Alaskan Politics (statewide and nationwide) (Fox, Central: credit rating, estate, district)

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I find this interesting you would put RR in this catagory..?? I can not comment on the first 3 as I wasn't born then and I doubt you were or maybe you were, that could be why your mind is a little fuzzy.. Reagan did increase military spending because Carter had depleted it so badly. As for conservatives, I would not put either Bush in this catagory..Maybe you are getting republican and conservative confused??? By the way his name was Ronald, not Ronnie: he was Ronnie to his friends, I doubt you were one of them. Ronnie is his son who announces on dog shows.

Nita

.

I was in Ronnie's massive Defense buildup, which had little to do with defending the country, but was in essence a Republican version of FDR's New Deal; it was a jobs program for middle class industrial workers whose jobs had been evicerated by the Tokyo Round of GATT (1973) that made our tariffs useless, and is the source of our problems even today.

See, Ronnie (or more properly his advisors of David Stockmann and Don Regan) had decided to halt the stagflation which was resulting from the trade problem in the old-time, traditional way: he plunged the economy into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, only exceeded (in terms of damage) by today's depression, and instituted "Reaganomics" (e.g. "trickle down") to get it going again. This worked well for the top 20%, but it did zero for the deficit, in fact it worsened it, or for the vast middle class.
Which is why he started his massive defense fiasco- to create jobs- including the "600 Ship Navy", that I helped build in a very small way (although it never reached 600 ships, as we were busted dollar-wise by then).
A good read that will help you to understand the era is "The Power Game" by Hedrick Smith. The chapters on DOD are very instructive, including the warning by in-coming DOD Sec Cappy Weinberger that there was too much money coming too quickly to be supervised.

Yep, there were two great scams in the 80's: DOD and televangalism.
I played a bit-role in the former.

As for "Conservative vs Republican", I believe Colin Powell discussed that today; one of the few areas where I agree with him.

[Metlakatla]

The point however, is something you've missed entirely. Your definition of what is liberal and what is conservative is personal, it is unique, and it is not stable. Everything you don't like, don't understand, or want to disagree with is labeled as "liberal".

Exactly. They just start shrieking the word "liberal" along with personal insults whenever someone doesn't agree with them.

I am so glad that this forum is not representative of the Alaska that I know, and I can't say it any better that Nick Jans did:

Still, Palin is a genuine Alaskan -- of a kind. The kind that flowed north in the wake of the '70s oil boom, Bible Belt politics and attitudes under arm, and transformed this state from a free-thinking, independent bastion of genuine libertarianism and individuality into a reactionary fundamentalist enclave with dollar signs in its eyes and an all-for-me mentality.

[Geechie North]

My point from the start, re: Mr. Jans.

With the addition of the Dixiecrats to the radical-Capitalist wing of the GOP, and the expelling of the moderate, Rockefeller wing which had acted as a balance, the present incarnation of the Republican Party is a scary conglomeration of the worst the extreme Right can offer.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Geechie North

.

I was in Ronnie's massive Defense buildup, which had little to do with defending the country, but was in essence a Republican version of FDR's New Deal; it was a jobs program for middle class industrial workers whose jobs had been evicerated by the Tokyo Round of GATT (1973) that made our tariffs useless, and is the source of our problems even today.

See, Ronnie (or more properly his advisors of David Stockmann and Don Regan) had decided to halt the stagflation which was resulting from the trade problem in the old-time, traditional way: he plunged the economy into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, only exceeded (in terms of damage) by today's depression, and instituted "Reaganomics" (e.g. "trickle down") to get it going again. This worked well for the top 20%, but it did zero for the deficit, in fact it worsened it, or for the vast middle class.
Which is why he started his massive defense fiasco- to create jobs- including the "600 Ship Navy", that I helped build in a very small way (although it never reached 600 ships, as we were busted dollar-wise by then).
A good read that will help you to understand the era is "The Power Game" by Hedrick Smith. The chapters on DOD are very instructive, including the warning by in-coming DOD Sec Cappy Weinberger that there was too much money coming too quickly to be supervised.

Yep, there were two great scams in the 80's: DOD and televangalism.
I played a bit-role in the former.

As for "Conservative vs Republican", I believe Colin Powell discussed that today; one of the few areas where I agree with him.

Well, you have made your points, not necessarily based in facts, but opinions. However, it's a free country, and there is nothing wrong with stating your opinions, although I disagree with your points of view.

Back then I didn't even vote Republican (I voted for Carter), but I still remember how the "massive build-up" as you call it, worked very well against the Russians. I was a military member at the time.

If you look at the US economy, one of the worst ones the data shows, was Carter's. Inflation was sky high among other problems.

In relation to conservatives and liberals, I consider McCain a liberal because of a lot of bills he has helped the Democrats pass, and these have been numerous.

Here are just a few:
McCain's not really a conservative. - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine

[Geechie North]

If you look at numerous sources (the Russkies themselves, the Econ data, the lack of sucess of our various covert wars, and the effect of the military hardware delivered as a result of the 80's DOD budget explosion), you'll see that the Soviet Union had begun to collapse prior to Ronnie & friends.

Yes, we had stagflation under Carter; it started under Nixon as a result of increased oil prices (OPEC was flexing its muscle, having learned how to manipulate prices from the US companies operating in the Middle East) in combination with the first round of our deindustrialization caused by GATT.
But Reagan chose to deal with it by eliminating demand- by causing the (until now) steepest recession since the 1930's.

That's all a matter of record.

The American Conservative Union gives John McCain a score of 82% as to being a "true Conservative", fyi.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Geechie North

If you look at numerous sources (the Russkies themselves, the Econ data, the lack of sucess of our various covert wars, and the effect of the military hardware delivered as a result of the 80's DOD budget explosion), you'll see that the Soviet Union had begun to collapse prior to Ronnie & friends.

Yes, we had stagflation under Carter; it started under Nixon as a result of increased oil prices (OPEC was flexing its muscle, having learned how to manipulate prices from the US companies operating in the Middle East) in combination with the first round of our deindustrialization caused by GATT.
But Reagan chose to deal with it by eliminating demand- by causing the (until now) steepest recession since the 1930's.

That's all a matter of record.

The American Conservative Union gives John McCain a score of 82% as to being a "true Conservative", fyi.

No. "Had begun to collapse" is a matter of opinion. How much is a "had begun to collapse," and how much longer did it take to collapse?

No. The 10-21% inflation began in the first days of the Carter administration, and crested in 1980.

And the long lines as the gas pumps, as well as the 55MPH deal happened after Iran reduced oil production, and choked oil flow to the US.

[Rance]

Hey how about that ACORN voting scam thingy in Ohio they had all over the news this morning! Don't that just suck.

[Geechie North]

Marginal Revolution: Why did the Soviet Union fall?

Pretty much explains the collapse of the USSR.

Credit also to the West's policy of containment, begun in the 1940's.

WIN (Whip Inflation Now).

That was Gerald Ford's slogan. And he preceeded Carter.

But granted Carter didn't do any better than Ford on this, and nobody (until Ronnie) wanted a major Recession.

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by Rance

Hey how about that ACORN voting scam thingy in Ohio they had all over the news this morning! Don't that just suck.

.

Please give me a SINGLE legal case (from the US court system) proving systemic voter fraud.

I can give you about 600 proving systemic voter intimidation/suppression.

Remember RNC v DNC?

[RayinAK]

The Soviet Union fell in 1991.