Most Americans have no idea what they are in for?

usa1

Veteran
Oct 6, 2008
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[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Laura Hollis (University of Notre Dame)[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Laura Hollis is:[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Current: Associate Professional Specialist and Concurrent Associate[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame.[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Past: Director at Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Associate[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Director and Clinical Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Education: University of Notre Dame Law School , University of Notre Dame.[/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Summary: She has 20+ years' experience in curriculum and other program development and delivery.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]I am already reading so many pundits and other talking heads analyzing the disaster that was this year's elections. I am adding my own ten cents.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Here goes:[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]1. We are outnumbered. We accurately foresaw the enthusiasm, the passion, the commitment, the determination, and the turnout. Married women, men, independents, Catholics, evangelicals - they all went for Romney in percentages as high or higher than the groups which voted for McCain in 2008. It wasn't enough. What we saw in the election was a tipping point: we are now at a place where there are legitimately fewer Americans who desire a free republic with a free people than there are those who think the government should give them stuff. There are fewer of us who believe in the value of free exchange and free enterprise. There are fewer of us who do not wish to demonize successful people in order to justify taking from them. We are outnumbered. For the moment. It's just that simple.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]2. It wasn't the candidate(s). Some are already saying, "Romney was the wrong guy"; "He should have picked Marco Rubio to get Florida/Rob Portman to get Ohio/Chris Christie to get [someplace else]." With all due respect, these assessments are incorrect. Romney ran a strategic and well-organized campaign. Yes, he could have hit harder on Benghazi . But for those who would have loved that, there are those who would have found it distasteful. No matter what tactic you could point to that Romney could have done better, it would have been spun in a way that was detrimental to his chances. Romney would have been an excellent president, and Ryan was an inspired choice. No matter who we ran this year, they would have lost. See #1, above.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]3. It's the culture, stupid. We have been trying to fight this battle every four years at the voting booth. It is long past time we admit that is not where the battle really is. We abdicated control of the culture - starting back in the 1960s. And now our largest primary social institutions - education, the media, Hollywood (entertainment) have become really nothing more than an assembly line for cranking out reliable little Leftists. Furthermore, we have allowed the government to undermine the institutions that instill good character - marriage, the family, communities, schools, our churches. So, here we are, at least two full generations later - we are reaping what we have sown. It took nearly fifty years to get here; it will take another fifty years to get back. But it starts with the determination to reclaim education, the media, and the entertainment business. If we fail to do that, we can kiss every election goodbye from here on out. And much more.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]4. America has become a nation of adolescents The real loser in this election was adulthood: Maturity. Responsibility. The understanding that liberty must be accompanied by self-restraint. Obama is a spoiled child, and the behavior and language of his followers and their advertisements throughout the campaign makes it clear how many of them are, as well. Romney is a grown-up. Romney should have won. Those of us who expected him to win assumed that voters would act like grownups. Because if we were a nation of grownups, he would have won.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]But what did win? Sex. Drugs. Bad language. Bad manners. Vulgarity. Lies. Cheating. Name-calling. Finger-pointing. Blaming. And irresponsible spending. This does not bode well. People grow up one of two ways: either they choose to, or circumstances force them to. The warnings are all there, whether it is the looming economic disaster, or the inability of the government to respond to crises like Hurricane Sandy, or the growing strength and brazenness of our enemies. American voters stick their fingers in their ears and say, "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you." It is unpleasant to think about the circumstances it will take to force Americans to grow up. It is even more unpleasant to think about Obama at the helm when those circumstances arrive.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]5. Yes, there is apparently a Vagina Vote. It's the subject matter of another column in its entirety to point out, one by one, all of the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of the Democrats this year. Suffice it to say that the only "war on women" was the one waged by the Obama campaign, which sexualized and objectified women, featuring them dressed up like vulvas at the Democrat National Convention, appealing to their "lady parts," comparing voting to losing your virginity with Obama, trumpeting the thrills of destroying our children in the womb (and using our daughters in commercials to do so), and making Catholics pay for their birth control. For a significant number of women, this was appealing. It might call into question the wisdom of the Nineteenth Amendment, but for the fact that large numbers of women (largely married) used their "lady smarts" instead. Either way, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are rolling over in their graves.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]6. It's not about giving up on "social issues" No Republican candidate should participate in a debate or go out on the stump without thorough debate prep and a complete set of talking points that they stick to. This should start with a good grounding in biology and a reluctance to purport to know the will of God. (Thank you, Todd and Richard.)[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]That said, we do not hold the values we do because they garner votes. We hold the values we do because we believe that they are time-tested principles without which a civilized, free and prosperous society is not possible.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]We defend the unborn because we understand that a society which views some lives as expendable is capable of viewing all lives as expendable. We defend family - mothers, fathers, marriage, children - because history makes it quite clear that societies without intact families quickly descend into anarchy and barbarism, and we have plenty of proof of that in our inner cities where marriage is infrequent and unwed motherhood approaches 80 percent. When Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, many thought that the abortion cause was lost. Forty years later, ultrasound technology has demonstrated the inevitable connection between science and morality. More American than ever define themselves as "pro-life." What is tragic is that tens of millions of children have lost their lives while Americans figure out what should have been obvious before.. There is no "giving up" on social issues. There is only the realization that we have to fight the battle on other fronts. The truth will win out in the end.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]7. Obama does not have a mandate. And he does not need one. I have to laugh - bitterly - when I read conservative pundits trying to assure us that Obama "has to know" that he does not have a mandate, and so he will have to govern from the middle. I don't know what they're smoking. Obama does not care that he does not have a mandate. He does not view himself as being elected (much less re-elected) to represent individuals. He views himself as having been re-elected to complete the "fundamental transformation" of America , the basic structure of which he despises. Expect much more of the same - largely the complete disregard of the will of half the American public, his willingness to rule by executive order, and the utter inability of another divided Congress to rein him in. Stanley Kurtz has it all laid out here.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]8. The Corrupt Media - is the enemy too strong? I don't think so. I have been watching the media try to throw elections since at least the early 1990s. In 2008 and again this year, we saw the media cravenly cover up for the incompetence and deceit of this President, while demonizing a good, honorable and decent man with lies and smears. This is on top of the daily barrage of insults that conservatives (and by that I mean the electorate, not the politicians) must endure at the hands of this arrogant bunch of elitist snobs. Bias is one thing. What we observed with Benghazi was professional malpractice and fraud. They need to go. Republicans, Libertarians and other conservatives need to be prepared to play hardball with the Pravda press from here on out. And while we are at it, to defend those journalists of whatever political stripe (Jake Tapper, Sharyl Atkisson, Eli Lake) who actually do their jobs. As well as Fox News and talk radio. Because you can fully expect a re-elected Obama to try to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in term 2.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]9. Small business and entrepreneurs will be hurt the worst For all the blather about "Wall Street versus Main Street ," Obama's statist agenda will unquestionably benefit the biggest corporations which - as with the public sector unions - are in the best position to make campaign donations, hire lobbyists, and get special exemptions carved out from Obama's health care laws, his environmental regulations, his labor laws. It will be the small business, the entrepreneur, and the first-time innovators who will be crushed by their inability to compete on a level playing field.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]10. America is more polarized than ever; and this time it's personal. I've been following politics for a long time, and it feels different this time. Not just for me. I've received messages from other conservatives who are saying the same thing: there is little to no tolerance left out there for those who are bringing this country to its knees - even when they have been our friends. It isn't just about "my guy" versus "your guy." It is my view of America versus your view of America - a crippled, hemorrhaging, debt-laden, weakened and dependent America that I want no part of and resent being foisted on me. I no longer have any patience for stupidity, blindness, or vulgarity, so with each dumb "tweet" or FB post by one of my happily lefty comrades, another one bites the dust, for me. Delete. What does this portend for a divided Congress? I expect that Republicans will be demoralized and chastened for a short time. But I see them in a bad position. Americans in general want Congress to work together. But many do not want Obama's policies, and so Republicans who support them will be toast. Good luck, guys.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]11. It's possible that America just has to hit rock bottom. I truly believe that most Americans who voted for Obama have no idea what they are in for. Most simply believe him when he says that all he really wants is for the rich to pay "a little bit more." So reasonable! Who could argue with that except a greedy racist? America is on a horrific bender. Has been for some time now. The warning signs of our fiscal profligacy and culture of lack of personal responsibility are everywhere - too many to mention. We need only look at other countries which have gone the route we are walking now to see what is in store.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]For the past four years - but certainly within the past campaign season - we have tried to warn Americans. Too many refuse to listen, even when all of the events that have transpired during Obama's presidency - unemployment, economic stagnation, skyrocketing prices, the depression of the dollar, the collapse of foreign policy, Benghazi, hopelessly inept responses to natural disasters - can be tied directly to Obama's statist philosophies, and his decisions.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]What that means, I fear, is that they will not see what is coming until the whole thing collapses. That is what makes me so sad today. I see the country I love headed toward its own "rock bottom," and I cannot seem to reach those who are taking it there.[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Laura Hollis[/background]
 
Since you failed to link the original article I will do it for you here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/laurahollis/2012/11/08/postmortem/page/full/


Here is nice rebuttal to the professor's assessment:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/29/1174695/-Open-letter-to-Professor-Laura-Hollis-This-is-why-you-lost

"Dear Professor Hollis,

I fear that the studies on authoritarians and right wingers, expertly done by Bob Altemeyer, has proven all too true: right wingers have a tendency towards having compartmentalized brains and can hold mutually exclusive information and facts in their psyche at the same time, with no homogeneity of thought. Having read your arguments as to why Mitt Romney lost this is the only conclusion I can come to. Maybe we're all slaves to brain function, but how a professor at an esteemed university who supposedly keeps her job due to intellectual prowess can write this post-mortem to the failed Romney campaign with any seriousness is baffling. Let me explain why you really lost so maybe, just maybe, you can get a clear picture and step outside your bubble for a moment. That is, after all, what academia is all about. I'll tackle your points one by one.

1. You are right when you say you are outnumbered. And you will continue to be if demographics keep changing as they are, but with respect to your argument that

Married women, men, independents, Catholics, evangelicals – they all went for Romney in percentages as high or higher than the groups which voted for McCain in 2008.
...you are fooling yourself with statistics by shaping them to fit what you want to see. First off, you don't cite which groups voted for McCain and stack them up against which groups voted for Romney. I'm unclear if you're saying that the McCain coalition was just smaller than the Romney coalition, or if you're saying that more Catholics went for Romney than they did for McCain in 2008, more married men went for Romney than McCain, etc.. If the latter is your argument, then that's erroneous, because Romney ran against Obama, not McCain. Who cares if Romney did better with Catholics than McCain? Why? Because the President won the Catholic vote 51 to 48. You lost the Catholic vote.
If your argument is the former, then basically what you've said is that the election didn't go your way twice in a row since neither the McCain coalition or the Romney coalition won. Well, duh.

Your other voting blocs you apparently did so well with don't bode well for you. The President lost to Romney with independents, 50 to 45, but Obama did well with that group just last election cycle, 52 to 44. A group that swings like that is not going to be the bedrock of any winning coalition. The other groups were traditional Republican constituencies, so all in all, you lost ground this election cycle.

You were steamrolled with minorities. Talk of "blah" people, intimating that all Black people are on food stamps when the number of people who use food stamps is predominantly White, and not at the very least explaining why your vision is of importance to all Americans is why you will continue to lose these constituencies.

As to your last point where you wrote:

There are fewer of us who believe in the value of free exchange and free enterprise. There are fewer of us who do not wish to demonize successful people in order to justify taking from them.
I would first like to remind you that the United States has had a progressive income tax for decades now, and while EFFECTIVE tax rates may or may not be progressive at different points in history, due to tax credits or subsidization, the point still stands that the United States believes that the rich should pay a higher percentage than the poor. Russia doesn't, but we do. Why? Because Americans think it's FAIR, not because they HATE rich people. Progressive tax rates are by their very definition redistributive. Americans have not rejected progressive tax rates for a flat tax or an outright regressive tax rate and the polling shows it. So, have Americans throughout history demonized successful people and want to take from them? Look at the hero worship of Steve Jobs and you tell me.
Please spare me the specter of socialism. Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland do all just fine thank you very much.

2. Your candidate was pathetic. I am saying this objectively. He has no political acumen. He couldn't even learn it, which is sad, given how long he has been in politics. That's really telling: practice doesn't make perfect for Romney. Compare Romney's flop with Elizabeth Warren, a woman who has absolutely no experience running for politics. She learned the ropes as she went and overcame several of her own personal shortcomings to win her election. She out debated Brown and won in a Democratic state that threw aside Coakley. It helped that her opponent was equally bad as Romney, but the point still stands. If Romney were a better politician, he would have easily turned Obama's portrayal of him as a vulture capitalist around to his advantage, as Elizabeth Warren turned Scott Browns thoughtless attacks on her ancestry to her advantage, exposing him as just another culturally insensitive Republican. Romney didn't hit hard on Benghazi because it didn't bear fruit for McCain. Why should it bear fruit for Romney? Yes, insurgents attacked the embassy. That happens, as George Bush can tell you. Al-Qaeda is still our enemy and most likely will be for years to come, maybe even for the next fifty years.

3. First off, I think you are selling yourself a bit short on the culture argument. We have thousands of churches in this country, many of them quite large and well funded. Sure, many Americans are leaving said churches, but they're there. Right wing media has exploded: websites, books, movies, television networks, dating sites. I do understand that it must be frustrating that every movie theater isn't packed to the gills with people clamoring to see D'nesh D'Souza, but the reason for that is his product is inferior. People don't buy what you're selling because its inferior. Also, please make a case for how government (which has existed for quite awhile) has undermined everything under the sun.

4. All aboard the ad hominem express! You lost the election because Americans are not mature, well, mature according to your definition. I have no idea where you get this image of the petulant Obama. One minute he's childish, the next he's the nefarious usurper of all things American, then a bungler, to a socialist mastermind. You have to pick one. Really, if not just for consistencies' sake. Romney is the one that broad brushed 47% of the American electorate as shiftless moochers. He is the one that wanted Latinos to self deport. He is the one that wanted to veto the DREAM act. He wanted to repeal Obamacare, which was his brainchild. And then he went back on most of his issues when the general election started. If you want to talk about insulting, it is insulting to think that the American public is so stupid it won't remember what you said three months ago on live national television, in the age of YouTube no less!

As for your comment on "our enemies," I would like you to remember that when Bush was President, our enemies were brazen enough to attack the Twin Towers. "Our enemies" operate on a different calculus than you might think. Some of them are plain insane. Israel is one of the most militarized states with one of the best armies in the world, and Hamas still fires missiles at them, goading an invasion which has in the past cost them thousands of lives. Tactically speaking, Hamas is idiotic to go up against an adversary FAR more advanced and powerful than it. Yet it persists. You need to brush up on how "our enemies" think before you start thinking that the person in the Oval Office is the keystone to whether or not those that hate America will try and attack it.

5. Catholics voted for Obama, so the health care mandate wasn't an effective wedge issue for you. I suppose if you had looked at a poll that would have been clear to you.

I'm not going to write much here, because all I have to say is that if you "question the wisdom of the 19th amendment," then it's no wonder you lost the female vote 55 to 44.

6. I agree with you that Republicans need debate prep. Severely. But, at the same time, what's wrong with simply displaying your wares so that all customers can clearly see the quality and the price? Todd Akin and Murdoch both believed what they said, they said it proudly and clearly, and the voters thought they were insane for it. The Democrats on the other hand can say that they back Planned Parenthood and can crow about the positive effect it has for American women and their independence. When the Democrats state their values clearly, people swoon. When you state yours, they wretch.

The strength you have in your beliefs is admirable, but don't let it blind you. When you went to zealously de-fund Planned Parenthood, you basically said "They perform abortions, therefore all the non abortion related services they perform must go as well. It's a perfectly good sacrifice. Besides, women can go elsewhere for that stuff or afford it themselves." You didn't even offer an alternative. You refuse to see the flaw in your world view. The fact that conservatives consistently strawman Sandra Fluke by saying that she wants free birth control pills (to take everyday no less), instead of the fact that she was testifying about her friend who needed birth control pills for medical purposes but couldn't get them, it makes it seem as if your need to rid America of abortion is causing you to be a single minded zealot oblivious to reality. Voters noticed.

7. Winning elections and having the polls behind you gives you a mandate. Done. If you think you can win on the strength of your own ideas, why don't you stop gerrymandering so you can lose the popular vote in the House with some dignity instead of hiding behind artificially favorable districts?

8. You have Fox News, Breitbart.com and its archipelago of websites, Drudge Report, Townhall, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Dana Loesch, conservative personalities even on liberal MSNBC (S.E. Cupp) and Glenn Beck. You have an entire industry of right wing books, magazines, radio shows, and movies. It's so saturated with money that people like Joe "the plumber" can make a good $5k a week without doing much of anything.

If you want journalists who actually do their job, try Democracy Now, Alternet, Al-Jazeera, or Truth-Out. Your idea of journalism is James O'Keefe, edited, sensationalist video, warping reality to fit your own fantasies. Sorry, that's the opposite of journalism.

9. I thought corporations were job creators? Newt Gingrich said that corporations built America. Why are you vilifying success? Also, just for your information, labor unions were outspent by corporations and private pro GOP donors.

You had Sheldon Adelson. You had investment banks and hedge funds. You had the Koch brothers. You had major corporations whose profits are soaring. You had the gun lobby and the fossil fuel lobby. Yet you still couldn't win.

10. You add to the divisiveness every time you de-friend someone.

11. Define rock bottom? We have less than 8% unemployment while Greece and Spain are floundering with double digit unemployment (small government, low taxes, and austerity baby!). Japan has been in a recession for a decade. Other countries are going through violent upheavals (partly due to our past policies). Our housing market is ticking up. Stocks are rallying. Corporate profits are soaring. Domestic production of both clean and dirty energy is booming. Americans work long hours and we still have a vibrant, creative, and educated workforce. Could it be better? Sure! But rock bottom? Really? This is your positive vision?

By the way, the national debt was around 7-8 trillion due to two voluntary wars and a cratered housing market built on a bubble Alan Greenspan, the Fed, Wall Street crime, and deregulation caused. There were other factors concerning government's involvement in the housing market, but you have to give blame where blame is due. Republican policy was tried and it failed. For someone who preaches personal responsibility, you most certainly don't know how to assume it.

I'm sorry Professor, but you have become so inculcated with your own philosophy that it might be literally impossible to reach you. You are the face of divided America. I don't write this to breathe logic into your existence, but out of the hope that someone might see this and know that you are living in a separate reality. "
 
I'm in for good or bad.

It is unfortunate the all about me crowd on the right don't see they are much like the all about me crowd they disparage on the left.
 
Wait until the tax shock and off the chart energy prices hit the DNC faithful.




Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, Obama is our only hope.......
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
One thing we can all agree on .... she got this part right, "[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]America is more polarized than ever".[/background] :D

My personal beliefs & priorities are set ..... thank goodness the political and economic future of this country play's no roll in my eternal "here after". ;)
 
Brother-in-law and his wife went to get their taxes done the other day. He drives a lumber truck, for next to nothing and she cleans houses and they have no insurance. Needless to say, they were jolted to reality when the tax dude told them they probably wouldn't get anything back, thanks to the "ObamaCare Fine" that was imposed this year, for people with no insurance !
Way to be there for the little guy.............Barrack !

Can't wait to hear more stories like this one, after 4/15/13 !
 
It makes his story a lie.

That wasn't what I asked you.

What's the starting wage on the ramp at US? $9.59/hr.? Suppose the person is a single Mom with 2 kids,doesn't work where there are benefits, yet earns enough to get the maximum EITC Credit only to have close to half of it snatched away because she can't pay the Obamacare premiums?

Please don't quibble with the example, the point is valid. How is the "Messiah" helping her? Seems like she will have all the government "help" she can stand.
 
That wasn't what I asked you.

What's the starting wage on the ramp at US? $9.59/hr.? Suppose the person is a single Mom with 2 kids,doesn't work where there are benefits, yet earns enough to get the maximum EITC Credit only to have close to half of it snatched away because she can't pay the Obamacare premiums?

Please don't quibble with the example, the point is valid. How is the "Messiah" helping her? Seems like she will have all the government "help" she can stand.

I believe there is a subsidy for low wage earners and a calculator on the net.
 
It makes his story a lie.
My story is not a lie, unless your calling my wife a liar !
Walked in from work a couple of days ago, sat down and asked my wife how her day went and during the converstion, she mentioned what I said earlier.
#1 Why would my wife tell me this, she's not into politics ?
#2 I guess, like I said, we'll find out more, during the next couple of months, when other start to file !
#3 They got what they deserve, in my eyes, although they're not Barrack supporters, they don't vote !
#4 I'll let my wife know you called her a liar !

If this doesn't start until 2014, why'd Barrack hire 18,000 more IRS peeps. Maybe he's just gearing up !
 
Is it better that they remain uninsured and use the ER when they need it and I have to pay for it?
 
http://news.yahoo.com/health-care-laws-tax-hikes-coming-pays-175130388.html
 

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