The Rise of the Regressive Right and Reawakening of America (Robert Reich)

[OneGrassRoot]

(sorry if a dupe, couldn't find)


A fundamental war has been waged in this nation since its founding, between progressive forces pushing us forward and regressive forces pulling us backward.

We are going to battle once again.

Progressives believe in openness, equal opportunity, and tolerance. Progressives assume we’re all in it together: We all benefit from public investments in schools and health care and infrastructure. And we all do better with strong safety nets, reasonable constraints on Wall Street and big business, and a truly progressive tax system. Progressives worry when the rich and privileged become powerful enough to undermine democracy.

Regressives take the opposite positions.

Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the other tribunes of today’s Republican right aren’t really conservatives. Their goal isn’t to conserve what we have. It’s to take us backwards.


FULL ARTICLE: http://robertreich.org/post/11511074902

[toddwv]

1. He says what needs to be said.

You can see the right's regressive thinking on a day to day basis if you frequent any debate site that is right-wing heavy.

This regressive mentality permeates their ideology as they pine for the "good ol' days" of child labor, slavery and company script. You were a white (not Irish though), Protestant man and you could hang a black man just for looking at a white woman and not worry about being convicted even if the police bothered to arrest you.

The days that the regressive right crave weren't during an era of unparalleled prosperity but a time when America was a middling second-class nation at best.

[provis99]

2. these "conservatives" are flat-out reactionaries.

they want a return to monarchy and feudalism.

[MBS]

3. Excellent.

The concluding paragraphs were my favorite:

]Yet the great arc of American history reveals an unmistakable pattern. Whenever privilege and power conspire to pull us backward, the nation eventually rallies and moves forward. Sometimes it takes an economic shock like the bursting of a giant speculative bubble; sometimes we just reach a tipping point where the frustrations of average Americans turn into action.

Look at the Progressive reforms between 1900 and 1916; the New Deal of the 1930s; the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s; the widening opportunities for women, minorities, people with disabilities, and gays; and the environmental reforms of the 1970s.
In each of these eras, regressive forces reignited the progressive ideals on which America is built. The result was fundamental reform.

Perhaps this is what’s beginning to happen again across America.

I think he's right. Please, please may he be right.

[musiclawyer]

4. I honestly think POTUS would have a cakewalk if...

He simply said the GOP wants to take us back to the 19th century. And then he said. I can't fulfill my promises unless you give me democratic house and senate because the GOP cannot and will not compromise Both spot on truthful. just say it. Everyday

[OneGrassRoot]

5. From your fingertips to his ears....

:)

Just do it, Obama.

[Laelth]

6. k&r for the truth. n/t

-Laelth

[Bill USA]

7. don't hear enough from Mr. Reichman these days. thanks for this post.