Post by phaedron on Jun 4, 2013 17:52:06 GMT -8
Well, now that he's passed, it seems reasonably safe to tell you all that one of the people I used to write speeches and other such drivel for was U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, God rest his soul.
He was for pretty much everything I'm for: from gay marriage to gun control (he's the one who made criminal and mental health background checks EVER a thing), to refugee rights for the religiously oppressed (many Muslims, Jews, and Christians were able to seek asylum from the USSR thanks to him), to making sure we have any funding at all for the most profitable railway system in the entire nation (in fact, the ONLY profitable interstate passenger line)... he was a giant, and he was immensely humble.
He founded his own business and built it into a multimillion dollar empire, and instead of kicking back and resting on that after being an active-duty combat soldier in WW2? Nah, he ran for the U.S. Senate with no prior political experience and won.
He was a rare breed. A Hebrew Hammer if you will. He was one of the last of the "Liberal Lions" to pass away... he will mark the end of an era in which civility was still a thing, and people could disagree on politics without punishing the people for it. He will be missed.
Now that he's gone, Sen. Bernie Sanders stands alone as the last of that generation of liberal thinkers. All we have left are pretenders, corporatist Democrats, neocons, libertarian wannabe tea partiers, and people who just don't give a shit. Seems to be, debate's no fun when you've basically shut down an entire side of the debate.
This is where Rand comes in and tells me what a socialist President Obama is, and I laugh, because our definitions of Socialism couldn't possibly be more different if we tried. Socialism != Communism. That said, Obama's a corporate hack who has done more to eviscerate the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments than he has the 2nd.
He was for pretty much everything I'm for: from gay marriage to gun control (he's the one who made criminal and mental health background checks EVER a thing), to refugee rights for the religiously oppressed (many Muslims, Jews, and Christians were able to seek asylum from the USSR thanks to him), to making sure we have any funding at all for the most profitable railway system in the entire nation (in fact, the ONLY profitable interstate passenger line)... he was a giant, and he was immensely humble.
He founded his own business and built it into a multimillion dollar empire, and instead of kicking back and resting on that after being an active-duty combat soldier in WW2? Nah, he ran for the U.S. Senate with no prior political experience and won.
He was a rare breed. A Hebrew Hammer if you will. He was one of the last of the "Liberal Lions" to pass away... he will mark the end of an era in which civility was still a thing, and people could disagree on politics without punishing the people for it. He will be missed.
Now that he's gone, Sen. Bernie Sanders stands alone as the last of that generation of liberal thinkers. All we have left are pretenders, corporatist Democrats, neocons, libertarian wannabe tea partiers, and people who just don't give a shit. Seems to be, debate's no fun when you've basically shut down an entire side of the debate.
This is where Rand comes in and tells me what a socialist President Obama is, and I laugh, because our definitions of Socialism couldn't possibly be more different if we tried. Socialism != Communism. That said, Obama's a corporate hack who has done more to eviscerate the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments than he has the 2nd.
