Both parties play to the fringes, while the public supports voter ID. The public also supports some kind of AR-15 ban but Democrats know it can't work while they ignore crime and the border crisis.
"They’d rather play 'states rights' and 'stolen election' narratives to the 15 percent and conspiracy theorists. Maybe if the GOP takes the Senate back in 2022, they’ll get serious again."
If the GOP takes back the Senate next year, that will be an endorsement of the crackpot-ism that's infected the GOP, so it's less likely that they'll "get serious" and more likely that they will use their position to play culture warrior.
The GOP needs to lose a few more cycles to show that MTG, Cawthorn, and their ilk are losers politically before it has any hope of getting back to seriousness. Unfortunately, the recent Liz Cheney vote demonstrated that the GOP is hardly interested in providing a compelling and workable vision to counter that of the Democrats'.
Why have you chosen progressive crackpots over what you view as Republican crackpots? What do you think will be the state of the nation after a few more cycles of democrats making regulations, appointing judges, screwing up the military, granting amnesty to illegal criminals and spending extra trillions of dollars? That's not to mention the damage that most likely would be done should they keep a majority in the House, gain four more seats in the Senate and keep the Presidency.
Because I reject Flight 93-ism[1] in all of its forms and am looking beyond a few more cycles in the hopes that the GOP can actually return to its conservative form instead of being a vehicle for mindless populism. If the nation could survive Donald Trump, it will certainly survive Joe Biden.
The sooner the GOP can move away from reactionary conspiracies and grievance politics and return to form of offering CONSTRUCTIVE policy prescriptions and a conservative LIBERAL vision (as in that of John Locke) that does something to empower individual Americans to reach their potential, I'll be ready to hop aboard and start supporting them again. If America is to survive as a potent force into the next couple of centuries (as opposed to fading away as our British progenitors did), it's going to need a strong conservative liberalism to stand up to the collectivism of adversaries such as China.
The timing of your comment is interesting, because I just finished watching the trailer to the "Foundation" series coming to Apple TV later this year[2], and the core issue (in my eyes) is shortening the current Dark Age that the GOP finds itself trapped within spiritually and intellectually, so that something productive emerges out the other end.
The nation was in pretty good shape under the Trump administration. Just a little chaotic. It is now failing in every area. But, the President doesn't tweet and the Europeans and Canada and Russia and OPEC love the new America last policy.
I'm VERY curious how you operationalize "failing in every way". Maybe I'm enjoying a privileged position, but from my perspective:
1. My retirement investment accounts are looking great, even after last week's dip around the Fed and interest rates.
2. Instead of lagging our peer Western nations (as we did during much of 2020), America is leading now in terms of combating COVID and putting the pandemic behind us earlier than our peers. There was ZERO reason in 2020 that we should have lagged behind Canada when it came to per-capita COVID deaths.
3. We are re-engaged with our allies and ending the stupid trade wars that Trump started, which means that American producers (such as bourbon makers in Kentucky[1]) are no longer competing with a hand tied behind their back.
4. With domestic companies like SpaceX, Relativity Space, and Astra, America is bootstrapping its space industry and poised to lead into this crucial next era.
Now, if asked where the Biden administration is failing us, here's my major items:
1. Deficit spending. I'm not an MMT guy[2], and I do think that will be consequences to our current levels of spending. I question whether we have the discipline to cut back once COVID's behind us.
2. I think we're repeating the failures of Vietnam by withdrawing as quickly as we are from Afghanistan. I'd think that a military presence in that area would be helpful, both to assist our remaining Afghan allies and have a base of operations that can be used to confront China in that part of the world.
3. Biden seems to be as clueless dealing with illegal immigration effectively as Trump was incapable of dealing with the issue humanely. I was hoping for some better results by now from Biden and Harris, but we seem to be stuck in the same quagmire.
Anyways, that's the score I'm seeing at the moment: a mix of good and a mix of bad. I can see why you'd be more concerned than I am about the problems several more Democratic administrations would cause if you thought that the last one was the bee's knees.
"They’d rather play 'states rights' and 'stolen election' narratives to the 15 percent and conspiracy theorists. Maybe if the GOP takes the Senate back in 2022, they’ll get serious again."
If the GOP takes back the Senate next year, that will be an endorsement of the crackpot-ism that's infected the GOP, so it's less likely that they'll "get serious" and more likely that they will use their position to play culture warrior.
The GOP needs to lose a few more cycles to show that MTG, Cawthorn, and their ilk are losers politically before it has any hope of getting back to seriousness. Unfortunately, the recent Liz Cheney vote demonstrated that the GOP is hardly interested in providing a compelling and workable vision to counter that of the Democrats'.
Why have you chosen progressive crackpots over what you view as Republican crackpots? What do you think will be the state of the nation after a few more cycles of democrats making regulations, appointing judges, screwing up the military, granting amnesty to illegal criminals and spending extra trillions of dollars? That's not to mention the damage that most likely would be done should they keep a majority in the House, gain four more seats in the Senate and keep the Presidency.
Because I reject Flight 93-ism[1] in all of its forms and am looking beyond a few more cycles in the hopes that the GOP can actually return to its conservative form instead of being a vehicle for mindless populism. If the nation could survive Donald Trump, it will certainly survive Joe Biden.
The sooner the GOP can move away from reactionary conspiracies and grievance politics and return to form of offering CONSTRUCTIVE policy prescriptions and a conservative LIBERAL vision (as in that of John Locke) that does something to empower individual Americans to reach their potential, I'll be ready to hop aboard and start supporting them again. If America is to survive as a potent force into the next couple of centuries (as opposed to fading away as our British progenitors did), it's going to need a strong conservative liberalism to stand up to the collectivism of adversaries such as China.
The timing of your comment is interesting, because I just finished watching the trailer to the "Foundation" series coming to Apple TV later this year[2], and the core issue (in my eyes) is shortening the current Dark Age that the GOP finds itself trapped within spiritually and intellectually, so that something productive emerges out the other end.
[1] https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/digital/the-flight-93-election/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZd3xUDudy8
The nation was in pretty good shape under the Trump administration. Just a little chaotic. It is now failing in every area. But, the President doesn't tweet and the Europeans and Canada and Russia and OPEC love the new America last policy.
I'm VERY curious how you operationalize "failing in every way". Maybe I'm enjoying a privileged position, but from my perspective:
1. My retirement investment accounts are looking great, even after last week's dip around the Fed and interest rates.
2. Instead of lagging our peer Western nations (as we did during much of 2020), America is leading now in terms of combating COVID and putting the pandemic behind us earlier than our peers. There was ZERO reason in 2020 that we should have lagged behind Canada when it came to per-capita COVID deaths.
3. We are re-engaged with our allies and ending the stupid trade wars that Trump started, which means that American producers (such as bourbon makers in Kentucky[1]) are no longer competing with a hand tied behind their back.
4. With domestic companies like SpaceX, Relativity Space, and Astra, America is bootstrapping its space industry and poised to lead into this crucial next era.
Now, if asked where the Biden administration is failing us, here's my major items:
1. Deficit spending. I'm not an MMT guy[2], and I do think that will be consequences to our current levels of spending. I question whether we have the discipline to cut back once COVID's behind us.
2. I think we're repeating the failures of Vietnam by withdrawing as quickly as we are from Afghanistan. I'd think that a military presence in that area would be helpful, both to assist our remaining Afghan allies and have a base of operations that can be used to confront China in that part of the world.
3. Biden seems to be as clueless dealing with illegal immigration effectively as Trump was incapable of dealing with the issue humanely. I was hoping for some better results by now from Biden and Harris, but we seem to be stuck in the same quagmire.
Anyways, that's the score I'm seeing at the moment: a mix of good and a mix of bad. I can see why you'd be more concerned than I am about the problems several more Democratic administrations would cause if you thought that the last one was the bee's knees.
[1] https://www.kentucky.com/lexgoeat/bourbon/article251482048.html
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-explained-aoc-2019-3
And of course: it ain't the crackpots in charge of the Democratic Party.
Yeah - Biden doesn't get enough credit for dispatching Bernie and a bunch of other worse options in the Democratic primary.
He succeeded where my guy Kasich failed.