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How American Politics Went Insane (Long and very serious)
The Atlantic ^ | July/August Issue | Jonathan Rauch

Posted on 06/25/2016 2:10:09 PM PDT by NRx

click here to read article


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To: NRx

What navel-gazing drivle. Any fool can write an article and any publisher can foolishly buy it.


41 posted on 06/25/2016 4:20:38 PM PDT by SandwicheGuy (*The butter acts as a lubricant and speeds up the CPU)
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To: NRx

IMO it boils down to the Democrats’ silly attempt to limit campaign contributions to Republicans. The crucial one was limiting contributions directly to political parties. That gave incumbents a titanic advantage over challengers.


42 posted on 06/25/2016 4:46:08 PM PDT by Thud
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To: Robert DeLong

Presidents don’t “retire” after one term, no matter how badly things are going. The last elected President to do so was Rutherford Hayes.


43 posted on 06/25/2016 5:11:54 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: NRx

That Atlantic, god bless ‘em. Serious leftists who are so enthralled with their own earnestness and intelligence to realize poo-flinging monkeys have rendered their deep thoughts totally moot.


44 posted on 06/25/2016 5:14:40 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: NRx

Bobs BkMk


45 posted on 06/25/2016 6:00:18 PM PDT by Rapscallion (You are correct. There IS a conspiracy. It's not a bad dream.)
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To: NRx

Just read the article. I think the only recommendation by the author I agreed with was the lifting of limitations on money raised by political parties. I agreed that the so-called reforms simply diverted big money donations to the private donors.

The author’s angst over where our country is today politically, and, whom he blames for it is definitely focused on conservatism. By definition he relegates conservatism as “extremist” and “ideological .” He never once discusses leftwing as extremism or ideological.

He also disses the Constitution as being inadequate to provide “accountability” for politicians - thus his contention that we need a “political class” to run things “for our own good.”

My view, and not a unique one, is that our nation has the problems it has due to the destruction of a common, basic, moral structure founded on the belief in a transcendent Judeo-Christian God. We didn’t all agree on who God was, or on a particular denomination, but most Americans, even among skeptics, saw the value in promoting general religious morality among our populace. This morality was generally believed by educated and uneducated - but that is no longer the case, and hasn’t been for at least a century.

We have lawyers who become judges and politicians, professors who teach moral relativism to their students year after year, decade after decade - so now we have teachers, professors, lawyers, judges, politicians who no longer believe our laws are based on anything other than precedent, and that what is moral is simply in the eye of the beholder.

And, we can wonder how babies can be murdered in the womb with no regret or guilt, premarital sex and shacking up is the norm, divorce marriages are the norm, same-sex marriage and homosexuality are the new normal, transgenderism is openly discussed and now enforced by presidential fiat? Is it any wonder that the “rule of law” has gone by the way? Why not, when there is no agreed upon moral foundation to our laws anymore?

Our nation is spiritually sick, naked, and weak - and, the worst part is many Americans cannot comprehend that. God forgive us. Why He would I don’t know, but we need spiritual renewal back to Him. That is our only hope. Political answers are not the solution.


46 posted on 06/25/2016 6:00:51 PM PDT by rusty schucklefurd
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To: Verginius Rufus
Actually wouldn't LBJ qualify as well? He was President for 6 years, 2 taking over for JFK, and then 1 term elected. Then chose not to run for re-election due to Vietnam.

But it is obvious that this writer has little regard for Trump as he painted the worse possible scenario, or I guess he could have just as well been ragging on Hillary (probably a Bernie supporter) for that matter. Either way, his starting premise was nothing more than tripe. If he wants to be serious, that is not the way to start out. At least for this reader.

47 posted on 06/25/2016 6:20:39 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: NRx
There are some good points,

How about sharing some. I do not intend to read the article, but would like to hear the good points (if any).

48 posted on 06/25/2016 6:33:50 PM PDT by palmer (Net "neutrality" = Obama turning the internet over to foreign enemies)
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To: NRx

Sorry. Garbage read. Nothing there but leftist nonsense. Might make a good fishwrap or bird dropping catcher but little else methinks.


49 posted on 06/25/2016 7:25:15 PM PDT by Boomer (liberalism is a mental disease with no cure but a frontal lobotomy will make them less of a jerk.)
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To: Robert DeLong

Both Truman and Johnson were eligible to run for another term but decided not to because of their unpopularity. But neither was elected to the office. LBJ reportedly enlisted J. Edgar Hoover’s help to blackmail JFK into picking him as his running mate in 1960 (Kennedy had planned to pick Stuart Symington).


50 posted on 06/25/2016 8:42:47 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

“LBJ reportedly enlisted J. Edgar Hoover’s help to blackmail JFK into picking him as his running mate in 1960 (Kennedy had planned to pick Stuart Symington).”

Interesting. Sounds plausible. LBJ was a real sociopath.


51 posted on 06/25/2016 8:46:27 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d have written splay about LBJ.


52 posted on 06/25/2016 8:48:43 PM PDT by morphing libertarian (Trump's innuendo a new low)
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To: morphing libertarian

“Macbird”


53 posted on 06/25/2016 8:49:13 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Publius

Perfect i was thinking LearBJ, but I think the porn folks already did that.


54 posted on 06/25/2016 8:50:49 PM PDT by morphing libertarian (Trump's innuendo a new low)
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To: Vaquero; NRx

“The Atlantic.....a Marxist rag. Why bother.”

And the writer is a senior fellow at the Brookings institute, a liberal think tank.

In the bit I read he manages to trash Trump, Cruz and Sanders. but not even a mention of Hildabeast.

A waste of time.


55 posted on 06/25/2016 9:28:06 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: Verginius Rufus
But neither was elected to the office.

Truman succeeded FDR in 1945 after FDR's death and then defeated Dewey in 1948 , and Johnson succeeded JFK in 1963 after his assassination and then defeated defeated Goldwater in a landslide in 1984.

56 posted on 06/26/2016 3:47:11 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: NRx

btt


57 posted on 06/26/2016 10:08:30 AM PDT by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain for a slasher, and find one.... what's your plan?)
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To: marktwain
That's what Seymour Hersh argues in The Dark Side of Camelot. Plausible and probably true.
58 posted on 06/26/2016 2:59:07 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Robert DeLong
Can't you read the headline? It says Dewey won.

Yes, I know about the elections of 1948 and 1964. The article was envisioning someone who was elected to the office and chose not to run for re-election. The last time that happened was in 1880.

59 posted on 06/26/2016 3:03:37 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

To be more precise—someone who was elected to the office in his own right and chose not to run for re-election after four years.


60 posted on 06/26/2016 3:05:41 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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