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History, FTW!

By: Bill S (Diary)  |  July 26th, 2010 at 09:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

George Santayana is oft-quoted for his statement “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.  It seems that those in the Obama administration are serial abusers of this violation.  If for some reason you doubted this, look no farther than this political cartoon from 1934:

Read the sign in the lower left closely.  Sound familiar?

There is some question as to whether this is authentic.  If it’s not, the Chicago Tribune was also fooled…the original can be found on the Chicago Tribune web site.  A couple of my colleagues also tell me that this has been floating around for a while, but I guess I lead a sheltered life – it’s the first time I’ve seen it.  Since classics never go out of style, you should “enjoy” it again.

As one of my online friends reminds me – this is evidence that the battle between left and right has been raging for decades.  The “political pendulum” has swung back and forth several times since 1934, and I suspect it isn’t going to stop.  It is on the verge of swinging back to the right in 2010 and 2012, and one would think that the actions of the Obamites would have put a stop to “the swing”.

But it won’t stop swinging, because no one listens to George Santayana.

This is your open thread for the day.  Enjoy.

(H/T to our member JadedByPolitics for bringing this to my attention)

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  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    Young pinkies! That’s classic, right up there w/ the PJ O’Rourke’s “fools, pink-wieners and dupes..”

  • tngal

    I always misquoted it as “doomed to repeat it”. So are the Dems condemned or doomed? They could be both. “You are hereby condemned to be doomed” . Oooooo, that sounds nice.

  • logus

    Some things always seem to be applicable!

    l could see this as believable, especially if it’s been around for a while on the internet – as in well prior to 2008. The easiest way to check it would be to research the names noted and verify them in the DNC, Congress or FDR’s administration.

    Not to mention that after reading books such as Amity Shlae’s, “Forgotten Man”, or Jonah Goldberg’s, “Liberal Fascism”, Robert Bork’s, “Slouching Towards Gommorrah”, as well as Glenn Beck’s dissection of Progressivism, the plausibility of this piece being authentic increases. This is bolstered by the fact that detailed, pithy, acerbic political cartoons have a strong history here in the US. Recall Thomas Nast, especially his tackling of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.

    The person painting the sign looks like Trotsky, who died in 1940.

    Doing a little investigation of the names:

    Wallace could be Henry A. Wallace – look him up. The man riding the donkey is Rex Tugwell. Newbusters has broken this cartoon down, but at the moment I cannot bring up the page.

  • http://fairfaxgardener.blogspot.com ddstrain

    He was a cartoonist for the Tribune from 1917 to 1960 from what I can see. There are several cartoons of his on the web from the Depression era that would be quite applicable today.

  • Locked and Loaded
  • barleycorn

    My main interest in American history is the period roughly from 1870 to 1950. The same arguments have been going on since the founding in one form or another, but since the rise of William Jennings Bryan, it is remarkable how American political discourse has been on a continuous loop.

    Decade after decade the same arguments cycle through on both sides. Boiled down to their essence, conservative ideas say government should stay out of our lives as much as possible, while liberal theology says the exact opposite.

    The debates change only in the minor details and the names of those doing the talking. The facts don’t change, and right and wrong are eternal.

  • http://www.veronicaestrada.com Veronica

    with the militiamen living around me.

    I’ve seen their boards, their posts and their propaganda and they’re loony.

    Anyone want to comment? Retort? Soothe me?

    Help me?

    I’d like to keep this under the radar because I’m afraid of getting shot. No joke. They’re in my neighborhood and own AK 47s and AR 15s.

    They’re linked to the Tenth Amendment Center and the Texas Nationalist Movement and are beginning to cite International Law to justify Texas sucession.

    No wonder the NRA is leaning left.

    Please, I beg you .. comment.

    I’m seriously spooked. And angry because this gives creedence for the left.

    I don’t bargain with the left.

  • http://www.veronicaestrada.com Veronica

    Bill, about the political cartoon.

    Facinating, isn’t it?

    I read Goldberg’s Liberal Facsism .. and I have only refutation to the “history repeats itself” argument.

    History is continuing – it’s one looong thin thread that’s continued since then.

    And we’re losing ground.

    Very, very cool post.

  • Richard Mullins

    since one of bigger separatist groups had a war with DPS back in 1997. I’m worried a bit on the secede bumper stickers I see around. Yes, since I’m closer to militia home of the Piney woods, I understand. BTW, are things getting that heated in Central Texas? I’d say if as long as they don’t point their AR 15′s and AK 47 at you. No gun at the moment although I’m considering a good .45 cal Pistol. With all those nuts, we all need to be armed.

  • http://www.veronicaestrada.com Veronica

    that’s what my husband says about being armed.

    what I’ve seen is they talk down and work to discredit to law enforcement, have the worst anti-Obama rhetoric I’ve heard in awhile, and they’re working through the more legit channels like the 10th Amendment center.

    They’re not republican, they’re libertarian, and of course, they crap on Perry, like Merits.

    They’re talking secession as though Texas were Kosovo and the ICJ were legit — we’re not signatores on that either, and so these freaks want us to follow international law?

    Dumbasses!

    I mean, this is a side I have NEVER seen and I don’t think the public has seen, either.

    This may be why the left wants to control the internet and control guns. Most of these nitwits cunt spake write (can’t speak right), so you can imagine their level of education.

    They delegitimize legitimate discussion.

    And they’re itching for jihad, training in the woods like al Qaeda.

    You think I’m joking? You should read their junk.

  • techsan

    From Newsbusters…

    In the article, the various people in the cartoon are named. (bolding mine)

    The man behind [Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace] Wallace is Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and director of the Public Works Administration. As head of the PWA, Ickes had a lot of say on what and where public works projects were built. The biggest of course was the Tennessee Valley Authority. Ickes was well-known for backing many other socialist endeavors. Ickes was also the father of Harold M. Ickes, a key player in the Clinton administration.

    The other man behind Wallace was a mystery to me. In fact, I had trouble reading the label on him in the cartoon. That man is Donald Richberg, who was called ?assistant president? in the FDR administration. Both he and Ickes came through Chicago politics and were leaders of the Progressive movement there. Both Ickes and Richberg were key players in pushing the National Industrial Recovery Act which imposed fascist codes of conduct on American industry which dictated how key industries in America were to be run. The National Recovery Administration was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court in 1935, which decision led to FDR?s effort to ?pack? the Supreme Court with more cooperative justices.

    Yep…history sucks if you’re the one repeating it’s failures.

  • tngal

    No it isn’t. And thanks to Daily Caller for Boxer’s latest misguided attempt to connect with somebody..anybody.

    _______________

    I don?t care whether you are a policeman or a fireman or a veteran or by chance a member of Congress,? the California senator said. ?[Democratic Rep.] Maxine [Waters] and I could look at each other and roll our eyes. We know what we are up against. And it is hard for people who are not there to understand the pressure and the great things that go along with it and the tough things that go along with it.?

    ____________________

    You will never be like them, babs. O,h maybe you’ll have a chat with another legislator who happens to be a vet but that’s the closest you’ll ever come. Why does she always pick on our soldiers?

    http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/26/senator-barbara-boxer-serving-in-the-military-is-like-being-a-member-of-congress/

  • hickorystick

    and as background, they showed a cartoon, with FDR sleeve and hand visible, reaching down to give a hand-out. Written on the green sleeve is “Socialist Experiment” written in red. Living in Lib-land Seattle, The audience let out an audible gasp. But they knew it was sooooaa relevant.

  • billymorris68

    how did we make our way from an historical cartoon all the way to militia in the bushes? and not just any militia. militia that use “the worst anti-Obama rhetoric I?ve heard in awhile.”

  • Richard Mullins

    and if they want to ICJ type of justice in Texas as opposed to English common law that laws were based after, I think I would make a reservation for them(I’m part Cherokee{I even fly a Cherokee 160} so the reservation part makes some sence). They all train and act like that separatist group the Republic of Texas(the guys had a shoot off with DPS in the Davis Mountains back in 1997). Honestly, it’s not getting to level that most of the world deals with as day-to-day or even for that matter like it was in the 1st Century AD. I live life in the point that Government is put on by God(read Romans 13 1-14) and as long as the laws don’t go against God laws, I’m cool with that. I think that want ot train in the woods and cool doing it, but really if they started to move in to urban areas like North Harris county, I get really worried because the target is Deep in Houston. I say that they are good with guns but bad with People(for reference I pull a story from the Houston Chronicle on guy out in Rural Liberty county that shot and killed a kid. He wasn’t close to his property.)

  • Richard Mullins

    so you can talk on anything not just the topic at hand.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    It is no accidental repeating by the incompetent… but if it is then shouldn’t he be impeached for either?