Author Topic: The Way Forward for the American Creed  (Read 355221 times)


Crafty_Dog

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« Last Edit: January 24, 2021, 05:44:22 PM by Crafty_Dog »


Crafty_Dog

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Nullification
« Reply #903 on: March 03, 2021, 05:08:06 AM »

ccp

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Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #905 on: March 19, 2021, 05:13:05 AM »
I'm good with that  8-)

DougMacG

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Crafty_Dog

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Idea Pathogens
« Reply #907 on: April 25, 2021, 07:52:16 PM »
I LOVE this term!
=================

“The Parasitic Mind” is not the first book to rail against postmodernism and its negative cultural fallout, but the book’s animating metaphor is original and compelling. Saad argues that the ideological forces governing the progressive mindset that have undermined our Enlightenment-inspired attachment to empiricism, reason and the scientific method are “idea pathogens.” These cognitive pathogens mimic brain parasites in animals that, for example, can cause mice to stop fearing cats, or moose to turn in endless circles, robbing them of their survival instincts.

Crafty_Dog

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America Needs Civics Education
« Reply #908 on: May 08, 2021, 06:03:54 PM »
America Needs History and Civics Education to Promote Unity
A plan to help teachers instill an understanding that is complete and honest but not cynical.



Editor’s note: This article is signed by six former U.S. education secretaries: Lamar Alexander, Arne Duncan, John King, Rod Paige, Richard Riley and Margaret Spellings.


Following years of polarization and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the world’s oldest constitutional democracy is in grave danger. We stand at a crossroads, called to protect this democracy and to work toward unity. Current and future generations will look back to examine how we chose to act, and why.

A key part of our task is to reinvigorate teaching and learning of American history and civics in our nation’s schools. A constitutional democracy requires a citizenry that has a desire to participate, and an understanding of how to do so constructively, as well as the knowledge and skills to act for the common good. Yet a history and civics education for the 21st century must also grapple with the difficult and often painful parts of our history—including enslavement, segregation and racism, indigenous removals, Japanese-American internment, denials of religious liberty and free speech, and other injustices.


We need teaching and learning that pursues an account of U.S. constitutional democracy that is honest about the wrongs of the past without falling into cynicism, and appreciative of the American founding without tipping into adulation. To turn pluribus into unum, we need curriculums that achieve a more plural and complete story of U.S. history, while also forging a common story, the shared inheritance of all Americans.

Regrettably, civics, which teaches skills of participation and the knowledge that sustains it, and history, which provides a frame of reference for the present, have been sorely neglected over the past half-century in U.S. schools. This cannot continue to be the case.

Right now, we collectively spend about 1,000 times more per student on science, technology, engineering, and math education than we do on history and civics. Where civics education is taught, it is often hampered by a lack of consensus about what to teach and how.

But there is a way forward that will let us rebuild civics and history alongside STEM education.


Despite our differences on policy and priorities, we believe that the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy provides a promising path. The project is the result of a 19-month collaboration among more than 300 scholars, educators, practitioners and students from diverse backgrounds. The ambition of this plan is to re-establish civics and American history as essential components of education.

The Roadmap aims to renew the study of history and to rebuild civic education from the ground up, by providing guiding principles for states, local school districts and educators across the U.S. They, in turn, can establish their own standards and tailor curricular materials to their local communities. For example, using the plan, Texas may choose to devote more attention to the war between the U.S. and Mexico in the 1840s, while Massachusetts may choose to look more closely than others at the early phases of the colonial conflict with Great Britain, in which Boston played a dominant role. The plan recommends key content and instructional strategies for history and civics at every grade level. And it does so with an eye toward meeting the wide-ranging needs of today’s students.

The Educating for American Democracy Initiative offers a new vision for history and civics that supports educators in dealing effectively with fundamental tensions inherent in civic learning, integrates a diversity of experiences and perspectives throughout, and cultivates civil disagreement and reflective patriotism. As an example, the Roadmap can help teachers guide conversations among students about how we can integrate the perspectives of Americans from all backgrounds when analyzing the content of the philosophical foundations of American constitutional democracy. The recommendations of the Roadmap weave history and civics together and inspire students to learn by asking difficult questions, such as “What does our history reveal about the aspirations and tensions captured by the motto E pluribus unum?” then seeking answers in the classroom through facts and discussion.

Importantly, the Roadmap is not a set of national standards or a national curriculum. It is instead a call to action to invest in strengthening history and civic learning. It lays a foundation to deliver opportunities for excellence in civic learning equitably to all students.


The American K-12 education system has always worked to respond to the needs of the nation. The early republic emphasized history, reading and math. In the mid-20th century, the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and the dawn of an era of global economic competition drove a turn toward investment in STEM education. And during the early part of this century, our attention has turned to preparing students from marginalized communities to succeed in high school and college.

Now the fragility of our democratic institutions is in plain sight. This is the time to give priority to history and civics education for American children.

DougMacG

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The Way Forward, New Woke Coke Ad: Busted. Nike, American Airlines
« Reply #909 on: May 21, 2021, 09:04:30 AM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmmnKdU2sok

Watch, share.

Also Nike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDWLSAdf48o

And American Airlines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg89CSkoSuI

Short, hard hitting ads.

With new Biden Left rules such as banning 'stepped up basis' on inheritance where you can't leave your after tax nest egg to your children, why not spend it now and make an impact?  The Left controls every institution you can name except maybe Hillsdale college and Fire Hydrant of Freedom. It's time to ignore election cycle timing of political ads and start bringing these 'woke' people down a notch - every chance we get.

Credit:  consumersresearch.org 

I was going to say, donate, but looks like their website is under attack. 

G M

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Re: The Way Forward, New Woke Coke Ad: Busted. Nike, American Airlines
« Reply #910 on: May 21, 2021, 11:31:06 AM »
You aren't voting, or donating your way out of this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmmnKdU2sok

Watch, share.

Also Nike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDWLSAdf48o

And American Airlines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg89CSkoSuI

Short, hard hitting ads.

With new Biden Left rules such as banning 'stepped up basis' on inheritance where you can't leave your after tax nest egg to your children, why not spend it now and make an impact?  The Left controls every institution you can name except maybe Hillsdale college and Fire Hydrant of Freedom. It's time to ignore election cycle timing of political ads and start bringing these 'woke' people down a notch - every chance we get.

Credit:  consumersresearch.org 

I was going to say, donate, but looks like their website is under attack.

DougMacG

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Re: The Way Forward, New Woke Coke Ad: Busted. Nike, American Airlines
« Reply #911 on: May 22, 2021, 06:17:40 AM »
Coca Cola has been around 135 years without a backlash like this. The product IS poison. Pissing off the only people who might defend their right to make it and sell it was a bonehead move of historic proportion.

ccp

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Republican primary for governor in NJ
« Reply #912 on: June 09, 2021, 05:25:06 AM »
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/06/08/jack-ciattarelli-wins-republican-primary-for-new-jersey-governor/

gotta rid us of the Goldman Sachs multimillionaire leftist elitist
  ( looking out for the plebs) democrat Phil Murphy whose NJ was Last state to get rid of mask mandates outdoors and indoors I believe


ccp

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marjorie Greene
« Reply #913 on: June 09, 2021, 07:33:26 AM »

G M

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Re: marjorie Greene
« Reply #914 on: June 09, 2021, 08:30:22 AM »
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/marjorie-taylor-greene-evolution-130522823.html

she is NOT the way forward
 overall

IMHO

Typical leftist smear job. She fights. Unlike 90% of republicans.

ccp

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #915 on: June 09, 2021, 09:37:42 AM »
"Typical leftist smear job. She fights. Unlike 90% of republicans."

yes I get it but why can't we have fighters who do not at times sound like idiots
Like Trump or Greene?

maybe think for 15 seconds before you open your big trap.

Like Desantis

G M

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #916 on: June 14, 2021, 05:53:11 PM »
"Typical leftist smear job. She fights. Unlike 90% of republicans."

yes I get it but why can't we have fighters who do not at times sound like idiots
Like Trump or Greene?

maybe think for 15 seconds before you open your big trap.

Like Desantis

Most politicians on either side are idiots.

Crafty_Dog

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Redraw the lines
« Reply #917 on: June 18, 2021, 08:20:08 PM »

Crafty_Dog

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Crafty_Dog

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G M

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Re: The Way Back
« Reply #920 on: October 14, 2021, 09:09:20 PM »

Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #921 on: October 15, 2021, 01:54:28 AM »
Under attack-- and it will vanish if we don't fight for it.

DougMacG

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The Way Forward, Define Left as WRONG DIRECTION - right now while it's obvious
« Reply #922 on: October 16, 2021, 06:59:35 PM »
Under attack-- and it will vanish if we don't fight for it.

1.  They can't win if we won't surrender.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/10/they_cant_win_if_we_wont_surrender.html
The losing team decides when it's over.  That puts us in the driver's seat.    :wink:

2.  Right Direction - Wrong Direction.  THIS defines the game today.  Not right-left.  Not red-blue.  Not are you better off now than you were 4 years ago.  It's simpler than that.  Every policy choice either leads us in the right direction or in the wrong direction.  Start your scorecard.

Real Clear Politics average:  32% say the country is moving in the right direction (under Dem rule).  60% say wrong direction.  The 32% know this is failure, but approve of the direction.  These are the unwinnables from our point of view, only 32% of the country.  All the rest are either on our side or potentially persuadable.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/direction_of_country-902.html

Here's an example defining right direction, wrong direction.  Trump handed Biden a recovering economy (and a warp speed vaccine).  The GDP growth rate was 6%.  Today it is 1%.
https://firehydrantoffreedom.com/index.php?topic=1791.msg133596#msg133596
https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow

GDP growth is what pays for everything we need collectively, from balancing the budget to healthcare to infrastructure to clean energy and zero emissions.  Poor people and poor countries can't and don't do that.  If you don't have increasing revenues from a growing economy, you can't do more with bridges, helping people or cleaning up the environment.

Our policies brought Black and Hispanic unemployment to all time lows.

Their policies brought back inflation, high gas prices and record numbers leaving their jobs.
https://news.yahoo.com/us-inflation-reaches-highest-rate-045822300.html
https://www.wibc.com/blogs/mock-n-rob/gas-prices-surged-more-than-42-since-biden-took-office/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/business/economy/workers-quitting-august.html

The difference has never been clearer or simpler or easier to make the argument.

Yes, we will vote our way out of this and this is how.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2021, 07:03:14 PM by DougMacG »

G M

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You can’t outvote vote fraud.


Under attack-- and it will vanish if we don't fight for it.

1.  They can't win if we won't surrender.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/10/they_cant_win_if_we_wont_surrender.html
The losing team decides when it's over.  That puts us in the driver's seat.    :wink:

2.  Right Direction - Wrong Direction.  THIS defines the game today.  Not right-left.  Not red-blue.  Not are you better off now than you were 4 years ago.  It's simpler than that.  Every policy choice either leads us in the right direction or in the wrong direction.  Start your scorecard.

Real Clear Politics average:  32% say the country is moving in the right direction (under Dem rule).  60% say wrong direction.  The 32% know this is failure, but approve of the direction.  These are the unwinnables from our point of view, only 32% of the country.  All the rest are either on our side or potentially persuadable.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/direction_of_country-902.html

Here's an example defining right direction, wrong direction.  Trump handed Biden a recovering economy (and a warp speed vaccine).  The GDP growth rate was 6%.  Today it is 1%.
https://firehydrantoffreedom.com/index.php?topic=1791.msg133596#msg133596
https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow

GDP growth is what pays for everything we need collectively, from balancing the budget to healthcare to infrastructure to clean energy and zero emissions.  Poor people and poor countries can't and don't do that.  If you don't have increasing revenues from a growing economy, you can't do more with bridges, helping people or cleaning up the environment.

Our policies brought Black and Hispanic unemployment to all time lows.

Their policies brought back inflation, high gas prices and record numbers leaving their jobs.
https://news.yahoo.com/us-inflation-reaches-highest-rate-045822300.html
https://www.wibc.com/blogs/mock-n-rob/gas-prices-surged-more-than-42-since-biden-took-office/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/business/economy/workers-quitting-august.html

The difference has never been clearer or simpler or easier to make the argument.

Yes, we will vote our way out of this and this is how.

ccp

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Dick Morris show today : infrastructure bill will wipe out the red states
« Reply #924 on: October 16, 2021, 08:09:13 PM »
Dick Morris
on newsmax today

cannot find a link to it yet

but he points out how the "infrastructure " bill

whether it is 3.5 T

or 1.5 T

will be a disaster for the Republican party (and anyone who calls him/herself a taxpayer)
he had a guest on who actually studied the multi 1,000 page bill
and deep within it are provisions
that will exponentially expand union bosses power
force everyone to unionize
initially with the Federals paying for it

only to get everyone addicted to more taxpayer handouts

so when the Feds back off paying for it the States will be forced to pay

and the "red"states will thus have to increase tax rates
those that do not do income tax will have to
the employees in the red states will have to unionize

driving up wages prices

and dragging the red states into the slums like the blue states

in other words wipe out red state advantages

NO AMOUNT OF INFRASTRUCTURE BILL IS GOOD FOR US
NOT even 10 cents!

of course the god damn romneys will fold or cowardly pretend they are so bipartisan and cut a deal with his big DUMB face smiling and proclaiming how it is only 1.5 trillion

all the while the devil is in the details

stake holders HAVE  put pressure on manchiin and semena


ccp

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the unions control most of the ports of entry
« Reply #925 on: October 16, 2021, 08:14:33 PM »
LA port ranks 338 in the world for efficiency

in other words it is totally inefficient

we can thank unions for this

prices back logs of supply chain

thank the unions

speaking of unions, lets take a close look at one of the teacher's union heads,
weingarten

who is as close to a mob boss as can think of :

https://celebhook.com/what-is-randi-weingarten-net-worth-riches-and-fortunes-of-the-head-of-aft/

anyone care to guess she has more than 1.5 mill stashed away somewhere?

ccp

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Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #928 on: October 17, 2021, 06:18:53 PM »
Ummm  , , , not seeing how that is "The Way Forward"   :-D

ccp

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #929 on: October 17, 2021, 06:32:11 PM »
well by stopping the "infrastructure bill"

is one step in the right direction

Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #930 on: October 17, 2021, 07:20:04 PM »
Not really what the thread has in mind-- looking more for winning strategies, articulations, etc.

Crafty_Dog

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G M

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Crafty_Dog

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ccp

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #934 on: November 08, 2021, 06:57:56 PM »
Christopher Caldwell’s “The Age of Entitlement”

good food for thought

I like the analogy

like Roosevelt saved capitalism
Reagan saved the 60s

yes Reagan did nothing to slow spending
I guess to get his increase in spending for the military he allowed the crats to spend like wild drunks at a casino

and yes Reagan also made a grave error in granting amnesty to illegals
setting it up for todays debacle

Was he (RR) in cahoots or snookered on this issue - good question

is Trump the last gasp
I hope not, but do think so.......

ask GM


Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #935 on: November 09, 2021, 02:26:12 AM »
I have read the Caldwell book.  VERY good, highly recommended.

DougMacG

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #936 on: November 09, 2021, 07:10:31 AM »
"yes Reagan did nothing to slow spending
I guess to get his increase in spending for the military he allowed the crats to spend like wild drunks at a casino"

  - That is right.  Reagan never had the House of Representatives on his side so he never controlled the budget.  He could get what he wanted, not just military spending but defeating the Soviet Union, only through conceding something important to the Democrats.  The actual dollars of that  social spending then were survivable but the trend of spending going up and up and up was not.  One other point on Reagan's compromising to get what was most important to the country at the time, he got reelected, won 59 states.  The Reagan revolution was stopped and erased in its tracks if Mondale won, and much of the success came in his second term and beyond.

"and yes Reagan also made a grave error in granting amnesty to illegals"

   - Once again, that number of illegals granted amnesty, bad policy, was survivable, but the trade he made was with scoundrels, so the future number coming in accelerated instead of being stopped as promised.  One fault of honest people with character is they don't always see right away the deceit in others.

Crafty_Dog

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Re: The Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #937 on: November 09, 2021, 04:58:28 PM »
In evaluating Reagan also to be kept in mind is that the interface of baseline budgeting projections based upon Carter era inflation levels and the unexpectedly rapid decline in inflation due to Volcker at the Fed meant that the meaning of the nominal increases in spending per the baseline became increasingly "real" and decreasingly "nominal".

Crafty_Dog

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WT: House Freedom Caucus helps state lawmakers
« Reply #938 on: December 03, 2021, 03:16:52 AM »
House Freedom Caucus to help push state lawmakers’ agendas

BY KERRY PICKET THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The House Freedom Caucus plans to broaden its reach into state legislatures to provide conservative policymakers with resources and tools to push their legislative agendas.

The State Freedom Caucus Network will be led by longtime GOP strategist Andy Roth and House Freedom Caucus Executive Director Justin Ouimette, and has the direct support of the House Freedom Caucus.

The State Freedom Caucus Network is intended to give support to conservative state lawmakers who have limited resources compared to what is available at the national level, a senior GOP aide close to the Freedom Caucus told The Washington Times.

“There are people or people in states that want the same thing here in Congress. The Freedom Caucus exists to speak for the millions of Americans that feel like this place has forgotten them,” Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who was recently elected the new chair of the Freedom Caucus and assumes the role Jan. 1, said in an interview. “It stands for transparency, fairness in government and constitution. They want the same thing in the states.”

The House Freedom Caucus can help provide state-level lawmakers resources such as staffing, communication, strategy, tactics and logistics that give them the space to deliver their message more effectively while pushing back on their own leadership from time to time.

House Republican leadership has not spoken to Freedom Caucus staff about the new program, according to the GOP aide.

Much of the collaboration includes key caucus members in Congress repeating their messages, retweeting their tweets, visiting their regions to promote what they’re doing, appearing in media with them and writing op-eds in their local newspapers.

“All of that obviously matters at the federal level, but there’s a lot more noise to filter out at the state level when you’re in a fight,” the GOP aide said.

“Everything can focus on that, and you know, with the Freedom Caucus brand, the hope is not only do you know that they’re serious about following through on doing what they said they were going to do, but that they’re going to have the backup to stick around, politically and carry out that mission.”

The House Freedom Caucus sees the expansion into the states as an opportunity to pick up on issues to campaign on during the 2022 midterms. The HFC wants to zero in on federal money that funds critical race theory training, vouchers for school choice and resisting vaccine mandates.

“It’s definitely a hope that we have enough states that push on a single issue that we can show. It’s not just sort of grassroots to federal, but that every level of conservative Republican is crying out for a policy fix,” the GOP aide said.

As of now, it is unknown which states the State Freedom Caucus Network will launch. However, a slew of state lawmakers likely to be part of the new initiative could very well become a farm team for the next congressional class of House Freedom Caucus members.

The HFC sees this new state network as a way to show off new up-and-coming conservative political talent who will be pre-vetted if they decide to run for higher office one day.

Crafty_Dog

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McMaster's Three
« Reply #939 on: December 18, 2021, 03:02:55 PM »
Former Trump national security adviser H. R. McMaster argues in a chapter titled “Overcoming the Chinese Communist Party’s Campaign of Co-Option, Coercion and Concealment” that corporate shareholders should demand that U.S. corporations follow a 3-point oath in their dealings with China.

Do not transfer sensitive technology that gives the CCP a military advantage or unfair economic advantage.
Do not help the CCP stifle human freedom and perfect its police state.
Do not compromise the long-term viability of companies in exchange for short-term profits.

DougMacG

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Re: McMaster's Three
« Reply #940 on: December 18, 2021, 04:06:56 PM »
Former Trump national security adviser H. R. McMaster argues in a chapter titled “Overcoming the Chinese Communist Party’s Campaign of Co-Option, Coercion and Concealment” that corporate shareholders should demand that U.S. corporations follow a 3-point oath in their dealings with China.

Do not transfer sensitive technology that gives the CCP a military advantage or unfair economic advantage.
Do not help the CCP stifle human freedom and perfect its police state.
Do not compromise the long-term viability of companies in exchange for short-term profits.

Amen.  Adding one:

4.  You shouldn't need to be told this.

Crafty_Dog

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Hillsdale
« Reply #941 on: December 22, 2021, 04:14:53 AM »
Constitution’s preamble explains America’s mission statement

By David Azerrad

Editor’s note: This is one in a series examining the Consti-tution and Federalist Papers in

today’s America.

The preamble to our Constitution was a last-minute addition to the document that, according to the courts, has no substantive legal meaning. Yet it contains the noblest articulation of the mission statement for our country. America exists not just to secure the rights of its people or to allow them to get ahead in life, but also to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

From the outset, the Constitution distinguishes between liberty and its blessings, and in so doing, teaches us that not all uses of liberty will yield blessings. The Founders would find laughable the libertarian and liberal claims that unbridled sexuality, drug legalization, obscenity and the celebration of perversity are blessings of liberty. They would be appalled to see their own language invoked by the likes of David French to defend “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the local library as a blessing of liberty.

With the Preamble, the Constitution also teaches us to think of ourselves not just as rights-bearing individuals, but also as custodians tasked with transmitting to our posterity the blessings of liberty we inherited from our forefathers. “We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them,” Lincoln long ago observed. “They are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.” These blessings, therefore, do not really belong to us, but to our posterity. We are not at liberty to squander them, but must transmit them whole to the next generation, who in turn, must do the same for their children. Americans are thus bound together across time in an intergenerational compact among the living, the dead and the not-yet-born.

If we are to discharge our solemn duties, then we must first ensure that there be a posterity. This has very much become a problem in our time. Not only has the fertility rate hit a new historic low of 1.64 children per woman, but it is also well below the replacement rate (2.1). Like the rest of the developed world, we seem to be losing the will to live.

Of these births, a disproportionate share are the children of immigrants. Since 1965, America has witnessed the largest migration in recorded human history (precise numbers are hard to come by, but 65 million newcomers is a reasonable estimate). To quote former President Bill Clinton, “No other nation in history has gone through demographic change of this magnitude in so short a time.” Unlike earlier European immigrants, these more recent arrivals come from cultures more dissimilar to ours.

Many will surely assimilate and become part of our posterity. But the incentives for doing so grow weaker with each passing year. Modern technology allows all to remain connected to their homelands, while our elites mercilessly disparage America, inviting newcomers and natives alike to despise it.

Merely having posterity is ultimately not enough. Our children must be raised in such a way that they, too, can live as free citizens. “When we are planning for posterity,” Thomas Paine warned, “we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”

Who today can look to the next generations and feel confident about our country’s future? Millennials and Generation Z are not just the “wokest” generations, they’re also the most physically and mentally frail. They’ve been to school but their teachers have, for the most part, failed to instill in them a love for their country and an appreciation of its complicated, but nonetheless triumphant past.

The fault ultimately lies not with them, but with previous generations. When the domestic onslaught against America began in the 1960s, those to whom the country had been entrusted capitulated. They did put up some good fights and some of the old blessings of liberty were not extinguished (we still have a First and a Second Amendment). On the whole, though, the Silent Generation and the baby boomers presided over the country’s decline and saddled subsequent generations with an unconscionable level of both financial and moral debt.

The task now falls to the growing number of “unwoke” among the young to revitalize this great nation. However ill-prepared they may be, they realize that the current course is unsustainable. They see that liberty may disappear in their own time. In fact, all it takes is a new, relatively mild COVID-19 variant to shut down businesses, churches and schools. They already feel the crushing boot of censorship and see the persecution of political enemies by the regime and their corporate allies.

The odds are long, but the cause is not lost. The regime is powerful, but also incompetent and hated by a growing number of people. The backlash is brewing. It just needs to be mobilized, deepened and harnessed to rebuild the blessings of liberty for posterity.

• David Azerrad is an assistant professor at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington.

Crafty_Dog

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Zaibatsu America
« Reply #944 on: February 13, 2022, 05:03:32 AM »
How to fix this?

https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-zaibatsu-ization-of-america/?utm_campaign=American%20Mind%20Email%20Warm%20Up&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=203567535&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9raEvbB7thnoNlWY8t8wY-dQFM5McqXrntYZMHhRyGRvgwveN8fbqhsgZZpihvPtyoOrIgJGmGnBqigvltARsWwt9F3A&utm_content=203567535&utm_source=hs_email

Salvo
02.09.2022
15 minutes
The Zaibatsu-ization of America
Joel Kotkin
US-IT-lifestyle-Amazon-internet-technology-economy-computers
Our tech overlords have forsaken innovation for consolidation.
Enthusiasts of “the new economy” long cherished the notion that it would be different from the unenlightened, sluggish, and piggish older one. Yet our economy seems increasingly to resemble not some hippy capitalist utopia, but the deeply concentrated economy of pre-war Japan.

At the time, Japan had developed an economic model around a handful of large corporate conglomerates called zaibatsu. Organized as a “financial clique,” with a bank at the center, these firms extended their interests into virtually all economic activity. They included Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda. Mitsubishi led the way in shipbuilding, steel, and of course aircraft, being the creator of the famous Zero fighter.

Until bested by their onetime allies in the military, the zaibatsu dominated Japan. The war initially benefited them, but ultimately ruined their businesses as Japan was devastated. Yet they were so essential to the function of the economy that they were gradually rehabilitated during the U.S. occupation, recreating their historic pattern of using smaller firms as convenient subordinates.

Today we see the rise of a few companies, who have moved into virtually every aspect of our economy. The nerds of Silicon Valley are no longer just interested in gadgets to make life better but are seizing control of both the production and dissemination of information. Arguably the greatest beneficiaries of a pandemic that hooked people ever more on their products, the tech giants now have the capital to lead the drive into space and the forced march to electrical vehicles, while also looking into dominating more prosaic fields like healthcare and finance.

The zaibatu-ization of America’s economy presents an enormous problem of governance. Our constitutional structure is based on the notion of many competing players. When concentration became too evident, and politically potent, as during the early decades of the last century, measures were taken to slow, and even reverse, over-concentration. Yet in the past few decades, the largest emerging corporate interests—Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon—and a handful of large financial institutions gained unprecedented control over the economy. By last summer six tech firms, including Tesla, accounted for half the value of the NASQAQ 100.  By 2020, the five largest tech companies had total revenue amounting to half of those of all state governments combined.

The new tech industry rose dramatically in the eighties. Achieving an almost mythological status, these companies faced few barriers to ascendency. Unlike corporate rivals in sectors like energy and telecommunications, there was little to prevent their hegemony over the digital domain. They have extended that rule to other fields in a way that would have made zaibatsu executives, or further back, powerful feudal daimyo envious. In virtually every key field— operating systems, social media, search, the cloud—a handful of firms now dominate. For example, Google and Apple account for nearly 90 percent of all mobile browsers worldwide, while Microsoft by itself controls 90 percent of all operating system software. Three tech firms now account for two-thirds of all on-line advertising revenues, which comprises the vast majority of all ad sales.

Small business are now waiting to be gutted. Amazon secretly mined sales data from independent sellers who were using the company’s e-commerce platform in order to guide Amazon’s development of cheaper knock-off products. Google has been fined billions of dollars for giving preferential treatment to its own shopping service on its search site and has been accused by one of its few competitors, the much smaller Duck Duck Go, of manipulating browser extensions to drive customers from rival products. Apple continues to place strict limits on who can join its App Store and how developers can receive money from apps.

Days of Innovation Past

We are a long way from the early days of Silicon Valley, a remarkable mashup of new and old companies, full of enthusiasts eager to build new products that often challenged the existing corporate hierarchy. I personally witnessed the exciting birth of this revolution; now these same companies are the hierarchy, and like hierarchies in general, they have become oppressive towards competitors and far less creative than they once were.

They are busily taking control of the means of information. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google     already dominate the cloud and are now seeking control of underwater cables; in the past decade the large tech giants have boosted their share of undersea cable traffic from less than ten percent to roughly two-thirds.

The CEOs may still wear hoodies and speak woke, but they essentially seek, like other monopolists, to consolidate their market position, making them both essentially risk-averse, anti-competitive, and overweening. Mike Malone, who has chronicled Silicon Valley over the past quarter century, sees the Valley as having lost much of its egalitarian ethos; the new masters of tech, he suggests, have shifted “from…blue-collar kids to the children of privilege,” while also moving away from the production ethos that made the Valley so inspiring and egalitarian. “An intensely competitive industry,” he suggests, has become enamored with the allure of “the sure thing” backed by massive capital. If there is a potential competitor, they simply buy it.

Yet in many ways, the new tech zaibatsu differ from their Japanese counterparts in critical ways, particular in terms of place and national loyalty. The traditional Japanese business combines, like their German equivalents, had an international ambition, but were solidly tied to   national interests. They wanted a diversified economy, which at the time was based around the key industries of the time—shipbuilding, aircraft, and steel. These all required a domestic concentration of skills, capital, and plants. Competition came from foreign firms, but managers worked to limit penetration into domestic markets.

Our new chieftains have no national allegiance. Today’s corporate hegemons see themselves not as national identities, but global ones. They don’t even depend much on our own education system: some 75 percent of Silicon Valley’s workforce are not even citizens. Many are H-IB indentured servants, “technocoolies,” brought in short-term contracts to do work they don’t have to pay Americans to do.

The Rich Have More Money

The rich, as Fitzgerald noted, may always have been “different” from us but, for the most part, they used to identify as Americans, and with few exceptions, rallied to the nation’s cause in time of crisis and foreign confrontations. The new elites  represent something very different. They largely see no need, for example, to confront China’s challenge for global preeminence, as long as they can get a piece of the action. Virtually all our elite, particularly on Wall Street as well as Silicon Valley,  is betting on China, and seem far less than interested in helping America, or liberal capitalism, stand up to autocracy than making ever more profits in the short-term. Their advocacy for “zero-carbon,” which will make energy far more expensive, reflects a priority expressive of both virtue signaling and an opportunity to make profits, even at national expense.

Apple’s $275 billion deal with China, which guarantees the firm’s continued dependence on the Middle Kingdom, and also promises to hand over technology to the center of an emerging authoritarian world-state, epitomizes the antinational tech perspective. China certainly has trained the tech oligarchs well to ignore human rights violations in Xinxiang and Hong Kong, as was made frightening clear by one of them who claims, probably correctly, that “no one” cares about these issues. Perhaps they won’t stand up against an invasion of Taiwan as long as Xi gives them the microchips they need once the party has secured control of the island republic’s fabled fabs.

But if the American zaibatsu are uninterested in the prosperity or health of their fellow countrymen, they have broad ambitions to control virtually all aspects of American culture, politics, and news. This has had a chilling effect on free speech. If the different companies and individuals represented a diversity of opinion that might be a neutral matter. But, with few exceptions, virtually all the tech companies embrace the same progressive politics, particularly on issues like the environment, gender, and race that do not directly assault their own wealth and power.

This process reflects the milieu in which these companies operate. For one thing, they are almost all centered in two places—the San Francisco Bay Area and the Puget Sound—that have long been among the deepest blue areas in the country. They recruit heavily from both foreigners, who are now told not to embrace supposedly corrupt “American values,” and from elite colleges where political indoctrination has made many CEOs, notes the Bay Area Council’s Jim Wunderman, “afraid of their own employees.”

Donald Trump’s 2020 loss may have been caused by his far from adept handling of the pandemic, but   also efforts heavily financed by tech oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars on getting the desired electoral result. The oligarchs had many business reasons to detest both Trump and his loudly nationalist policies, and have openly boasted, as pointed out in Time (owned by Salesforce’s Mark Benioff) of their success in removing the former President.

Consolidation

The oligarchs increasingly are moving to consolidate their hegemony. The big media backed by the oligarchs tends to be woke, and their donations often go to groups that are at best left of liberal. The Washington Post under Jeff Bezos, an unrepentant and voracious capitalist, has become more far-left progressive than under its previous more genteel, though clearly liberal, owners. 

In the largest platforms, increasingly, Covid and climate policy skeptics—even when highly credentialed are consigned to the  digital gulag. Unlike traditional media barons, they  don’t have to worry much about losing customers, because, , notes Peter Thiel, they operate from the high space of monopoly or oligarchy, where their market shares reach 80 to 90 percent. As  Mike Lind has noted, these are exemplars of “tollbooth capitalism,” which receive revenues on transactions that far exceed anything they lose on media.

This influences their approach to culture and entertainment. A woke television series may not do well, much like the remakes of popular movies, the premium cable stations could be losing their audience at a rapid rate, but in the end, this represents little more than petty change to the oligarchs while vastly increasing their influence and access to celebrities. Amazon Prime, for example, in 2020 spent $11 billion on entertainment content, barely a rounding area  in a company enjoying over $330 billion in revenues.

The consequences for the future of society, however, is less than trifling. In entertainment. Netflix, essentially a creation of the venture capital industry, turned out to be just the harbinger. Now Apple has its own studio, as does Amazon, which is also looking to buy MGM. The streaming world is run from Palo Alto or Seattle, not from Hollywood. And as we move into the much larger game industry, Microsoft struck a $75 billion deal for Activision, expanding its already enormous presence in videogames. Meanwhile, while the much touted metaverse— now the latest Wall Street dream—could turn experience into a branded product for the new overlords.

In the coming years, there is still an opportunity to control, and limit, the zaibatsuing of our economy and society. Some, including right-wing libertarians, place their bets on “creative destruction” to limit oligarchic power. And to be sure, we may see even some of the mega-giants change hands, or merge, and an occasional new player could emerge. But in the “one and done” era, there’s not much evidence for such wishful thinking; these firms generally are not losing market share, and, if they do, they can acquire new opportunities by buying competitors, much as Facebook, now Meta, swallowed Instagram, What’sApp and then Oculus, whose technology stands at the core of the metaverse.

For the current Administration, with strong ties to both tech and Wall Street oligarchs, the future presents difficult choices. The public is increasingly skeptical about the tech zaibatsu, fearing for both privacy and censorship. The far left driving the party, epitomized by Senator Bernie Sanders, is constitutionally hostile to ultra-wealth corporate powers, and demands harsh constraints on their power. Smaller tech firms, like Yelp, Sonos and Y Combinator also are seeking constraints on zaibatsu power.

But something more important than the political fate of Joe Biden is at stake. Zaibatu-ization essentially undermines the promise of liberal capitalism. The current order is not winning over the populace; a strong majority of people in 28 countries around the world, according to a recent Edelman survey, believe capitalism does more harm than good. More than four in five worry about job loss, most particularly from automation. Rising inequality and general fear of downward mobility have boosted support for expanded government and greater re-distribution of wealth.   

Instead, we will have to see some policies, as we saw over 100 years, that control these firms or even break them up, as occurred to their Japanese equivalents after the Second World War. Their well-financed backers in Washington, with firms like Meta, Amazon and Google  employing lobbyists on right and left, will resist. But here’s to think that the public is not quite as stupid as the hegemons believe. They know that the tech zaibatsu limit economic opportunity and competitions while threatening free speech and our basic privacy. The question is whether Washington has the appetite to control them before it’s too late.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2022, 05:43:07 AM by Crafty_Dog »


ccp

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from Joel Kotkin
« Reply #946 on: February 13, 2022, 09:48:32 AM »
" some 75 percent of Silicon Valley’s workforce are not even citizens. "

is this right ?   :-o

"Instead, we will have to see some policies, as we saw over 100 years, that control these firms or even break them up, as occurred to their Japanese equivalents after the Second World War. Their well-financed backers in Washington, with firms like Meta, Amazon and Google  employing lobbyists on right and left, will resist. But here’s to think that the public is not quite as stupid as the hegemons believe. They know that the tech zaibatsu limit economic opportunity and competitions while threatening free speech and our basic privacy. The question is whether Washington has the appetite to control them before it’s too late."

probably already too late ......

DougMacG

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(Need to Find) A Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #947 on: February 16, 2022, 07:30:03 AM »
Freedom is in retreat in the US lately and around the world.  I will try to find the source for that besides our own lying eyes.

The Chinese model of authoritarianism is gaining ground here and others around the world are becoming neutral about the fact that China is becoming the greatest power as the US recedes.

Covid created a political climate that allowed for "emergency" authoritarian rule in a formerly constitutional republic.

Republicans having a good year in 2022 off year elections - IF THEY DO - does not change all that.  In fact it barely changes anything.  Better committee assignments?

Fire Hydrant of Freedom stands for, um, freedom.   )

Some of us here (me in particular) are aging.  Need to find a way to make a bigger difference, sooner rather than later.

Many, many people are becoming are becoming cynical about the liberal Left woke BS - without embracing the alternative.

How do we reach more people with better, stronger, clearer, more persuasive messages and solutions?

Now is the time.

G M

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Re: (Need to Find) A Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #948 on: February 16, 2022, 07:38:01 AM »
You aren't voting your way out of this.


Freedom is in retreat in the US lately and around the world.  I will try to find the source for that besides our own lying eyes.

The Chinese model of authoritarianism is gaining ground here and others around the world are becoming neutral about the fact that China is becoming the greatest power as the US recedes.

Covid created a political climate that allowed for "emergency" authoritarian rule in a formerly constitutional republic.

Republicans having a good year in 2022 off year elections - IF THEY DO - does not change all that.  In fact it barely changes anything.  Better committee assignments?

Fire Hydrant of Freedom stands for, um, freedom.   )

Some of us here (me in particular) are aging.  Need to find a way to make a bigger difference, sooner rather than later.

Many, many people are becoming are becoming cynical about the liberal Left woke BS - without embracing the alternative.

How do we reach more people with better, stronger, clearer, more persuasive messages and solutions?

Now is the time.

DougMacG

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Re: (Need to Find) A Way Forward for the American Creed
« Reply #949 on: February 16, 2022, 07:52:40 AM »
I didn't say vote.  I already do that.  I said, do more.

You aren't retreating and surrendering your way out of this.