I was outraged two weeks ago when I saw ads promoting "Republican Apparel" on my site Anti DLC Coalition, www.Cch092775.blogsite.com. Now they seem to be appearing with regularity. In 2005 I publically thanked "Adsense/Google" for providing meaningful ads for worthy causes and I support Google's refusal to hand over to the Bush administration information on the internet activity of its subscribers. That is why I was puzzled by the appearance of pro-GOP ads on this, probably the most anti-GOP site on the web. Is this somebody's idea of a joke? On the other hand, since apparently there is nothing I can do about it, these ads may serve a purpose....it gives the progressive an insight into the mindset of the enemy. Generalizations are always harmful. I really should not say that ALL Republicans are self-serving, insensitive to the needy, manipulative, racists, greedy, hypocritical and a host of other undesirable characteristics because that is NOT true. Yes those characteristics may apply to many Republicans, possibly the majority of Republicans but definitely not all. Case in point Dwight David Eisenhower, who had the courage to send soldiers to Little Rock, Arkansas to protect African-American children from vicious white mobs determined to prevent any form of integration in the Arkansas educational system. But Mr. Eisenhower back in his 1961 farewell address said something that was so prophetic. He warned us of the dangers of a corporate takeover of our nation. In the January 12-18, 2006 issue of Time Out New York magazine there is a picture of President Dwight David Eisenhower with the caption "I TOLD YOU SO" In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned the nation of the military industrial complex. During an interview with filmmaker Eugene Jaworski, Howard Halle asks the question: Why was his warning ignored back then, and why is it still being ignored? to which Jaworski responded: " Eisenhower's address was exactly the kind of moment that the status quo hates, so it was inconvenient for the powerful to make much of that speech. It was left to the public to do what they could with it. But the only thing we can really do anything about is Congress, and in fact, in the original draft of his speech, Eisenhower had written "military-industrial-congressional complex." Congress provides the money for defense and votes on going to war. But in removing the word form his speech- he wanted to leave office in a spirit of bipartisanship- he pulled a punch, leaving the public unable to connect Congress to the role it plays in making the miliary industrial complex possible." Eisenhower foresaw back then what would be happening today: 1) Corporations using immigrants to work well below minimum wages 2) Corporations providing arms to unpopular foreign heads of state so that they can control that country's natural resources 3) Huge corporate franchises that destroy smaller mom and pop businesses. 4) The existence of the corporate welfare system in which the common US taxpayer bails out an ailing corporate giant 5) CEO's stealing from the 401ks or other pension plans of their employees 6) Corporations establishing headquarters overseas so that they don't pay their fair share of taxes 7) Elected officials, totally at the mercy of multinational corporations with regard to fundraising 8) High salaried corporate lobbyists create and influence legislation. If the people of the United States had listened to what President Eisenhower said then, maybe we as nation would not be in the state that we find ourselves in today. Dwight David Eisenhower is proof that not "all" Republicans are bad.
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