OP
OP
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- He/Him/His
Not okay with just better than the alternative
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StarTopic US Politics |ST| The Kyrsten Sinema-tic Universe
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Tlozbj
Tektite
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At least on the politician side, that is 50% because they serve as shields for some other moderate Dems like Coons and Carper. While the other 50% is because they know that in a majority of exactly 50 seats + VP, they need more of Manchin and Sinema, than Manchin and Sinema need the party, so they can't push them to much as they may flip.
However, part of the issue is that Dems have let Manchin and Sinema carry the legislative kingmaker title for the past nine months. When reality is that any Dem can take up that role in such a small majority. For example, earlier on Duckworth and Hirono took the mantle to push the Administration to present more AAPI nominations. While on the House, the Progressive Caucus is using the similar slim majority to block the BIB until reconciliation passes the Senate. Just deny Manchin and/or Sinema the votes needed for one of their priorities until they budge on reconciliation and/or the filibuster.
Army of Light
Cappy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Of course the coal mine puppet is going to oppose efforts to combat climate change.
Army of Light
Cappy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There's no constitutional mechanism I can see for the reforms that need to be made but the interests of reactionaries are vastly over represented in the senate because of the rule of having two senators per state regardless of size. I would love to see the Senate abolished but again, no constitutional way to do that.
Here are some options, I can see.
A multigenerational, long term strategy to revitalize unions and bring people in rural areas back to the Democratic party that transcends the election cycle, though we may not have time for this given how the earth will soon become uninhabitable. People in these communities are not as bad as people think they are. Sure there are an abundance of shitheads but not a majority. They are heavily propagandized, right down to the text books. I'm from the south originally. We learned that the civil war "wasn't really about slavery." But there used to be a pro-union spirit, even in West Virginia, its just that the Democrats spent 40 years abandoning the working class, and the Republicans swooped in with culture war bullshit.
Bring in more states and play hardball when the Democrats are in charge and in general. Mitch McConnell doesn't care about "norms" or "taking the high road"
Allow felons and inmates to vote. The disenfranchisement of mass incarcerated people only provides a bigger incentive to incarcerate more people.
Here are some options, I can see.
A multigenerational, long term strategy to revitalize unions and bring people in rural areas back to the Democratic party that transcends the election cycle, though we may not have time for this given how the earth will soon become uninhabitable. People in these communities are not as bad as people think they are. Sure there are an abundance of shitheads but not a majority. They are heavily propagandized, right down to the text books. I'm from the south originally. We learned that the civil war "wasn't really about slavery." But there used to be a pro-union spirit, even in West Virginia, its just that the Democrats spent 40 years abandoning the working class, and the Republicans swooped in with culture war bullshit.
Bring in more states and play hardball when the Democrats are in charge and in general. Mitch McConnell doesn't care about "norms" or "taking the high road"
Allow felons and inmates to vote. The disenfranchisement of mass incarcerated people only provides a bigger incentive to incarcerate more people.
Army of Light
Cappy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The last possible option and it's the most depressing but it's probably the one that we're going to have to face, is that the Democrats just aren't going to do it.
We are on our own.
The things that are required to happen to make climate change a priority in the United States requires a system of power and accountability that just isn't there under the Constitution that we have. The Senate will always be a roadblock towards anything happening and we have to accept that.
We have to face the possible outcome that the Democrats will never ever implement any kind of climate change policy and we are going to have to stay the course in which case our only option is to prepare for a drastically changed world. We are going to need to prepare for a world that's going to have severe supply shortages for the foreseeable future because of droughts and natural disasters. We are going to have to prepare for building dual power to circumvent government aid. We're going to need to become preppers because the end of the world as we know it is coming, not necessarily the end of the world itself but the end of the world as we understand it.
Back in the '90s Francis fukuyama predicted the end of history and that was widely mocked after 9/11. Covid has shown that when it comes to a true crisis, our government is woefully inadequate and unprepared to make even the smallest changes to stop a calamity. We could have stopped covid in 2020 had we all gotten on board at the same time with paying people not to work, staying home, wearing masks, listening to qualified experts and it would have been over in a few weeks but instead we had the US government in charge of the United States. And they just couldn't do it.
The political process had given us a woefully incompetent leader who started
a culture war over masks instead and Congress was completely unwilling to pay people to stay home outside of three lump sum payments that didn't cover rent. Even with him gone, he's not gone. His stink remains. We also still have McConnell. If we didn't have McConnell we would have a different Republican doing the same thing.
1/6/21 was a demonstration that our government cannot and will not control the far right. They will try again and we might not be as lucky as we were in january. We are extremely lucky that that crowd of far-right people who had signs talking about murdering the Democrats and hanging Mike pence, we are extremely lucky that they didn't massacre the Democratic caucus so that they could have enough uncertainty to replace democracy with a trump dictatorship. That was an unlikely outcome but it gets more and more uncomfortably close every political shock. Even all that being the case, the government is treating the people who did this insurrection with kid clubs and most certainly is not prosecuting Trump himself. What should have been a dire warning has become a mirror echo. The far right hasn't gone anywhere. If anything they are even angrier than they were in January.
So what do we do? I don't actually know but I do know that we're going to need to build an alternative power structure that can fulfill our needs. If the government collapses we need to be ready to take care of people's need for food and housing. As the climate worsens we're going to see more and more horrific climate incidents such as that heat dome that happened in the Pacific Northwest that killed a whole bunch of people. There were people willing to help when that happened but then the police broke them up as anarchists agitators, spraying pepper spray on homeless people. Elsewhere there have been wildfires that have created climate refugees within the United States that have been shut out of any help because of reactionaries being elected to "take care of the homeless problem."
Our ruling class is willing to completely screw us over and then fly out to New Zealand to bunker down. When a horrific freeze happened in texas, where did Ted Cruz go? He went right to Cancun. And what about doing something about the climate emergency that would have been part of that. He's of course part of the Republican caucus and will not vote to do anything about our contribution to climate change. They can fly around and move to different parts of the world and leave you to die.
We are on our own. We cannot depend on these people in the Senate, Democrat or Republican. They just aren't going to help. So we have to work towards making it so we can help ourselves. I'm not talking about arming up or anything like that. But I am talking about having lunch programs, cooling stations, warming stations, stockpiling water and medicine, urban farming. Being ready for disasters when FEMA fails.
We are on our own.
The things that are required to happen to make climate change a priority in the United States requires a system of power and accountability that just isn't there under the Constitution that we have. The Senate will always be a roadblock towards anything happening and we have to accept that.
We have to face the possible outcome that the Democrats will never ever implement any kind of climate change policy and we are going to have to stay the course in which case our only option is to prepare for a drastically changed world. We are going to need to prepare for a world that's going to have severe supply shortages for the foreseeable future because of droughts and natural disasters. We are going to have to prepare for building dual power to circumvent government aid. We're going to need to become preppers because the end of the world as we know it is coming, not necessarily the end of the world itself but the end of the world as we understand it.
Back in the '90s Francis fukuyama predicted the end of history and that was widely mocked after 9/11. Covid has shown that when it comes to a true crisis, our government is woefully inadequate and unprepared to make even the smallest changes to stop a calamity. We could have stopped covid in 2020 had we all gotten on board at the same time with paying people not to work, staying home, wearing masks, listening to qualified experts and it would have been over in a few weeks but instead we had the US government in charge of the United States. And they just couldn't do it.
The political process had given us a woefully incompetent leader who started
a culture war over masks instead and Congress was completely unwilling to pay people to stay home outside of three lump sum payments that didn't cover rent. Even with him gone, he's not gone. His stink remains. We also still have McConnell. If we didn't have McConnell we would have a different Republican doing the same thing.
1/6/21 was a demonstration that our government cannot and will not control the far right. They will try again and we might not be as lucky as we were in january. We are extremely lucky that that crowd of far-right people who had signs talking about murdering the Democrats and hanging Mike pence, we are extremely lucky that they didn't massacre the Democratic caucus so that they could have enough uncertainty to replace democracy with a trump dictatorship. That was an unlikely outcome but it gets more and more uncomfortably close every political shock. Even all that being the case, the government is treating the people who did this insurrection with kid clubs and most certainly is not prosecuting Trump himself. What should have been a dire warning has become a mirror echo. The far right hasn't gone anywhere. If anything they are even angrier than they were in January.
So what do we do? I don't actually know but I do know that we're going to need to build an alternative power structure that can fulfill our needs. If the government collapses we need to be ready to take care of people's need for food and housing. As the climate worsens we're going to see more and more horrific climate incidents such as that heat dome that happened in the Pacific Northwest that killed a whole bunch of people. There were people willing to help when that happened but then the police broke them up as anarchists agitators, spraying pepper spray on homeless people. Elsewhere there have been wildfires that have created climate refugees within the United States that have been shut out of any help because of reactionaries being elected to "take care of the homeless problem."
Our ruling class is willing to completely screw us over and then fly out to New Zealand to bunker down. When a horrific freeze happened in texas, where did Ted Cruz go? He went right to Cancun. And what about doing something about the climate emergency that would have been part of that. He's of course part of the Republican caucus and will not vote to do anything about our contribution to climate change. They can fly around and move to different parts of the world and leave you to die.
We are on our own. We cannot depend on these people in the Senate, Democrat or Republican. They just aren't going to help. So we have to work towards making it so we can help ourselves. I'm not talking about arming up or anything like that. But I am talking about having lunch programs, cooling stations, warming stations, stockpiling water and medicine, urban farming. Being ready for disasters when FEMA fails.
This is really what it comes down to. If Democrats can only win the senate by electing senators who can then be bought out to not do anything, then the Democrats will never be able to do anything. You union idea is a good one, but there's no reason that should have to involve the Democrats.
D
Deleted member 1108
Guest
So Colin Powell is dead. Rest in piss bitch.
Army of Light
Cappy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Colin Powell is a bad person and he shouldn't be an "inspiration" to anybody. I've been seeing all these bad hot takes from liberals gushing about him and how they wish modern Republicans were more like him and how he was an American hero. Nobody should be eulogizing a war criminal.
Phosphorescent Skeleton
It's a hard world for little things.
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It is always okay, and in fact very cool, to celebrate war criminals dying. There's nothing complicated about his legacy, he is simply a merchant of death.
Phosphorescent Skeleton
It's a hard world for little things.
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I don't know why we'd feel bad for his family, they're doing just fine
Because it's a human thing to do. Feel bad for someone who may have lost a beloved (yet monstrous) grandfather.
It's good to do what the religious right refuses to do, and be empathetic.
Phosphorescent Skeleton
It's a hard world for little things.
- Pronouns
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My father is an terrible man, and I will be very happy when he dies. Colin Powell was many orders of magnitude worse then my father. They shouldn't mourn him, the world was a worse place with him in it. These people deserve no empathy.
Everyone has family members who are dead, and almost all of those families are worse off than Powell's. We don't care about those worse off families exactly because their dead relatives aren't evil enough to become famous, we shouldn't care about the family of one of the most evil people in living memory.
I think most people who have lost a loved one would sympathize with another person in the same situation. When you get into hypothetical situations like the one you describe, it's hard to say for certain because it's so abstract. In the case of Colin Powell, I think it's fair to feel sympathy for his family despite his political career. Consider the grandkids who lost a grandparent. I would give anything to have another beer with my grandfather or let my grandma meet my daughters. I'm sure Powell's family feels the same pain we've all felt. It's ok to recognize that while simultaneously remembering that he did bad things.
I have no reason to ever think about Colin Powell's family in any way.
Other than the fact that they've publicly lost a family member, neither do I. I'm sure I'll never think about them again after this episode is over.
Fair. The reason it bothers me when people bring it up is I often see it as a way to try to shame people for being glad a person is dead (not saying that's what happened here). Most/all of us didn't care about this people a week ago and won't care about them a week from now, so bringing them up can sometimes feel dishonest if that makes sense.
Lol. There are plenty of people who I would dance a little jig upon hearing of when they shuffle off the mortal coil, but I tend to keep that private, and try and have empathy for anyone who's lost a loved one - at least in the capacity of that loss.
I started having fantasies of owning a death note somewhere in 2016.
OP
OP
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L, this is the one you are looking for right here ^^
That's also fair. It's a sort of bandwagon jumping I suppose. I wouldn't let it bother you.
Quzar
Rattata
Almost as if it behooves them to allow this to happen.
monsterfundotcom
Happy Holidays!
The Senate is structured to allow some coal guy from WV or an actual demon from Kentucky to do this + the kinds of people who rise up high in the rankings of the Democratic party being either completely belligerent and not getting anything done or passive pushovers that create this nonsense.
Between the Senate, Electoral College, the insanely partisan court system, Citizen's United, and the office of the Presidency simply losing its luster I think we're genuinely witnessing the end of our centralized federal government.
That or its going to just become this shambling corpse that we're all forced to deal with
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Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics
Over his first nine months in office, President Biden has lost support among Americans of all stripes — men and women, Black voters and white voters, Zoomers an…
fivethirtyeight.com
Biden is quickly becoming very unpopular. He currently has a higher disapproval rating than Ford had post-Nixon pardon. Can't imagine that changes quickly with the supply line issues and complete lack of progress in congress.
Nintendianajones64
Bob-omb
American politics is so broken, it's basically a cold Civil War. I'm glad I got out of there before the shooting starts.
TaySan
Cappy
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2022/24 is going to be a disaster for Democrats if Biden doesn't act soon.Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics
Over his first nine months in office, President Biden has lost support among Americans of all stripes — men and women, Black voters and white voters, Zoomers an…
Biden is quickly becoming very unpopular. He currently has a higher disapproval rating than Ford had post-Nixon pardon. Can't imagine that changes quickly with the supply line issues and complete lack of progress in congress.
Tlozbj
Tektite
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's unsurprising, no politician would survive so much hits unscathed as the Biden-Harris Administration has been receiving since August:Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics
Over his first nine months in office, President Biden has lost support among Americans of all stripes — men and women, Black voters and white voters, Zoomers an…
Biden is quickly becoming very unpopular. He currently has a higher disapproval rating than Ford had post-Nixon pardon. Can't imagine that changes quickly with the supply line issues and complete lack of progress in congress.
- Early images of the Afghanistan retreat
- The Delta Wave
- Supply Chain Issues
- Inflation + Gas Prices
- BBB being stuck
- The recent kidnapping of US missionaries in Haiti
The Administration has been on a onslaught for quite some time, and that will surely continue for the variables you mentions that are more persistent, especially supply chain and its resulting price hikes. However, it is to be seen if Biden's numbers pull a Clinton once BBB passes and the supply chain is fixed. Though I wouldn't use current numbers to predict what will happen in 2022. It is still to early for that, especially as if things begin to get better as BBB programs begin and nothing else happens, Biden numbers should be up again. In addition that the time that takes may also affect the midterms, a Democratic Party who's President is finishing a bull run near the midterms may fair better than one which run finished earlier and is now stagnating.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Like it or not, everything, absolutely everything regarding politics comes back down to the economy.
Rent prices have jumped up a record 10-15%, the cost of food has risen considerably, the cost of gas has risen astronomically, the cost of material has risen, cost of entertainment, games, consoles, ect. Has risen.
All the while, wages have remained relatively stagnant for your average American. I know people that are slowly boiling as they slowly cannot afford everything that they need. Thats really bad news. And people that already couldn't afford everything with their current wages, are in an even worse position.
If people's well being are put into a boiler like this, how do they expect to be happy with their current leadership. Especially with how slow moving a democratic led congress is.
Rent prices have jumped up a record 10-15%, the cost of food has risen considerably, the cost of gas has risen astronomically, the cost of material has risen, cost of entertainment, games, consoles, ect. Has risen.
All the while, wages have remained relatively stagnant for your average American. I know people that are slowly boiling as they slowly cannot afford everything that they need. Thats really bad news. And people that already couldn't afford everything with their current wages, are in an even worse position.
If people's well being are put into a boiler like this, how do they expect to be happy with their current leadership. Especially with how slow moving a democratic led congress is.
Biden insisting on bringing back loan payments in January, too.
Phosphorescent Skeleton
It's a hard world for little things.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
E
Emily
Guest
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like education and student loans are a major priority for Biden's administration.
The first thing to get cut out of Biden's economic plan is... Free Community College.
During his campaign, Biden promised $10,000 in student loan relief to every American. So far, that promise has gone un-fulfilled.
I'll give him some credit: Biden and Miguel Cardona are trying to fix the student loan forgiveness program. But as CNN pointed out, it's a good start but not enough.
If prices of food, rent and gas are all increasing - while wages remain stagnant - then people won't be in a great position to pay off their student loans. That's just the reality of the situation.
The first thing to get cut out of Biden's economic plan is... Free Community College.
During his campaign, Biden promised $10,000 in student loan relief to every American. So far, that promise has gone un-fulfilled.
I'll give him some credit: Biden and Miguel Cardona are trying to fix the student loan forgiveness program. But as CNN pointed out, it's a good start but not enough.
If prices of food, rent and gas are all increasing - while wages remain stagnant - then people won't be in a great position to pay off their student loans. That's just the reality of the situation.
monsterfundotcom
Happy Holidays!
Had the opportunity to reelect FDR and they chose James Buchanan.Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics
Over his first nine months in office, President Biden has lost support among Americans of all stripes — men and women, Black voters and white voters, Zoomers an…
Biden is quickly becoming very unpopular. He currently has a higher disapproval rating than Ford had post-Nixon pardon. Can't imagine that changes quickly with the supply line issues and complete lack of progress in congress.
I think it's more likely that we elected fdr but didn't also elect fdr levels of congressional majorities.
monsterfundotcom
Happy Holidays!
These two things are related. I'll need to explain it later.
Ostia
Octorok
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Lmao you can’t be serious
I'm not making any kind of value judgement on Biden being truly "fdr-tier" or whatever, but he has genuinely proposed massive legislation.
He also has basically the smallest possible majority in Congress. If there were more Democrats in the house and the Senate it wouldn't matter what two senators thought about that legislation.
SpringwoodSlasher
Tektite
I’m actually interested to hear from the Americans here on how much inflation they are experiencing. How much has rent gone up? What about groceries? Here in Canada it’s pretty bad (just Google Canada housing market), and it’s because we keep printing money. (I’m not a social or fiscal conservative, but it is a sad reality).
Ostia
Octorok
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You do realize there is more to passing legislation than just saying you are hypothetically in favor of it, yes? This is part of why these FDR comparisons have always been and continue to be completely absurd. It’s an issue of action and willingness to expend political capital and get people on board through any means necessary. Meanwhile Biden has been repeatedly negotiated down to a shadow of what the original legislation called for or just let these supposed “massive” policy proposals die with barely any support or action on his part.
Liberals who are Democratic Party diehards who continue to compare Biden to FDR are starting to look immensely stupid to the rest of the electorate, hence why he is having approval rating problems.
Keep thinking
Biden quietly deciding how to restart student loan payments
The plans, some of which are still in progress and not finalized, are aimed at averting a potential surge in delinquencies when payments resume in February.
www.politico.com
Right now everything is going up, companies are trying to squeeze out as much as possible before the inevitable depression. Prices of travel (gas, flights) and housing (there was a time where you couldn't get a loan for a house because the asking price was so high that only a corporation could pay for it) are especially bad. They'll keep rising because nothing is stopping them from rising until the depression hits, at which point these companies will likely be bailed out by Delaware Joe.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Luckily, our rent just went up around 5%. But with all of our friends, rent has been raising at absurd levels. Rent has been rising 15-20% and still going up. Houses in most areas are selling for way more too(luckily, not happening in my area which is a godsend. We are looking to buy a house next year).
Grocery shopping has been egregious in my area though. The cost of our average grocery trip, literally buying the same things, has rising probably 20%. Luckily, we have been tanking that hit and have still been okay.
I know a lot of people that aren't though. Cost of Living has probably risen 20% across the board, and that's just a shit ton.
Yeah, that's basically what i'm saying. Biden pitched big but then didn't have the congressional support to make it all happen. If he had 60 or 70 democrats in the senate like FDR did, it would probably be a different story.
Either way, you're not going to hear me call him the 21st century FDR. If it seemed like I was saying that, I wrote poorly. He's done a really poor job of selling the bill.
But then again, he's already passed $1T of covid relief, is on his way to $1.5T of infrastructure and will probably have $1.5T of social policy stuff. Even if it's not "FDR levels" or progressive dream legislation, it's not nothing, especially our political reality.
Keep thinking
Biden quietly deciding how to restart student loan payments
The plans, some of which are still in progress and not finalized, are aimed at averting a potential surge in delinquencies when payments resume in February.
I really would have liked that too.
Ostia
Octorok
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It’s not just a lack of congressional support, it’s a lack of action taken by the administration to achieve that congressional support. Votes have to be whipped. Sometimes you have to threaten and cajole members of your party who are more beholden to special interest groups than they are to your agenda. Congressional support is not some static value, it can be changed and the president is the person with the most power to change it in their favor.
Look at what’s getting cut and what’s (possibly) remaining, see who benefits most from that. Look at the proposals that are in the chopping block. This legislation is more than just a dollar figure, you have to look at which programs are prioritized and which ones are being excised. This admin has truly mastered the art of saying you support one thing then quietly letting it die while still attempting to take credit for it later. People aren’t stupid and they see it happening that’s why his approval rating is suffering. He’s achieved very little.
