Re: Public is turning away from "conservative values" -- which were not really conservative values to begin with -- more like radical reactionary lynch mob values

Jerry Okamura wrote:

"Joe S." <noone@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:fag7vc0t80@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Opinion polls in the United States show the public's approval of President Bush's performance is approaching a historic low for any modern president. The polls also show a decline in the public's embrace of the conservative social and economic values that have been the hallmark of Mr. Bush's Republican Party politics. The trends have political analysts in Washington and elsewhere wondering whether America is making a political left turn. VOA's Jim Fry explores the question.

When Karl Rove announced he would leave at the end of this month, the powerful White House aide faced blistering criticism.

Many U.S. news reports portrayed his departure as confirmation of the president's lame duck status. "So, I think my friend, I will be on the road behind you here in a little bit," said the president to his long-time advisor at the White House announcement.

Rove hoped President Bush would usher in a permanent Republican majority. Instead, about than one in three Americans now approve of the job Mr. Bush is doing.

Political analyst Stephen Hess says, "Yes, America is turning to the left [going more liberal] modestly at this moment."

Democrats took over Congress in January after sweeping into power in elections last November.

Yet conservative leader Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform says evidence of a leftward tilt in America is far from conclusive. "Had the Democrats won the House and the Senate by campaigning for big government, high taxes and new social programs then you would say, 'Oh my goodness, the country is moving to the left.' That is exactly what did not happen."

Indeed, some analysts, such as Stephen Hess, say the public's weariness with the Iraq war wears down support for the entire Bush agenda. "The Iraq war so permeates our society at this moment in political terms that it pulls everything else along with it."

Yet on a range of issues, such as health care, public opinion is on the move. A recent CBS-New York Times poll found nine out of 10 people want either major repairs to the health care system or a complete overhaul.

When someone says they want a complete overhaul of the healthcare system that does not necessarily mean that they support universal health care. I support a complete overhaul of the healthcare system, so I would have said, yes to that question. But I definitely do not support univeral health care.

Social conservatism -- a centerpiece of the Bush political base -- is seen to be fading. The Pew Research Center has been studying values for 20 years. It found a decline in the intensity of religious beliefs and more acceptances of homosexuals.

Yes, but....when asked if they support marriage for homosexuals, the findings are that a vast majority of Americans do not support allowing homosexuals the right of marriage. I don't have any problems with what two people do in the privacy of their home.

On poverty, Pew found in the past 12 years, there has been a double-digit increase in the percentage of Americans who say government should care for those who cannot take care of themselves, even if that means incurring more debt.

They "may just" believe that, but I am also willing to bet they do not like it one bit, when they find out that the person is in poverty because of the "choices" they made.

Like when we have to pay taxes to the government because they can't balance their books?


And Pew found about half of Americans now see an economic system sharply divided between the haves and the have nots.

If American don't want to be on the "have not" side of the problem, the solution is very simple. Get an education, which again is a matter of "choice".

The choice is getting limited to those "haves" with money, as the price of a college education has skyrocketed.

The government used to have an easier loans system to help those "have nots", but the decided to take that away.


Andy Stern is president of the Service Employees International Union. He says, "People are up to their ears in debt. We have had five years -- according to the Census Bureau -- where American workers have not gotten a raise. People have less stock, less ownership in their homes because of all the home equity loans. Less personal savings than at any time in recent history. I think it is all a reaction to failure."

Again, when people are in debt or have to much debt, they are in debt because they "choose" to spend more than they earn. The solution, "if" they are really interested, is to convince people that they should not spend more than they earn.

Why should anyone not chose to be in debt? The government is in a perpetual0 debt, and conservatives have accelerated the amount of debt. Where is the restraint? Imagine if you had a nearly unlimited credit card. If anything, we are asked to be more conservative with our debt because we have limits.

So don't whine about about peoples debt when conservatism embraces it.



By a margin of more than 10 percent, people tell pollsters they want a Democrat in the White House.

for now.....

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