Jump to content

Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped?


Winstonm

Recommended Posts

Somebody needs to confirm that Putin himself has questioned the invasion effort. I am prepared to LOL at the cause of Poopin Putin's cause of death. Hopefully it won't be one of the recycled reasons that they have been reported for the last few deaths. Maybe Putin can hire a Fox Propaganda Channel comedy writer as one of his last acts so that he will have a memorable cause of death.

The Atlantic terms it Sudden Russian Death Syndrome and advises against standing close to open windows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's starting to look like Donald Trump might be the only candidate for Speaker of the US House of Representatives agreeable to all the republican representatives. He will need a special gavel.

Legally this is a real possibility-Trump, though, would only lease his name to the project for certain..ahem… considerations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's embarrassing. In addition to everything else that can be said, it's embarrassing. I have been critical of Democrats but at least they could elect a Speaker. PBS had a Republican on the Newshour explaining that negotiation is a good thing, and the expression of opposing views is a good thing. Well, yeah. But the election was in November. Did the Republicans just realize yesterday that they have to elect a Speaker? Maybe they could have prepared? Discussed? Negotiated? Sometime before yesterday?

This goes way beyond what I think of Republican positions or Democratic positions. The House is now led, if "led" is even remotely the word, by a bunch of incompetent jerks. Nothing good will come of this. Nothing good for anyone.

We desperately need 218 people in the House who think the future of the country is important. No luck so far.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They used to say that about the Presidency. I'm sure he could figure out a way to fit it into his golf schedule.

 

Trump is a hard worker. Trouble is the only work he does is self-promotion. There is no room in his schedule for non-transactional concerns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's embarrassing. In addition to everything else that can be said, it's embarrassing. I have been critical of Democrats but at least they could elect a Speaker. PBS had a Republican on the Newshour explaining that negotiation is a good thing, and the expression of opposing views is a good thing. Well, yeah. But the election was in November. Did the Republicans just realize yesterday that they have to elect a Speaker? Maybe they could have prepared? Discussed? Negotiated? Sometime before yesterday?

This goes way beyond what I think of Republican positions or Democratic positions. The House is now led, if "led" is even remotely the word, by a bunch of incompetent jerks. Nothing good will come of this. Nothing good for anyone.

We desperately need 218 people in the House who think the future of the country is important. No luck so far.

 

These are people who worked to overthrow the election and want to do away with the government as is. It may come to the point where the Democrats will have to form a coalition with some Rebulicans to elect a speaker..

 

The January 6 insurrection continues.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a democratic republic to work, the legitimacy of opposing opinion must be admitted; that these 20 are preventing governance to begin shows not an interest in greater inclusion but that they hold only their values sacrosanct to the point of destroying any opposition regardless the cost.

 

Totalitarianism hidden behind a mask of democratic demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are people who worked to overthrow the election and want to do away with the government as is. It may come to the point where the Democrats will have to form a coalition with some Rebulicans to elect a speaker..

 

The January 6 insurrection continues.

McCarthy and most of the Never-Kevins are election deniers. So why doesn't McCarthy just say that the Speaker election is a fraud and declare himself the winner? His opponents would be hypocrites if they refuse this, and we've never known politicians to be hypocrites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

McCarthy and most of the Never-Kevins are election deniers. So why doesn't McCarthy just say that the Speaker election is a fraud and declare himself the winner? His opponents would be hypocrites if they refuse this, and we've never known politicians to be hypocrites.

 

They would first have to allow mail-in ballots claim victory before any of them were counted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was 13 or so I was away at camp and a tornado came in from across the nearby lake. We could see it coming. They got us out just in time. The next morning, a tree was lying across a tent that a couple of kids had been in. Before they got us out lightning struck a tree about five feet from the tent my friend and I were in but the tree did not fall. Whew.

 

Some rescue plans are "just in time" and others are "too late". I have lived in the USA for all of my life, I am thinking we might well have reached the "too late" stage. I have no idea what to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was 13 or so I was away at camp and a tornado came in from across the nearby lake. We could see it coming. They got us out just in time. The next morning, a tree was lying across a tent that a couple of kids had been in. Before they got us out lightning struck a tree about five feet from the tent my friend and I were in but the tree did not fall. Whew.

 

Some rescue plans are "just in time" and others are "too late". I have lived in the USA for all of my life, I am thinking we might well have reached the "too late" stage. I have no idea what to do.

 

This may well be Gordian’s knot. The answer is to restore and respect norms of democratic governance, to vote for the best candidate regardless of party; however, when one party insists on ignoring norms and the constitutional order that party’s candidates are automatically invalidated, even the rare decent one. That means the solution is straight party voting but that is precisely what the other side does and wants as it allows them to claim Democrats unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

 

Unfortunately, change is personal and cannot be coerced; however, it can be encouraged by skillful presentation of the truth over and over until cognitive dissonance overwhelms the ingrained resistance to change.

 

Or we can always move to Portugal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may well be Gordian's knot. The answer is to restore and respect norms of democratic governance, to vote for the best candidate regardless of party; however, when one party insists on ignoring norms and the constitutional order that party's candidates are automatically invalidated, even the rare decent one. That means the solution is straight party voting but that is precisely what the other side does and wants as it allows them to claim Democrats unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

 

Unfortunately, change is personal and cannot be coerced; however, it can be encouraged by skillful presentation of the truth over and over until cognitive dissonance overwhelms the ingrained resistance to change.

 

Or we can always move to Portugal.

 

 

 

Perhaps the above is a plan but I read it more as an acknowledgment that we are at the end. I guess "skillful presentation of the truth" has been tried. Or at least "skillful presentation of the truth as the presenter sees the truth". And it helped some. The Red Wave didn't happen, not on the predicted scale. Still, I have trouble seeing a way out.

 

 

Portugal? No. I didn't run off to Canada in the 1960s when I was young and frisky, I'm not going to Portugal now. I suppose I could open a gin joint in Casablanca. Maybe Ingrid Bergman would come by, and she and I could pick up where we left off with our relationship in Paris. No. Becky would object. I guess I will stay where I am.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps the above is a plan but I read it more as an acknowledgment that we are at the end. I guess "skillful presentation of the truth" has been tried. Or at least "skillful presentation of the truth as the presenter sees the truth". And it helped some. The Red Wave didn't happen, not on the predicted scale. Still, I have trouble seeing a way out.

 

 

Portugal? No. I didn't run off to Canada in the 1960s when I was young and frisky, I'm not going to Portugal now. I suppose I could open a gin joint in Casablanca. Maybe Ingrid Bergman would come by, and she and I could pick up where we left off with our relationship in Paris. No. Becky would object. I guess I will stay where I am.

 

We may well be at an end. Even salvageable it will take generations. In the meantime vote Democratic and hope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...