know energy IS out there and it can be found in the Moral Mondays Movement. We need to Google it, engage it, help build it and schedule a blue wave to hit on Election Day.  

I'll leave you with the words of POTUS:

And a few links so you can follow up on Moral Mondays:

The Facebook Page for the North Carolina NAACP

The website page for Moral Monday Georgia

A shout out for background material from: The Nation , The Free Dictionary and Politicususa ...