Tag Archives: Democrat

23 June 2020

U.S. or Him?

By Rick Ladd
The Little Boy Pouts

Yesterday, an article in PoliticusUSA was published under the headline, “Trump Wasted An Entire White House Meeting Trying To Convince His Aides That He’s Mentally Fit.” I’m of the opinion anyone who studies Trump carefully will have no problem seeing this as a predominant feature of his personality. After all, he really is a malignant narcissist, a sociopath, a man with a complete and total lack of humility, humanity, and empathy . . . among other things. I shared the article on Facebook with the following comments:

This serves to highlight the main problem I have (and most of us have) with him as President. How can he serve the interests of the nation when he’s far more interested in how he looks, the optics, than he is on any accomplishment that benefits the American people . . . and I don’t mean corporate America? Kinda reminds me of the concept I’ve held dear since I first became politically active in the sixties: some people are more interested in “being” right, than in “doing” right. These people, who are intent on winning regardless of the cost, need to be avoided.

This also reminds me of something one of my first year law professors said to me. I’m working on a blog post about it and, recently, I hunted him down. His name is Kenneth Cloke and he’s still living and working in Santa Monica, where he’s a mediator and conflicts resolution systems designer. Lately, I’ve tried to articulate the saying and I have yet to convince myself I’m getting it right. There seems to be some nuance missing that I can’t put my finger on, but I’m going to attempt it here.

During a conversation we were having about leftist politics, Ken said “If I had to choose between someone who had the right politics, but was lacking in humanity, and someone who had the wrong politics, but was a humane person, I would choose the latter.” I suppose this is why, despite my being a Marxist, I am always looking for ways to work with people who don’t share my political philosophy. It’s how I’m able to vote as a Democrat. Everything about the Democratic Party, in my estimation, is far more humane than anything about the Republican Party. Also, I think it’s much easier to find compromise with someone who respects your humanity and hard-ass ideologues generally aren’t inhabiting that space.

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26 June 2019

MAGA? Yeah, Right!

By Rick Ladd

Over the last few years I’ve spent most of my social media time on Facebook, with Twitter fairly close behind. My goal on both is to attempt to inform, entertain, and educate others on things I think are important, like politics, the economy, society, religion, and numerous other things I think are valuable to be informed about.

I will freely admit to being highly partisan; in these perilous times I would suggest it’s impossible not to be, given the stakes . . . our freedom, the lives of immigrant children, western democracy.

This blog, however, has remained a place for me to share my thoughts about what’s particularly important to me. Yet I seem to have had trouble filling this location with much content, considering how long I’ve been blogging and how (relatively) few pieces I’ve actually published. This is especially true in light of the fact I frequently post to FB more than a dozen times on any given day; more if there’s a lot going on, less if I’m busy elsewhere.

I’m changing that. In fact, I’ve been changing it for the past couple of weeks. For most of the last year and a half I have been concentrating on my position as Business Manager for Quantellia, LLC and not paying any attention to this blog. I’m not posting as many as four times a day and, actually, believe I will be posting even more frequently. Most of these will be fairly short, but I will still write some longer posts, especially since I’m gathering my thoughts for a book.

So, here’s a meme—actually, I prefer to think of it as a work of art—I encountered on Facebook. The person who posted it where I found it pointed out how the artist used the shadow of the child’s hand to create an Adolphian mustache on the Tangerine Tyrant. It’s him, dontcha think?

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25 April 2016

Why I’m Supporting Hillary Clinton

By Rick Ladd

Voting

It Always Matters!


I’ve been struggling with this for a long time and I think it’s time I wrote something about my thinking. My friends and followers on Facebook must have figured it out by now, but I haven’t really come out and stated why I feel the way I do, and why I’m choosing Hillary over Bernie. I don’t believe I’ve ever trashed Bernie, though I don’t care for him. It’s not because of his politics, either. Before stating some of my reasons and reasoning, please allow me to present a few of my bona fides as a “progressive.” Although my real activism was quite some time ago, when I was a young man, I was heavily involved in numerous activities for quite a while. I served my time and, because I only worked to support myself so I could be an activist, I have had to accept certain economic losses from neglecting my own economic development early on in my career.

I am a Marxist, a lifelong socialist, and a veteran of the peace and justice movement of the late sixties and early seventies. I spent over five years organizing and was associated with the Peace Action Council, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the Indochina Peace Campaign. In the last couple of years, I was a member of a group of leftist martial arts enthusiasts who provided security (including armed bodyguard work) for numerous “high profile” activists. Here’s why Bernie activates my alarms.

Bernie is a politician. Anyone thinking of him as a hero is being foolish. Turning anyone into a hero is foolish and Bernie supporters certainly aren’t the only ones to do so. I, personally, am of the mind the real heroes are the people whose labor fuels any, and every, economy. The people Howard Zinn writes about in his “A People’s History of the United States.” As a politician, I find him quite disingenuous and, similar to many of the progressives who scorn Hillary as impure, I suppose I hold him (because of his politics) to a higher standard.

I just can’t shake the feeling he’s really an opportunist because everything about him reminds me of a certain group of guys who wanted to lead, and who were against the war, and who were politically progressive, but who were also quietly manipulative and opportunistic. Ultimately, it was their way or the highway and, functionally, no one was “pure” enough for them. He gives me the heebie jeebies.

I also think believing Bernie would beat either Trump or Cruz is wildly unrealistic. The right is currently helping him, sometimes rather overtly. However, once they turn their venom on him, I’d say all bets are off. So he polls good now, but people are comparing him to a woman who has withstood the scorn of the right for well over two decades. The stupid is strong in the US. If Hillary secures the nomination, the really vicious stuff, in part because it really is no different than what the right is throwing at her, will do her much damage among those who will depend on those things that money can buy, i.e. negative ads. It also really bothers me how strong that stupid is in many so-called progressives . . . from both sides.

OTOH – If Bernie does secure the nomination, I will do everything in my power to help him get elected. To do otherwise would be a dereliction of my duty to others in the country. Believe me, I’m well enough off at almost 69 years old. I could just pull up the ladder and go on my merry way, but I don’t think I could live with myself. I consider it the height of white privilege to sit this (or any) election out.

PS – this is, by no means, a complete listing of my reasons for supporting Ms. Clinton and, if pressed, I’m sure I could go on, but I’ve waited as long as I wish to so I’m putting this up. Comments, whether for or against, are welcome. Attacks, whether directed at me or Hillary, will be laughed at and summarily trashed. 

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9 September 2012

Let Me Wipe This Egg Off My Face

By Rick Ladd

Egg on my Face

Taking my Punishment for Being Hasty

Two day ago I came across a graphic that was shared on Facebook and decided it was worthy of writing a blog post. Not so much because of the graphic, but because it gave me the opportunity to test out explaining an observation I have been making lately. Unfortunately, the graphic I chose to illustrate the theory turned out be photo-shopped and wasn’t real. I am sorry I chose to perpetuate it. I should have been more careful and for that I am deeply regretful. Not because the photo did any harm to the Romney campaign; inasmuch as it quite easily (based on past experience) could have been true, the damage is minimal, but because it served to compromise my integrity, which is something I work very hard to not do.

Exhibit B

Exhibit B

Exhibit A

Exhibit A

So . . . I wish to be very clear here. I am sorry I published it. It’s not real. For those reading this who are uncertain of the controversy, I herewith submit the photo I was bamboozled by, which I have labeled Exhibit A, alongside the photo from Zazzle, labeled Exhibit B, which was the main piece of evidence that convinced me I had been mistaken. There were a couple of people who pointed me to the official Romney website store, which stated the following, “All Products are Made in the USA”. However, these are politicians we’re talking about here and, as far as I’m concerned (whether it’s the Romney campaign or the Obama campaign), the only thing that proves is it says “All Products are Made in the USA”. ¡Punto, final, y redondo!

The ironic thing about this particular post is that, until two days ago the busiest single day I had experienced on this blog was slightly over two years ago. It was from a post I wrote thanking the gentleman who found my iPad after I had left it behind during a medical crisis involving my youngest daughter. I’ve had days that came close, but my post of two days ago more than doubled the number of readers I’ve had in a single day. A Pyrrhic and bitter accomplishment at this point.

I doubt any apology will be accepted by some and that’s OK. I could have just let it go. In fact, I apologized immediately on Facebook and even pointed out the fallacious button on a local Facebook group devoted to discussing local politics and business but, partly because the most active people tend to be politically active as well, sees its fair share of discussion on national issues. Now I’d like to offer a little explanation.

I wanted it to be true! Yes, I admit it. To be honest, I think electing Mitt Romney as our next President would be disastrous. I can find a lot of things to be pissed off at Barack Obama (and the Democratic Party, for that matter) about, but at least there has been a reasonable amount of social progress during his administration. As well, he inherited an economy strapped by two unfunded wars, a giant Medicare pharmacy giveaway, and some of the stupidest tax policies designed to benefit the wealthiest of all Americans at the expense of most ordinary Americans. So, I won’t, at this point, go into much detail as that isn’t my purpose in this post. I just want to point out a few things that made it easy for me to believe the Romney campaign would have their buttons made in China.

  1. More than 10,000 torch-bearers during the 2002 Winter Olympics, which Romney holds up as one of his crowning business achievements, were contracted out to a brutal dictatorship in Myanmar (Burma). Read about it here.
  2. Senate Bill 3364, the “Bring Jobs Home Act”, which provides up to a 20% tax credit for bringing businesses back to the U.S. and denies tax deductions for outsourcing expenses incurred in relocating a business outside the U.S., was blocked by Republican Senators. More here.
  3. Romney has not only been labeled by his former Republican primary opponents as a “Vulture” Capitalist, the National Venture Capital Association has specifically disowned him as one of them (though it’s killing them to do it). His company, Bain Capital, is well-known for its role in shipping jobs overseas.

Let me sum up. I published a photo of a Romney-Ryan campaign button that was inauthentic. I used it to make a point about what I see as more evidence that Republicans “project” their own shortcomings and insecurities on others. I wanted to believe the button was authentic. There is substantial reason for me to have believed that. I have a bit of egg on my face. I am sorry. Mitt is still a jerk. Don’t vote for him. I trust I’ve made virtually everyone happy now. 🙂

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