La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz for January 20, 2014

OOOOOOOOOOOOH

heck, even Saint Ronald Reagan would be considered a progressive/left leaner in these days of ‘my way or the highway’ attitudes by the tea baggers

Wasn’t Teddy Roosevelt a Republican before he was a Bull Mooser?

The Republicans freed the slaves. The newly freed slaves were quite grateful for that and remained Republicans up to the point where Martin Luther King’s father was a registered Republican.White southerners were Democrats, KKK members and used Jim Crow laws to keep Blacks from voting Republican. But all that changed about 1960-1965. The Civil Rights laws in the 60s were written and passed by Democrats. When Johnson signed the bill he said " We have lost the South for a generation." He underestimated. The Republican party saw it’s chance and fought Civil Rights at every turn. The “Solid South” which was called that because it could be counted on to vote solidly Democratic, turned Republican in the space of a couple of years.So, the Democratic party was now populated by liberals who supported Civil Rights. Those who were KKK and Jim Crow law supporters defected en mass to the Republicans and remain there today.

Martin, on the other hand, consistently refused to state a public membership in either party. He believed that working with everyone, rather than declaring an allegiance to one party or the other, was in the best interests of the Civil Rights movement. He expected to be a leader of that movement for his entire life, and there was no telling when he would have to deal with a Republican administration. Being a declared Democrat would have hurt the cause.That being said, the Democrats were fighting for the Civil Rights movement and the Republicans against. Martin wasn’t a perfect person, but he no one ever accused him of being stupid enough to vote against his own cause.

What is so BIG about Lincoln any way? England abolished slavery in 1807 and in its colonies by 1833-1838. Even Mexico FREED the slaves in 1827 (and the Alamo is because the American Tejanos feared that proclamation would be extended to Tejas as well). Leopold I of Lorraine Grand Duke of Tuscany abolished the deat penalty in 1848. The first ruler in the whole world to do so. The USA and its Great Emancipator are not even a Johnny-come-lately me-too.

Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile have/had women presidents for a while. The USA???

Moreover Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, in the 1880s passed social insurance programs (the first in the world) that became the model for other countries and the basis of the modern welfare state. Bismarck introduced also old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance. All long before FDR, social security and Obamacare.

Back when Reagan started quoting Harry Truman and FDR I became suspicious.

Hey, the difference is Lincoln had to persuade Americans to give up slavery. And we’re “exceptional”.

Hey, Lincoln wasn’t that last good republican! There was, uh, let’s see, um…no, I guess he doesn’t qualify…hey, help me out here…

Of course that was way back when Republican was the liberal party.

Jake Javits?

No, we’re exceptional in that we’re better than everyone else and we always get our way. Or else.