History Lesson (repost)

[I am reposting this from March 2014, just because I felt like it.]

There are quite a few theories about history and just what it is and what it means.  Here's mine:

Guiding Axiom:  History is the story of the powerful oppressing those less so.

Corollary 1:  The powerful have always been able to convince one or more subsets of the less powerful that another subset of the less powerful--rather than their actual oppressors--is the source of their problems.

Corollary 2:  Throughout much of history (or at least the last 1500 years or so), the church (in all its various forms) has been in bed with the oppressors rather than the oppressed.

Overly simplistic?  You bet.  But pick a time in history and this dynamic is probably playing out.

More Non-Advice from the Center

David Ignatius, in this Washington Post piece, has the same old tired advice from the center about how the Dems are giving the election to Trump if they actually fight for important things. The problem is that--as usual--there isn't much here.

Lots of generic warnings here but nothing really to wrap one's arms around. What is Ignatius recommending? Dems need to be more racist? Support kids in cages? More tax cuts for the 1%? This primary season seems like any other. Every four years we hear how divided the Dems are, but are they really? If every centrist's solution is for the Dems to become more Republican, I have no choice but to continue ignoring them. If the only way to beat Trump is to abandon things we believe in, then God help us. We'll get the government we deserve.

What is this supposed mainstream solution? I keep hearing about it, but no one tells me what it is? Mainstream solution for universal health care? living wage? climate change? income inequality? racism? support of unions? Warren and Sanders have been pretty detailed in many of their policy proposals. All I've heard from the center is that these are bad. I have yet to hear what the "centrist" solutions are other than something like "we believe the same things that Republicans do, we'll just do them better". Believe me, I would love to be convinced otherwise.