Why are we a divided Nation?

That's what I mean. Bill Gates is a Leftist. He founded (created) Microsoft. His senior managers that keep the lights on are Conservatives.

 

Religion is only one type of Conservative. As a Conservative, I would describe myself as a classic Liberal. I believe in Free Speech, gun rights, due process, property ownership. The left is increasingly against these things. They are not Liberal but Leftist authoritarian. They have their own religion, Climate Change. And they are preparing us to have less freedom, crushing poverty... but keep us well kept. Like pets. Or slaves you want healthy enough to serve the master. What you can write in favor of the Left... they seem to mean well.

 

They earned it.

 

Yes, The wealth which includes Corporations, Wall Streets firms, the ultra rich own the hearts and souls of our two major parties. It's those folks that donate or I like to use the word invest in our election process by giving tens of millions of dollars to the candidates and organizations of both parties.

They are the faceless puppet masters of our elected officials, of our government in general. Money drives our politics and those folks mention above drive our politics. Sure we'll get a politician every once in a while to bad mouth the moneyed elite, but they do so with a wink and a nod. They can pass legislation, but leave loopholes on purpose in the legislation for the wealth to get around while proudly telling the people what they accomplished to rein them in and to help the ordinary folks.

Just remember, our elected officials, political parties aren't about to bite the had that feeds them.

 

We have always been a divided nation along ethnic, racial, economic, territorial and social lines. The idea that we were once all together living in harmony is nothing but a story we tell ourselves to support the image of an exceptional nation of exceptional people. We only truly come together in times of great wars such as WW1 and 2. Even then, people were forced to participate and support the first war under threat of the state. In both wars, minorities were treated like dirt and returned home as heroes to their own communities but scum to the main population. The 60s showed us just how deep that divide and anger was, the 70s let us take a break to party and forget the turmoil but with the rise of conservatism in the 80s, the divides became winning strategies for the GOP. Once the Fairness Doctrine was abandoned, the media became partisan to the point where radio people became Gods, news became propaganda and religion became a weapon. You want to understand why its so bad today? Trace the career of Rush Limbaugh for your answer.

 

I grew up on a farm in northeastern Ohio, where there was a high consentration of Amish and Mennonites. They seemed to think that much of modernity was against their god's will.

 

In the so-called tech industry, just about every executive is left leaning. Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and the folks at Google. From the past, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, leaned to the left.

If one looks into it, top executives, politically have the the same political divides as the rest of the country, the three way spit between liberal, conservative, and independent.

 

Before that, in the aftermath of Goldwater's defeat to Johnson, certain wealthy induviduals of the inheritence variety, like Joe Coors, put up millions of dollars to create think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, for the express purpose of feeding propaganda to the American public. The general idea being to convince the masses that it was in their best interests if the wealthier were given more freedoms, and the masses, not so much.

It seems they hit upon racists and evangelicals, neither group of which are known for their intellectual veracity, as their target customer.

However, there is a clear pattern across the US. The more religious a region is, the more likely the people will vote Republican. Just look to the Bible Belt - solidly red. In those areas were religious participation is low, the people more likely will vote Democratic. The West Coast is an example of this.

This has been true since the time of Reagan. It is not just a coincidence that Trump's base blindly sticks to him. It is just the characteristic behavior of Evangelicals.

 

Have you not been paying attention to what Elizabeth Warren has been saying? Your complaints about the wealthy pulling the strings is primarily the same thing she rails against. Same with Bernie Sanders. That is central to that wing of the Democratic Party, to get big money out of politics.

It was Thomas Jefferson who came up with the idea of taxing the wealthy at a rate that prevents anyone from getting too wealthy, too powerful. His concerns was to prevent corruption of the Democratic process and of government, and to free up competition.

 

I must have phrased that wrong as someone else wrote that. My reply, That's what I mean. Bill Gates is a Leftist. He founded (created) Microsoft. His senior managers that keep the lights on are Conservatives.

 

Unless PGE cuts the power to Silicon Valley.

 

This is interesting. I did some work for Hewlett Packard and found their culture to be somewhat conservative. At least as compared to other tech companies. This chart bares that out

 

It really started in the late 70's with the Powell Memorandum:

https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/

Then it really gained steam in the 90's with the rise of corporate think-tanks and funding of right-wing attack radio and other media.

We have been on this path for decades. The gross levels of inequality - perhaps the highest in human history are what fuels the divide. Trump is a result of the people left behind, many of them whites who see their standard of living dropping and their children facing a bleaker future than they ever saw, giving a big middle-finger to the establishment.

Trump is the kind of leader that nations cough up when they are teetering on dangerous instability.

 

I'm another Colorado boy.
Same with Oracle.

 

Of course it does.
And others got the point of my post that you seem to be flailing over.
Again, that is on you.

 

Wouldn't know.

 

Courtesy of the fed res.
Just like all money. So, some of most all income, goes to keep the lights on in the country.

According to Warren Buffet recently, the 1%ers now pay lower rates that middle American workers.

 

Nope, never.
Once the majority get in, they never want to leave.
It's a money bonanza for them.

 

The shopkeepers enjoys preferred citizenship as it is unlawful for someone to refuse service due to his beliefs. Forcing our beliefs onto others is a main factor in what we are discussing in this thread. We can learn to respect different beliefs, but forcing them is why we are divided. Omabacare, gun control, abortion, national emergency for wall money, tax the rich, etc.

 

Absolutely. It's why their lifestyle keeps them in the 1800s.

 

That it is.

 

The shopkeepers didn't refuse service and the state attempted to force other beliefs upon them.

 

Then you watch way too much Fox News. Try opening a history book instead. There you can learn about the deep divisions that have existed since the beginning of America's history.

 

The USA has been divided since Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton started the first two political parties.