Thirty years later

Mario Cuomo died today. It's not surprising that a man of 82 dies, but it's a sad loss anyway, because of the eloquence of his voice for the progressive values of the Democratic Party.

His Tale of Two Cities speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention lays out the differences between Ronald Reagan's Republican Party and the Democratic Party that we here at GMD are working for. 

Truly, the only difference between the Republicans of Reagan's day and of today is that they've gotten even worse.

Listen to the whole speech.

 

4 thoughts on “Thirty years later

  1. was it really that long ago?

    I remember that speech.

    And yes the Republicans have gotten worse.But the Democrats, it’s as if they haven’t changed at all!

  2. Amazingly enough, just hours before Dad lay dying, sonny boy Andrew was giving his second inaugural address as New York’s governor.

    I’d been wondering why we hadn’t heard much from Cuomo senior, and I assumed some kind of age-related cognitive difficulties. But apparently not. The identified cause of death was heart failure at his home.

    R.I.P. Mario Cuomo. “He tried.”

    NanuqFC

    In the last analysis, politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do. Politics is what we do, politics is what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine. ~ Senator Paul Wellstone

  3. ‘Beautiful response to the eternal promise of “trickle down” prosperity: scraps for the middle class and poor, expected to fall from the rich man’s table once he has eaten his fill.

    Tragic that the speech is as relevant today as it was then.

  4. how many citizens still rank Reagan as “best president”. While they are likely rightwing or lean right he was really just a great actor and accustomed to being on stage prior to his career in politics where he merely continued his acting career.

    I did not follow his CA career in state politics primarily b/c much of it was before I followed politics I think,

    but I never knew this:

    Secret FBI informant in Hollywood

    During the late 1940s, Reagan and his wife provided the FBI with names of actors within the motion picture industry whom they believed to be communist sympathizers, though he expressed reservations; he said “Do they expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn’t?”.[43]

    Reagan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on the subject as well.[44] A fervent anti-communist, he reaffirmed his commitment to democratic principles, stating, “I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment.”[44]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

    Gee, I wonder how they got their intel. And how many were actually “sympathizers” or what constituted one as such. Tea Partier Allen West of Congress claims Progressives are the evolution of communist sympathizers.

    It is also troubling to watch how government & LE turn common citizens against one another & wonder how many there are presently.

    While recognizing “the poor will always be with us”, to the extent it exists appears to be growing not declining or even steadying based on what I can see. Vast & growing underclass in our society, homelessness sometimes of entire families living in vehicles on the road is a disgrace. This did not appear overnight & though I personally am not politically astute it had to have been a slow steady decline to be as massive as it is now. I am also witnessing more ppl as well as families w/children living in campers. There are also folks living at a camping area where there is year-rounds residency.

    Unsure how much of what I’m seeing is new, reasons why or if it is temporary but it’s there. Don’t think there are stats & unclear if this is guaged in any way or if they are counted in Census.

    A step above homelessness for sure & we also have had one for many years. Many in the state were displaced due to Irene. We are not interested in staying with others or at a local crisis management center. However we are also recognizing that in an economic crisis it could very likely become home.

    I am also seeing lots of ppl w/new-to-them campers, so am wondering if ppl are thinking the same things we are or just plan on doing a bit more camping in the future…  

     

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