Reich writes: "Following months of a Republican presidential primary filled with racial and ethnic bigotry, abject narcissism, and obscene amounts of campaign money, comes a Pope reminding us America has been a nation of tolerance, humility, and fairness."

Portrait, Robert Reich, August 16, 2009. (photo: Perian Flaherty)

Kick Out the Kooks and Bigots

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

27 September 15

�ve often been accused of being too optimistic, but consider:

Following months of a Republican presidential primary filled with racial and ethnic bigotry, abject narcissism, and obscene amounts of campaign money, comes a Pope reminding us America has been a nation of tolerance, humility, and fairness � and all but asking us to reject Trump, Carson, Huckabee, and the rest of the terrible lot.

After years of a growing civil war in the Republican Party between right-wing whackos and big-business conservatives, the GOP begins cracking up. The Speaker of the House resigns, big business Republicans are up in arms, and the rest of America sees just how phony and unprincipled the Republican Party has become.

Bernie Sanders continues to surge. (Yesterday I met with Latino and black students who told me more and more are watching his speeches on YouTube and backing him because he�s the only candidate who will make real change in America.)

The fight for a $15 minimum wage continues to gain ground. The NLRB has decided franchise workers can organize and negotiate with franchise owners. Courts across the land are siding with workers who have been misclassified as "independent contractors." Cooperative businesses and "B" corporations are thriving.

Okay, maybe I am being a bit too upbeat. We have a long way to go before remedying what�s wrong with America. But I've always held to Martin Luther King Jr.'s belief that �the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.� I have enormous confidence in the basic decency of this land. History shows whenever Americans understand what we�re up against, we put ideology aside, roll up our sleeves, kick out the kooks and bigots, and get on with the hard task of making our economy and society work for the betterment of all.

I think the rightward tide that began with Ronald Reagan is now turning. What do you think?

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+32 # AUCHMANNOCH 2013-08-15 15:46

My father always advised me that if attacked by thugs to always fight back and fight back with strength and determination. He also advised that if I were overwhelmed and on the floor with the thugs boots kicking ribs and head to curl up and beg for mercy. I hope this strategy works for this brave soldier and 21st century hero.

+18 # ER444 2013-08-16 02:04

A very strange decision from Mr. Coombs. We can only hope he has really has Bradley's interests at heart and that his tactic works. Who among us wouldn't "curl up and beg" if found in Bradley's situation. It is however sad, even depressing watching this good idealist grovel before Caesar's poised thumb. Too bad the spectators in the arena are so collectively silent. If enough of us would shows thumbs up maybe justice would have a chance. The odds are overwhelmingly against it though. To admit that Bradley is right automatically points the finger once again at the real criminals, and apparently imperialist Washington has already given thumbs down on this idea. Democracy is dead, Washington is burning, and the only thing that has "changed" is the fiddler.

+36 # soularddave 2013-08-15 19:15

"Thugs" well describes Pvt Manning's captors. There are few candidates suggested for election who would entertain the notion of executive clemency, so its now or never to appeal to have the sentence trimmed. Remember, the thugs are still after other whistleblowers and enablers.

Granted, best would be to go after the war criminals but it is WE who would have to make that happen.

+12 # seeuingoa 2013-08-15 21:47

Psychodelic drugs and torture
can "zombie" any man.

Remember the 1962 film
"The Manchurian Candidate." ?

-26 # randyjet 2013-08-15 21:55

Sorry, but the criticism of Israel is WAY off base since it refused to sign the NPT, unlike IRAN! Thus Iran IS subject to being FORCED to abide by its treaty obligations. Israel is NOT. Let's try being truthful for a change.

+14 # Pancho 2013-08-16 02:34

I think you've misread the article.

Either that, or you're disappointed that it did not cover every jot and tittle involved in the Israeli nuclear arsenal and that country's constant agitation to bring U.S. and international pressure on Iran, aimed at regime change.

This is a terrific article and neither spares Israel nor fails to put the Iranian nuclear program in perspective.

+12 # Pancho 2013-08-16 02:47

When el Baradei finally got the supposed documents that "proved" Saddam was dealing with Niger to get yellowcake, it took him and the IAEA all of two days to prove they were extremely crude forgeries.

Those bogus documents, along with "Curveball's" fabrications, were a lynchpin of Cheney's strategy to gather support for the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The U.S. media, led by pernicious sycophants such as Judith Miller and Michael Gordon at the NY Times, gobbled it up, though any well-informed schoolchild could have told them it was complete bullshit. Of the major media, only Knight-Ridder resisted.

I must confess that I had not read that Manning's documents exposed what was in effect a U.S. takeover of the IAEA for propaganda purposes through its stooge, Amano. I had noticed at the time that with his appointment, it became completely ineffectual.

+10 # Brooklynite 2013-08-16 11:34

Quoting randyjet:

Sorry, but the criticism of Israel is WAY off base since it refused to sign the NPT, unlike IRAN! Thus Iran IS subject to being FORCED to abide by its treaty obligations. Israel is NOT. Let's try being truthful for a change.

That still doesn't make it any less hypocritical for the modern State of Israel to tell other countries they can't have nuclear weapons when it is well-armed with the same.

+29 # fdawei 2013-08-15 22:48

Mr. Parry, the immorality of mainstream media is also complicit in this farce of charging Pvt. Manning. While they all panted for information and the "inside scoop," and in fact many of the "better known" media were quick to publish it, none came to this brave man's defense.

The "upside down morality" extends itself to sectors other than the military. However,as we have seen in this debacle against Pvt. Manning, no one in the other sectors that have turned many Americans live irreversibly upside down forever, will ever be prosecuted, despite of reams of evidence against them.

Appalling to think we live in such an immoral century and in a country that is lead by a man whose "infamous dictum only wants to look "forward not backward.""

Finally, many thanks for your insights and straight shooting as an intrepid and incorruptible journalist.

+21 # futhark 2013-08-16 07:39

If Harry Truman had been an only looking forward not backward president, it is conceivable that there never would have been any Nuremberg Trials. Everyone needs to be accountable for past actions. Otherwise, why have a criminal justice system at all?

+17 # Milarepa 2013-08-16 00:06

Manning has made the world a better place to live in, so we all owe him. What he said in court recently, no matter why, does not alter the benefits of the great service he has done the world. To expect mercy from a kangaroo court is unrealistic. He is doing the best he can under the circumstances. All of us who appreciate his acts of courage and empathize with the torture and suffering imposed on him during detention are with him in spirit.

+16 # fredboy 2013-08-16 08:15

Since the 2000 election fix our nation has been upside down. Bad is good and good is bad. Science is a lie. Hatred is championed.

Something huge--something beyond human comprehension-- needs to happen to turn it all around. Hope karma works on a grand scale.

+6 # 6thextinction 2013-08-16 08:33

Mass movements turn things around. Impossible to organize, though. They ignite when things get bad enough.

+7 # jaycarrigan 2013-08-16 08:59

Who are the people behind President O'bama's contradicory behavior. I know the wealthy, but what does he gain from having more money? What is money in comparison to a positive place in history? Is he a presidential Gordon Gekko who never had enough? Jayc

+9 # Walter J Smith 2013-08-16 09:06

Well, reporting happens whether the US mediacracy wants it to happen or not.

Thank heavens for Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and all the other genuine patriots who have and still are blowing the most beautiful whistles on the monstrous "patriot act" bull poopy of official washington, d. c. and its wall street manipulators.

+10 # jwb110 2013-08-16 10:07

World opinion is on Bradley Manning's side, as well as Snowden's.
How can the "Family of Nations" ever trust the US again. One day we may need real help from allies who no longer exist.

+5 # gd_radical 2013-08-16 10:59

At least there is still some truth being told in the media, even if it's just a little site like ours here.... I have to state that I unequivocally disagree though with some of the comments here. The thing to do when attacked is as Jesus of Nazareth (or according to Gandhi as well)told us to do was turn the other cheek: in defiance, not subservience. Begging for mercy does nothing but allows the perpetrator(s) to feel even a greater sense of power. As for the rest of us, we can no longer pretend that we didn't know or do not know what is being done to the oppressed, the poor, the 99% of us both at home and abroad who are being systematically beaten into submission. Understand this you global elite SOB's...the time is fast approaching when you will no longer rule and your money, fame, and or power will not protect you. As for me, I fear this day will be here all to quickly, when Gen.X which fears no one or nothing, simply takes what they feel they need to survive. The bloodbath currently raging in both our urban and rural poverty stricken communities is proof enough that time always moves onward. I can only continue to pray and hope for my children's future. As for me, well let's just say that I will probably lay, as Sir Winston Churchill's metaphor for what would happen if the Nazi's invaded England in WWII, dieing and choking in a pool of my own blood but ever defiant to the end I hope....

+6 # Doubter 2013-08-16 17:43

Nice thought, but I doubt if you will do better than Manning when faced with overwhelming power and forcible coercion. I've been through quite a bit, including combat infantry WWII but I don't condemn Manning for grovelling before the slavering monster he is up against.

+7 # James Marcus 2013-08-16 11:10

Imagine being a youngster, growing up amongst this Farce of Dishonesty. What Values to establish and Entrain?
Which Leadership skills to admire?

What Poison to assimilate, and make sense of

+10 # mdhome 2013-08-16 12:16

I think we must start a petition for requesting that Obama grant a clemency for Bradly Manning. It would be proper to give him a medal for his whistle blowing, but granting him a reprieve would at least be a great thing.

+6 # Innocent Victim 2013-08-17 12:03

Yes, though Manning's confession was a harm to Assange, Snowden, and all of the other brave souls who have come forward to reveal the crimes of our government, he did accomplish a great deal of good. The harm ought not to be forgotten, because it is a result of the schooling and parenting of our young. They are, in the vast majority, raised to believe that this is, in approximation, a land of liberty and justice for all. That is the in the Pledge many must say each morning before classes begin, and it is false. The young join the military with that idealism and with the pride of their parents. They are not cautioned that they are not placing only their lives in the hands of the chain of command, but their judgments and their consciences. They may not refuse to obey for fear of their lives nor for the preservation of their consciences and mental integrity. We see the results of that disintegration in the extraordinary numbers of suicides and PTSD cases among our veterans.

+3 # Innocent Victim 2013-08-17 12:04

Mannning was such an idealistic military volunteer. He soon found his trust in his superiors and his country's President misplaced. With the inexperience of youth, he defied them - unprepared to bite the cyanide capsule if caught. He allowed a defense, not by a political lawyer but by a lawyer who defends AWOLs, insubordination s, conduct unbecomings, etc. His lawyer, Mr Coombs, allowed Manning to disgrace himself and to undermine the good that he had done. The game of defying despotism is not for youthful idealists. It is for the committed and to be played to the end.

+1 # Doubter 2013-08-19 00:10

Are you advocating self immolation; martyrdom for the poor kid? He's done enough, now it's up to the rest of us.

+1 # tomtom 2013-08-18 09:33

+3 # Jack Gibson 2013-08-18 13:06

Why do we supposedly need a new constitution to stop them? If we can't use the present one to stop them, a new one certainly isn't going to do so either. The one we've got is just fine, thank you. Now we need to enforce IT.

0 # bobjbax 2013-08-20 22:49

Manning Trial, ART. 37. Unlawfully Influencing Action Of Court

~

Dear Commanders of Our Armed Forces,

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen Martin E. Dempsey.

Major General Jeffery S. Buchanan Convening Authority for Bradley Manning's Court Martial,

The Commander In Chief of our National Defense Forces, President Barack Hussein Obama II, your CIC, has openly stated during Bradley Manning's confinement for trial that he is Guilty.

UCMJ ART. 37. Unlawfully Influencing Action Of Court

Talking to you General Class Commanders these days is a Top Secret America JSOC death sentence for our children too. Been hit hit hit, defenseless and wretchedly sick of it for years thus I've nothing to lose to begin with in our present unlawful state. I am though ruled by principle so in speaking out to you here on this direly urgent matter I am for my part carrying out what I consider my Duty as a Veteran and a natural citizen soldier of our true Constitutional National Defense Force, We the People. What we have here as this Bradley Manning Trial is outrageous, what you do here will define you. Better look in the mirror...

Bobby Baxter HCVeteran & Marihuana Felon
United States Army Security Agency 69-72
Founder Alternative Energy Systems SV.74
~~~*~~~

facebookcom/BobbyBaxterHCVeteranMarihuanaFelon/posts/10151613608857901

0 # Vegan_Girl 2013-08-25 15:10

We can go back and forth on Manning. I personally think he is a hero, and I hope he will soon be free.

But shouldn't we talk about the war crimes? You know, the violent illegal acts that DID destroy thousands of lives? That is the debate we should be having right now.

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