A true look at how politics works by a Republican staffer.

[Dinner]

This article is so packed with truth it's a must read no matter which political party you belong to. Mike Lofgren was a Congressional staffer for 30 years, 16 of those as a Republican staffer, and he retired last month and decided to write this article as his last shot across the bow wrt how American politics currently operates and why it is so dysfunctional.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

[Tupac Shakur]

Jesus, don't people get tired of blaming "the corporations" for everything? Corporations are just one type of interest group; Democrats ***** about corporate interests, Republicans ***** about union interests, everyone kisses the ass of the AARP and very few people realize that they're all part of the problem.

[Dinner]

The problem is big money in politics and how it bribes politicians so, yes, the source of the vast, vast majority of that money does deserve some scrutiny.

Either way it is obvious you didn't read beyond the first paragraph. So kindly read the article or STFU.

[Tupac Shakur]

I continued reading after the first paragraph, but the first paragraph was so stupid that I felt compelled to comment on it first.

[Tupac Shakur]

Having gutted private-sector pensions and health benefits as a result of their embrace of outsourcing, union busting and "shareholder value," the GOP now thinks it is only fair that public-sector workers give up their pensions and benefits, too. Hence the intensification of the GOP's decades-long campaign of scorn against government workers.

GOP

[Tupac Shakur]

Democratic Leadership Council-style "centrist" Democrats were among the biggest promoters of disastrous trade deals in the 1990s that outsourced jobs abroad: NAFTA, World Trade Organization, permanent most-favored-nation status for China.

Democrats

[Tupac Shakur]

This author doesn't come across as very intelligent. I'm not surprised that he worked on the Hill for so long.

[Aeson]

Starts out with "both parties are rotten" and then whines incessantly about how the GOP tries to promote the idea that "both parties are rotten"? WTF?

[Dinner]

he said:

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

Then goes on to list evidence of why this is so. Coming from a Republican staffer it's pretty damning stuff especially since it is well documented and factually correct. The explanation of how and why the GOP attempts to prevent people from voting at home while supposedly championing democracy abroad was especially enlightening.

[Tupac Shakur]

Coming from a Republican staffer it's pretty damning stuff

Working for Republicans for 16 out of 30 years doesn't make him a "GOP operative", I hope you know. Plenty of people on the Hill work for people they don't agree with politically, professional staffers in particular.

[DaShi]

It's not about being an operative. It's about being an insider.

[Felch]

Coming from a Republican staffer it's pretty damning stuff

Working for Republicans for 16 out of 30 years doesn't make him a "GOP operative", I hope you know. Plenty of people on the Hill work for people they don't agree with politically, professional staffers in particular.

This is absolutely true. There are believers, and there are mercenaries. This guy was just a budget committee staffer.

I can't say that he's wrong about anything substantive. The GOP takes money from the rich, loves war, and relies on the religious right for votes. I think he's wrong about this being a modern development though. Nostalgia makes a poor lens.

[giblets]

This is absolutely true. There are believers, and there are mercenaries. This guy was just a budget committee staffer.

I can't say that he's wrong about anything substantive. The GOP takes money from the rich, loves war, and relies on the religious right for votes. I think he's wrong about this being a modern development though. Nostalgia makes a poor lens.

That depends on how you define 'modern' I guess. It was true before he started working for them.

[Felch]

Obviously the GOP was the left-wing party in Lincoln's time. But in 1980, when this guy started his career, it nominated Reagan for the presidency.

[DaShi]

It's hard to take the article seriously, though. It just reads like someone with an axe to grind. Maybe Drake wrote it.