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Failed Conservative Values: Barack Obama on Status Quo versus Change
Linked to groups: Take Back Red California, California for Democracy, San Francisco for Democracy, East Bay DFA, Empathy Cafe
I have news for the forces of greed and the defenders of the status quo;
your time has come and gone. It's time for change in America. Bill Clinton
In his Pennsylvania primary speech, Barack Obama talked about change and how the Status Quo resists change. As I interview people about what are Progressive Values and about how Conservative Values have Failed, the interviewees repeatedly talk about the conservative fear of change and the promotion of the status quo.
We start off with this exploration of the Failed Conservative Value of the Status Quo with Barack Obama's speech on change versus the status quo.
Failed Conservative Values: Barack Obama Status Quo v Change
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IBCaqdH1FDY
Barack Obama: I also know that real change has never been easy, and it won’t be easy this time either. The status quo in Washington will fight harder than they ever have to divide us and distract us with ads and attacks from now until November.
But don’t ever forget that you have the power to change this country.
You can make this election about how we’re going to help those workers in Logansport; how we’re going to re-train them, and educate them, and make our workforce competitive in a global economy.
You can make this election about how we’re going to make health care affordable for that family in North Carolina; how we’re going to help those families sitting around the kitchen table tonight pay their bills and stay in their homes.
You can make this election about how we plan to leave our children and all children a planet that’s safer and a world that still sees America the same way my father saw it from across the ocean – as a beacon of all that is good and all that is possible for all mankind.
It is now our turn to follow in the footsteps of all those generations who sacrificed and struggled and faced down the greatest odds to perfect our improbable union. And if we’re willing to do what they did; if we’re willing to shed our cynicism and our doubts and our fears; if we’re willing to believe in what’s possible again; then I believe that we won’t just win this primary election, we won’t just win this election in November, we will change this country, and keep this country’s promise alive in the twenty-first century.
Status quo, you know, that is Latin for ''the mess we're in." Ronald Reagan
http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/06.11.19.StatusQuoReduxCOL.gif
Failed Conservative Values: Mary Jacobs the Status Quo
Edwin: How would you compare Progressive values with Conservative values?
Mary Jacobs: it’s really hard to get into that kind of thinking, because I don’t consider them very respectful of other people’s opinion. I think they respect their opinions, those of the status quo, respect money, power, influence, and the more money they have, the more they expect to be respected. I got divorced from that. He wasn’t even a conservative. There was that element of people saying, well, you should respect this person, because they did this, and made this much money. And you can’t help being caught up in it. But it’s more like envy. I don’t think they really respect people, maybe people of their own blood. It’s much more tribal with them.
And I think the conservatives are much more insular than progressives. Like my dad, [progressives] kind of look out at the bigger picture that all of us are a big family, rather than “Mine – don’t touch it!”
Failed Conservative Values: Kevin Fish on Fear of Change
Kevin Fish: Progressive means change for the better. The conservative attitude is we don’t change. Conservatives stay the same, regardless. They are very insensitive, heartless, very naïve and in denial. Some conserving is good, but you can’t go too far. And the conservatives go too far.
They’re afraid of progressives. They’re afraid of change for the better. There is some kind of a fear. It’s hard to explain, whether it’s paranoia or fear. They figure let’s keep things the same regardless. They are not being very realistic. And so they think progressives are – we are going to be in danger if we change
Failed Conservative Values: Henry Hall the Status Quo

Henry Hall: In my mindset and experience as an individual.. the conservative individual is more for the status quo. They're not interested in change. They're more willing to see things slow, slow down.. A progressive is in more than a hurry. Progressive would like to see things move along at a faster clip. They have a longer range term concept.. They have a longer vision and concept. They can visualize how change is going to impact positive change in the community.
Conservative is more concerned with tradition, looking back to see how things were done in the past. Where the progressive is more willing to experiment and take a risk. Whereas the conservative wants to stay away from the concept of risk or change itself.
Tony Hale: Not having conservative values myself, I have to project on them why I think they have their values the way they do. I think that conservative values are based on a belief that the past, the way things happened in the past, are better than the way things will be in the future. Conservative could be termed conserving the environment, you could have that argument, that it’s a conservative viewpoint, but it’s not. Conservative values are values that wish to limit things, because they are afraid of change, accepting everyone into their sphere of acceptability, afraid of accepting everyone into society. They’d like to keep people out of the inner circle of acceptability.
To me that’s a kind of Balkanization, a mind that wants to separate people, to marginalize individuals; it’s to me a conservative perspective.
Failed Conservative Values: John R. Michael on Fear of Change
John Michael: Conservative values are people who are set, just like in the 60’s it was father against son, brother against brother , because a lot of people were afraid of change. The conservatives are afraid of change. They want things basically as they are. They are comfortable in their business, even if their business is polluting us. They need to change. So, I’m here to rev the evolution.
Progressives are for change, or positive change. As I said, we have wind and solar power, so we don’t need nuclear. There’s enough nuclear waste as it is. And we don’t need to bomb other countries into submission.
Failed Conservative Values: Tony Tiscareno the Status Quo
Tony Tiscareno: Conservative and progressive values are a lot different. Their beliefs as opposed to our beliefs are on one opposite end to the other. As far as what a progressive is trying to get accomplished, again, it is the freedom of rights and things like that, freedom of choice, freedom of all kinds of different things.
And I think the conservatives are pretty much comfortable with the status quo, in my opinion. They don’t want to make waves. They think government should stay out of the business of the people. But then again, they don’t want to support anybody as far as agencies, individuals, or whatever the case may be.
We as Democrats believe that we need to help each other out. And to help each other out costs money. And where are you going to get this money? Well, the only way you’re going to get this money, and right now the people who are providing this money are middle-class working people through their taxes.
And I think that is one of the differences. One does not want to spend what the other one doesn’t mind spending for certain causes. But on the right side, they do believe in those causes, but they want us to take care of them as individuals.
Failed Conservative Values: John Stone King the Status Quo
John Stone King: I just think that there are good ways to talk about conservative values. The kind of conservative values that we are seeing so much of nowadays just involve shutting down all of the kinds of things I am talking about. A good conservative seems to me someone who moves ahead slowly so that they don’t lose anything.
The conservatives we are talking about now are trying to go backwards and not gain anything at all. That’s my feeling. And I think everybody loses when that happens.<font size="2">
I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Are Progressives Correct ?
Are progressives correct that conservatives are afraid of change and for the status quo? Or is it that conservatives are all for change if it is in the direction of the traditional Failed Conservative Values of authoritarianism, hierarchy, fear, greed, indifference, demeaning, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, self-centeredness, etc? Or are conservatives just against change toward the traditional progressive values of, empathy, caring, equality, community, justice, etc? As the quote from Ronald Reagan implies, he was for change, just as Newt Gingrich and the Conservative Contract with America was for a change. But a change towards what values?
More About Status Quo
Status Quo
- the existing state of affairs
- situation, state of affairs - the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time;
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/status+quoAt Wikipedia
Status quo is a Latin term meaning the present, existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they currently are.
Politicians sometimes refer to a status quo. Often there is a policy of deliberate ambiguity, referring to the status quo rather than formalizing the status. An example of political ambiguity is the political status of Taiwan. Clark Kerr is reported to have said, "The status quo is the only solution that cannot be vetoed," meaning that the status quo cannot simply be decided against; action must be taken if it is to change.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo
Some Questions To Ponder:
- What does change mean to you?
- What does the status quo mean to you?
- If Conservative Values haven't Failed, why would we want change?
- What do you see as the Failed Conservative Values we want to move away from?
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a319/mikeinwny/FreeBuffalo/statusquoBuffalomed.jpg
- What are the Progressive Values we want to move toward?
More Progressive Values Stories:
Edwin Rutsch
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com
and Study Group
When I click on Reply, I get this message and the toolbar is missing again:
"We're sorry, but something went wrong.
We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly."
I suspect there's no one in the office today. Hopefully they will fix this tomorrow. All in all I like the new format and it will be much better when the bugs are worked out.
- Where the heck did you find *this* thread? It isn't on the main blog page.
By * cChalfonte* on Apr 27, 2008 8:29 PM EDTThe main blog page has been a bit jumpy since they put up the new blog. Sometimes you'll see the new front pager in that gray text that rotates new thread titles....I had to catch it there a few times....like whack-a-mole.
<img src=http://tinyu
<img src=http://tinyu
- Poll: What is the most important Change that needs to happen?
By Edwin Rutsch on Apr 27, 2008 8:29 PM EDTPoll: What is the most important Change that needs to happen?
( ) Status Quo > to > Change
( ) Conservative Traditional Values > to > Progressive Traditional Values
( ) Conservative Family Values > to > Progressive Family Values
( ) Individual Responsibility > to > True Responsibility
( ) Greed > to > Caring
( ) Indifference > to > Empathy
( ) Selfishness > to > Generosity
( ) Self Centeredness > to > Common Good
( ) Irresponsibility > to > Responsibility
( ) Individual Freedom > to > True Freedom
( ) Authoritarianism > to > Democracy
( ) Control > to > Creativity
( ) Secrecy > to > Openness & Transparency
( ) Hierarchy > to > Equality
( ) Self-Righteousness > to > Seeking
( ) Hypocrisy > to > Integrity
( ) Intolerance > to > Tolerance
( ) Fear > to > Hope
( ) Privilege > to > Opportunity
( ) Cynicism > to > Trust
( ) Indifference > to > Compassion
( ) War > to > Peace and Nonviolence
( ) Others (please explain)
( ) all of the above
puddle~ How come you have all this next to your name?
t upload from my computer.
puddle~ How come you have all this next to your name? t upload from my computer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeeze, now it's disappearing parts of posts. . . .
Little buggy in here, lol!
Hate the way the drop down menues drop down as you're moving the cursor, and stay down. Also hate the "moving" shit at the top upper right. I go to a LOT of effort to keep my web pages from doing that.
Reply seems to be broken today, but it was working yesterday.
Karen, may have something to do with my last name being a space. But why the image source is there, I don't know. They broke it, I'm not going to sweat trying to fix it. Like I said: clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. . . .
Now it's letting me Reply!
On the previous blog, I had to put a period for my last name because it wouldn't accept just my first name. When they switched over yesterday, I noticed the period appearing next to my name, it wasn't there in old format. So I went into my profile and deleted it and walla, I'm able to be here with just a first name! :~)
puddle~ On the previous blog, I had to put a period for my last name because it wouldn't accept just my first name. When they switched over yesterday, I noticed the period appearing next to my name, it wasn't there in old format. So I went into my profile and deleted it and walla, I'm able to be here with just a first name! :~)
rabbit reporting to hole for testing, no cosmetics though, if you please
When one hits reply on an earlier post, the comment box shows up in that location, but the page doesn't return to that spot. So, one has to look for it and ignore the box at the bottom of the page. Seems like there ought to be just one comment box open at a time.
- When Hillary first talked about running Bill wasn't in the picture
By Fred from Oregon on Apr 28, 2008 12:29 AM EDTHillary has a patronizing disposition is that she seems to believe she has to be the litmus test to see if Obama can withstand what the Republicans with throw at him in the Fall - <em>for the good of the Party, of course</em>
and that she is protecting the Party from someone who would cause us to stumble in the GE. She doesn't have any idea that the Republicans have been digging her grave for at least a few years. They couldn't wait to meet her in 2008. Think of every scandal Bill Clinton's had. They will treat it like a third term for Bill. To put it in her favorite expression, Hillary and her followers live in a state of wilful suspension of disbelief. That Bill's past will not surface in the GE campaign, were she nominated.
Obama doesn't go there, because of his personal integrity.
When Hillary first alluded to her aspirations for the presidency, I don't think many people thought Bill would be so involved. I didn't think he would have anything to do with it. Were that the case, she would have been much more invulnerable to Republican attacks connecting her to Bill.
The way she's been using Bill, the Republicans will have no problem pounching her with Bill's past. She has incorporated Bill into her identity.
Hi. Fred,
I'm not sure Hillary has an identity. She doesn't seem to know who she is. That's why it's so easy for her to deceive.
Looks like I am now able to post.
Still in Salt Lake. My husband got the promotion. Looking for an apt for him.
Well, there seem to be two flavors of comment boxes--make that three. Either there's no tool bar and both subject line and body receive text. Or, there's a tool bar, but only the subject line receives text. Or, you hit reply and both subject line and body receive text.♥ I do notice that the one that works has "paragraph" showing in the pull-down window, while the one at the bottom of the page has "format" in that window. It's not possible to change format to paragraph. There seems to be a problem in the java program.
Still in the reply program. Want to see if I can script a link
<a href="http://hannah.smith-family.com">Hannah Blog</a>
even though the tool bar is showing.
just went to activate HTML editor. When I finally got back to this thread and clicked on reply to my last comment, it brought up the error page, but a back-click brought this comment box sans tools.
So, I'll try to script the code again
Hannah Blog
OK, so that worked, but I'm not sure the selection stays from session to session. And I still don't know if the scripting works when there is a tool bar as there is now. So, I'll try the script again. Sorry to be tedious. But, using the contact form to send complaints is even more tedious since it takes so long to fill out. Anyway.......
<a href="http://hannah.smith-family.com">Hannah Blog</a>
So, I've started a new minor thread. Clearly the difference about whether one can write or not is related to what's showing in the formatting pull-down. When it shows "paragraph" it's working fine.
Ah, when I changed the format drop down to Heading one, I got the large type you
see and lost the wrap, even though when I put the cursor on a new line, the format
drop-down went back to "paragraph." Looks like the default setting in the comment
box for the main thread comments is stuck on "format". How the wrap function gets
cancelled it beyond me. Let's see, I just un-did the toggle icon. Noticed it was lit up. Ah-ha, that did it. It's back to single lines and wrapping. Why would you want to have a function that lets you escape the boundaries of the comment box? So, now we know what that little square with lines is for.
just want to note that attention was paid:
1) blue sides are gone
2) comments can be nested
3) rating is back
4) images and media can be embedded
5) it works with images turned off--good for dialup people
playing with this stuff is very distracting. keeps one from thinking. I just noticed the the toggle was active when this box came up. un-clicked it and, as you can see, I've got single spacing and wrap. Who knows why things change by themselves? I do know it means we can never let automatic functions control our weapons delivery systems.
BTW, we had a going- away party for one of our members and our Congresswoman showed up.
The hyphen I used messed up the wrap and using the toggle button didn't
fix it.
Carol Shea-Porter got an earful on impeachment. Her message that Dems need to be
united didn't register too well.
Just switched over to Firefox and got comment box without tools. Let's see what happens when I submit and does the scripting work?
Right. Tool bar showed up and new comment box works. I did notice that making a correction with backspace seemed to activate the toggle thingy and I had to undo it. Or maybe I hit something else.
I just changed to yui-t4 in styles. It seems to have activated the toggle thingy. I have deactivated it but the line is going on at great length. Let's see what this looks like.
he was just on msnbc and is coming up on cnn.
Somehow, when I log on with a different computer, the blog calls us funny stuff from cache. This morning it was a series of Howard Dean posts. The other day it was an old post from 2006 about the gay pride parade. My solution, was to refresh the home/blog page until I got what I knew was today's on the failed values.
Ditto, same for me (old comment/posts about Howard).
The way to get to current blog entires ? I accessed my dashboard and saw the most recent blog entires at lower right on my dashboard screen.
btw, Firefox on the linux box seems not to have missing tools problem. Indeed, it seems to be working perfectly.
Now everything LOOKS fine. I tried to get on a while ago and kept getting on only to have to sign in again.
Today Mark Warner announces he is running for Senator. How nice.. WE already knew that Mark. And you are gonna win too.
Hope all is well with you all.
Howard is on all the shows this a.m. Smart as usual. The media is so aweful I have to turn it off.
The media should be held accountable for their gross negligence. It is almost like watching Saturday Night Live. But now is isn't funny.
Tell em folks. No news on the Tv.
Gov Christ on tv against Howard saying "Freedom isn't free" WTF does that mean. Eyes glossing over here. Turn off tv.
Anyone see Rev Wright on tv last nite? Amazing guy.
Well, yesterday I was driving in my town I've lived in for the past 25 years and I can't recall every seeing someone with a hand-drawn poster that blocked their rear view.
The poster read "Real Americans don't protest; We support our troops."
Well, when we started to pass the pickup truck, my wife rolled her passenger window down and yelled to the driver "Hey, it's illegal to have a sign that blocks your rear view".
the tools show up on a second try this morning
I was fine with the old blog if it would have kept things in order and given the timestamp.
this will do fine though as soon as we get the bugs out
now no tools after I hit F 5; and when I did reloaded the whole damn thing instead of just the current thread
lol! just came back and see my typo - which would have been a good pun, I suppose, if I'd thought of it... cabal news - it fits!
OK I lose the tools with an F 5 key which is the same as coming here originally. the difference seems to be with the "Path" in the lower left of this box, and the first comment gets sent through a vetting process and the next ones are short cutting approval (?) and turning into regular (what chat room? that you can't leave without losing your tools?)
bbl
I think msnbc is showing their stripes. using sound clips of rev wright. they have been given a script - these nitwits, mika and willy acting incredulous about last nite's speech.
No more watching this for me.
blog acting up again.
are you going to contest the way they picked your delegates? I say go for it.
Did you follow the rules voted on????
We had a fair election and two good National Delegate males were selected.
Next week, we have the opportunity to close out this race and secure the nomination for Barack -- but there's another deadline coming up even sooner.
Financial reports for April will be filed this Wednesday at midnight. The media pundits and Washington insiders will be watching the results and judging the strength of our campaign by the money we raise.
But what's most impressive about our movement is that our funding has come from grassroots supporters like you. We've never accepted donations from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. Instead, more than 1,500,000 ordinary people have stepped up to own a piece of this campaign.
To meet this deadline and celebrate our grassroots donors, we've created a special gift.
Make a donation of $15 or more before midnight on Wednesday, April 30th, and receive three limited edition Vote for Change buttons:
https://donate.barackobama.com/buttons
The crucial North Carolina and Indiana primaries will require unprecedented resources. But we also need to start preparing for the general election.
We're building a powerful grassroots movement in all 50 states -- organizing communities, registering voters, and bringing new voices into the political process.
We have accomplished so much, but we need your support today -- to finish this contest, and to get ready to take on Senator McCain.
Help grow our movement at this critical time, and be part of history by joining 1,500,000 other Americans who are supporting this campaign.
Contribute $15 or more before midnight on April 30th. You'll own a piece of this campaign and you'll receive three Vote for Change buttons to show your support in style:
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Thank you,
Obama for America
I can't refresh without losing the tool bar. come on.
I thought you said the alternate process was not the way it was supposed to be.
Our convention ended in confusion as we were being kicked out of the building so we will have to tidy up a few things by caucusing at the State Conevntion.
The election of out Delegates was fair and withing rules. The problem was with Platform material added from the floor the day of the convention that was projected on a screen not everyone could see, with a rushed vote and no time for debate.
That was caused in part because the rules were carefully followed for the election and 77 people ran for three spots and so th3e day was filled with one minute speeches.
Hamas endorsement of Obama is Fabricated
By politicsjunkie - April 27, 2008, 4:23PM
Now that McCain has publicly
himself accused Obama of being loved by Hamas, I figured I should at
least check out the clip. I looked up the audio, and saw that the
interview was conducted by WABC by the oh so conservative John
Batchelor and the very very conservative Aaron Klein. For those of you
that don't know who Klein is,
he's a "journalist" at WorldNetDaily (a terrible paper) was the
individual who claimed to have interviewed the Al-Aqsa Brigaid and said
they supported for John Kerry president. He also made a similar claim about Hillary Clinton earlier in the primaries
but moved to Obama once he became the front runner. All in all,
apparently Klein is a magnet for terrorists looking to tell him their
opinions on US presidential elections. However, in all the previous
circumstances, he just asserted the claim in print, which is why it
never got any real traction in the campaign. With Obama, it looks like
he tried something different, to have a radio interview to convince
everyone that its real. But why would a top Hamas official choose to
do an interview with a notoriously horrible journalist from Israel??
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/27/232849/939/824/504635
I'll shoot a blank to see if it comes up!
The election of the Alternate was legal within the Rules. I won't challenge it. I did want the opportunity to give another one minute speech but that meant the other 43 still standing would be given that right. Everybody was on the ballot and the ballot was fairly cast.
I think it sucks..........it figures, all ya had to do was fix a stinkin clock..and now you have this mess........typical American genius and know how at work........."keep it simple, stupid".
The biggest problem with the convention was the delay caused by the overwelming crowd caused by alternates wanting to be seated and we did end up with a 100% seated convention which is unprecedented. Clinton's group sent a bunch of people to Edwards group to make sure they were viable so our six delegates were 2 Clinton 3 Obama 1 Edwards instead of 4 Obama 2 Clinton in effect creating a super delegate, which was clever and within rules also.
Hi All,
Diane and I and a bunch of our friends and family helped her Mom celebrate her 85th B-day yesterday. It was the bestest b-day party I've ever been to !
And, as always, . . . . . . .
I like having my 7/11/04 photo with Howard ( and Jim camoflaged in the background - like in one of the Dutch Masters paintings ) next to my post !
http://democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/25118-failed-conservative-values-barack-obama-on-status-quo-versus-change/comments/1192142-my-first-time-with-the-new-format/reply#1192142-1192142
New thread.
so with the threads a bit jumbled I haven't tried to find much from yesterday - did anyone see or comment on Obama's appearance on fox news? I haven't heard much from the pundits so perhaps it was a non-story.
it's making me sick that Mika keeps insisting Rev Wright re-injected himself into the spotlight. well, excuse me, but anyone whose person and church has been threatened like they have has a right to try to clear up the misconceptions that may be causing such acts of intolerance and hatred. at the very least, good-thinking people who have only heard the soundbytes should know the man he is and understand the dangers he and his church are currently suffering. the world is still talking about him and attacking him, so the world should learn the fuller depth of his character, from his own lips.
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Videos of some of the 64 House Healthcare Heroes standing strong for a public health insurance option
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- Howard and Barack are first!
By Karen on Apr 27, 2008 7:44 PM EDTThis is a test... for the longest time, it wouldn't let me post on this thread and now there's no toolbar.