Douglas, your points are valid and some of them hold tremendous merit. However, there is such a thing as over-reach. Americans' don't like 1-party rule. How Trump controls all branches of government, I do not think will serve anyone well. Our country is in constant whiplash mode. One year we are free to travel to Cuba the next year we are not. Who is to say that Trump wont want to put Obama Care back on the firing line? I'm not enamored with it. But, I also believe patients with pre-existing conditions shall be allowed to keep their health insurance, no matter what.
I also never saw a Republican Congress that didn't like a tax-cut. That contributes to inflation as well, and it erodes the baseline for what is an acceptable tax-base. I don't think people bringing in half-a million a year (or higher) should have the same low tax rate as someone only making $50-75K a year. That is just bad economics, and stupid math!
I will agree with you that Democrats clearly have been bad at wielding power. How we got to a Trump Part II, when "Democracy was on the line", makes the Dems look incredibly feckless and weak. The knives are out big time within the Democratic tent. It's quite the circular firing squad going on now, some of it a bit justified. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/17/slotkin-gallego-harris-battleground-states-democrats-00190048
But, I will also say, and this might be a side-note from your larger point, that you seem to disregard "the cult of personality". Trump is certainly one! Obama is too. It's a shame they never went head-to-head, as Trump could have taken his shot in 2012. Clearly he ducked Obama much like Tyson probably should have ducked Jake Paul this past Friday ;-)
I disagree that Americans don't like one party rule. I think they do. When it's their 'team', one party rule suits them just fine. R and D. As you correctly stated with the sharp knives coming out, they're coming out because the House and Senate are R controlled now.
Obamacare is a sop to the insurance / banking industry. Premiums went up around 12% this past cycle. Instead of a somewhat free market for insurance, the banking / insurance cabal got it so that people are forced to buy health insurance, and they get to decide price. If I replaced "insurance" with "automobiles", everyone would go crazy. But, because it was an Obama product, everyone went to sleep, and the ACA will help bankrupt the country along with the biggest budget item on the Federal ledger: Medicare and Medicaid. I also haven't heard anyone talking about eliminating the ACA.
As with much of the Trump phenomenon, we hear a lot about what he might do, while we have 4 years of record to look at.
What's wrong with a tax cut? Why is $36,000 pulled out of my income and I not only don't get a say as to where it goes, but I never see it in the first place? Why is your $$ going to Ukraine? Why is it filling the coffers of the Military Industrial Complex? How is it the US didn't have an income tax until 1913, and it wasn't much of a thing until WWII - yet the country had roads, railways, colleges, schools, an Army, Navy ..... how was that possible without an income tax? The rate should be 0%.
Dude - the Obama / Trump octagon cage match would have been great. That's a fantastic counterfactual. The cult of personality aspect would have been epic. Holy $(*&!!
I had to use eyebleach and watch old Mike Tyson knockouts to fix the situation after the debacle we had to see. Simply awful. Not even good entertainment.
As I said on another of your posts, I believe Democracy was very much on the ballot in 2024 -and the group that was the actual threat to Democracy can not understand why they did not win.
Re: Muslim communities: Ali Sultan has a bit where he talks about how when he was in school the teacher said, "They hate us for our freedom?" He talks about living in a country with no operating government is the most freedom you can have. He says he wants to live in a country where there are consequences for jaywalking.
Correct big time on your first point. "Democracy is on the ballot" isn't a winning strategy no matter how you slice it. It's a meaningless jingle. McDonalds commercials have more substance (and better food pics'. It's almost like they figured they'd run on nothing, or "we're not Orange Man" and that would be enough.
Ali Sultan is right. That's what people want. Your comment reminds me of when Bolsonaro won in Brazil. American AWFLs couldn't understand it at all. Greenwald tried to explain that even the feminist aunts and grandmas in Brazil get tired of some motorcycle riding masked bandit holding a gun to your neck and getting robbed on the way home from work every week. Eventually they will vote for a strongman. Sobs about 'systemic poverty' and 'equity' won't get the job done.
You’re preaching to the choir here, but that’s okay! I’ve been alive for more than six decades, and I’ve never experienced such relief after an election as this one. 2016 is a close second.
Douglas, your points are valid and some of them hold tremendous merit. However, there is such a thing as over-reach. Americans' don't like 1-party rule. How Trump controls all branches of government, I do not think will serve anyone well. Our country is in constant whiplash mode. One year we are free to travel to Cuba the next year we are not. Who is to say that Trump wont want to put Obama Care back on the firing line? I'm not enamored with it. But, I also believe patients with pre-existing conditions shall be allowed to keep their health insurance, no matter what.
I also never saw a Republican Congress that didn't like a tax-cut. That contributes to inflation as well, and it erodes the baseline for what is an acceptable tax-base. I don't think people bringing in half-a million a year (or higher) should have the same low tax rate as someone only making $50-75K a year. That is just bad economics, and stupid math!
I will agree with you that Democrats clearly have been bad at wielding power. How we got to a Trump Part II, when "Democracy was on the line", makes the Dems look incredibly feckless and weak. The knives are out big time within the Democratic tent. It's quite the circular firing squad going on now, some of it a bit justified. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/17/slotkin-gallego-harris-battleground-states-democrats-00190048
But, I will also say, and this might be a side-note from your larger point, that you seem to disregard "the cult of personality". Trump is certainly one! Obama is too. It's a shame they never went head-to-head, as Trump could have taken his shot in 2012. Clearly he ducked Obama much like Tyson probably should have ducked Jake Paul this past Friday ;-)
I disagree that Americans don't like one party rule. I think they do. When it's their 'team', one party rule suits them just fine. R and D. As you correctly stated with the sharp knives coming out, they're coming out because the House and Senate are R controlled now.
Bill Maher explains the losing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCK-dMb-F8
Obamacare is a sop to the insurance / banking industry. Premiums went up around 12% this past cycle. Instead of a somewhat free market for insurance, the banking / insurance cabal got it so that people are forced to buy health insurance, and they get to decide price. If I replaced "insurance" with "automobiles", everyone would go crazy. But, because it was an Obama product, everyone went to sleep, and the ACA will help bankrupt the country along with the biggest budget item on the Federal ledger: Medicare and Medicaid. I also haven't heard anyone talking about eliminating the ACA.
As with much of the Trump phenomenon, we hear a lot about what he might do, while we have 4 years of record to look at.
What's wrong with a tax cut? Why is $36,000 pulled out of my income and I not only don't get a say as to where it goes, but I never see it in the first place? Why is your $$ going to Ukraine? Why is it filling the coffers of the Military Industrial Complex? How is it the US didn't have an income tax until 1913, and it wasn't much of a thing until WWII - yet the country had roads, railways, colleges, schools, an Army, Navy ..... how was that possible without an income tax? The rate should be 0%.
Dude - the Obama / Trump octagon cage match would have been great. That's a fantastic counterfactual. The cult of personality aspect would have been epic. Holy $(*&!!
I had to use eyebleach and watch old Mike Tyson knockouts to fix the situation after the debacle we had to see. Simply awful. Not even good entertainment.
As I said on another of your posts, I believe Democracy was very much on the ballot in 2024 -and the group that was the actual threat to Democracy can not understand why they did not win.
Re: Muslim communities: Ali Sultan has a bit where he talks about how when he was in school the teacher said, "They hate us for our freedom?" He talks about living in a country with no operating government is the most freedom you can have. He says he wants to live in a country where there are consequences for jaywalking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y45yvjDKwKg
Correct big time on your first point. "Democracy is on the ballot" isn't a winning strategy no matter how you slice it. It's a meaningless jingle. McDonalds commercials have more substance (and better food pics'. It's almost like they figured they'd run on nothing, or "we're not Orange Man" and that would be enough.
Ali Sultan is right. That's what people want. Your comment reminds me of when Bolsonaro won in Brazil. American AWFLs couldn't understand it at all. Greenwald tried to explain that even the feminist aunts and grandmas in Brazil get tired of some motorcycle riding masked bandit holding a gun to your neck and getting robbed on the way home from work every week. Eventually they will vote for a strongman. Sobs about 'systemic poverty' and 'equity' won't get the job done.
You’re preaching to the choir here, but that’s okay! I’ve been alive for more than six decades, and I’ve never experienced such relief after an election as this one. 2016 is a close second.
Thank you walk2write. You're 10 years ahead of me but you sound like someone much younger.
This will be one of the more historic elections in American history, in my opinion.