tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post8353411146887623190..comments2024-03-29T04:06:37.402-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: A Respectable Loss Is Still a LossStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-75512515858092215992012-11-12T07:53:54.573-08:002012-11-12T07:53:54.573-08:00In what I just posted, I meant to address @rogue w...In what I just posted, I meant to address @rogue wolf1 in the first sentence by saying "this has nothing to do with race." <br /><br />It appears that I should edit a bit more before posting. That said, the rest of my comments capture the gist of what I was trying to say. This is not a race thing, this is a culture and behavior thing, and social customs always follow the culture.<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-53418828958775410602012-11-12T07:50:59.833-08:002012-11-12T07:50:59.833-08:00Thanks, Stuart. WIth great suffering comes great ...Thanks, Stuart. WIth great suffering comes great entitlement.<br /><br />@rogue wolf1, this has to do with race. This is about a fundamental breakdown in the family structure. When you become a single mother, you've penalized yourself so much... it's incredibly difficult to come back. The breakdown of traditional norms around the nuclear family is the main source of underclass circumstances that have been, over the last two decades, normalized through an empathetic, talk show, therapy culture that "celebrates" everyone's lifestyle so they don't hurt anyone's feelings, yet do nothing to change the social destruction.<br /><br />I live in Detroit, a city that is 90% African-American. The out-of-wedlock birth rate is 82%. That leaves a newborn with a difficult road to walk. There may be a correlation between race and underclass poverty, but it certainly is not causation. I have many black friends who have reached middle- and upper-class status. They leave Detroit. We call it "green flight" now. It's not about getting away from a particular race, it's about getting out because the city is falling apart. If you've got the money, you leave. That's because the city's social culture is imploding. That's what the breakdown of the traditional family means. <br /><br />So before you correlate the underclass with African Americans, I would encourage you to review the Census data and take a look at what's happening in the white community. Because the Jerry Springer culture has been springing up in white America, too, and the "wisdom" of this whatever-I-want-to-do culture is catching up with us. The problem is not race. The problems are culture and behavior. What we are willing to accept is what we'll get.<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-92125496069498765532012-11-09T09:28:19.642-08:002012-11-09T09:28:19.642-08:00"What I fear is that we are creating an under..."What I fear is that we are creating an underclass that lives in such despair that it does not believe that it can succeed at all. It will come to believe that freedom is yet another hoax, another means of exploiting them.<br /><br />At some point they arrive at the conclusion that the world, that is, the rich, owe them a living. Feeling cheated they believe that their entitlement programs are something that they deserve."<br /><br /><br />They already exist, they're called African Americansrogue wolf1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-65295335021022548202012-11-09T08:19:33.464-08:002012-11-09T08:19:33.464-08:00Thank you, Tip, as always.
I agree with your basi...Thank you, Tip, as always.<br /><br />I agree with your basic point. How a campaign frames the issues, what wording it uses is critically important.<br /><br />You are certainly right to say that emphasizing capitalism does not work for people who have no capital.<br /><br />Tax cuts mean nothing to people who do not pay taxes. Just look at what happened in California-- they raised taxes to pay off union contracts. How many of those who voted to raise taxes really pay taxes.<br /><br />What I fear is that we are creating an underclass that lives in such despair that it does not believe that it can succeed at all. It will come to believe that freedom is yet another hoax, another means of exploiting them.<br /><br />At some point they arrive at the conclusion that the world, that is, the rich, owe them a living. Feeling cheated they believe that their entitlement programs are something that they deserve.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-50877355940973436402012-11-09T08:03:30.073-08:002012-11-09T08:03:30.073-08:00...
I could go on and on, because Luntz's ide......<br /><br />I could go on and on, because Luntz's idea is truly remarkable in its elegance and simplicity. It's real, tangible and understandable. "Economic freedom" is something everyone wants, yet few seem to have. Obama's slogan of "Forward" is not effective within a framework of economic freedom. Economic freedom transcends the mainstream media's ability to control the message. It's innately attractive. Ears perk-up when you hear those words. People listen.<br /><br />Let me be clear: I am a capitalist and I love capitalism. Sure, it's not perfect, but what's the alternative? I'm for re-framing the conversation. We've got to move off of the whole "capitalism" bit, from a messaging standpoint. Free markets are great when they're tied to economic freedom. When they're tied to capitalism, free markets sound like places where capitalists make more money for themselves. Obama talked about "Everyone getting a real shot" at success. Yet economic freedom is not in his plan. It's a patriarchal outlook... we will tend to the flock of sheep and make sure they have sustenance. Okay, but that's not economic freedom, that's dependency. I know Republicans are feeling cynical these days about their fellow voters, but let's be honest... who really WANTS to be dependent on government? We all want to be loved, we all want to connect. Government can't do that. There's no dignity available there.<br /><br />Just some food for thought. Republicans have to reframe the conversation at a higher level and talk about something other than capitalism and tax cuts. People who don't pay taxes (nearing 50%) don't care about tax cuts. They care about getting checks. Yet they have no economic freedom, and they know it. And they want it.<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-3333833608963665752012-11-09T08:03:07.288-08:002012-11-09T08:03:07.288-08:00I heard Frank Luntz being interviewed by Sean Hann...I heard Frank Luntz being interviewed by Sean Hannity on the radio Wednesday. The man is brilliant... simply brilliant. He said the problem is the Romney campaign kept talking about "CAPTIALISM!" and defending it as an American value, while Obama's campaign had already defined him as a plutocrat. Capitalism and plutocrat go together in the mind of the average voter. They called him an aloof plutocrat, he said capitalism is an American value, and just kept digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole because voters couldn't grasp the distinction. It was too heady for them.<br /><br />Luntz's point is that Republicans should be emphasizing "Economic Freedom" as a key value. He went back-and-forth with Sean because Sean thought it was just semantics. But when you heard the back-and-forth, you saw the brilliance of what Luntz is offering. It's what we want. We want people to be able to succeed economically. People hear tax breaks for the rich, and the vision they get in their brains is a guy like Romney building on his $250 million fortune using unearned income while they're busting their butts every day to feed their families. That's what capitalism looks like to to them. Capitalism is all about capital, and the average voter doesn't have a lot of it. It plays right into Obama's strategy of defining Romney. There was no room to maneuver. Checkmate. Quicksand. Jeep stuck in the mud. It's over. It was over Tuesday night... early.<br /><br />So when you think of "Economic Freedom," that is something that resonates with the majority of Americans who haven't sold their souls to Leftist idealism yet. Obamacare is not economic freedom, it's a planned government service with rationing that leaves the citizen at the mercy of the real plutocrats, bureaucrats and parasites of Washington, D.C.... where the 1% really live: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/06/02/the-one-percenters-fortress-ci<br /><br />I've thought about it every way back-and-forth, and I say "Economic Freedom" is a winner. You run a campaign on that idea, and then you roll tape with "You didn't build that!" and the conversation completely changes. It's a way to emphasize personal responsibility and economic empowerment without it looking like these are exclusively "white" values. Consider:<br /><br />Economic freedom is great way to frame the meteoric rise of births to single mothers: it basically puts them in poverty from the starting line. Economic freedom as a core value simultaneously shames the men who leave their pregnant women and prevent them from having economic options and possibilities. <br /><br />Economic freedom as an idea completely changes the education issue into a focus on a young American's future. Talking about "Capitalism" to a 18-year-old high school dropout is a recipe for failure... not only is it some abstract economic concept to them, they see that they're not a capitalist because they have no capital and see no way to amass capital because they're 18 years old and on their own without a high school degree. Talk about "18 and life."<br /><br />Economic freedom reframes the issue of illegal drugs. If you use or abuse drugs (including alcohol) you are reducing your opportunity for economic freedom. You will be dependent on government and become a slave to a nameless, faceless, bureaucratic state that cannot love you as a human being -- you are a number to the government. You get a check, and you're all alone. Economic freedom is not possible when you come from that place.<br /><br />Consider the immigration argument. If you come to America with no job, no skills and no family, you will arrive with the deck stacked against your economic freedom. You will come here, but will you really be free? Is this right? Do we want people to just come to America, or do we want them to succeed?<br /><br />Cont'd...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-3438576880116397332012-11-07T16:35:37.158-08:002012-11-07T16:35:37.158-08:00Obama got the vulnerable vote. The opportunistic ...Obama got the vulnerable vote. The opportunistic vote, in the majority, was always his.n.nhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04252447117532342957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-10402796758920681212012-11-07T11:16:41.597-08:002012-11-07T11:16:41.597-08:00"Yet, Romney had to know going in that the me..."Yet, Romney had to know going in that the media would be on Obama's side-- why didn't he have a strategy for dealing with it."<br /><br /><br />I sure he had a strategy. It obviously didn't work. I'm a boxing fan. Every fighter stepping into the ring has a strategy. Only one get's his arm raised.rogue wolf1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-28425847095436543122012-11-07T10:46:18.476-08:002012-11-07T10:46:18.476-08:00The party of "Nicole" won.The party of "Nicole" won.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-86720575949055621372012-11-07T09:58:11.171-08:002012-11-07T09:58:11.171-08:00Yet, Romney had to know going in that the media wo...Yet, Romney had to know going in that the media would be on Obama's side-- why didn't he have a strategy for dealing with it.<br /><br />At times he seemed to be running scared by the media.<br /><br />And, now that I think of it, what would have happened if Romney had been more inclusive, if he had included Sarah Palin and even Ron Paul in the convention.... SP is very popular and she was effectively treated like a pariah by the Romney team.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-27090209754466689632012-11-07T09:55:27.567-08:002012-11-07T09:55:27.567-08:00Romney could have defeated Obama. He couldn't...Romney could have defeated Obama. He couldn't defeat the Obama media tag team.rogue wolf1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-59304754184675653022012-11-07T08:43:07.421-08:002012-11-07T08:43:07.421-08:00Maybe you are right about some of the reasons Mitt...Maybe you are right about some of the reasons Mitt Romney lost. I think that it goes much deeper than that.<br />Our culture has degraded to the point that good civilizing values are not desired by the majority.<br />Obama's campaign was very demeaning towards women. The fact that voters did not recognize it just highlights how far our culture has sunk. <br />The Dems are masterful at making their politics of destruction look like a desirable thing. Sure, there are dumb things said by Republicans but many more sinister words are spoken by Democrats.<br />It all proved to be too much for Romney to overcome.Kathnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-75893538808625071352012-11-07T08:13:44.464-08:002012-11-07T08:13:44.464-08:00This sums it up
http://tinyurl.com/cggarfdThis sums it up<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/cggarfdMalcolmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05478747589100326721noreply@blogger.com