These folks are unhappy because they say Obama is a wimp and sold out to the conservatives. Basically they say he has no backbone for the political fight for his ideas. They are right about that of course, Obama has made his base, the far left, so unhappy they are considering asking Robert Reich to run against Obama. Reich of course is a far left nut whose ideas belong in the old USSR rather than here. He and the the above writers long for a return to the days of FDR and all the government programs they say saved America during the great depression. They love the top down rule of government to trickle down to the poor worker on the breadlines. Only govern met can fix the mess the government put the country in. Yes! Only Reich can save the country they say.
Well, after reading the article I decided to email Mr. Shaffer and urge him to conscript Reich for a primary challenge to Obama. I hope he does. I would love to see a floor fight at the convention. America can then see how messed up the democrats really are, right there on the TV. We get to see the Republicans battling for the nomination, it would do America good to see the same on the left.
So get on the ball and send your best wished to these far left folks in their quest to get Reich (or whoever) to run for President. This is the email address for Shaffer. reshaffer@csupomona.edu . HERE is his website, and I recommend you read the titles to his book recommendations. Very telling what turn on a extreme liberal professor.
So get going and urge them to get Reich to challenge Obama, it will be so fun!
Update 9-20-2011. The following is the email I sent and the response I recieved today fro Shaffer. Enjoy the read.
"Just read it in the Union Newspaper in Grass Valley, California. I urge you to pursue the Reich strategy. There is nothing more exciting than primary challenges. t would be good to see the differences on the left as we see the same on the right. That is why America is great."
Here is his response.
I thought I had written a note of appreciation for your kind response to our op-ed, but I see it never went out. My co-author and I are indeed very appreciative of your encouraging email. That the Grass Valley editor had the courage to print it is also to be commended.
I doubt very much that Reich will enter the primaries, but he represents the views of many progressive Democrats and Independent voters. There seems to be a constant stream of decisions, actions or failures to act by the president, increasing the need for a legitimate challenger to arise in the primaries. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear likely that will happen. Our op-ed was written with the intent of coaxing a real challenger to enter. Maybe it will work.
I have a request. The editor informs me that the Union does not send out what are called "tear sheets," the page on which an article appears. If you or one of your neighbors still has last Friday's Union about, would you please tear out that editorial page with our piece on it and mail it to me? I would be doubly appreciative since this was the first daily to print the commentary. My postal address is below. If the paper has already been recycled, forget it.
About a year ago I was in touch with a group of eleventh graders at your local high school. They tracked down a bit of Grass Valley history for me. I was very much impressed with their diligence and research. When critics pan our public schools, they certainly haven't been to Nevada County.
Thanks again for your comment.
Ralph"
Updated 9-22-2011 , Please read the comments of Shaffer and see for yourself what I mean when I say liberals and conservatives are 180 degrees different.
Yes..They love the top down rule of government to trickle down to the poor worker on the breadlines. Only govern met can fix the mess the government put the country in. Yes!
ReplyDeletehe following is a request to include this comment in response to my article from Shaffer. It will show the difference between a liberal, Shaffer, and any conservative.
ReplyDelete"Todd:
I tried to post this as a comment at the end of your commentary about
our Union op-ed but I don't have the right account. So, in the spirit of
fair play, I ask you to post it for me, carrying my name.
Thanks.
Ralph
Well, Todd, if you are 61 all you know about the Great Depression is
what you've read in far right, conservative blogs. I'm 81, truly a child
of the Depression. I know about the hardships of the 1930s first hand,
not from some conservative economist whose only knowledge comes from
reading what other reactionary economists have written.
Why don't you look around Nevada county for signs of what the New Deal
did during the Great Depression. Aren't there hiking trails created or
improved by the CCC? Are there no public buildings constructed by the
PWA? Didn't any Nevada county residents get work on WPA projects? No
streets, sidewalks or sewers put in by federal public works?
I grew up in Lynwood in the 30s. We got sewers, sidewalks and a high
school auditorium. They are still in use, over 70 years later.
What's "extremist" about wanting to put 14 million people to work? We
have lost the productive capacity of those 14 million during the past 3
years. That's a TRILLION man days lost from the work force. Those people
want to work. We need their productive capacity. How in the world can
you just stand by and let the economic system take a decade to right
itself? Or are you in that strange Alice in Wonderland belief that if we
had done nothing in the 1930s the depression would have quickly gone
away on its own?
Tell your readers that they would be better off without social security.
Tell them that Medicare is worse than nothing. Tell them that we ought
to turn our public schools over to the charter school pirates who are
eating up billions of California tax dollars and living well because of
it - and on average those charter schools don't do as well as
traditional public schools.
You also made a snide reference to what I taught my students. You have
no idea what I taught. You assume that since I am to your left - most
Americans are - that I indoctrinated my students with my views. I had
lots of conservative students in my classes, and in 36 years of teaching
no one ever complained that my course content was biased.
I thank you for posting this and hope we can continue this exchange but
without the extraneous comments.
Will I be getting that copy of the Union I requested?
Ralph"
I have no idea why you cannt post directly into the comment box.
ReplyDeleteWell, golly, Shaffer excoriates me for assuming he indoctrinated his students (he denies it) in the liberal philosophy he sends around the country while he assumes I know nothing of the Great Depression. That is a typical liberal for you. Do as I say, not as I do.
Well, I was schooled in the Great Depression by my grandfather (born 1896) and my father (born 1920) and my mother (born 1929). They lived through it and never were a part of any alphabet government bureaucracy. They worked in the private sector as carpenters and painters. The only government program my grandfather was in was the ARMY and my dad was the NAVY. Grandpa in WW1 and dad in the Pacific in WW2. Were you in the military Mr. Shaffer?
Regarding the Keynesian socialist theories you embrace. How is all that working for America? If you think we need to redouble Obama's efforts then you are simply wrong and are in reality denial.
The answer to American prosperity is not more government jobs it is releasing the wonder of American capitalism. A government job or one paid by the government first must take money from someone who earns the money, then take their skim and then send it to the recipient. That is a simple view of how things work. I am sure your 81 years of life has shown you that.
The rules and regulations placed on Americans at all levels of government have brought us to a standstill. If you are unable to comprehend that fact, perhaps you should read a little more of National Review or maybe some Ayn Rand.
Grass Valley and Nevada City did not experience the problems in the 30's regarding jobs. The mining industry was humming along and there was work throughout the 30's. I worked in a local market in the 60's for men who lived here throught those times. Perhaps you need to read some books )Foley library built with Carnegie money) on the local area and familiarize yourself with things before making statements.
So, yes, you have a totally different view of the place than I but I do respect the fact you made it to 81. That is probably because the private sector invented many medications and other medical wonders which give us all a lot more years here.
Ralph,
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight. The Great depression started a year before you were born and lasted until you were 9, right? So all you know about the Great depression first hand is from the time you were born until you were 9 years old?
Can you explain to me how this country didn't slide deeper into the depression when all the WPA projects ended do to the workers being sent to war?
If you say we have lost a Trillion man days of work in the past three years how many man hours would we have lost if Obama and the Democrat congress didn't pass a trillion dollars of stimulus?
I wasn't aware that charter school personnel were living so more well off than public school personnel.
Just to let you know, I can say that I probably wouldn't have complained about your courses being biased ether, had I been one of your students.