Reprinted from hartmannreport.com
With the Republican Party turning to Trumpism, and the Democratic Party returning to their progressive roots, will we have an honest debate this election year in our media?
"What you see is what you get" is an old cliche, but it's endured all these centuries because there's so much truth in it. "Don't listen to what people say, instead look at what they do" is another truism we can apply to inform us about today's politics.
The past forty years have seen three Republican and three Democratic presidencies, and the modern priorities and values of each Party are now quite clear.
On the Republican side, Reagan laid the foundation for Bush and Trump to hand over $10 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and giant corporations while spending an equal amount on senseless, unwanted and unwinnable wars, leaving us with a $20 trillion national debt.
Trump has since merged the Grand Old Party with the anti-democratic, oligarchic and male/white-supremacist values of the pre-Civil War South, leading his followers to proudly fly Confederate flags and strut around with as many large guns as they can carry.
On the Democratic side, there's been a steady revival of the progressive movement, along with its efforts to lift up working class and poor Americans while cleaning up the environment and protecting the social safety net.
While the Democratic Party embraced neoliberalism for a while, from 1992 until 2016, the majority of elected Democrats today are committed to extending the benefits, freedoms and privileges of citizenship to all Americans, regardless of race, religion or gender identification.
There's an uncredited meme that's been floating around the internet in various forms for a while, generally titled "Shocking Things Liberals Believe" that summarizes:
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People who work full time shouldn't live in poverty
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Homelessness shouldn't exist in the richest country in the world
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Women deserve both equal rights and equal pay
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Corporations and rich people shouldn't be able to legally bribe politicians
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Trashing the planet for profit is wrong and must stop
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Every American should have world-class healthcare at little or no cost
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