Letter: Fear and hatred are destroying the U.S.
To the community,
Fear and hate defines the political age we live in; an age of attempts to manipulate the mass of citizens to fear and hate the target of the manipulators by any means necessary. Distortions, lies, whatever works.
Bill Crawford
An example is the campaign to disarm the president of the United States. For openers, he isn’t a citizen. Though disproven time and time again, the birthers keep that iron in the fire. Regardless of the merits or lack of merits, the president supports a national health program. Therefore, he is a socialist. Those who make the charge never bother to define the word socialist. But everyone knows it’s bad. And he’s not a Christian. He’s a Moslem. Has to be because his father was a black man from East Africa. So now the haters impose a religious test to hold public office. And the president is black (half). And for some citizens black men are feared. Therefore hated.
So with the above hit list some Americans are willing to bring down the federal government because the government is corrupted by the twice elected president who in the eyes of many is opposite of what America stands for. Home of the free and the brave have been lost, so they say. Texas is American and Washington, D.C., is a foreign place, un-American full of strange hateful thoughts and ideas about civil liberties, voter rights, and social legislation to bring abut basic equality for all citizens. The manipulators are bent on destroying the Four Freedoms, the New Deal, anything that messes with their desire to have power.
We should be careful about what we wish for. For example, Nazi Germany. Many Germans “were drawn to one of the most poisonous myths to take root in defeated Germany, the so-called stab-in-the-back conspiracy. According to this myth, Germany hadn’t lost the war on the battlefield, but rather had been betrayed form within. Chief among these internal traitors were Germany’s liberal political parties….” (This is from Scott Anderson’s “Lawrence in Arabia”.)
From the destruction of the Weimar Republic came Hitler and the goosestep and World War II. Time flies, sometimes backward.
Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe
We have the best President and Congress that money can buy.
WOW, You must be kidding!!!
This president is taking us right down the tubes.
Thank you very much Mr Liberal for your uplifting opinion & finger pointing.”Fear and hatred” are not destroying the U.S, your president & the entire Senate & Congress’ actions are destroying the U.S. USA’s morale is at an all time low. People are not proud to be American’s. Your president’s list of screw up’s continue, the lies continue and his lack of accepting responsibility continues. His birth certificate proves he is from America, but his actions prove he is about as un-American as you can get. I will continue disliking your president.
I’m not so sure. It’s my view that due to the internet and access to getting our views aired instantly in real time, small minorities of over-zealous fringe groups screaming at the top of their lungs (keyboards?) seem to get more attention, you know, like the old squeaky wheel analogy.
And as an example all one needs to do is look above to the comment made by a fellow poster.
Usually I enjoy Bill’s tirades. But this one was a bit over the top.
Did you ever stop to think, Bill, that it might be that we dislike the policies of the man, not the man himself?
Being Halloween time, seeing the news of people getting into trouble and making public apologies for wearing Obama masks is a first. People have worn masks of the President’s face as long as I’ve been alive. It’s our right to be able to mock our rulers. Yet for some reason, you lose your job for mocking this one, and denigrated for questioning him in any way. That right there is enough reason for any thinking person to realize we have a SERIOUS problem.
Mr Crawford is right. If you are a student of history, it is easy to see that demagogues and evil men like Hitler and the “good Germans” can be whipped into a frenzy, and our all too human fears can be exploited
and too quickly turned against neighbors. We live in a country governed by the rule of law and democratically elected leaders. If we do not agree with the policies, we can express our views and not be jailed for them. We have the right to be open and we are fortunate to live in the USA, where we have the right to be impolite.
Bill, I used to think that you were a pretty smart person but after this article, I think you are stupid.This president has ruined this Country and it will take years after he is gone to ever get back to being a great Country. Obama and his wife have raped this Country and most Countries hate us anymore.
Thank you.
Ann:
Very intelligently and articulately stated. I’m experiencing great amusement at the other responses posted thus far.
Artfully done Mr. Crawford.
Bill, lay off the sauce. Tell the Prez to release all his college transcripts and applications if you want to know his background. After all what does he have to hide?
Ann, we live in a country ruled by men and women who pass laws, then interpret them, and finally ignore them when convenient. The Constitution is being shredded by this Prez. Wake up before it is too late.
The Repubs ain’t so good either.
See, all you have to do to be hated is to have a different opinion. I still love my country regardless of who is president. Semper Fi.
My previous comment was no compliment, but rather a recognition that the actions of the President and Congress are bought and paid for by special interests and large corporations. Bill describes the tactics, but it is money that drives the agenda.
Ann’s right.
Obama used ordinary American citizens against other ordinary American citizens very effectively when he had Park Rangers bully park visitors for no reason other than to punish them in furtherance of a political agenda. And those park rangers went right along with it.
What will happen when the Resident sends the Homeland Security tanks out against the People?
Previous presidents, in the face of differing opinions and tragedies, have sought to unite the people of this country. This one thrives on division and works at keeping us divided as a strategy to elevate his own power.
Some of you people are so paranoid. Go take a prozak
Only someone who lives in a completely delusional teabagger echo chamber of hate radio, foxnooze and websites like worldnetdaily, dailycaller and freerepublic would not realize they are making Mr. Crawford’s point for him. This state of perpetual cognitive deficit would be laughable if it weren’t so destructive to the country.
And as usual, the lefties are using personal attacks against people, instead of addressing issues.
Same old same old.
As I said, Obama uses division exceptionally well to achieve his aims.
What’s destroying our nation is government intrusion with liberal policies that are an unmitigated disaster to our well being.
Get real. The Obama Regime is taking it’s marching orders right out of the Alinsky playbook – divide & conquer.
What ever happened to live and let live? The government needs to stay out of our lives, but because that doesn’t advance the liberal narrative, we get op eds like this blaming the people.
The United States is all about dissent, collaboration, personal choice and freedom. Take those away from the public, and they’re going to push back hard.
We do NOT need nor want the government telling us what we can & cannot do as a free nation.
Let’s take a look at a few matters in which the Obama Regime claims to have had no prior knowledge:
1) Consequences of Obamacare launch and people losing their insurance coverage as a result
2) Benghazi
3) Spying on allies
4) Fast & Furious
5) IRS targeting conservatives
6) AP Phone Records Seized by Justice Department
7) Investigation into David Petraeus’ email correspondence
8) NSA Surveillance
9) Solyndra
10) “Sekester”
One has to ask themselves, what else is the Obama Regime hiding from the American public?
Remember, Richard Nixon knew nothing about Watergate. Stalin, Mao, Chavez & Putin knew nothing either.
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, if the checks and balances of republicanism over the last 100 to 300 years or so are questionable, are we experiencing a shift from right wing socialism to left wing socialism to try and equalize the distribution of economic equity?
dumbfounded:
Amazing what a little “bait” can do. I’m with you on this.
Semper Fi.
I sure wish (along with Bigger picture above)that people would take a few minutes to think before they take to their keyboards. Some people don’t seem to understand who the players are, or what they stand for, and are all too willing to just scream at the guy who currently sits in the oval office. I hear few plausible alternatives. Venting may be cathartic, but it doesn’t need to be personal.
The second poster certainly does not not understand subtlety or well pointed sarcasm.
The Homeland Security we all know and love popped up so quickly after the twin towers went down, it is obvious that it was in near final form for a long time needing only a national disaster to enact.
This was a George Bush Jr era, Republican spawned device, so why are these people blaming it on Obama? He does have to live by the law of the land.
I know a few Tea Party leaners….to a man or woman, they are on medicare and drawing social security, yet they are supporting a movement that wants to take those away, or drastically reduce them or more unbelievably, turn them over to private enterprise.
Just look at the Banking industry to see how good an idea that is.
For the life of me, I cannot see how any conscientious person puts any money in Chase bank for instance.
They get fined billions of dollars for various illegalities and transgressions, but the Boards and the people at the top are allowed to soldier on. The penalties are paid from the shareholders funds, not by the perpetrators. They are likely simply continuing to see other loopholes to do it again, because there is no reason not to as long as somebody else is paying the fines.
If these Banks can afford the magnitudes of fines and penalties they pay, what does that say about the true size of the crimes?
As is often said….follow the money to see where the problem lies.
The Patriot Act (bad then, bad now) was written in the 90’s. When Clinton was President. Coauthored by Biden. They only needed an excuse to unleash it.
We’ve been heading toward a totalitarian government for a very long time, by both of the dominant political parties.
Washington DC is not your friend. It does not care about you or your well-being.
Don’t continue to give them more power over you and your children. The only prosperity they care about is their own.
wow is all I can say – lets just hope “biggerpicture” is correct – it’s loud squeaky wheels and not some numerical majority that live in some constant state of Fox News and talk radio induced paranoia. The analogies to 1930s Germany which may at first sound so unlikely, is in fact horribly scary isn’t it. The creation of others, somehow different from you both ethnically and in social values, and their supposed responsibility for all things bad certainly fueled fascism both in Germany and other countries. We should keep in mind that fascism and even Nazi sympathizers were relatively popular in the US during the ’30s. One wonders where the US would have gone if the attack on Pearl Harbor had not more galvanized the US in supporting the European nations at war with Germany. (It’s not like we were helping Britain fight against facism due to some altruistic response – WWII was already going on for more than 2 years before the US became directly involved.)
Germany was a modern, well educated, relatively progressive western European country and that wasn’t enough to ward off the toxicity of hate. Wonder how immune we are given the abilities of most Americans to understand rules of evidence and ways to acquire knowledge, and then think about them logically.
Of course, none of this means there are not things this administration does that should not concern people – governments always seek to expand their powers, left wing or right, and that is why we have a constitution and are a nation of laws and our responsibility as citizens is to be involved and assert rightful checks and balances (one of those being elections!).
But when someone is willing to accept any blatant usurpation of power as long as it supports their views (can we say Gulf War II or the original NSA legislation), but then go totally ballistic when the shoe is on the other foot, we have to be rather suspicious of their motives. It’s not what anti-Obama folks object to that makes them appear like lunatics, it’s the conspiracy-theory, thinly veiled racially-tinged ranting that makes them seem like a joke, albeit rather dangerous ones.
unfortunately, one can not remove with logic what was not put there with logic to begin with….
It is amazing the hate and venom the left brings to this issue.
That’s where the hate comes from, the left.
Obama has OPENLY conned America into Obama care and the left hates the conservatives that want the truth because they ….
trust him?
Like being lied to?
are to hate filled to see the forrest through the trees…
What is it with the left wings lack of addressing the issues and constant vicious attack on individuals that disagree with them.
Coexistence
It’s not just about religion anymore.
Thanks Bill; it’s nice to see that good sense and civility still exist together in South Lake Tahoe, evidence to the contrary on the Lake Tahoe News forums notwithstanding. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine myself saying this, but you are missed in the halls of City government.
“Ignorance is bliss, unless you’re surrounded by it. . .”
Ignorance may be blissful, Gary, but who wants a blissful life?:
“Life is action and passion; therefore, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of the time, at peril of being judged not to have lived.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Of course, ol’ Ollie didn’t add that, in our quest for action and passion, it would be helpful if we knew what we were acting and speaking passionately about.
“That’s where the hate comes from, the left. ”
Lie of the week.
The Obama administration is hostile to the American way of life and it shows.
Obama said he would change America and he has done so.
To call the people that want to protect the American way of life and our constitution haters… that is an idiotic line of logic. It is a self-inflicted mental sickness.
California is full of this people afflicted with this mental disease, as is SLT.
Look around you, South Lake Tahoe is rotting from the damage done by left wingnuts in your government. Get a Mirror, South Lake Tahoe is failing because of who and what you are.
The Tea Party is not the problem. The Tea Party folks are the solution to saving America.
I think Bill C. identified the SERIOUS problem we have since we elected our 1st President of color-also just a centrist DEM-I think bijou bill addressed this issue by identifying the major sources of these disinformation problems-many of the posts above are straight from the places he mentions-all funded by a few billionaires from the lunatic fringe
Let me guess, the billionaires you refer to; That would be guys like, Warren Buffet, George Soros and the boys at Google and Facebook (the ones that help our government spy on everyone) Is that the lunatic fringe you are talking about?
People, the issue is the issue, Obama Care is wrong and it is hurting America. Don’t get distracted by left wing lies and distortions.
Estimates are that so far 3 million people have had their health insurance cancelled.
These are real people, your neighbors, maybe you …
who’s next?
Cj, you inadvertently left out the Koch brothers.
Huh. I wonder how you missed them? They only started the party that you seem to think will be our savior, so I guess I understand your omission due to the fact that they, and the Tea Party will SOON be irrelevant!
Are those the only billionaires you know, Biggs? Your side actually, for some reason, has a lot more of them. And most of them have done quite well under the corporatism that the 2 ruling parties support. It’s a revolving door. DC appointees usually come from Wall Street, then after their political stints they become lobbyists, then back to Wall Street, then back to DC. YOUR party has played the game exceptionally well. I don’t know why you lefties support that stuff. I am not a Tea Party member, but at least most of them want to stop this corruption. I mean, WHO is benefitting from obamacare? Certainly not 95% of the American people.
“Certainly not 95% of the American people.”
I guess I fall into that 5%.
Oh, and any facts to back your 95% statement?
Cosa, that and the Patriot Act being a Clinton construct.
Biggerpicture,
The Koch brothers support free enterprise and the constitution as do I.
The people i mentioned above are evil and are attacking freedom and the constitution and viciously attack good people simply because they believe in the principles of the Tea Party.
I don’t think the Koch brothers are evil for supporting the constitution and freedom, do you?
Ah. So, Biggs, as long as it benefits YOU, it’s alright to force the majority, who were satisfied before, into a system they do not want.
Sounds a little self-centered to me.
Allowing the government to force what they think is best on the rest of us, is simply evil. It’s exactly what happened during the ‘cultural revolution’ in Mao’s China.
“Oh, and any facts to back your 95% statement?”
It wasn’t meant to be factual. That was just a bit of fluff to make them appear more informed. Given the content of the sentence and that phrase being at the end, it should have been rhetorical.
The number is meaningless. There is nothing to back it up.
It is also a set up for being called out. If you call them out on that number, they will come back ans ask you to tell them why the opposite is true.
Read their comment carefully and try to figure out what level they read on.
Those who call people out for their grammar, should check theirs, first.
Okay. The story I read was that 85% of Americans were happy with their medical insurance.
Can we stick to issues, please, instead of trying to prove to everyone that you’re the smartest person in the room?
85% of Americans were happy with their health insurance? That’s preposterous nonsense. The profit driven system that left millions uncovered was costing the rest of us huge increases on a yearly basis and was irretrievably broken. Does this imaginary group of people you read about somewhere all live over in Delusionalville?
I was in the health related industry for 20 years and watched as government regulations increasingly undermined the the free market, especially in the insurance industry.
Then Obama and the robot minded minions come along and deliver this final blow to the system. It is a devastating failure, six people signed up the first day. It’s failure is epic. Then people say, with a straight face, it is the fault of free markets.
We have drifted further and further away from free markets for decades. Smart people have warned against this for just as long. But stupid won and America may be lost.
All these liberals that blame free markets are wrong, the proof is in history — over and over and over again.
If you are one of those on the sidelines that realizes what is happening you better speak up now or you may not be able to for much longer.
Tyranny always leads to violence.
GBA
CJ is right about the evolution of the medical insurance market. When I started purchasing insurance, more than 25 years ago, I bought a catastrophic coverage policy, because really, that’s all most people needed. Doctors’ visits weren’t that expensive, it wasn’t hard to come up with cash for the every day incidentals. All you really needed was insurance to cover the big stuff; hospitalization, emergency room, surgeries.
Then the state started requiring all policies to cover certain things, whether I wanted that coverage or not. Little by little, insurance corporations, politicians, and lawyers colluded to make medical care more and more expensive. Essentially, they were creating jobs for themselves at the expense of people and their doctors. My dad was a doctor. I worked in his office back in the 70’s. Malpractice lawsuits were just coming into vogue. . .Doctors went from having one person helping in the office to having to have 3. One answering phones, one doing back office, and one just to figure out insurance billing.
Nope, it ain’t the free market that failed. And you guys want the politicians, lawyers, and insurance companies to fix the problem that they created? That’s just crazy.
Ignorance and laziness are also destroying America!
Right on target Bill Crawford !
Yea, unfortunately many have been raised by parents of generations of perpetuated ignorance,prejudice and hatred.
They hide behind religion as a right to continue their medieval methods of control over profit and ethics.
You’re right Bill “Texas is American and Washington, D.C., is a foreign place, un-American full of strange hateful thoughts and ideas about civil liberties”
Our for profit system is the most expensive in the world, by far.
And is one of the worst.
You want me to believe that the government had the idea to court insurance companies and prop up their profits? That goes against everything corporations are about. They got their hands in the government. This isn’t a ‘chicken or the egg’ scenario. The health insurance industry wants you to blame the government.
Wake up. Our system is a total failure.
And… dawg you didn’t use the word grammar properly. I think you were talking about a typo. On a keyboard s is right next to d.
Last week CJ was calling people ‘racest’.
And you went around boasting about being the only one who ‘knew’ a group of baboons was called a congress.
Where did you read that or who told it to you?
Also you shouldn’t use the word evolution.
Cosa,
You are a lying sack!
Editor please remove Cosa’s race baiting lie.
The US health system was the undisputed leader in the world for decades when it was a freer market system. Then over the last 20 plus years the heavy hand of control by the government has reduced it to what it is today.
To say otherwise is to demonstrate that you just don’t know what you are talking about.
There is lots of that in South Lake Tahoe California… Another government caused mess.
Cosa, if you’re not happy with the healthcare system or any other facet of life here in the United States, you’re free to leave.
But please don’t push soviet style propaganda on people.
Our healthcare system has historically been the very best in the world.
The fact that we’ve been over run with illegal immigrants who don’t pay their bills forces rates & costs skyward. We pay so that they can have their free healthcare, and that’s just wrong.
Wow, this thread is getting tiresome. We need a new article so the whole thing can start all over again fresh.
“Cosa,
You are a lying sack!
Editor please remove Cosa’s race baiting lie.”
HA. Asking for censorship.
Here is the problem: both of those things actually happened. You were calling people ‘racest’ and dawg was telling us about what to call a group of baboons. It was hilarious.
You two represent the right wing very well. I am glad you have a platform to show the world what the right wing is all about.
CJ does not know what “American” is.
CJ’s America is only for the white, well off or rich.
Face it, white and well off is a minority on the globe and becoming more so every day. Unstoppable.
The American way and it’s common way of treatment of non white people is arguably as bad as any other country on earth. The American Way still allowed laws on the books into the 1960’s allowing lynching.
We either learn to get along, or become isolationist, close the borders and cease international trade. Which of course is a non starter, so the option is clear.
And we wonder why our government doesn’t work? Why go to Washington when you can enjoy similar interactions right here on the Lake Tahoe News!
worldcycle:
Well said. It appears that the usual posters with opposing political viewpoints can be every bit as disrespectful of each other as anyone in Washington. I imagine they would be equally as unwilling to ever consider compromise either. Truthfully, it’s all getting tiresome.
Agree with 4-mer-usmc, it’s all getting tiresome. Compromise is dead, it’s my way or the highway is alive and well. Trickle down attitude from our stubborn leaders in this country :(
I love Kae (although I’ve never met her, and I’m sure I’m way too old and way too married to make it personal) but I’ve participated in some internet forums which, let’s face it, this has become, much more than a comment site, and every one of them publishes rules of conduct – some more successfully than others.
4-mer, at one point I saw you as a negative (and, briefly, obnoxious) poster, but I think that you and I can agree that this forum needs a few guidelines (“rules” to some) in order to maintain its credibility and not lose its most centered posters.
I’m sure that Kae has enough to do without having to edit what once was a comment thread, and has now become a full blown forum. But my guess is that the forum participants, whether educating us or jumping into controversies, are a large part of her readership.
Folks like to pretend that the First Amendment applies to media forums – obviously it doesn’t. But a successful forum that doesn’t want to lose its center – where real discussion goes on – needs to develop rules allowing it to trim its edges – where folks like to bring their dysfunctional lives to the internet and drive off the serious, or occasionally humorous, participants.
Totally agree copper. I use to like to comment on the forum, try to brain storm and come up with ideas to solve problems in our town, and I liked to converse with other like minded individuals, but I have steered clear for quite awhile, because it has become so unpleasant on here.
The forum has become a place to scream your often off topic agenda, and beliefs from the rooftop, and if you can’t convert people to your thinking, just repeat, over and over. Why are people so stuck? Can anyone assimilate new information, and let go of long held beliefs? It does come across like you spend your life seething in anger, based on a great need to always be right, at least that’s how it comes off to me.
What is the purpose of this forum? is it to give a few people a place to vent their frustrations, or is it a place for community members to discuss what is going on in our community, exposing, discussing, brainstorming, and creating a sense of community?
I have always heard that Tahoe is extremely separated when it comes to politics. It is evident from the posts who is a liberal and who is a conservative. This is happening to all of us. The world isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. Everyone is responsible in some way. Even some of the “sheeple” are getting wise and asking questions. So what are we going to do about it? What can be done? Why the heck hasn’t he been impeached?
It’s no wonder why shows like “Pitbulls and Parolees” are so popular in the USA…….
People say that we are more polarized politically then we have ever been.
I believe, as do many experts, that is just not true. The difference is we live in an age where we have access to millions of other opinions instantly in real time due to the internet and forums like this.
Have we forgotten the polarization that lead to the Civil War?
copper; careaboutthecommunity; John A; and Level:
Thank you for your excellent and thought provoking posts with which I agree (with the exception of my being a negative and obnoxious poster–but that’s for me to contemplate). This forum actually had the appearance of times past.
It’s good to be a Canadian.
If only the hours spent writing comments in this publication were spent doing something… Anything…
John A wrote: It’s no wonder why shows like “Pitbulls and Parolees” are so popular in the USA…….
my best laugh of the week so far. Is that really a show?
Bob, just noticed your post and, without intending to make some sort of history with my reply, I’ve worked with Canadians and have a whole bucket full of Canadian in-laws, and it’s really easy to get tired of politeness. Which, even they often believe, is a Canadian strength, except when it’s a fault.
I love my Canadian in-laws. And I go absolutely nuts when they would rather be courteous than critical. Which is almost always. Excepting, of course, when they lose their tempers – and immediately feel guilty for doing so.
I would think that the Catholic Church, with all its promotion of guilt, would do much better in Canada than it does.
Oh please. The fringe birther groups are not destroying this country or about to usher in new Wiemar Republic. Conservative hacks also use straw man arguments to claim provisions of the Affordable Care Act are socialist. I have lots of liberal friends who want to end the Fed, have an Occupy revolution and revert to a barter economy. Their loopy ideas aren’t “destroying this country ” it’s just free expression of ideas, get over it.