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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho Are We?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/opinion/who-are-we.html?I find this election bizarre for many reasons but none more than this: If I were given a blank sheet of paper and told to write down Americas three greatest sources of strength, they would be a culture of entrepreneurship, an ethic of pluralism and the quality of our governing institutions. And yet I look at the campaign so far and I hear leading candidates trashing all of them....
Trumps famous hat says Make America great again. You cant do that if your message to Hispanics and Muslims is: Get out or stay away. We have an immigration problem. Its an outrage that we cant control our border, but both parties have been complicit Democrats because they saw new voters coming across and Republicans because they saw cheap labor coming across. But we can fix the border without turning every Hispanic into a rapist or Muslim into a terrorist....
Just to remind again: We have twice elected a black man whose grandfather was a Muslim and who defeated a woman to run against a Mormon! Who does that? That is such a source of strength, such a magnet for the best talent in the world. Yet Trump, starting with his birther crusade, has sought to undermine that uniqueness rather than celebrate it....
Unlike Sanders, Ted Cruz does not have a good soul. He brims with hate, and his trashing of Washington, D.C., is despicable. I cant defend every government regulation. But I know this: As the world gets faster and more interdependent, the quality of your governing institutions will matter more than ever, and ours are still pretty good. I wonder how much the average Russian would pay to have our F.B.I. or Justice Department for a day, or how much a Chinese city dweller would pay for a day of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or Environmental Protection Agency? Cruz wraps himself in an American flag and spits on all the institutions that it represents.
Trumps famous hat says Make America great again. You cant do that if your message to Hispanics and Muslims is: Get out or stay away. We have an immigration problem. Its an outrage that we cant control our border, but both parties have been complicit Democrats because they saw new voters coming across and Republicans because they saw cheap labor coming across. But we can fix the border without turning every Hispanic into a rapist or Muslim into a terrorist....
Just to remind again: We have twice elected a black man whose grandfather was a Muslim and who defeated a woman to run against a Mormon! Who does that? That is such a source of strength, such a magnet for the best talent in the world. Yet Trump, starting with his birther crusade, has sought to undermine that uniqueness rather than celebrate it....
Unlike Sanders, Ted Cruz does not have a good soul. He brims with hate, and his trashing of Washington, D.C., is despicable. I cant defend every government regulation. But I know this: As the world gets faster and more interdependent, the quality of your governing institutions will matter more than ever, and ours are still pretty good. I wonder how much the average Russian would pay to have our F.B.I. or Justice Department for a day, or how much a Chinese city dweller would pay for a day of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or Environmental Protection Agency? Cruz wraps himself in an American flag and spits on all the institutions that it represents.
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Who Are We? (Original Post)
KamaAina
Feb 2016
OP
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)1. Seems like Friedman's going with a classic false equivalency.
How does Sanders' criticism of Wall Street equate to showing "no interest in entrepreneurship?" It seems like he wanted to "be fair," so he stretched as much as he could to go after Sanders, as well as the two scary individuals he addresses.
I think he's missing the reality that raising the minimum wage, creating better bureaucracy and more competition among institutions isn't actually anti-entrepreneur.
Now, I say this as someone who has many criticisms of Sanders, and I have not made pp my mind about the primary, in any way, shape, or form. Still...
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)2. Note how I carefully snipped out the gratuitous Bernie-bashing.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)3. I wasn't intending to attack you in any way, shape, or form.
Just Freidman.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)4. Hey, Moustache of Understanding, I say this as a fellow Minnesota native:
take your fucking Randian "culture of entrepeneurship" and put it where the monkey put the goddam nuts, you blithering douchebag.