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eddienix

Listed below are comments made by eddienix between Thursday, 18th September 2008 and Wednesday, 9th September 2009.

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A case for healthcare reform? 5:47pm on 09 Sep 2009 MarcusAurelius: "Perhaps doctors and nurses should work for free. We could get them to live in government owned dormatories and feed them in government funded cafeterias."

You mean like U.S. Marines? Oh wait, the Marines are paid a salary. So is everyone else who works for the government. Wait, perhaps I shouldn't have responded to a post by someone who has no intellectual capacity; and even less capacity for compassion.
American exceptionalism 10:18pm on 15 Nov 2008 #249 Nick Gotts:

"I do not need to "lighten up". The war criminals who have run the USA for the past 8 years are directly responsible for around 1 million unnecessary deaths, enormous destruction, two continuing wars, an unprecedented financial crisis, and eight wasted years on climate change. That is sufficient cause for any absence of "lightness" in my attitude.""

A crude oversimplification, to be expected. But why not bring about a war crimes tribunal against Tony Blair? If Britain did, then people would actually sit up and notice and regard modern Britain as a place of more than just talk. If Tony Blair was tried for war crimes in Britain, then Americans might actually be impressed and perhaps be forced to follow suit. Imagine Britain leading by example, an unlikely throwback to the good old days, a near miracle.
American exceptionalism 10:09pm on 15 Nov 2008 #274 Xie Ming

Yes, to clarify, in a modern political context it was definitely, with question Ronald Reagan who referenced "City on the Hill" repeatedly. Why even suggest this term has something to do with Barack Obama?
American exceptionalism 9:58pm on 15 Nov 2008 All the sneering and pointing and laughing at people like MarcusAurelius II is obviously completely justified. And for those of you who think Americans are always positive, it's a lie. All you have to do is read Marcus's latest, pathetic posts.

But for all the baiting, sneering English (jacksforge in particular) who need to dig up 20th century videos satirizing Bush I and Reagan, nice try to divert attention away from Obama and his victory. Why should Americans be allowed to feel good about this election when small, unhappy people in England can dig up Youtube videos reminding us of Reagan and George HW Bush? Surely you can do better than that. You could dig up Youtube videos of W, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Why remind us of right wing lightweights like Ronald Reagan when the real deal is still in office? And pat yourselves on the back for not bringing up Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron (perhaps your next PM).
American exceptionalism 9:01pm on 15 Nov 2008 #2, Xie Ming

The "City on the Hill" motif came from the right wing, the Reaganites. how does that idea fit in with Obama and a shift to the left?

Moreover, who's to say the "City on the Hill" or its optimistic counterpart on the left is unenlightened? Indoctrinated pessimists?
Road rage 01:47am on 13 Oct 2008 #29 nc

"I've always thought it strange. It was the Republicans who set them free, you know."

Today's Republicans are not the same thing as Lincoln's Republicans. Today's Republicans are descended, partly, from Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrats.
Road rage 9:06pm on 12 Oct 2008 #4 aphexrephlex:

It doesn't sound like you made a great deal of effort to stay away from American racists. I wonder what part of California you were in and what crowd you ran with. And I wonder how "racist" these people really were.

Perhaps you are grouping even ethnic jokes as being "racist." Perhaps they are, but if so, then there is a huge spectrum in the degrees of racism. I would suspect that most white Obama supporters have told an ethnic joke or two in their lifetimes, myself included.

Racist against Germans and French? Sounds like something the English could identify with, except that using the word "racist" would be ludicrous in most situations. America is the land of the Polish joke, the Italian joke, the black joke, the Asian joke, the Jewish joke, etc. And blacks, Italians, Jews, Asians, etc. all have more or less the same jokes about each other, give or take here and there. Open American "racism" these days most commonly exists in crass, tasteless, stupid race jokes in the lunchrooms of machine shops or in the TV rooms of college fraternities. Not something Americans should really be proud of or really so ashamed of in the overall scheme of things. Race, ethnic and religious jokes are hardly uniquely American.

But what this man said in Akron is different. He openly said he would not vote for a "negro." In his defense, "negro" at one time was not considered a racial slur since it once was an acceptable term for African Americans. Bob Dylan uses the word "negro" in the song "A Pawn in their Game." 40 years ago America was grappling with the "negro issue." It was the acceptable term up until the late 60s or so. It's not the same as using that other n-word, not even close. It's not even as bad as "colored." This guy in Akron is an older guy and perhaps used the term to provoke, but just as easily could have that learned to use that term as a kid when it was acceptable and just stuck with it. What's more or less shocking in his case is that he openly said he would not vote for a black man. His racism is a bit shocking, but his openness is what makes him stand out.

It's pretty obvious that this particular race discussion is pretty blown out of proportion when the BBC bus made it all the way from California to Ohio before they found a man who would openly (and honestly) proclaim race is the reason he would not vote for Obama. That he would say this so openly is pretty unusual among white Americans these days. Racism exists far more in people who are not open to talk about it. We could have had this discussion along time ago before some guy rather uncommonly tells an international news service he won't vote for a black man.

And it's pretty old school to find a Democrat, especially, who would openly say he would not vote for a black man. This is a different kind of democrat, the kind we're not used to seeing anymore, back when the Democratic party was the dominant party of the working man -- progressive and well as reactionary -- in the South and most of the rest of the country.

Aphexrephlex's notion of 49% of white Americans being racist sounds like some kind of amusing European fantasy. It's such an arbitrary number. Even if 50.1% of white Americans were racist, Obama could still win the election if he captured all of the votes from blacks, latinos and Asians. How many Asians or latinos will not vote for a "negro?" Some, I am sure. Conversely, even if only .001% of white Americans were racist, Obama could still easily lose the election if Americans simply voted along the traditional party lines when a non-Southern democrat runs for president. No Democrat from outside the South has become president since Kennedy. And even Kennedy barely won. If Obama wins, he would be the first in nearly 50 years. The fact that he is leading in the polls (he was leading even before the financial and stock market collapse, though not by as much) speaks volumes to how much race relations have changed in this country.

Moreover, Americans have no reason to believe that Europeans are less racist than Americans. The reverse may very well be true. Where did American racism come from? It didn't begin in the U.S. It traveled here from Europe and it has hardly been eliminated from Europe. Europeans just perhaps are not as crass as we are and perhaps don't speak as openly about these things. Until there is a European Bobby Jindal, Dick Parsons, Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Douglas Wilder and Barack Obama, Americans will shrug off European notions that we are somehow more racist than they are.
McCain country 05:31am on 08 Oct 2008 Jesus, Rebublicans and country music -- all in one perky Sarah Palinized package -- oh my. For an evening's worth of good entertainment I hear the Nashville punk scene isn't bad either. And remember, Democrat demi-god Al Gore is from Tennessee as well. Perhaps he could put on a live global warming, country music show, cross-country, circus tent style with cowboys, Indians, magicians and pretty girls. Southerners love stuff that looks and sounds like them. Though he he does a fantastic job not sounding like it, George W. Bush was also Ivy League educated, and McCain went to West Point, which is not exactly Tennessee State. But it's how you sound and who you look like, not what you say and where you're really from.

I saw earlier that the BBC bus was heading to Pennsylvania. Now that Virginia, and maybe even North Carolina, look more like potential swing states than Pennsyvlania, perhaps the BBC bus should swing through Asheville, Charlotte, Blacksburg, Charlottesville and Northern Virignia instead?
Spirit of St Louis 10:51pm on 05 Oct 2008 OldSouth: Homlessness and drunkenness are far more normal in America than hockey moms. Hockey is for Canadians and Swedes, you know, people from "liberal" countries. Besides, few if any of those young people at that St. Louis bar seemed very drunk. If they were, then it seems a drunken urbanite from St. Louis perhaps has a more mature, insightful and informed opinion on politics than a suburban hockey mom. Clearly hockey moms aren't soccer moms, so to speak. Soccer moms come down much more in the center. Wait, soccer isn't an American sport either. Where are the baseball, football and basketball moms? In Mexico?
Fingers on buzzers 03:30am on 18 Sep 2008 As an American, I have to say all this romanticism about rugged individualism, community voltuntarism and "taking care of yourself" is very inspriring -- but unbelievable crap.

Did these people educate themselves or were they educated by community volunteers? No, they all (or most of them) went to public schools and state colleges, paid for by the (state) government. Did these people build their own highways, or did a group of hearty volunteers emerge out of nowhere to build highways? No, the federal and state governments built the U.S. highways, which are (or were) among the best in world. Do these people want to do away with Social Security and Medicare? Will they give their Social Security checks back to the government rather than cashing them? Will they not accept Medicare assistance? How about FEMA? If a hurricane or or earthquake comes through, are these people going to be rugged indivduals then? No, they will all take whatever federal monies they can get their hands on. How about American farmers, are they subsidized by the federal government? You best your ass they are, and if they lose that money they will cry holy hell to their congressmen and either by themselves or through paid lobbiests. How about the National Park System (also one of the best in the world)? Should we do away with that too? Perhaps the collective goodwill of the citizens of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and other towns in New Mexico will allow us to do away with all National and State parks in the state of New Mexico. Fine, get to it. We have socialism in America. Oh no, oh no, not socialism! Yes, it's called public education, the federal highway system, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, the National Park System, FEMA, military pensions, etc., etc., all of which at one or another were the envy of the world. Now Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG have been socialized in to the federal government -- and health care shouldn't be? Are you out of your mind? Are you telling me banking and insurance giants need to be controlled through tax payer money yet health care should be for profit? It's so assinine, backwards and fundamentally stupid that only an illiterate redneck mentality could continue to justify it. Hmm, I wonder why every other wealthy country provides free healthcare and ours doesn't? Oh, yeah, because we are so rugged and individualistic that we continue to set new records for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Once you no longer get anything from the government in the way of education, highways and infrastructure, Social Security, Medicare, farming subsidies, parks and recreation, disaster assistance, etc., etc., fine then you can talk about rugged individualism and taking care of yourself. Until then, shut your unrugged faces up.

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