CompuServe Messages

Thanks, I've seen Rush's book already. I am, by the way, not an "ist" of any sort, social or otherwise. I know Congress has had the greatest influence over enactment of law in the country, ever since the US was formed in its current incarnation, not just in the last 30 years. I DO, however, believe that the President has real influence over attitudes and the general tenor of Congress and the public. It's also the case (if *you* put more study and thought into it you'd know) that the goals and agenda of the Republican party have changed radically since WWII. Reagan marked an extreme point in the curve of departure from the former mainstream of Republican thought. Carter was absolutely right when he pointed out in the televised debates that Reagan did not represent ANY vector, let's call it, previously followed by ANY major political party. His "position" represents a schism in the continuity of government in this country that let in all sorts of foul a-political influences. Those debates are where Reagan really won over the American people who barely speak English enough to recognize what a fool the man made of himself as well as those who saw a chance to carve a bigger portion of the pie for themselves. And I *must* take issue with your suggestion that where we are now is some sort of linear result of the last 30 years of Congressional error. Just look up the public record of debt over that period of time and see for yourself the SPIKE that formed in the curve during Reagan's terms (after he inSISted that he was going to balance the budget that Carter and the Democratic party supposedly wrecked – sounds amazingly current, don' it?) and then come up with a good argument to demonstrate that the President has no "real influence" over what happens in the US. I have, indeed, thought this through, quite thoroughly, from the time I was in Vietnam right thru to today when there is finally someone in the oval office who at least SAYS things that suggest that money and business *might* not be the be-all and end-all of life on Earth. If I'm an "ist" at all, I'm an Organism-ist. I think countries and planets flourish in the same way that organisms do and that the "plan" espoused by the current Republican cum religious right represents a life style that would kill an organism that tried to follow it. I find it stunningly mind-boggling that… aw, ferget it. I'll never shut up, at this rate. OK, everybody. I officially step off the soap box. No more diatribes, I promise. (for at least a month…) LaTER, DT