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It's puzzling, really. Republicans were once as likely to be sane as anyone else. Their priorities differed from Democrats, but no one though that they'd be destructive. Nor were they. In fact, everyone keeps saying that Nixon was quite liberal by today's standards.
Nixon started the EPA.
But his negatives FAR outweighed his positives. He didn't start the EPA because he wanted to - it was pressure put on him by states, cities and "liberal/progressive" orgs.
He was actually insane at the end of his Presidency - not using "insane" as a personal attack, just that it was well known he had a number of problems which resulted in too much drinking and not enough sleep...and paranoia, etc.
We were quite close to nukes flying in Vietnam.
Nixon was not what I would call a reasonable Republican. He actually started (or blew out of proportion) the culture wars of today and his "Southern Strategy" resulted in problems we are still dealing with.
IKE and Daddy Bush were both of the mold of New England Republicans (even though IKE was from TX/PA).
GW and Trump are both the same in one particular area - neither was qualified or capable of the job, so much of what ends up happening is due to whoever "bought" them or whoever they brought in close to run things...or just plain ignorance. In GW's case it was Cheney, in Trump's case it is Bannon or the child Kushner. Neither have any experience in much except Propaganda and Real Estate.
At the minimum, a politician needs to know how to practice politics.
Getting back to our Guv - if one would listen to him and then listen to Trump....I don't see how a person could come to any conclusion other than that we have a POTUS unqualified to do anything (except perhaps star in reality TV produced by others)....
Growing up, I found myself mostly aligned with Eastern Establishment / Rockefeller Republican politics. Sadly, moderate Republicans have lost most of their influence over the party's identity, especially nationally.
There are very few moderate reasonable Republicans in office these days. The GOP is not the party of your father. It left its traditional base and pushed out and abandoned many in its sharp turn to the extreme right and zealous pursuit of purity to that.
Yeah, on rare occasions, you get a Republican with half a brain. Not often, but there are one or two unicorns out there.
Not surprisingly, he's a northeasterner. The Northeast is about the last place in America where people are still sane. Well, there and the Pac Northwest.
The rest of the country has turned into Hayseedland and Rubeville.
Charlie Baker seems like a nice guy. Which of his views align with the republican platform?
Not any that I heard in a couple hours today......
Now...some of them might be embraced by reasonable citizens who lean Republican. He talked big time about Vo-Tech as well as infrastructure and life sciences.
The important thing about MA (and the Guv, who is part of it) is that this is not just "talk" about what he will do, but these are all well underway. He constantly talks about what "the people" want - and you can tell that he is not injecting what he wants, rather he makes intelligent points.
For example, there was discussion about the pot business. We have been decrim for a long time and medical also...but now there will be shops for recreational. You can tell that he studied the numbers from CO. and Washington state and knows what problems they had....and will make sure we learn from them.
When it comes to education, he might be considered as Republican because he believes in state control. BUT, as he said, we are the #1 state in the USA in that category, so there is a difference there. In other words, our standards and policies are far in advance of anything the Feds would come up with.
But I can understand Fed standards in states where this is not the case.
He won't yet say Yay or Nay on the "millionaires" tax which is being discussed. He is pretty much "cross that bridge when we come to it". But he was asked if a single millionaire or billionaire had come to him and said they would move out of state if such a tax came to be. He answered no...that this was not one of the concerns brought to him by citizens.
That was a very honest answer...I'd wager that many rightie pols would have lied when asked such a question. One should keep in mind that the Guv is a multi-millionaire as are probably many of his friends...so you might expect him to be strong against such a tax.
Another item mentioned was Chris Christie and his beach house. Our Guv was proud that MA is one of only a few states that has no Guv Mansions or houses. After Christies actions, it's easy to see why such a Mansion might keeps pols from being close to "the people".
. Do you want the state to pay your mortgage and food bills too?
Actually, Americans DO have the state/feds paying both their mortgages and their food bills.
1. Mortgages - last time I looked, interest rates are 1/4 of what they used to be in a "free" market - and ONLY because you (plural) would have went broke if they were what they should be. I think they are deductible too - i.e. other taxpayers are paying for you. If one pays 20K in property taxes, that is deductible also......
2. Food - I'm not going to write a book here, but suffice it to say that the Government has subsidized vast amounts of food production for decades...or much longer. Do you really think Milk would be $2.50 a gallon without government subsidy?
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) spends $25 billion or more a year on subsidies for farm businesses"
So, please, enjoy your government financed mortgage and food along with the rest of us.
There are very few moderate reasonable Republicans in office these days. The GOP is not the party of your father. It left its traditional base and pushed out and abandoned many in its sharp turn to the extreme right and zealous pursuit of purity to that.
No kidding. Back in the day, Republicans like Prescott Bush (W's Grandpa) were doing things like fundraising for the newly formed Planned Parenthood. Can you imagine that today? I was briefly encouraged when Bloomberg ran for NYC mayor as a Republican, but his quick return to "Independent" disabused me of any hope of a return to widespread moderate Republican influence, even in New York.
Not any that I heard in a couple hours today......
So essentially you like him because he is not really a republican. You should have just said so.
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