I never expected a second term from Biden. I am glad to be done with the never ending war in Afganistan. Unfortunately, I believe Biden's election was the last gasp of our dying Democratic Republic. The lunatics have taken control of the Republican party and the illiterate of the 21st century have enabled them to do so. (The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn" ~ Alvin Toffler.)
I have watched as the Republican party has run its ground game, securing its stronghold from the bottom to top rungs of government in state after state. We are seeing the fulfillment of the grave concerns George Washington expressed in his farewell address
"Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
I sure hope you're right. Biden had one job: get Trump out of the White House. That's all his voters really wanted from him. He did that, so now it's his turn to be replaced ASAP. If, IF the GOP doesn't follow its SOP of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the next two elections should be very good for Republicans.
So let me get this straight. Because of doing what he promised and campaigned on doing somehow Biden is now dead in the water? The same exact thing the other guy said he would do?
I get that you have to treat this first whiff of failure as the be all end all. That's been the right side tribalist M.O. for a long time. But Biden won't lose one vote because of it and none of the other things you mention either. This article is pure gaslighting.
The comments on this post are interesting. The more conservative commenters are still trying to rationalize their role in abetting the election of Joe Biden. The more liberal commenters are trying to convince us that the current mess is really Trump’s fault.
Mr. Trump has a multitude of faults and he may have screwed up leaving Afghanistan but he was never given the chance. Joe screwed it up badly. He also created chaos at the southern border. I have read only two criticisms of Trump’s governance that I give any credence. One is that he alienated our allies with his crude behavior. Maybe, but they came around, somewhat. Compare that to Joe’s abandonment of them during the current mess in Afghanistan. The other is that Mr. Trump’s tariffs were really a tax on Americans. Somewhat true but I can see some long-term benefits to confronting unfair trade practices. I can’t see any benefit at all in Joe’s inflationary policies.
Bottom line is that choosing bad policy over perceived bad behavior is a mistake that may not be corrected by voters coming to their senses and voting the right way next time.
The epitaph on this Administration's tombstone, courtesy of Gen. McKenzie:
"We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out."
It'll be interesting to see who the Democrats can get off their bench for 2024.
I never expected a second term from Biden. I am glad to be done with the never ending war in Afganistan. Unfortunately, I believe Biden's election was the last gasp of our dying Democratic Republic. The lunatics have taken control of the Republican party and the illiterate of the 21st century have enabled them to do so. (The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn" ~ Alvin Toffler.)
I have watched as the Republican party has run its ground game, securing its stronghold from the bottom to top rungs of government in state after state. We are seeing the fulfillment of the grave concerns George Washington expressed in his farewell address
"Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
I sure hope you're right. Biden had one job: get Trump out of the White House. That's all his voters really wanted from him. He did that, so now it's his turn to be replaced ASAP. If, IF the GOP doesn't follow its SOP of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the next two elections should be very good for Republicans.
I dunno: 2024 is a long ways away.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/opinion/afghanistan-biden.html
So let me get this straight. Because of doing what he promised and campaigned on doing somehow Biden is now dead in the water? The same exact thing the other guy said he would do?
I get that you have to treat this first whiff of failure as the be all end all. That's been the right side tribalist M.O. for a long time. But Biden won't lose one vote because of it and none of the other things you mention either. This article is pure gaslighting.
The comments on this post are interesting. The more conservative commenters are still trying to rationalize their role in abetting the election of Joe Biden. The more liberal commenters are trying to convince us that the current mess is really Trump’s fault.
Mr. Trump has a multitude of faults and he may have screwed up leaving Afghanistan but he was never given the chance. Joe screwed it up badly. He also created chaos at the southern border. I have read only two criticisms of Trump’s governance that I give any credence. One is that he alienated our allies with his crude behavior. Maybe, but they came around, somewhat. Compare that to Joe’s abandonment of them during the current mess in Afghanistan. The other is that Mr. Trump’s tariffs were really a tax on Americans. Somewhat true but I can see some long-term benefits to confronting unfair trade practices. I can’t see any benefit at all in Joe’s inflationary policies.
Bottom line is that choosing bad policy over perceived bad behavior is a mistake that may not be corrected by voters coming to their senses and voting the right way next time.