Back to the OP, it was the attitude of the country and the attitude of the different presidents. Presidents are blamed or rewarded, IMHO unfairly for what the economy does while they are in office, even if they had fuck all to do with it.
But Carter gets on TV and tells us that instead of turning up the heat, which can be provided by fossil fuels in our country for throughout our grandchildren’s’ lives, Carter tells us to put on a sweater. That is intrinsically weak and not something we expect from a guy who can push a button and launch 1,600 nuclear weapons. It is something my grandmother could have said.
So Carter turned down a chance to say “hooray for fossil fuels! Fuck the planet! Fuck future generations with global warming!”? I’d say he has it right. Sometimes being adult means that you tell people there are no easy answers. There is no free lunch. Reagan essentially said “There is a free lunch and we’re going to eat it!” and irresponsibly led the charge on tax cuts. Carter was the adult who told us to eat our vegetables. Reagan said fuck that, go right for the ice cream.
I’m sure propaganda surrounding Communism played a role.
So I read this “joke” about Communism, which was recently declassified (I kid you not). Apparently the CIA thought that people would subvert Communism in the Soviet Union by claiming their statements are jokes. Their analysis was probably at least partially correct.
A Soviet official complained about the incredibly long lineups at grocery stores in Moscow. Clearly their food distribution system wasn’t efficient. However the capitalists of London didn’t seem to have this problem. So the official went there and spoke to a London official. He wanted to know which official was in charge of food distribution to London. The London official said “no one”.
/“Joke”
Obviously the private sector is better at food distribution than the public sector. Businesses fail because they screw up tasks like stocking the shelves, while businesses that don’t screw up succeed. Survival of the fittest business. This is one reason why competition is so good.
But… I don’t think this means that governments screw up everything they touch. There are lots of areas where governments outperform businesses (many are areas that business wouldn’t want to touch). Furthermore, government does not have a profit motive. While this allows for a lot of inefficiency, it also allows governments to do things like operate public transportation or mail services, which if governed by the private sector would leave out a lot of geographical areas (specifically areas that would not be profitable). The postal service only needs to break even (sadly it’s not even doing that in Canada). A profitable private mail service would have a hard time justifying delivering mail from rural Oregon to rural Florida, at least at the same price as delivering a letter from urban New York City to urban Washington D.C. (Indeed, mailing a letter form rural Oregon to rural Florida would probably involve three separate mail services, if the postal system went entirely private.)
Unfortunately a lot of government operations are derided as being “socialist” or “communist”, even in Canada. Government officials are frequently derided as being corrupt, overpaid, nepotistic, lazy, incompetent, elitist ivory tower liberals, supercilious nannies of a population they think is “stupid”, only interested in their own jobs/power, etc. If the government operates a needed but unpopular program, they’re just generating “job security” to justify their own employment or “pandering” to welfare recipients (who in reality vote at very low rates, making that a losing strategy). Needless to say, conservative Canadians say things like “why does my money have to go to government officials?” when they have such low opinion of the government. At least in Canada, tax cuts are often less about the size of your paycheque and more about fighting the government.
You’re right about Poland, thank Jeebus that anti-semite Lech Walesa came along and gave those filthy commies whatfer!!! :rolleyes:
So the Camp David Accords were a failure. That certainly is a VERY interesting viewpoint to have.
How exactly did Carter ‘botch’ the hostage rescue attempt? Remind me again which of the helicopters he was piloting. Or show the transcript of him barking orders in the Situation Room.
Carter gave the go ahead for the rescue mission. To say he botched it is bullshit. The pilots in the desert botched it. But of course they were probably Democrats too, right?
The only thing Reagan had to do with the 52 American hostages coming home was the Iranians deliberately delaying the plan carrying them from taking off by standing on the runway with rifles pointed at the plane until they were sure Reagan had taken the Oath of Office.
But what about those other hostages in Iran and Lebanon under Reagan? Like Terry Anderson who Reagan let rot in Iranian safe houses for nearly 7 years. Where was their rescue mission from Reagan.
Like when Reagan showed that he and the US were cowardly pussies who ran away after the suicide bombing at the Marine barracks in Beirut. FUCK YEAH!!! The US sure was kicking ass by running away like cowards to the fleet out in the Mediterranean.
Oh but you’re probably talking about the Contras, those brave honorable “freedom fighters,” who did such lovely hearfelt things like raping and murdering nuns and crucifying them on the door and walls of their church. America kicking ass again!!! :rolleyes:
What do you mean, “with no citations”? The linked article I cited was a survey review of eight research monographs on this very subject. If you really think there isn’t a huge amount of research documenting the connections between racial egalitarianism and white racial resentment and corresponding antigovernment sentiment, you simply haven’t been paying attention.
Well, if you can’t spot ludicrously awkward phrasing in your own posts without proofreading them with the intensity you’d give to a draft of a Supreme Court brief, then you’ll just have to put up with other posters laughing at your ludicrously awkward phrasing.
What do you mean, “with no citations”? The linked article I cited was a survey review of eight research monographs on this very subject. If you really think there isn’t a huge amount of research documenting the connections between racial egalitarianism and white racial resentment and corresponding antigovernment sentiment, you simply haven’t been paying attention.