Connect the dots to form a circle.
Carroll QuigleyCarroll Quigley believed, among other things, that little to no difference between political parties would best serve financial markets, which prefer stability and predictablity (none of which reflects either Mother Nature or human nature or reality).
This view appears in his book,
Tragedy and Hope, an excerpt of which is on You Tube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2GDlEVo6KI(I recommend turning off the music and just reading the excerpt.) Quigley also believed in conspiracy theories, including a group whose members intended gradually to absorb the wealth of the world to themselves.
Whether any one group does that, or whether a number of wealth power brokers take care of that, it sure has happened--and much faster since Bill Clinton became President. In fact, Bubba has absorbed a respectably amount of that wealth himself.
Bill Clinton on Quigley, via wiki:
Influence {of Carroll Quigley} on Bill Clinton
In his freshman year in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, future U.S. President Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).<2>:94, 96
Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy in 1991, when launching his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.<2> He also mentioned Quigley again during his acceptance speech to the 1992 Democratic National Convention, as follows:
"As a teenager, I heard John Kennedy's summons to citizenship. And then, as a student at Georgetown, I heard that call clarified by a professor named Carroll Quigley, who said to us that America was the greatest Nation in history because our people had always believed in two things–that tomorrow can be better than today and that every one of us has a personal moral responsibility to make it so."<17>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Quigley#Influence_on_Bill_ClintonBill Clinton on Al From and DLC ideologyAl From supposedly founded the DLC Maybe he did. However, he quickly attracted a clump of Southern male WASP conservadems, probably who had Presidential aspirations and did not know how much longer, they could win elections as Democrats in the South, or carry their home states if they ran for President.
Of course, the male WASP conservadem contingent of the Democratic Party had always existed--and had always had it caucuses in the House. However the Democratic Solid South had been weakened as Truman racially integrated the military, Eleanor Roosevelt pressed for equality and dignity for African Americans, and JFK took various steps toward racial civil rights equality.
The pace at which Democrats turned Republican in the South, of course, accelerated after LBJ got the Civil Rights Act passed. (The exceptions I know of to Southern male WASPs among the DLC founding members were Hillary--a former Goldwater Girl who hung with The Fellowship (aka C Street) during her Senate stint--and Lieberman, who was neither Southern nor Protestant, nor, many would say, a Democrat. Ditto Rahm Emanuel.
Anyhoo, I cannot say for certain whether that contingent waited on From to form the DLC, or whether From was the front man for one or more of them (Clinton, for example, being the only one not then in Congress). Either is possible.
Now for the official word from Clinton on From and DLC ideology:
Al From (born May 31, 1943, in South Bend, Indiana) is the founder and former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council. His ideas and political strategies during the past quarter century played a central role in the resurgence of the modern Democratic Party.<1><2><3>
In 2000, at a speech at Hyde Park, President Bill Clinton said, "It would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From." <4>
From led the DLC from its inception in 1985 until he stepped down as CEO in April 2009.<5><6><7>
He founded the DLC in 1985, at a time as Roll Call writes, "Democrats appeared to be on the brink of a permanent excursion into the political wild following Walter Mondale’s 49-state drubbing by incumbent President Ronald Reagan in 1984.”<8>
Al From (born May 31, 1943, in South Bend, Indiana) is the founder and former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council. His ideas and political strategies during the past quarter century played a central role in the resurgence of the modern Democratic Party.<1><2><3>
In 2000, at a speech at Hyde Park, President Bill Clinton said, "It would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From." <4>
From led the DLC from its inception in 1985 until he stepped down as CEO in April 2009.<5><6><7>
He founded the DLC in 1985, at a time as Roll Call writes, "Democrats appeared to be on the brink of a permanent excursion into the political wild following Walter Mondale’s 49-state drubbing by incumbent President Ronald Reagan in 1984.”<8>
From played a prominent role in the 1992 election of President Bill Clinton – and served as Domestic Policy Advisor to the Clinton Transition – prompting USA Today to write: "The ideas at the crux of the Clinton candidacy were largely drafted by the DLC." <9>
Today, many of the ideas that comprise the core of the Democratic Party's agenda come from work done under From's leadership at the DLC. National service, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, welfare reform, charter schools, community policing, expanded trade and re-inventing government were all championed by scholars and analysts at the DLC before becoming public policy.<10>
In 1998, with First Lady Hillary Clinton, From began a dialogue with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders, and the DLC brand – known as The Third Way – became a model for resurgent progressive governments around the globe.<11>
In April 1999, he hosted an historic Third Way forum in Washington with President Clinton, Prime Minister Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Prime Ministers Wim Kok of the Netherlands and Massimo D'Alema of Italy.<12>
In November 1999, joining President Clinton, From moderated the first-ever live Presidential town hall meeting on the Internet.<13>
From is a controversial figure in the Democratic Party, drawing criticism in liberal circles and from blogs like DailyKos.com and MyDD.com among others. In 1991, the Reverend Jesse Jackson called the DLC “Democrats for the Leisure Class,” and in 2003, former Democratic National Committee Chair and Vermont Governor Howard Dean sharply criticized From and the DLC as the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.<14><15>
Before founding the DLC, From was executive director of the House Democratic Caucus from 1981 to 1985, chaired by Representative Gillis William Long (D-LA). For two years—1979 and 1980—he was deputy advisor on inflation to President Jimmy Carter and from 1971 to 1979, he directed the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, chaired by Senator Edmund Muskie. As staff director, he worked on the Congressional Budget Act, helped shape the stimulus package during the 1973-74 recession and was called a "legislative genius" by Washingtonian Magazine.<16>
His new venture, The From Company, LLC, offers strategic advice to private clients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_From (Hmm. I had thought the fucker had retired, leaving fellow original DLC full-timemployee, Will Marshall to carry on with Marshall's Progressive Policy Institute.) Of course, Jesse Jackson and Howard Dean have since seen the light and now carry water for New Democrats--at least in public.)
BTW, before you assume that the rise of the word "progressive" has something to do with the left wing of the Democratic Party, just remember that Will Marshall of the DLC founded the Progressive Policy Institute as a sister to the DLC. And the same Will Marshall signed the PNAC memo.
Also remember that the Progressive Party was originally a group of Republicans who left the Party to back Republican President Teddy Roosevelt, when he decided to run against Taft, the nomineee of the Republican Party. So, to borrow from
Princess Bride, I don't think that word {progressive} means what you think it means. Then again, "liberal" has very little real meaning since the DLC.
Clinton and the DLC to No LabelsAnd now, many Clintonites, New Democrats, Third Wayers, etc., have found a comfortable and no doubt lucrative home in an organization founded by some Bushites, namely No Labels. (I once looked up all the members whose bios are linked in the No Labels wiki article, so I know they were Bushies and Clintonites, with Bushies provide the initial push--or so it would seem.)
We see more and more gridlock in D.C. than ever. The more gridlock there is in D.C., the more attractive and lucrative No Labels will become.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_LabelsOf curse, No Labels brings us full circle back to Quigley, who sought as little discernible difference between administrations as humanly possible so that financial markets would flourish even more.
Meanwhile, they have been brainwashing us that our worst enemies are 99%ers who are Republicans and convincing 99%ers among Republicans that we are their worst enemies. Dividing us that way, and along the lines of social issues, provides a smoke screen for the unity that facilitates stability of world markets and concomitant absorption by the 1% of the world's wealth.
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