I’ve been thinking for some time that there’s a much greater chance of Stefanik becoming Speaker than McCarthy. I wondered if there was any chance that she would’ve had access to the tapes and the ability to leak them.
That must be a wonderful working relationship between the two of them. I can’t imagine living my life in such an amoral way.
Occasionally karma does come around to bite those who most deserve it. Rick Wilson made famous ETTD. Not to wish ill upon anyone, only the just desserts of their actions. Nature taking its course.
Our far left and far right cannot put aside their political differences and work cooperatively on behalf of their constituents. Too much gamesmanship and gotcha. Moderates in both major parties have been purged from their respective parties. So, nothing gets accomplished and dark money continues to fill the odious politician's coffers. We are doomed.
The election is fixed way before election day...challenging petitions and fixing primaries are just the start...keeping third parties that are actually not attached to the two parties off the ballot...why even Socrates hated democracy...he did not think common people should have a say in their future government...watching the shiny objects distracts from any meaningful understanding of the issues...
You recently admonished me and another individual for getting too politically involved in a back and forth in the comment section. Today's writings by you do little to discourage those type of discussions. I'll just leave it there for the time being.
The idea that both parties are becoming more extreme is simply wrong. Let’s rewind to the 60’s & 70’s. The big issues then: civil rights including voting rights, women's rights (the ERA and abortion), nascent LGBTQ rights movement (Stonewall), equal pay/living wage; the environment including pollution, extinction, climate change; and the economy including issues around fossil fuels, foreign trade. The Left has been consistent on those issues in demanding increased social justice across the board. The Right however has been inconsistent. Nixon created the 1st panel to investigate climate change. Roe v Wade was considered settled law by all but an extremist fringe. When Floridian Anita Bryant attacked gays a majority of Americans Left and Right stood against her - all but the most extreme Right fringe. Just this month FL Gov DeSantis signed anti-gay and anti-Disney legislation. Anti-Disney! And while a great majority likely believe that is ridiculous he is the elected governor of the 3rd largest state.
What are the “extremists” on the Left fighting for? The same things MLK fought for: civil rights, economic rights, voting rights. The Right is moving toward positions even George Wallace eventually rejected. The Supreme Court, given a chance, will likely outlaw abortion in nearly all cases. Is that not Right wing extremism?
But that gets me to my real point which I’ll add in a separate post if this site allows …
… The Right has worked for decades to subvert the intent of a majority of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The divide was there at the start. The men (women, minorities, and the economically dispossessed were not included in forming our government) who formed our Union set up a carefully divided government with the intent that no single axis of power could wield all the reins of government.
The Electoral College was made to balance the mood swings of the electorate. While rural interests had advantage it was balanced by popular vote count.
The legislature was divided between the hot tempered House and the deliberative Senate.
The Executive was balanced by the Legislature and the Courts.
The Courts were made safe from interference by long terms and power to restrict actions the other branches of government.
What we see today is that decades of work behind the scenes by conservative and libertarian interests have built a machinery dedicated to subverting the original intent of the Founders to create a government resistant to a power grab.
While D and R both gerrymander the GOP has been particularly effective. The GOP has been very effective lately at restricting voting rights. Granted, Dems have worked assiduously to increase voting rights, but I see that as a neutral good.
The GOP has also been effective at swinging very close elections to their side, while claiming that Dems have been the ones who cheat. While there is certainly evidence from 60 years ago that the Chicago political machine threw power to Kennedy the string of presidents since then - Nixon/Ford, Reagan/Bush effectively 3 terms; GWB 2 terms; Trump 1 term; vs Carter 1 term, Clinton 2 terms; Obama 2 terms; Biden - has allowed GOP to heavily skew the courts in a conservative direction. Slow walking on nominations has happened on both sides, but again GOP has been very effective even to the point of stealing a rightful nomination to SCOUTS from Obama.
The bottom line is that the Founders made one critical error: they depended on men (women) to have a sense of Honor. They foolishly believed that even the rabble would in nearly all cases elect representatives with a deep sense of personal honor. Honor was so much a part of their lives they found it incredible that there would need to be a written repercussion for violation of an oath of office. Yet even just 2 days ago we witnessed a member of Congress sit in a court of law and perjure herself - or very nearly so because her personal sense of honor allows her to baldly state that she had “no recollection,” “did not recall,” didn’t remember incidents that we have certainty she did.
I’ve been thinking for some time that there’s a much greater chance of Stefanik becoming Speaker than McCarthy. I wondered if there was any chance that she would’ve had access to the tapes and the ability to leak them.
That must be a wonderful working relationship between the two of them. I can’t imagine living my life in such an amoral way.
Occasionally karma does come around to bite those who most deserve it. Rick Wilson made famous ETTD. Not to wish ill upon anyone, only the just desserts of their actions. Nature taking its course.
Our far left and far right cannot put aside their political differences and work cooperatively on behalf of their constituents. Too much gamesmanship and gotcha. Moderates in both major parties have been purged from their respective parties. So, nothing gets accomplished and dark money continues to fill the odious politician's coffers. We are doomed.
Dark! But probably true.
The election is fixed way before election day...challenging petitions and fixing primaries are just the start...keeping third parties that are actually not attached to the two parties off the ballot...why even Socrates hated democracy...he did not think common people should have a say in their future government...watching the shiny objects distracts from any meaningful understanding of the issues...
You recently admonished me and another individual for getting too politically involved in a back and forth in the comment section. Today's writings by you do little to discourage those type of discussions. I'll just leave it there for the time being.
The other guy was the target. He is a troll!
So much to comment on…
The idea that both parties are becoming more extreme is simply wrong. Let’s rewind to the 60’s & 70’s. The big issues then: civil rights including voting rights, women's rights (the ERA and abortion), nascent LGBTQ rights movement (Stonewall), equal pay/living wage; the environment including pollution, extinction, climate change; and the economy including issues around fossil fuels, foreign trade. The Left has been consistent on those issues in demanding increased social justice across the board. The Right however has been inconsistent. Nixon created the 1st panel to investigate climate change. Roe v Wade was considered settled law by all but an extremist fringe. When Floridian Anita Bryant attacked gays a majority of Americans Left and Right stood against her - all but the most extreme Right fringe. Just this month FL Gov DeSantis signed anti-gay and anti-Disney legislation. Anti-Disney! And while a great majority likely believe that is ridiculous he is the elected governor of the 3rd largest state.
What are the “extremists” on the Left fighting for? The same things MLK fought for: civil rights, economic rights, voting rights. The Right is moving toward positions even George Wallace eventually rejected. The Supreme Court, given a chance, will likely outlaw abortion in nearly all cases. Is that not Right wing extremism?
But that gets me to my real point which I’ll add in a separate post if this site allows …
… The Right has worked for decades to subvert the intent of a majority of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The divide was there at the start. The men (women, minorities, and the economically dispossessed were not included in forming our government) who formed our Union set up a carefully divided government with the intent that no single axis of power could wield all the reins of government.
The Electoral College was made to balance the mood swings of the electorate. While rural interests had advantage it was balanced by popular vote count.
The legislature was divided between the hot tempered House and the deliberative Senate.
The Executive was balanced by the Legislature and the Courts.
The Courts were made safe from interference by long terms and power to restrict actions the other branches of government.
What we see today is that decades of work behind the scenes by conservative and libertarian interests have built a machinery dedicated to subverting the original intent of the Founders to create a government resistant to a power grab.
While D and R both gerrymander the GOP has been particularly effective. The GOP has been very effective lately at restricting voting rights. Granted, Dems have worked assiduously to increase voting rights, but I see that as a neutral good.
The GOP has also been effective at swinging very close elections to their side, while claiming that Dems have been the ones who cheat. While there is certainly evidence from 60 years ago that the Chicago political machine threw power to Kennedy the string of presidents since then - Nixon/Ford, Reagan/Bush effectively 3 terms; GWB 2 terms; Trump 1 term; vs Carter 1 term, Clinton 2 terms; Obama 2 terms; Biden - has allowed GOP to heavily skew the courts in a conservative direction. Slow walking on nominations has happened on both sides, but again GOP has been very effective even to the point of stealing a rightful nomination to SCOUTS from Obama.
The bottom line is that the Founders made one critical error: they depended on men (women) to have a sense of Honor. They foolishly believed that even the rabble would in nearly all cases elect representatives with a deep sense of personal honor. Honor was so much a part of their lives they found it incredible that there would need to be a written repercussion for violation of an oath of office. Yet even just 2 days ago we witnessed a member of Congress sit in a court of law and perjure herself - or very nearly so because her personal sense of honor allows her to baldly state that she had “no recollection,” “did not recall,” didn’t remember incidents that we have certainty she did.