....the conservative South argued for an ideology of a limited Federal government and states’ rights to better protect the institution of slavery. It took a violent Civil War to end the institution of slavery and the states’ rights argument that supported it. But that did not stop the Conservative movement which can trace its history from the Confederacy through Jim Crow and the Dixiecrats to the white-supremacist rooted Tea Party. It is a question of ‘rights and equality’ for minority groups, rights that are better protected by a powerful and robust Federal government, not a Tea Party controlled state legislature. --Zen

States’ Rights: What Katie Kieffer is arguing for is shifting more power back to the states so they can better exploit and oppress minority groups. As Right-Wingers come to control state legislatures, we see it in their attempts to legislate ways to blame, shame, harass, and humiliate women. Not just the GOP ‘war on women,’ but as Right-Wingers come to control state legislatures they aim to disenfranchise as many minority groups as possible. Blacks, gay, immigrants are all targets of Right-Wing efforts to limit the role, power, and purpose of the Federal Government as the protector of last resort for minority rights against Right-Wing backlash. Blacks especially can trace the history of hostility towards the Federal government as...

....President O a one term President. They should be careful what they wish for. There may be an unexpected backlash within their own ranks.---Zen

....Party members will also feel the pain of austerity and spending cuts . Many government programs and "entitlements' serve the middle classes like low interest student loans for college. When enough of them fall into the ranks of the underclass and unemployed maybe they will get a different view. As the recession deepens, the middle classes will also pay more for social services since the rich are off with tax breaks. And there is more hardship coming as the Congressional Tea Party are planning to block extending unemployment benefits and extending the payroll tax holiday another year. This will further drive down demand, the core economic problem. By playing these games, the Right-Wing leadership hope to ruin the economy and make...

Blame the Leadership not the Rank and File: John Hawkins has blurred the distinctions between the hard-right politicians who lead this movement, the rich corporate moguls who finance their activities, and the rank and file members. It is not the rank and file who are ruining America, but the leadership who organize and finance the racist campaigns that target attacks on Muslims, Latinos, and Blacks. It is xenophobics like Pat Buchanan who exaggerate how immigrants are swamping American culture and changing the ethnic character of America, i.e. code for racism. It is the hard right leadership that has convinced middle class Americans that cuts in social programs will target only the 'undeserving poor.' The truth is middle class Tea...

.....at the expense of the many. Its success depends on cutting government spenting on social programs, tax breaks for the wealthy, busting unions, financial speculation, mass unemployment, inflation, class warfare, and the bursting of one bubble after another. And even darker side to Right-Wing political economy is its appeal to racial divisions to gain a mass base as Muslims, Latinos, and Blacks are attacked daily. Otherwise it would have no appeal to the people it hurts the most. John C. Goodman could better spend his time discussing why Right-Wing conservatism will never succeed as political economy ,political philosophy, or as solution to social problems. Zen

Why Conservatism will Never Succeed: Liberalism was the most successful political philosophy of the 20th century. It got the country throught the Great Depression ,saved Capitalism and prevented violent revolution. It won the great war against fascism and Nazism. It guided the nation through the post war prosperity and created the greatest middle class in history, fulfulling the American dream. And won the Cold War. What changed was the economy as globalization and free trade replaced a mixed economy based on agriculture and manufacturing. The new economy of financial speculation and unimpeded capital flows is dominated by Right-Wing political economy. This economy will never succeed because it serves the interest of the wealthy few...

.... the golden eggs so that all classes benefit.---Zen

.... the golden eggs so that all classes benefit.---Zen

.... justification for extremist groups to carry out ideologically motivated terror and/or recruit individuals who are insane or ideologically driven to act. By acting out his anti-multiculturalism and anti-Marxism, Anders Behring Breivik fits the extremist conservative violent model.---Zen.