jaxexpat
jaxexpat's JournalI think an observation to be made from the "a leader doesn't decide who is right" point of view is that ..........
some people's behavioral compass is in a state of being hi-jacked by acceptance of a "faultless doctrine". The idea that there are no legitimate or predictable negative consequences to poor-wrong-bad behaviors. I suspect this, to some great extent, is a result of our litigious society's corrupted and liquified concept of justice. This result has a corrosive effect on general civility, a return to the jungle and its laws.
The plainest example of this ethos in action is, I think, represented by attorneys and their big brothers and sisters, judges. Propounding the positive value of wrongness or denial of guilt and consequences is integral to performing some tasks associated with the legal profession. It requires the divorce of evidence from fact, cause from effect, at some level and to some extent. It is controversial that so many of our government's elected performers spring from a profession wherein the balance of right vs wrong is in eternal and circumstantial adjustment.
Hey, I get there's no preferable system available. I'm just saying, one often gets what one is willing to pay for or tolerate or elect.
The bottom of the food chain is like a pyramid.
Thats where most of the structure is found. Working class people make up the single largest demographic in the nation. Working class men, women, old, young, minority or white, urban or suburban have more votes than any other group. It is the unintentional tendency of Democratic strategists to appear to overlook and discount them that has enabled the GOP to conscript many of them, even to vote against their own interests. Joe Biden exemplifies a politician who seems to understand and care about them. His presence was the key to our "success" this midterm. Some working-class people found energy sufficient to vote for things they trusted and understood, pulling them away from the ranks of the GOP.
We need to admit the Republicans gave Democrats this election. It was not our tactics or record which attracted voters. The ham-fisted gaffs of Trumpism and anti-abortion folks, both off their leashes, were unforced errors which should have left them literally reeling from the 11/8 outcome. That they stood at all, that they actually will take the House should have never happened. We weren't able to beat them into oblivion even as they stood flatfooted, jaw first because, perhaps, we were preoccupied marginalizing people who should be in our own ranks.
I think this is maybe unobvious or counterintuitive to most of the DU crowd, but it does seem to address some questions that we must answer in order to see an end to this ridiculous perversion of democracy in a suicidal lunge toward fascism. Questions like, why do they vote against their own economic interests? Why does the military support a party who uses them as pawns for profit? We may never gain the votes of the evangelical crowd, but I think we should be able to pull in some of the sport-hunting-gun demographic. I think they may actually be growing tired of being taken for granted and played for patsies. The evidence for this may be found in the surprising defeat of L. Boebert.
I've been told how totally wrong I am, but.............
I still see inflation as simple price gouging in a vacuum created by temporary shortages. The markets realign with surprising quickness, but their duration is controlled by the same forces, efficiencies, which contribute to the realignment. As this point, inflation is being artificially sustained by middlemen who are taking windfalls from panic pricing opportunities they have a hand in generating.
There was one guy who agreed, Joe Biden, and he pretty much told the producers of petroleum products, for instance, to stop with the artificial scarcity and the unnecessary punishment it was bringing to regular consumers. Unfortunately, they were still nursing the damage to their control of the world's energy prices inflicted by his totally reasonable domestic drilling restrictions and don't give a damn what a Democratic president thinks is patriotic or not. The same could be said of international shipping concerns who stand to go broke or get "really" well as they scramble, reacting to new markets created by filling shortages created by geopolitical shenanigans.
I see the solution to inflation as the same solution to government corruption. Enforce current laws. White collar criminals and the wealthy/powerful can sit in prison cells just like rapists, thieves and murderers. Unfortunately, the equivocation which currently suffices for legal theory up and down our justice spectrum does not allow for interpretation or enforcement of statutes in ways which may cause the feathers of entrenched bureaucrats and energy dons to ruffle.
So whuddawedo? Take it, until we can't.
American democracy.
From the moment a founding father ever even used the term "democracy" among his peers there have been those who so despise the concept of government by the people that they have continually fought against it. The current outrages are the contemporary versions of their objections and excuses. It was never a given that one man would have one vote. But it is a fundamental truth that the principle of "one man one vote" defines democracy. All the problems our nation has had and continues to experience stem from persistent perversion of voting principle and process. The good thing is that since the problem is so basic it makes it just that much easier to repair. There is no currently pending legislation that holds a candle to the importance of federal election standardization. I expect there will also be no legislation so passionately fought against since the freeing of the slaves. The deafening noise we hear in the background is the echoing roar of ancient compromise.
Skimming the headlines scrolling past my eyes, I've noticed a current fascination.....
with "China War" scenarios using some oxygen in the fear-o-sphere.
Military types calling for additional troops and technologies deployments in the western Pacific. Some worry about China swallowing Taiwan at some future point in time. Others worry that China will occupy the pedestal of super-est superpower and that the US has got to beef up to keep up. Haven't seen any concern about corrupt totalitarianism in the Philippines though or the threat of Japan's continued dependence on nuclear power to meet their energy needs.
I know there are some A-class thinkers at DU and would like to read their 'knowledge of' or 'take on' this stuff. Anybody know anything or is this just neo-con fearmongering celebrating the fact that a Democrat is POTUS and they still own the media? Like the Pacific itself, these are big questions. Are they legitimate?
The well-wishing and a half-hearted overture to unity lasted about 8 hours, maybe less.
The GOP representatives and senators already setting up their position to oppose the President's agenda, the Democratic agenda. It's kinda cool really since Trumps not around to foul the air. With republicans it's ALWAYS about what's best for the wealthy. If they smell a tax increase for the top 10% or a fair shake for the working class they go to their standard anti-socialist/communist diatribe. But to be clear. It's American (and international) billionaire donors and their corporations which guide their conscience.
I would like Democrats to steer the conversation toward value for cost. A common sense, check-book-balancing sort of concept. I believe the American people, at this point in time, may be able to understand the conversation when it's laid out like: How valuable is the statistic of having more billionaires per capita? Does it make for a more powerful military? A more secure economy? A healthier society? Better healthcare? Better quality of life? Better highways and bridges? More secure elections and better government? Does it make your neighborhood more sociable? Does it help the fellow down the street whose wife is in the hospital more likely to receive your offer of assistance, your voice of concern? Does it make your relationship with your family stronger, more loving? Do your children have a real chance at higher quality education?
From the political perspective, it's downright "Bill Clinton" simple. Give the people a chance to weigh the facts and they'll ALWAYS make the best choice. We're basking under a new sun. These are Democrat's moments to outline the facts and provide the choices. There will be NO quarter given by the republicans. Nor should they receive any since already their tireless propaganda machine cranks out their dishonest and disingenuous spin on the issues.
The worst person Trump inflicted on this country was Betsy Devos. The worst person "W" inflicted on us was her brother, Erik Prince.
Driving in very rural southern Alabama yesterday,
I was shocked to see 2 biden harris signs in public. Alongside a major secondary road. Saw very few trump signs.
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Member since: Sat Nov 10, 2012, 07:30 AMNumber of posts: 6,818