Political Discussion

[RenegadeMonster]

The Senate is back in session for the first time in 5 weeks starting tomorrow.

Word is they will begin with figuring out the next stimulus package. However, according to CNN this will be no easy feat as they are divided down party lines on what they should do more than ever.

Senate Republicans do not want to give out any more money. They said they have already given out enough this year. Instead they are favoring a payroll tax cut for businesses. They say be reducing the payroll tax, business will use that savings to keep employees on payroll and hire more back.

 

[dhodo]

They say be reducing the payroll tax, business will use that savings to keep employees on payroll and hire more back.

Ok then, I guess willfully ignoring that exactly this plan didn't work at all in 2017/2018 is the way they're going to play it.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

 

[HiFi Guy]

I heard the video that George Bush released over the weekend. It was very well done.

It made me think and I came to a realization. The US doesn’t have a Republican vs. Democrat problem. We have a Trump problem.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Gov. Mike DeWine criticizes ‘obnoxious’ protesters who targeted the news media and gathered at Dr. Amy Acton’s house

After protestors showed up at Dr. Amy Acton's house and one accosted the news media, Gov. Mike DeWine spoke out Monday.

www.cleveland.com

“I don’t usually comment about demonstrators,” DeWine said. “And the reason I don’t comment on demonstrators is because I’ve been in public office for 40 years, I have great respect for their constitutional right to demonstrate," he said. “I’ve had demonstrators demonstrate against me in most of the offices, if not all of the offices I’ve ever held. They’ve done it at many places, many locations. They’ve done it against me many, many different times.”

“I’m the one who makes the policy decisions. Members of my cabinet, Dr. Acton included, work exceedingly, exceedingly hard,” he said. “But I set the policy.”...“The buck stops with me,” DeWine said. “I’m the responsible person.”

Protesting outside of peoples home angers me. Glad the Governor stepped in and said protest me. Not Dr. Amuy Action.

 

[Nee Lewman]

I heard the video that George Bush released over the weekend. It was very well done.

It made me think and I came to a realization. The US doesn’t have a Republican vs. Democrat problem. We have a Trump problem.

Since the republicans have decided to tow the Trump line. I’d say we just have a Republican problem.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Since the republicans have decided to tow the Trump line. I’d say we just have a Republican problem.

Or a Mitch McConnell problem.

 

[Nee Lewman]

Or a Mitch McConnell problem.

Since he’s been heading up the republican nonsense for a while.... I guess. His particular brand of politics has gotten us here, but to be clear.... the entire party is culpable for this nonsense. Just as the Democrats are responsible for the mess they’ve found themselves.

 

[Nee Lewman]

I’ll also say this.... as much as I like progressive policy, the way the progressives have lined themselves up in this debate doesn’t help. We (the people, our politicians, and our country) have to be able to work together. We have to be able to compromise which means finding a middle ground and being a centrist at times. That’s what’s best for the country. If a democracy is to work, then all parties have to feel like they’re heard and what is currently happening is everyone gets mad because their policy/cause/candidate/party loses and all is lost. It doesn’t have to be that way and it’s doesn’t function when we demand it be that way.

 

[HiFi Guy]

Since the republicans have decided to tow the Trump line. I’d say we just have a Republican problem.

If Trump loses in the upcoming election, (preferably by a landslide) that would send a powerful message to the Republican Party that their current path is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.

 

[Space Wanderer]

If Trump loses in the upcoming election, (preferably by a landslide) that would send a powerful message to the Republican Party that their current path is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.

It’s true. And they will almost certainly respond to that message, as they did after 2008, by becoming more extreme and insane as a party.

 

[Space Wanderer]

I’ll also say this.... as much as I like progressive policy, the way the progressives have lined themselves up in this debate doesn’t help. We (the people, our politicians, and our country) have to be able to work together. We have to be able to compromise which means finding a middle ground and being a centrist at times. That’s what’s best for the country. If a democracy is to work, then all parties have to feel like they’re heard and what is currently happening is everyone gets mad because their policy/cause/candidate/party loses and all is lost. It doesn’t have to be that way and it’s doesn’t function when we demand it be that way.

The problem is that “centrism” as practiced in this time and place is not the same as “middle ground”, at least not based on any kind of democracy-based definition of “middle ground”. Issue polls conducted during recent years, including of Republican and Biden voters, show clearly that “centrism” as conceptualized by political & media elites is well, well to the right of the median voter’s opinions.

It is clear that the electoral theory supported by the Sanders campaign and its allies (including me) over the last three years was and is incorrect and needs to be rethought. But the basic problem that we face as a nation (and like all of our problems, it’s being clearly demonstrated on a daily basis over the last couple of months) is that we are currently without a party that represents the interests of working people in any meaningful way.

 

[AnthonyI]

Following the discussion here and knowing my personal opinion, you can see why so many don't care for politics and or voting. It never seems that a "compromise" or "middle ground" is possible, it's always us and them and loosing is the call to retaliation rather than building on a common ground. Its sad and depressing and why so many of us decide to just live in our own little sandbox of a life and do our best.

 

[HiFi Guy]

Following the discussion here and knowing my personal opinion, you can see why so many don't care for politics and or voting. It never seems that a "compromise" or "middle ground" is possible, it's always us and them and loosing is the call to retaliation rather than building on a common ground. Its sad and depressing and why so many of us decide to just live in our own little sandbox of a life and do our best.

This reminds me of something my brother recently said- Democrats by and large are good people, with their hearts in the right place. Oftentimes though, they just don’t vote.

I really hope he is wrong.

 

[High Rant District]

The US doesn’t have a Republican vs. Democrat problem. We have a Trump problem.

We have both.

Protesting outside of peoples home angers me.

It's supposed to.

But the basic problem that we face as a nation (and like all of our problems, it’s being clearly demonstrated on a daily basis over the last couple of months) is that we are currently without a party that represents the interests of working people in any meaningful way.

Perhaps putting forth a candidate who describes various people in that group as "deplorables" and "superpredators" didn't help the matter. Perhaps having only one candidate claim to embrace the working class was a problem.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Trump says he only will submit to GOP oversight for his administration

President Donald Trump said he was allowing Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify before the Republican-led Senate but not the Democrat-led House, calling it a "set up."

www.cnn.com

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Nancy Pelosi responds to Trump's payroll tax cut demand: No way - CNN Video

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responds to President Donald Trump's threat that he'll block the next coronavirus relief package unless Congress cuts payroll taxes.

www.cnn.com

 

[Nee Lewman]

The problem is that “centrism” as practiced in this time and place is not the same as “middle ground”, at least not based on any kind of democracy-based definition of “middle ground”. Issue polls conducted during recent years, including of Republican and Biden voters, show clearly that “centrism” as conceptualized by political & media elites is well, well to the right of the median voter’s opinions.

It is clear that the electoral theory supported by the Sanders campaign and its allies (including me) over the last three years was and is incorrect and needs to be rethought. But the basic problem that we face as a nation (and like all of our problems, it’s being clearly demonstrated on a daily basis over the last couple of months) is that we are currently without a party that represents the interests of working people in any meaningful way.

And that’s the problem, we let the spin doctors decide everything making it us against them. I don’t actually think anyone thinks that’s what centrism is... well anyone with a clear idea of centrism and not a “gun control means you want to take my guns” (insert whatever topic you want) mentality.

 

[Nee Lewman]

Following the discussion here and knowing my personal opinion, you can see why so many don't care for politics and or voting. It never seems that a "compromise" or "middle ground" is possible, it's always us and them and loosing is the call to retaliation rather than building on a common ground. Its sad and depressing and why so many of us decide to just live in our own little sandbox of a life and do our best.

This reminds me of something my brother recently said- Democrats by and large are good people, with their hearts in the right place. Oftentimes though, they just don’t vote.

I really hope he is wrong.

Apathy is the most likely culprit if our democracy dies.

 

[Space Wanderer]

And that’s the problem, we let the spin doctors decide everything making it us against them. I don’t actually think anyone thinks that’s what centrism is... well anyone with a clear idea of centrism and not a “gun control means you want to take my guns” (insert whatever topic you want) mentality.

I guess I’m not sure what you mean by “centrism” then. I think of it as a branding label applied to a certain political program (roughly speaking, the political program espoused by the Biden campaign) that doesn’t really occupy the “center” of anything. It’s a highly small-c conservative and pro-capital program that is called “centrism” by people who either (a) are knowingly trying to mislabel it to make it sound more appealing to voters than it really should be or (b) are trying to convince themselves that their support for policies that tend to make them more materially comfortable, and their lack of support for policies that would help others but perhaps come at some cost to their own material comfort, is really grounded in high-minded concepts of neutrality, magnanimity and open-mindedness rather than cowardice, avarice and laziness.