I am dubious that the Republican party can ever have its honor restored; it has been swimming gleefully too deep in the gutter for too long. Watergate and Iran-Contra were but prelude to Gingrich's Contract on America, bringing the solemn machinery of Impeachment to bear over a guy lying about a blowjob, using the worst attack on the US mainland in nearly 200 years as an excuse to gut the Bill of Rights; lying to the country and to Congress to get support for an utterly pointless and unnecessary war, then posturing about how tough they are while cutting benefits for the poor schmucks whose only crime was to do what they were told was their duty, and so many more that many of us have become numb to outrage. Maybe responsible conservatives can form a new party, but I see no way they can get the stench out of the old one.
I recently bought the 4-DVD Edward R. Murrow Collection (http://www.docurama.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-NVG-9714), about which I have some thoughts percolating that may turn into a long post. One thing I was really struck by was footage in Harvest of Shame of an interview with Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor, saying that what migrant farm workers need is Federal farm labor standards (because the states would be afraid to raise their standards in the face of competition from other states), and a strong union — specifically citing the example of the ILGWU. I don't have it in front of me, but he said something along the lines of "My wife pays less for a dress today than my grandmother did fifty years ago, when the locked-down sweatshop conditions that led to the Triangle Shirtwaist fire ruled the day. And garment workers are now stable middle-class members of the community." I don't remember the guy's name, but I was so astounded to hear these words coming from a Republican that I Googled him, thinking perhaps Eisenhower had for some political reason appointed a bleeding-heart liberal to head the Department of Labor. His Republican credentials were exemplary, and the AFL/CIO opposed his appointment. Can you imagine any Republican politician today saying such a thing? I can not.
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I recently bought the 4-DVD Edward R. Murrow Collection (http://www.docurama.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-NVG-9714), about which I have some thoughts percolating that may turn into a long post. One thing I was really struck by was footage in Harvest of Shame of an interview with Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor, saying that what migrant farm workers need is Federal farm labor standards (because the states would be afraid to raise their standards in the face of competition from other states), and a strong union — specifically citing the example of the ILGWU. I don't have it in front of me, but he said something along the lines of "My wife pays less for a dress today than my grandmother did fifty years ago, when the locked-down sweatshop conditions that led to the Triangle Shirtwaist fire ruled the day. And garment workers are now stable middle-class members of the community." I don't remember the guy's name, but I was so astounded to hear these words coming from a Republican that I Googled him, thinking perhaps Eisenhower had for some political reason appointed a bleeding-heart liberal to head the Department of Labor. His Republican credentials were exemplary, and the AFL/CIO opposed his appointment. Can you imagine any Republican politician today saying such a thing? I can not.