what would alex p. keaton do?

It's been almost 20 years since "Family Ties" went off the air. And Alex P. Keaton's political idols, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, have each gone off to their deserved places in history.

[Peppermint Patti]

Alex Keaton was a true conservative Republican. He was for limited government. He was strongly against government involvement in the personal lives of its citizens. He was competent and capable — the ultimate over-achiever. But, above all Alex Keaton was a firm believer in the power of ideas. He believed in the competitive marketplace of intellectual discourse, where the best ideas win — usually Alex’s. And so it’s difficult to recognize in this current incarnation of the Republican Party, a party whose legacy will include Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina, a place where Alex Keaton might feel the least bit comfortable.

Alex was smart. Real smart. And, proud of it. He also believed deeply in the power of science. And, the free exchange of scientific ideas. Uncensored. Unfettered by excessive government regulation. Not stifled by religious orthodoxy. Not rewritten by political hacks with no academic or scientific credentials. So it’s hard to picture Alex in a party that seems to be waging war against science, and where their presidential candidates seem comfortable debating whether or not the earth is round.

I think that Alex might just be ready to take a chance. I can picture him stepping into the voting booth, closing the curtain behind him, taking a deep breath and then for the first time in his life putting his hand up to the Democratic Party lever. He’d touch it tentatively, trying to get comfortable. Take his hand off. Put it back. He’d grasp the lever firmly. Squeeze it. And as he was about to pull, we FADE OUT.

[Unreal]

YIKES!

There is few choices this time but I am not voting for CRAZY azz McCain.

He is going to hold the bush-hole party line all the way.

Scary is that he thinks we are "winning" the war on terror.

[Svaha]

Unreal wrote:

YIKES!
There is few choices this time but I am not voting for CRAZY azz McCain.
He is going to hold the bush-hole party line all the way.
Scary is that he thinks we are "winning" the war on terror.

sort of like winning the 30 year old "war" on drugs by just saying no?:-)

[Unreal]

Svaha wrote:

<quoted text>
sort of like winning the 30 year old "war" on drugs by just saying no?:-)

If we spent 1/2 the money on the really poor people who are just stuck in a rut giving them the true aid and education that they need to survive and get off the damned dole. Our nation also needs to create and bring back more damned jobs too. All this
out-sourcing is killing our country.

Every try to buy something made in the USA or not made in CHINA.

[Svaha]

Unreal wrote:

<quoted text>
If we spent 1/2 the money on the really poor people who are just stuck in a rut giving them the true aid and education that they need to survive and get off the damned dole. Our nation also needs to create and bring back more damned jobs too. All this
out-sourcing is killing our country.
Every try to buy something made in the USA or not made in CHINA.

I was reading that this country has more people in prison than any other country in the world. I have no problem with keeping violent people in prison but come on, what's wrong with restitution and community service, drug treatment programs for the addicted and lengthy supervision for the non-violent? Young people get sent to prison and it's like a finishing school aimed at making a more competent, more violent criminal. Sheesh!!

[Amazed]

Once released they return to the friends, family and environment that haven't accomplished much in the way of keeping them on the straight and narrow.

The only ones that actually see the inside are the ones who have been slowly building their records until they trigger the provisions that make jail time mandatory for their latest offense. Of course locking them away breaks whatever ties they might have had left with their community because of evictions, lost jobs, trashed relationships, etc.

What makes a difference? Early intervention.

Intervention at the point where they have nothing left to lose and very little to gain doesn't change anything except maybe make it easier to wring your hands and claim that the "system" did what it could.

In other words intervention at the county jail and workhouse level of corrections makes more sense than intervention at state prisons.

The new game in town for the corrections folks is evidence based practice. Rather than throwing programming at them and hoping something works the new movement aims to follow them and collect data on whether the programming is effective.

By "programming" I refer to programs developed to assist in building skills and abilities such as work force readiness, GED classes, job seeking skills development, cog skills development, drivers privledge recovery, anger management, etc.

EBP is intended to identify what works and what rehabilitates. It also intends to identify the people best served by programming and those for whom programming makes little or no difference.

There is another concept that EBP goes hand in hand with: productive day.

Meaning that they don't just get to sit in their cell, day rooms with cable TV or work out in the gyms. They are required to do something productive such as work crews and programming attendance.

[Amazed]

The point is Bush committed the U.S. to spending trillions of U.S. tax money to free the Iraqi people, rebuild what American bombs destroyed in the process and eliminate the "terrorist threat" to America that orginates half a world away.

Meanwhile back home there are people not free to walk to the corner store after dark because their friends, neighbors or family members have been assaulted, raped or robbed in their own neighborhoods.

The cops are strapped for cash.

The jails are strapped for cash to cope with the growing population of inmates.

The borders aren't secure.

Kids from broken homes show up at school hungry, dirty and unhappy.

Kids show up at school and find out that art and music classes have been cancelled, advanced classes have been cancelled, and the School won't have new books unless local referendums pass.

[Amazed]

Oh yes, and lest we forget there is a veritable army of Schindlerbots convinced that Americans would be better off with less personal freedoms and no choice about medical treatments.

Apparently at some point the lessons of history and the cost of securing and protecting personal liberty and freedom are lost on this certain small percentage of Schindler cheerleaders who would willingly surrender their own rights and the rights of others.

[Boohil]

Such an interesting premise...what would Alex P. Keaton do? I really LOVED that show. My personal philosophy was more reflective of the hippie "mother earth" parents (still is). My actual professional life at the time (fledgling lawyer, making a name for myself in labor law--opposing unions, supporting business interests) was often in opposition.

Along the way, so much has changed, of course. What used to be the hallmark of conservatism (the "Southern Democrat") has become the reliable, if not rabid, Southern Republican (or whatever the neo-con religious right tells them to be). These days, it seems likely to me that the values and "norms du jour" of the Democratic party are more representative of the old values of the Republican party, the Republican party today represents a far extreme and fanaticism that the old Republican party would have rejected out of hand. Alex P. would have had no real choice today but to pull the Dem lever, and Steven and Elise Keaton (idealistic and unrealistic as ever) would be voting Green.

Scary to think that "Democrat" is the new Republican, that "Republican" is now the party of George Wallace and David Duke. Scary to think that I've been alive and politically aware for long enough to bear living witness to the political evolution (kind of like the microwave oven, if you know what I mean).

Boo

[Peppermint Patti]

Boohil wrote:

Such an interesting premise...what would Alex P. Keaton do? I really LOVED that show. My personal philosophy was more reflective of the hippie "mother earth" parents (still is). My actual professional life at the time (fledgling lawyer, making a name for myself in labor law--opposing unions, supporting business interests) was often in opposition.
Along the way, so much has changed, of course. What used to be the hallmark of conservatism (the "Southern Democrat") has become the reliable, if not rabid, Southern Republican (or whatever the neo-con religious right tells them to be). These days, it seems likely to me that the values and "norms du jour" of the Democratic party are more representative of the old values of the Republican party, the Republican party today represents a far extreme and fanaticism that the old Republican party would have rejected out of hand. Alex P. would have had no real choice today but to pull the Dem lever, and Steven and Elise Keaton (idealistic and unrealistic as ever) would be voting Green.
Scary to think that "Democrat" is the new Republican, that "Republican" is now the party of George Wallace and David Duke. Scary to think that I've been alive and politically aware for long enough to bear living witness to the political evolution (kind of like the microwave oven, if you know what I mean).
Boo

Good analysis.
And you are right.
Things have drastically changed in the party philosophies.
Kinda sad :-(