A Litany of Idiocy, or Why I No Longer Vote Republican
A Litany of Idiocy, or Why I No Longer Vote Republican -Douglas B. McGaw (Emporia KS, Vietnam veteran) dbmcgaw@sbcglobal.netLet us start with some basic axioms: 1. Our economic health depends on...
View ArticleKansas' Cultural Revolution
Kansas’ Cultural RevolutionIn 1966 Mao Zedong initiated the Cultural Revolution in China. It was an ideologically-based movement/experiment to impose Maoist orthodoxy throughout China. The movement’s...
View ArticleWRONG
WrongA review of Republican priorities, strategies, goals, and policies shows them to be wrong on almost every count:
View ArticleOpen Letter to Tim Huelskamp
I am an unfortunate constituent of possibly the most ill-informed and idiotic of Congresspeople: the wingnut Tim Huelskamp of Kansas' 1st district. At a meeting in our town last year, someone asked...
View ArticleWhy Vote Republican?
The message below sums up in very terse verbiage my problem with the GOP. I'm from Kansas, so my reference to Brownback and Kobach is a bit localized, but I'm trying to clean it up for submission to...
View ArticleTreason
I don't often comment here, but the recent Senate action in sending a letter to Iran requires my input. The following was sent to our local paper (I'm in Kansas, better referred to as that 3rd-world...
View ArticleReligion and Politics
The message below was recently posted in the local newspaper and then reposted on the blog labeled Kansans First:http://t.co/...Article posted below the flying spaghetti monster - Doug
View ArticleMy Independence Day Perspective:
First, I claim the right to say this; I am a combat veteran with a Purple Heart and have EARNED that right, though one need not have those credentials to say the same things.
View ArticleOpen Letter to Bernie Sanders
Dear Bernie,I am a Vietnam Veteran (with Purple Heart) who is nearly as old as you and every bit as progressive in my passion as you are. I am one of your supporters, have contributed to your...
View ArticleHillary Myths
Full disclosure: I caucused for Bernie Sanders in my state, so I can hardly be labeled as a blind loyalist for Hillary Clinton, and am able to see her faults as well as her virtues. My wife Mary, who...
View ArticleGrow up, Berniebots!
Full disclosure: I am a Sanders supporter who caucused for him in my state and am disappointed that he did not secure the nomination.That said, I have about had it with the Bernie-or-Bust crybabies...
View ArticleTrusting Hillary
My thoughts for the day….Trusting HillaryPolitifact.com, which rates the veracity of statements by politicians, gives Hillary a high rating for truthfulness: 72% of her public statements are partly...
View ArticleCongressional Letter Campaign
From Doug & Mary,Below you will find a letter we are sending to the people who (fail to) represent us. If we all send similar letters, it may have an impact. I would encourage any and all to either...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part One
Below is the first of numerous submissions wherein I suggest ways our country, our government, and the world can be made better. I am an old fart in my 70’s and have seen much: the turmoil of the...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Two
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachElections and Elective OfficesVoting:Prerequisites: A strong Democratic/Independent majority in both House and Senate A Progressive...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Three
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachGerrymanderingThe term “gerrymander” comes from a post-Revolutionary-War governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry (whose surname, by the way, is...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Four
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachCongressAlthough it could be argued that term limits would remove good legislators who ought to be allowed to remain, experience has shown that...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Five
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachPresidentAs indicated under Voting (in Part 2), the President should be elected by popular vote – just like senators and members of congress – and...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Six
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachCampaign FinancingIn the wake of the extremely ill-advised and wrongly-decided ruling in Citizens United, which has equated corporations with people...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Seven
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachLyingOther than when testifying under oath, lying is not a crime, though in a just and moral society it should be at least socially condemned and...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Eight
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachII. Controversial and Cultural PoliciesCulture Wars: SexismThe Equal Rights Amendment was squelched in the 1980’s by a last-minute effort of the...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Nine
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachCulture Wars: Church and StateOur First Amendment specifically outlines that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Ten
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachGunsIn less than two years, we lose more people to gun violence in the USA than we lost in over fifteen years of combat in Vietnam.Given the insanity...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Eleven
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachIII. Healthcare IssuesHealthcareIt is frequently – and correctly – asserted by people who care for others that healthcare is a right, not a privilege...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Twelve
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachBig PharmaIntimately related to the healthcare issue is that of the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma.) Alongside the insurance and gun lobbies,...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Thirteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachIV. Environment and EnergyEnvironmentDespite the arguments of climate change deniers, climate change is a fact. It is real, it is ongoing, and it is...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Fourteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachEnergyEnergy can come from non-renewable fossil fuels which create pollution in our biosphere, or it can come from renewable sources which pollute...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Fifteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachV. EducationEducationEducation grounded in facts and supported by science is essential to a well-informed citizenry. Such education of all citizens...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Sixteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachIV. EconomicsEconomics and Economic InequalitySo much has been said about the increasing degree of economic inequality. Suffice it here to point out...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Seventeen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachUnionsToday, we take for granted many improvements in the workplace, improvements such as access to a living wage, five-day work weeks, eight-hour...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Eighteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachHomelessnessAs recently as 1980, widespread homelessness in the U.S. was not on most peoples’ radar. It existed, but the number of people caught in...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Nineteen
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive ApproachTrade and TariffsThere is no one-size-fits-all approach to issues of international trade. There are, however, reasonable compromises. The North...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Twenty - Media
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach — MediaVII. MediaPrint MediaThe role of news media has always been central to political discourse and political campaigns, but never more so than in...
View ArticleToward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach, Part Twenty-One - War...
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach — War and National SecurityVIII. War and National SecurityWarArticle I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives to congress (among other powers) the...
View Article
