[FRA:] Marcuse question

[James Rovira]

Fred, you don't know what I think about Marxism, Stalinism, anarchism, etc.


Anyway, this is just dumb:

" Representative democracy means, obviously, that the people are not really
participating in governmental  decisions, that their so-called
representatives are, and this includes the  executives:president, governor,
and mayor, etc."

So you're telling me that if the Democrats were to be in power, there'd be
no more President, mayor, governor, etc. -- since they're opposed to
"republican" forms of government?  Is this really your claim?  Really?
People would participate directly in gov't in a new golden age of Democratic
rule?

If you mean to say that you trust the Democrats to care for individual
rights more than the Republicans, that'd make more sense.  My previous point
was that both support individual rights, just a different group's individual
rights.  You mentioned Republican support of captial punishment as a failure
to support individual rights: no, it is a support of the victim family's
right to revenge over the criminal's right to live.  You can say that the
victim family does not have a legitimate right to revenge, perhaps, but you
can't say that there's no concern for rights in this equation.

Congress still needs to pass laws and still needs to authorize war.  There's
no PATRIOT Act, and no Iraqi or Afghan war, without Congressional approval.
Need to open your eyes and see the ways even critics of Bush in Washington
contribute directly to all the stuff you're criticizing.

List of Presidents by party, 20th Cent:

R McKinley 1900-04
R T. Roosevelt 04-08
R Taft 08-12
D Wilson 12-16
D Wilson 16-20
R Harding 20-24
R Coolidge 24-28
R Hoover 28-32
D FDR 32-36
D FDR 36-40
D FDR 40-44
D FDR 44-death
D Truman death-52
R Ike 52-56
R Ike 56-60
D JFK 60-62
D LBJ 62-68
R Nixon 68-72
R Nixon 72-76 Ford completes term
D Carter 76-80
R Reagan 80-84
R Reagan 84-88
R Bush 88-92
D Clinton 92-96
D Clinton 96-00

R W 00-04
R W 04-present

So from 1900-2000 there have been 25 administrations, 13 Republican and 12
Democrat.  Pretty even, eh?  Note that Democrats controlled either all or
half of Congress from the 1940s to 1992, then at least half of Congress for
a term or two after that.  I don't think the Reps have had full control of
both houses for more than two congressional elections.  I'd say there's
plenty of blame to pass around to everyone for the current mess we're in.

There are no good guys, Fred.  There are better guys than others about some
things, but no good guys.

Jim R.