I drew a conclusion years ago

[Marthe48]

and I don't feel it was that wrong. I was probably wrong blaming nixon only, but like felon, he was a tool surrounded by people interested in destroying the U.S. He was the first of a line of men willing to destroy the nation for their puppet masters.

I grew up in the 1960s, was a young adult starting a family in the 1970s. We had a rough start, but by 1973, we were doing okay. We even bought a house. Then because of nixon and kissinger, the shah raised oil prices and crashed the world economy. Aside from rampant inflation, we also got hit with a recession, and by 1975, everyone we knew in our age group was unemployed. We all shared what we had and we got through the next 2 years. My husband was laid off for 26 months.

While we were suffering through a profound rip in our life plans, I wondered why it was happening. One answer that made sense to me was that nixon hated the middle class and he especially hated the people who protested the Vietnam war. I think every economic decision he made was to put burdens on the middle class to destroy it. His policy decisions have lived on since the 70s, in spite of attempts to reverse, slow or cancel them.

I think the 70s was when so much of the evil we see now started coalescing around the right. With nixon and his inner circle, the religion fanatics, the misogynists, the bigoted, the hateful, the power hungry, the greedy, had somebody in power who would forward their sick agenda. We were saved then by elected senators and representatives who stopped the evil agenda, at least the part in view. It went under cover, but all of the parts were in place for them to keep working to dismantle the progressive agenda that had built and was building the U.S. into a more equitable country.

Notice that the power behind the throne worked overtime to destroy President Carter. The evil powerhouse got reagan elected, another chump who would go along with annihilation of the middle class. Then bush, who managed to subtly undercut even more social and economic security to derail progress we were making, not just as Americans, but as people. President Clinton and the dot com economy was a detour, as was President Obama, but the evil gang of thugs never stopped their effort to destroy the middle class. President Biden did his damnedest to block the momentum, but what power we are up against.

I look at other countries which have chosen their people over power and obscene wealth. They do fine. They have people trying to be better. They have religious fanatics, bigots, misogynists, and greedy people, but they are, so far, keeping them in check. Our country was able to have a vast safety net and still thrive as the richest country, the most powerful country. We're losing what has made us the greatest country.

I didn't expect that I'd have to be on high alert my whole life, but here we are. I want what we had for the next generations. I want to crush the evil that is destroying everything hopeful and replacing it with nothing. It is hard to fight, then fight some more and then fight some more, especially when things we thought were blood allies, like elected officials and the supreme court, have joined the evil forces determined to force us to conditions where brutality is the only thing that counts. I am counting on the inate force that has driven humans from Socrates to John Lewis to seek personal freedom that we will share with others.

*I wrote this myself, no AI involved, although I did check spelling on a few words If I don't respect someone, I don't capitalize their name, just an fyi.

[wendyb-NC]

1. I agree with you

Well written, well said. That makes perfect sense.

[usonian]

2. With Lee Atwater's "Southern Strategy", the GOP turned to racism to power its Oligarchy Engine

It works, but you don't sleep with pigs without getting dirty and smelling bad.

Trump switched from liberal to "conservative" to exploit the suckers.

I suspect that the evidence Putin has on him is "Extreme Epstein" stuff, that he is willing to sell out the entire United States to ransom.

And Putin will throw him under the bus anyway.

[malaise]

16. Perfect

Rec

[cachukis]

3. Well thought out.

[moniss]

4. Well said but just one correction. It wasn't a shah

who pushed the oil embargo. It was the Saudi King. It was very much a stab in the back to him from Nixon and Kissinger that provoked him to do so.

[Marthe48]

6. I was thinking of the time

That kissinger told the shah that the U.S. couldn't (give) sell Iran weapons. The shah replied soon after that Allah had told him to raise the price of oil so he could get weapons elsewhere. That was '73 or '74. Gas prices doubled almost overnight, there were lines at the gas stations, everything that relied on foreign oil was crippled.

The oil wells, like OPEC, are probably connected like in the movie 'There Will Be Blood' "I'll drink your milkshake." The governments are probably saying "Let's do this and see what happens!"

[moniss]

10. Yes I lived through it. The stab in the back by

Nixon related to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Nixon had guaranteed King Faisal that he would be even handed regarding resupplying Israel and that he would not escalate that resupply. That guarantee allowed Faisal to go to the other leaders in OPEC and the Arab World and project "power and control" and to try and keep a lid on things. Then Nixon turned around and made a public announcement that he was increasing the resupply to Israel way beyond what was even requested by Israel.

So Faisal was made to look like a weak fool to the other leaders and the people. He responded immediately. Initially during the War the Arab states had only reduced production to the US and others by 5% largely because of assurances from Faisal that he had great influence with Nixon. But Nixon saw the resupply of arms as a grand gesture that might divert attention from Watergate. So to try and save himself he stabbed Faisal in the back.

"Israel took heavy losses in men and material during the fighting against Egypt and Syria, and on October 18, 1973, Meir requested $850 million worth of American arms and equipment to replace its material losses.[50] Nixon decided characteristically to act on an epic scale and instead of the $850 million worth of arms requested sent a request to Congress for some $2.2 billion worth of arms to Israel, which was promptly approved.[50] Nixon, whose administration was being badly battered by the Watergate scandal, felt that a bold foreign policy move might resuscitate his administration."

"The arms lift enraged King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and he retaliated on October 20, 1973, by placing a total embargo on oil shipments to the United States, to be joined by most of the other oil-producing Arab states.[52] Even though Algeria, Iraq and Libya were promoting the embargo they were not actively enforcing it.[53] Faisal was angry that Israel had only asked for $850 million worth of American weapons, and instead received an unsolicited $2.2 billion worth of weapons, which he perceived as a sign of the pro-Israeli slant of American foreign policy.[52] Faisal also felt insulted that Nixon had just promised Saqqaf a "honorable" peace the day before he submitted the request to Congress for some $2.2 billion worth of arms for Israel, which he saw as an act of duplicity on Nixon's part.[51] Faisal had been opposed to a total embargo and only agreed to the 5% cut on October 17 under pressure from other Arab states.[51] Faisal felt his efforts on behalf the United States were not being appreciated in Washington, which increased his fury at Nixon.[51]

Saudi Arabia only consented to the embargo after Nixon's promise of $2.2 billion in military aid to Israel.[54] On the afternoon of October 19, 1973, Faisal was in his office when he learned about the United States sending $2.2 billion worth of weapons to Israel, and discussed the issue with two of his closest advisers, Abdullah ibn Abdul Rahman and Rashad Pharaon.[55] The king called Yamani at about 8 pm, and told him he was needed at the Riyassa Palace immediately.[55] Yamani told the king: "The TV news goes out at nine. If you make a decision now, we can get it announced at once".[55] The king replied "Write this down" and announced he was placing a total embargo on the United States.[55]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

[Marthe48]

15. Informative thank you

I had 2 young kids then and other things. I get to look back and see that the time was more complex than I understood at the time.

[moniss]

21. I often look back on the pre-1973 times

and miss the way a dollar really did go much further even with a lower wage etc. Those times were destroyed forever in so many ways by Nixon.

[rubbersole]

8. Nixon said something like...

... "Don't use your oil as an economic weapon" to the Saudis. Which is rich because the US government has used our resources as economic weapons since forever.
Just a little Saudi side note - in bin laden's "manifesto" after 9/11 his demand that US bases be removed from "Mecca" ...W had them removed in 90 days. Capitulation to terrorism city.

[Keepthesoulalive]

5. Look at some of the players in the Nixon Reagan White House

Stone and Ailes . During the Iran hostage situation ABC every night gave a daily total of the days the the people were held in captivity. Nothing about how we placed a Dictator in power in the 50’s ,It helped to put Regan in office. They purchased the radio stations and made the tv stations infotainment. Billionaires control our computers and all of communications. It was a slow rolling coup.

[Marthe48]

7. You're right

I remember hearing 'Control the media, control the message.' It was a lesson nixon learned in the first televised debate between him and JFK. nixon was sweaty and underwhelming.

In 1998, I learned that 90% of the media was owned by 6 companies. You can bet that like other giants, they don't want to give up their power.

[slightlv]

23. I agree with the slow rolling coup idea...

but I'd place it as starting at least as far back as FDR. The capitalists hated FDR for his New Deal laws, and they've never forgiven the Democratic party for enacting them... just like they've never forgiven us for LBJ and the Civil Rights laws. A lot of the names in the news today (and especially those in W's term in office) were brandishing their chops back before Nixon. I'm talking Cheney, Feith, and others who were instrumental in making the "War on Terror" the absolute clusterf*ck it was.

Iraq and Afghanistan stand as two nation states where the repubs tried desperately to make the government and the country into their idealized versions of what the U.S. should be. It didn't work there, and it ultimately won't work here, either. When you have pallets of money disappearing into the hands of the biggest, strongest, most violent people, you have no accountability and no gain for your expenditures. It wasn't just the culture of the Middle East that made it impossible to implement Cheney's plans... it was the fact that people found the policies reprehensible and refused to even acknowledge them. It was a humiliating, demeaning, demanding government Cheney wanted instituted. Afghanistan answered with IEDs and more violence. Ultimately, their country became a mess thanks to the Taliban, which we had helped arm and train.

For a good look at what the U.S. is going to look like in a very few years, study Afghanistan and Iraq. Our religious police won't be Muslim, but our xtian dominionists are every bit as bad, and in some cases even worse, than the taliban extremists. Under these conditions, expect everything to be stripped from us women. We will be prisoners in our homes, just like our Islamic Sisters. This, despite the fact it takes the salaries of two people working to just keep a family's head above water.

[pandr32]

9. Well said!

I noticed your lack of capitalizing certain names and got the reason right away.

[planetc]

11. Exceotionally well said. Also, ...

Anybody who doesn't use spell check has no respect for their readers, and possibly themselves. Please don't' apologize for paying attention.

[malaise]

12. K & R

Thoughtful

[John1956PA]

13. Thank you for your excellent tour through decades of evil and corrupt influences.

I recall when, in the Autumn of 1973, gasoline prices rose overnight from twenty-five cents to fifty cents per gallon. There were many international and domestic events happening at the time. A war broke out between Israel and an affiliation of Arab States (with Egypt and Syria at the vanguard). The media blared the unsettling report that the U.S.S.R. had announced that it might send troops unilaterally into the mideast. (That now sounds laughable).

About the time of the hostilities (now referred to as the Yom Kippur War) oil companies hiked the price at the pumps overnight, and vehicles lined up to top off their tanks. The term "Energy Crisis" was christened. Soon, the international strife cooled off, vehicle lines at the pumps diminished, but gasoline prices remained at about forty-five cents per gallon.

The next chapter in the drama of October 1973 came with Nixon's effectuating the firing of the special prosecutor who was investigating the Watergate matter. (That firing sounds quaint now). That event led to a surge in the Democrats' movement to impeach Nixon over Watergate.

As a diversion from the international and political unrest, we had reports of numerous UFO sightings which would continue into November and December.

Oh, what an interesting month October 1973 was.

[twodogsbarking]

14. You are correct in my opinion. Live on despite the cannon fire. Keep your head down.

[Marthe48]

29. I remember so many little events

I wasn't politically aware past the idea that I didn't like nixon. When he ran for reelection, he promised he had a solution to the Vietnam War and would get our boys home. I never forgave any of them for prolonging the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to get reelected. How many people died because of that lie? And then, we got out all right--I'll never forget the pictures of people trying to get on the last flights out of Saigon, right before it fell.

I remember the UFO sightings. John Chancellor was reporting one night that 2 older ladies in tx. said they'd seen a UFO. They knew it was a UFO because the letters were printed on the side of the craft. He absolutely lost it, laughing hysterically and then doubling over behind the desk. One of the most unforgettable moments in tv news history

The chaos of 1973 has been magnified in 2025.

[usonian]

17. K&R

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Very Well Said.

"I look at other countries which have chosen their people over power and obscene wealth. They do fine. They have people trying to be better. They have religious fanatics, bigots, misogynists, and greedy people, but they are, so far, keeping them in check. Our country was able to have a vast safety net and still thrive as the richest country, the most powerful country. We're losing what has made us the greatest country."

And yet, I am called crazy for wanting to basically have a re-do on what came after the Constitution, and this time regulate the shit out of businesses so that they understand that they are just a business and their relative 'wealth and power' cannot be used to interfere with our government or our lives.

(I asked a CEO once (who was bragging/whinging about their company and its recent 'wins') if he himself had cleared, layed out and built the roads that they used to deliver their product every day, and if he himself had actually built the building that they were in with his bare hands. This was after he had been whining about how the factory people were too demanding and were interfering with getting an even higher output rating.

He did not like it. But, I was just one of the performers who had been entertaining them earlier. So, I was easily dismissed.

Of course.)

[slightlv]

25. As scary as it is to think about, I believe we need to re-do the

Constitution, itself. In essence, I think we need to "dumb down" the language so that's it plain for anyone and everyone to understand. I think what we have today is elegant in its speech and styling, but it leaves too much open for interpretation because people argue over what specific words mean. Perhaps, in addition to the detailing of an amendment we should provide an example of it so that there can be no question.

Thing is, we don't want to do this while the country is in a red-hot dictator mindset. That mindset is always black and white; shades of grey don't exist, and the Constitution is what protects those shades of grey. Other than that, make sure when the word "shall" is mentioned it is defined to the nth degree, for example. No weaseling out on single words, and blowing off the purpose at the heart of the amendment.

To accomplish anything... rebuilding or reconstructing... the people of this country are going to have to come together with a shared vision for the future. To do this, en masse, can force our representatives to get out of their own way and pass what the people want. And that is basically where everything good breaks down. I don't see how in the world we reconcile the two parties of people. They are SO different as to be complete opposites of each other in polity, economics, and social responsibility. Currently putting out the word that they're thinking of stripping citizens of their citizenship (literally testing out the theory before trying it) trump is trying to shortcut this issue by basically genociding Democratic and democratic leaning people. The church will get in on this and demand obedience to their "one true god" with consequences if you don't. That will complete the authoritarian takeover.

Unless we get down and dirty I don't see how we fight this. Other countries have successfully fought it... see Afghanistan and Iraq... but they ended up going with their own cultural morass which was every bit as evil and right-leaning. There is no difference between trump and any other dictator you want to name. And each and every one of them, including trump, is an existential threat to freedom of movement, of thought, of speech, of worship, of any kind of freedom whatsoever.

[jmbar2]

19. This was also the era of the 1971 Powell Memo

Many consider this the master plan that kicked off the conservative movement to destroy liberalism.

“Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.”

Powell recommended a propaganda effort staffed with scholars and speakers, a propaganda effort to which American business should devote “10 percent of its total advertising budget,’” including an effort to review and critique textbooks, especially in economics, political science, and sociology.

“National television networks should be monitored in the same way that textbooks should be kept under constant surveillance,” he said. Corporate America should aggressively insist on the right to be heard, on “equal time,” and corporate America should be ready to deploy, and I am quoting him here, “whatever degree of pressure — publicly and privately — may be necessary.” This would be “a long road,” Powell warned, “and not for the fainthearted.”

In his section entitled “The Neglected Political Arena,” Powell recommended using political influence to stem “the stampedes by politicians to support any legislation related to `consumerism’ or to the `environment.’” And, yes, Powell put the word “environment” in derogatory quote marks in the original.

“Political power,” Powell wrote, “is necessary; … [it] must be assiduously cultivated; and … when necessary … must be used aggressively and with determination.” He concluded that “it is essential [to] be far more aggressive than in the past,” with “no hesitation to attack,” “not the slightest hesitation to press vigorously in all political arenas,” and no “reluctance to penalize politically those who oppose” the corporate effort. In a nutshell, no holds barred.

And then came the section of the secret report that may have launched the scheme to capture the court. It is called “Neglected Opportunity in the Courts.” This section focused on what Powell called “exploiting judicial action.” He called it an “area of vast opportunity.”

He wrote: “Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court” – I will intervene to say, of course, we have today, as a result of the scheme, the most activist-minded Supreme Court in American history, but back to his quote – “especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change.”

https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/the-scheme-1-the-powell-memo/

Led to Citizen's United, the joining of corporate and religious right interests, and the media infrastructure to promote their ideas.

[Marthe48]

20. More information new to me

lewis powell

One thing he's dead wrong about: you can suppress liberalism, but you can't kill it.

I'll be sure to read more.

Thank you.

[llmart]

22. Excellent post!

The trajectory of my life mirrors yours. One thing I would correct or add is that our generation voted for Nixon and Reagan in vast numbers. I couldn't believe it at the time and still can't. The information about Nixon was out there if people only read anything other than headlines. I was politically aware as a young person, so I made it a point to read as much as I could get my hands on. I just couldn't believe that others didn't educate themselves more.

As you probably remember re: Nixon - no one would openly admit to voting for him after it all came out about what a criminal he was.

[Marthe48]

24. I voted for McGovern

my first election

I was a poor sport even then. I made a sign that said 'nixon not spoken here' and put it in my kitchen. My m-i-l was really mad at me.

[llmart]

27. So did I. I couldn't believe it when Nixon won.

My m-i-law was a mean witch. My husband hated her. Not surprisingly she was a racist and so was the rest of his family.

[TommieMommy]

26. Very well said 👍👍

[I_UndergroundPanther]

28. Maybe

The Republican Party should be forced to disband after all the shit they have done to harm the people.

Their attempts to destroy the constitution and being chums with domestic terrorists both rich and poor shows they betray this country they’re insurrectionists and traitors.


We don’t need a party of treacherous evil old men, young hateful fascists , sick religious nutbags with control issues and narcissists/ psychopaths.

We should actively do what we can to destroy the Republican Party and end thier existance in politics.