United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: PBS Star Ken Burns Insists Prohibition Era Republicans Just Like Today's GOP/Tea Party with Racist Immigration Demonizers
Source:
newsbusters.org
URL Source: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/ti ... -just-today-racist-immigration
Published: Oct 1, 2011
Author: Tim Graham
Post Date: 2011-10-03 09:38:45 by Godwinson
Keywords: None
Views: 2455
Comments: 9
PBS Star Ken Burns Insists Prohibition Era Just Like Today with Racist Immigration Demonizers By Tim Graham | October 01, 2011 | 23:24 Star PBS filmmaker Ken Burns appeared on The Colbert Report Wednesday night to sell his new PBS documentary Prohibition. Perhaps he’d had a few drinks, because he tried to compare the political environment that passed Prohibition to today’s Tea Party. Both eras apparently demonized immigrants and ruined civility in politics, and speak in racist code words about “taking our country back.” KEN BURNS: This is a story of single-issue campaigns that metasasize into horrible unintended consequences – the demonization of immigrants, smear campaigns and the loss of a civil discourse, and a whole group of people who feel – STEPHEN COLBERT: but wait a second, how could be possibly understand a political system like that/ BURNS: Yeah (laughs), but wait! It gets even better! There’s more, you know. There’s a whole group of people who feel they’ve lost control of their country, and want to take it back. Do you know Ecclesiastes 1:9? COLBERT: Of course. BURNS: There is nothing new under the sun. This is – today. At the Opinionator blog, New York Times columnist Timothy Egan takes the Burns "purists gone wild" thesis and runs with it, from Prohibition to Grover Norquist: The coalition against drink was hardly a majority. The Anti-Saloon League played an outsized role at the margins, killing off moderates at the primary level, or in legislative deals, and forcing politicians to pledge to their cause. Sound familiar? Today, virtually every Republican in national office, and a majority of those seeking the presidency, has taken a pledge to an unelected, single-issue advocate named Grover Norquist. His goal is to never allow a net tax increase — under any circumstances — and in the process reduce government to a size where he can “drown it in the bathtub,” in his well-known statement of mortal intentions. In times of war, category 5 hurricanes or other national emergencies these mind-locked pledge-takers must answer to Norquist before country. “We are your constituents,” an angry voter said to pledge- bound Representative Chris Gibson, Republican of New York, at a town hall meeting last week, “not Grover Norquist.” So, even though huge majorities support keeping Medicare and Social Security strong, and raising taxes on the very rich in the interest of sustainable government, one single-issue group drives national affairs — to the bafflement of average citizens. This dysfunction was on full display in August when Republicans nearly pushed the government into default by refusing to budge from their fealty to Norquist. The other parallel from the dry years concerns personal liberties. With the 18th Amendment, the prohibitionists took away the right to make a basic choice. Gov. Rick Perry, now leading the Republican polls for president, has vowed to do the same, promising to amend the Constitution in several ways to take away freedoms. One would prevent gays from ever getting married. Another would outlaw a woman’s right to decide when to end a pregnancy. A third would repeal the 17th Amendment, which gives citizens the right to directly elect their senators. Could any of this happen? It did, with Prohibition — the urge to dictate the private actions of citizens is a character trait that has never left the American gene pool.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Godwinson (#0)
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
PBS? They're still on the air? Oh, well, when the taxpayer handouts dry up, they'll be forced to compete in the REAL market... and then they'll disappear. Oh, and BTW... Since nobody watches PBS, how can they have stars?
DUMMY DwarF: ...I'm eating a meatball... I watched the Prohibition series first show last night. Very informative and well narrated.
TiVo'd.
America...My Kind Of Place... "I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..." "THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!" I lurk to see if someone other than Myst or Pookie posts anything...
I found it interesting that the hated 16th amendment was supported by the evangelicals of the time to ensure passage of the 18th. They realized that since the Federal Government received 1/3 of it's tax revenues from alcohol, that loss would need to be replaced with something else if they ever hoped to pass Prohibition. So, Tea Baggers, you have your ancestors to thank for the Federal income tax.
I found that interesting too. I thought alcohol provided a larger percentage of federal revenues earlier on - something like 60 or 70 percent.
Stone would be with the Prohibitionists back then.
They should have left it alone. Then it would have been a voluntary tax that you only paid if you used the product. Damn meddling do-gooders screwed things up for everybody.
So, Tea Baggers, you have your ancestors to thank for the Federal income tax. It is not an accident that the people threw out the Republicans for several generations after the Great Depression. They had the prohibition disaster and the depression as back to back fuck ups of epic proportions. It also points to the irrationality of the religious base that actually distorts the Bible for political and cultural reasons. I know there were Protestants that were down on alcohol - Welch's grape juice started out because Welch belonged to a crazed Protestant group that believed the Bible was mistranslated and that "wine" mentioned in the bible was really strong grape juice (grape juice spoiled without cold preservation and the sugars would start to ferment within a few hours). So he created a process that preserved grape juice as a way to prove that was what the ancient Hebrews were doing.
"This is what economic policy in the West has become--a tool of the wealthy used to enrich themselves by spreading poverty among the rest of the population." Paul Craig Roberts
#2. To: Godwinson (#0)
PBS Star Ken Burns...
Capitalist Eric: Foreplay before the president's staff?
http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=24347&Disp=35#C35
#3. To: Capitalist Eric (#2)
#4. To: Fred Mertz (#3)
--GW Bush
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#5. To: Godwinson (#0)
#6. To: Skip Intro (#5)
#7. To: Skip Intro (#5)
#8. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
I thought alcohol provided a larger percentage of federal revenues earlier on - something like 60 or 70 percent.
#9. To: Fred Mertz, Skip Intro (#6)
I found it interesting that the hated 16th amendment was supported by the evangelicals of the time to ensure passage of the 18th. They realized that since the Federal Government received 1/3 of it's tax revenues from alcohol, that loss would need to be replaced with something else if they ever hoped to pass Prohibition.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]