the neo- conservative philosophy of the GOP has breathed its last. ushered in by Barry Goldwater, and fortified by Ronald Reagan, it was underpinned by rancor, division, and racism.that is why one analyst referred to the defeat of McCain as the "last stand of the angry white man". the new breed of Americans is different; integrated schools, athletic teams, workplaces and residential spaces have served to break down the old walls. the lunatic fringe, such as the talk show hosts, are inconsequential. the GOP will have to re-invent itself, forget the idea of theocratic government, and attempt to be inclusive. the old strategy of winning by pitting whites against the rest of the country is no longer workable; the numbers no longer add up. secondly, the greater society will not permit tax breaks for the ultra rich, and the concomitant demise of the economy. the great depression was caused, in part, by inequality of wealth. the same republican policies of Coolidge and Hoover, which gave us the depression of the 1930;s, are the exact same policies which got us into the current mess. it is ironic that one political aspirant from Arizona ushered in the modern conservative movement, and another ushered it out! one came too early, the other came too late. happily, they both lost in landslides!!

I too believe that in-order to remain a viable party the GOP will have to re-invent itself. The demographics and times have are working against them. There are undertows alluding to the possibilities of a re-alignment and possibly a return or reemergence as the Progressive (Republican) party.

Mcpain shared much of Hoovers qualities and though he considered himself a maverick he couldn't deny the fact that he was a slave of the republican Party and had he won he would have been indebted to the religious right for the duration of his term and thereafter and considering the current economic times he would have suffered the same fate Hoover and under the same conditions.

The GOP is in sad state. They are in denial failing to accept the writing on the wall.
They are worried about the inevitable.

For this reasons I believe they will have to forgo some of their entrenched beliefs i.e Gun Control Pro-Life and specifically Immigration which really hit them harder than expected. With 66 percent of Hispanics nationwide voting for Obama it is a wake-up call that that their exist more important issues than just " Viva Cuba libre" and that their is a viable collective Hispanic majority with a growing powerful voice.

Not even In Miami will Republicans be able to boast this luxury, as Cubans are now outnumbered by Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans Mexicans and Dominicans collectively.

CarlosFranco, Said
For Haitians such as Dominicanation and AfroLatino... Here's a list of atrocities committed by the Haitians agaisnt the Dominican people and shoud offer a clue as to why the two nations will never unite as per the wishes of the haitians in the forum. It should also offer a view of the conditions of the spanish side which permitted the invasion to take place


Haitian Invasion of the Dominican Republic





The Haiti Invasion of Dominican Republic was the military invasion and ensuing 22 years occupation of the newly founded Dominican Republic on the eastern side of Hispaniola by Haiti, from February 9, 1822 until February 27, 1844.

Former European colonies

By the late 18th century, the Island of Hispaniola was divided in two European colonies: Saint-Domingue, governed by France; and Santo Domingo governed by Spain.

In the year 1804, following black slave uprisings since 1791, the French colony declared its independence and named their new country Haiti (which was how, in some early texts, the island was named by the native Indians before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World). Their independence was not an easy task, considering that before the uprisings, Haiti was France's most profitable colony, mainly because of the massive exploitation of slaves and the land for sugar cane which was an expensive commodity back in Europe.

Meanwhile, on the east side, composed mainly of Spanish descendants, mulattos and some black slaves, the economy was stagnant, the land (nearly 2/3rds of the island) mainly unexploited and the population count much smaller than from the Haiti side (some accounts by then essayist and politician José Núñez de Cáceres cite the late colony with roughly 80,000 souls; as opposed to Haiti, which was nearing a million former slaves).[1]. The Dominican republic was declared free and independent of Spain in December 9, 1821 so it could join the Gran Colombia nation that was being formed by Simon Bolivar.


Justification of the invasion

General Boyer, commander-in-chief of Haiti, wouldn't allow a separate nation on Hispaniola, alleging that the land is "one and indivisible".

He was already into negotiations to prevent the attack by fourteen French warships, posted in front of Port-au-Prince; in exchange, France and Haiti settled on that the former would sell the land in exchange of a sum of originally 150 Million Francs (more than twice what France just charged United States for the Louisiana Purchase.)


Invasion

The just newly formed Dominican Republic was at serious disadvantage if it were to prevent the Haitian invasion. Mainly, it currently had no local military forces whatsoever, its population count was 8-10 times less than Haiti, and the economy was stalled.

Haiti, on the other hand, had formidable armed forces, both in skill and sheer size (for such a small land), that had been hardened for nearly 10 years of repelling French soldiers, local colonialists and military insurgents (lesser armed factions). The racial massacres perpetrated in the later days of the French-Haitian conflict only added to the determination of Haitians to never lose a battle.

By February 9, 1822, Boyer and his troops had entered Santo Domingo and received the keys to the city by now destituted president, José Núñez de Cáceres.


Curtailed liberties in Santo Domingo

Although the invasion effectively eliminated colonial slavery and instated a Constitution modeled after the United States constitution through the island; in practice, several resolutions and written dispositions where expressly aimed at converting Dominicans into second-rate citizens: Restrictions of movement, prohibition to run public office, night curfews, inability to travel in groups, banning of civilian organizations, and, lastly, the indefinite closure of the state university (on the alleged grounds of it being a subversive organization) all led to the creation of independentist secret organization called “La Trinitaria” (The Trinity).


War of Independence

It would take 22 years for the War of Independence (La Guerra de Independencia) to start, on February 27, 1844, led by Juan Pablo Duarte and the Trinitarios, who was conformed not only by the cultural and monetary elite of the time, but by almost all Dominicans who were fed up by Haitians on their soil.


Arkatype, Said Good brief summary of historical facts pertaining to Dominican Republic history. It's always amazing how some people try to misinterpret certain chapters of our history. For example they will deny the restriction section in our history where you posted and i quote "Restrictions of movement, prohibition to run for public office, night curfews, inability to travel in groups, banning of civilian organizations, and lastly the indefinite closure of the university." In fact some people believe that Jean Pierre Boyer was a savior to the inhabitants on the eastern side or spanish side of the island which is a crock of lies, lets go back before we were invaded by the haitians when the criollo inhabitants decided to become an indpendent republic from Spain and renamed the country Haiti Español. At that point the governor was a spaniard that was deported back to Spain, Jose Nuñez De Caceres through popular votes from the criollo majority decided to annex the country to Simon Bolivar's Gran Colombia. An emissary was sent to what is today Venezuela, with the request in hand. At the same time Jean Pierre Boyer had sent spies to see what was going on in the weaker eastern portion of the island. Before that request arrived in South America, Jean Pierre Boyer had already invaded the country with a numerous force one column arrived in Santiago the other in Santo Domingo, because of the natural proximity with Haiti, the request sent to Bolivar did not have any effect. Jean Pierre Boyer was met with no resistance because the population was not prepared to do battle against the haitians and people feared a repitition of the 1805 massacres led by Henri Christophe and Dessalines with an army of more then 25,000 men. The colombian flag was raised in the capital and in other towns in the country, although the haitian flag was raised in the border regions of the country where many haitians encroached on Haiti Español territory. Some people believe that the haitian insignia was being raised all over the place that's a big crock. As Boyer's troop's mobilized into the country many spanish and criollo landholders started packing up there belongings to exit the island. CONTINUATION.....

Arkatype, Said The land was the most important commodity in that period of time. Not all the landholders left the country at that point but the most prominent citizens left immediately in the advent of the invasion and occupation. Also some of the the church officials decided also to leave the island. The church held plenty of power over huge tracts of land, that was mostly unused and even forested. Boyer announced a ceremony and requested the governor to hand over the keys to the city of Santo Domingo, Jose Nuñez De Caceres was forced in the act and the keys were handed to Boyer. Briefly after that Boyer antagonized his troops to destroy all emblems related to the spanish/criollo culture, he closed the university, and requested that the catholic church hand over all there properties to his administration. Boyer began to unmask himself for who he was a despotic-dictator. At that point he expelled most of the wealthy spanish church officials that disagreed with his disposition, although others remained. The church held most of the lands and had in their service most of the slaves. He emancipated all the remaining slaves and abolished slavery. He forced the youth to join the military, as he began to see the fruits of his alleged success. He started distributing land to those of high rank in his army. He implemented his code rural inspired from the napoleonic era in Haiti, which forced yeonman to cultivate the land, these small plots of land began as a way for the people to produce food for personal consumption but at the same time everyone had to contribute to him and the haitian mulatto elites coffers. The land reforms went against the ways that the remaining criollo families traditionally cultivated there lands, this soon created frictions between the dominicans and the haitian army. Due to the forced labor imposed by the haitian military, in the production of crops. In 1824 a priest began to organize a rebellion against the haitians but falied as spies of Boyer betrayed them in the act of insurrection. Most were executed and a few escaped and left the island. At that point Boyer filled with anger decreed the constitution of 1805 as a way to confiscate lands that remained still in the hands of criollo's, he also put other laws, that will later strain even more the relations between dominicans and haitians. He encouraged whites to leave the country, obviously Boyer and his administration were not too bright as many whites decided to leave the regions where the haitians had immediate control over there lands. They moved mostly to the mountain regions in the north far from the said area's. Most if not all the remaining people were mostly ex-slaves that remained in Boyer's circle. In the same year 1824 Boyer planned to repopulate the eastern portion of the island by bringing haitians from there traditional stronghold in the west to come to the east, his plan was not successful as a limited amount did come. Seeking to blacken and africanize the eastern portion of the island and trying to create a more amicable and close relationship with the U.S. through trade. Boyer planned and brought to the eastern portion of the island about 8,000 african-american former slaves through a church organization which dually wanted to humanely treat but also expel former slaves from the U.S. Despite his plan being implemented to discourage an uprising from the dominican populace, it failed miserably for he wished that 100,000 former slaves be introduced to the island, but only about 10,000 did come and many went back to the United States, because of the utter poverty and cultural and linguistic differences with haitians. This and many other reasons made us naturally want to separate from Haiti, in 1838 Juan Pablo Duarte creates and heads Los Trinitarios an underground organization which promoted and seeked freedom from the haitian occupation.

I think that it's not that different from the one that Lois Malkun did for the big "investors" in the Baninter fracas of 2003. Forgive me for saying this, but I couldn't help but sometimes feeling a sense of perverse satisfaction of seeing the US giant finally take a spoonful of their own medicine during the current crisis. I think that they now understand the dangers of applying what they preach (that is, uncompromising corporate anarchy), without establishing a salutary limit to the natural greed of human beings when found without something to restrain it.

ladronaso, regarding your question on the bank bailout; let us start out with the basic premise that Ben Bernanke adheres rigidly to the theory that the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression by ill conceived decisions after the stock market crashed. instead of increasing liquidity, it restricted it. the fed should have been in the market of buying discounted treasury bonds from commercial banks, in order to free up liquidity; it was, on the other hand, selling bonds, reducing liquidity. instead of reducing the discount rate on bonds, it increased it, further aggravating the problem. had the fed did more to increase money supply, the depression would not have happened. the big bank panic came with the collapse of the bank of the united states( i think that was the name.) when the bank collapsed, it paid off 92.5% of its creditors. with a little injection of cash from the fed, a bank like that could have been saved. my only question to Bernanke is this: given the fact that the USA was on the gold standard, and all monetary increases had to be backed by gold reserves, was there not a limit on what the fed could have done, short of abandoning the gold standard? Bernanke does not want the impending depression to be blamed on the fed, so he is making sure that the commercial banks get taken care of first, so consumption does not collapse from a lack of liquidity. if consumption collapses, everything else does, by way of the multiplier effect

actually, Mr Lautaro, the identical set of circumstances which ushered in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, are seen in the crisis today. try to remember that the crash came under Herbert Hoover, the ideological tutor of Reagan and Bush. remember that the 1920s was a time of boom and consumerism, ( they did not call it The Roaring Twenties for nothing) ,what with the industrial giants such as the automobile and radio industries turning giant profits. only agriculture was in the toilet. but, true to republican ideology, wealth should only belong to a few, while the many got crumbs. so, the Revenue Act of 1926 cut the tax rate on millionaire incomes by 61%!!!, 0.1% of the population owned as much wealth as the bottom 42%.( yes, that was point one of a percentage point, not 1%) there were massive corporate profits and shareholder dividends, but workers were making pittances in the big industries (which later ushered in the age of trade unions). everyone was a hustler, making shady trades in stocks, buying on margin. the liquidity ratio was only 10% so a bank with a million dollar capitalisation could lend 9 million!! everybody was "telescoping the future", by buying on credit, and there were very few regulations on the banking system, other than the gold standard. stock prices went through the roof with all the speculation, but were highly overvalued. too much money in too few hands caused a reduction in consumption;; a guy with 5000 dollars in the bank will buy one refrigerator, but a guy with 50,000 is not going to buy ten!! any of this sound familiar?

Do you know the worst thing about it all? the fact that policymakers had enough examples on their hands about what to avoid in order to save face. For example, they could have studied the case of the South sea bubble of 1720 in the UK, which was almost equally devastating to the world's economy.

exactly, Mr Lautaro. they had history on their side as an ally; if they had just looked at the past, they could have seen what was coming. republican policies of trickle down economics have long been discredited, yet they keep trying them, hoping for a different outcome. Coolidge and Hoover, Reagan, Bush and son; same philosophy, same result...economic devastation for all. heck, the economist Ludwig von Mises predicted the Great Depression years before it happened!!!