Such a Terrible Agenda…And So Much Dysfunction

Amusingly, Democrats and media outlets criticize the very Trump agenda items that they’re also criticizing them for not being able to pass due to legislative dysfunction.

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  • Thanks for this one Ted. I find myself hearing this all too often. And not just with your USA Federal politics. But also here in Canada, and at municipal and provincial levels.

    It’s a frustrating hypocrisy to be hearing in an argument. It makes one feel a bit hopeless that a better agenda could aver be advanced – if we’re always defining ourselves by the Right agenda – and literally giving them encouragement and tips on success by critiquing their effectiveness rather than celebrating their ineptitude at achieving their anti-social goals.

    On the other hand: One reason for it being such a common trope is that failure and being a loser not a winner is such a powerful idea. You don’t have to convince your audience that your progressive agenda is worthwhile really: Not if you can simply show your opponent to be a boob and yourself the lesser weevil. It’s a much easier argument to make: These guys are bad as evidenced by their failure. Instead of: A better world is possible if we choose to trust each other a bit more, take a risk and work together for the common good. It’s an argument with less risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We don’t advance much progress if all we ever do is put down the other side. Arguably that is what got us here – total mistrust of government – but with many who feel that way not even able to distinguish if corporate power is better or worse than that because we just argue that the Right is a failure rather than advancing an alternative.

    Which is hopefully something that old Corbyn and Bernie have figured out and hopefully are able to make massive progress with…. to put the Left agenda front and centre and not dwell on the opponent more than you have to.

  • Obviously, it’s their fault that we can’t agree. >;->

    It’s arguably a good thing when the lawmakers make fewer laws. I was just re-re-re-reading Heinlein’s excellent treatise on politics, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. One of his proposals is that there should be two branches of the legislature. One passes laws – but it must be a two-thirds majority, because any law that can’t get two-thirds is obviously not worth passing. The other branch is responsible for repealing laws, and that takes only a simply majority, because any law to which the majority objects is obviously a bad law.

    Worth considering – our current system is broken.

  • It’s not true that the Republicans can’t get anything done!

    Look at what has happened to handicapped protesters outside Mitch McConnell’s office and outside Tom Cotton’s office. Both of these fine gentlemen managed to have these protesters (some of whom were in wheelchairs) arrested for protesting “illegally”!

    What fine specimens of leadership they are!

    • Oh, but you have to love ’em. From wide stances to covfefe, the dems just can’t compete for sheer entertainment value.

      • Full stop after ‘compete’

        A few Times editorial writers said the Democrats can’t win if they keep calling 52% of the voters deplorable. Not just Trump voters (45%), but, since St Hillary is the very best candidate for president the US has ever had, everyone who did not vote for her is deplorable, and that includes everyone who voted for Sanders, Stein, Johnson, or who didn’t race to vote for St Hillary early and often. And most Times readers comment by saying, ‘They ARE all the most deplorable deplorables. How could anyone say anything else? And Trump only won by tweeting Putin passwords to the voting machines in 26 states.’

      • A politician who calls for the arrest of people protesting the so-called “Trumpcare” bill because it will put their lives in danger, rather than meeting with them to hear their concerns, has absolutely earned the descriptive “deplorable”!

        (I tried to send a fax to Cotton, using the
        means provided by StandUpAmerica, asking him to vote “No.” The fax was rejected after 15 attempts. These GOP senators are not interested in the needs of their constituents.)

  • Up dysfunction ! Let us enjoy the little we are vouchsafed while we can !…

    Henri

    • PS : If, in the unlikely event these legislators do get their act together and make lives even more difficult for more than twenty million people in the United States, they might want to celebrate by volunteering for testing at the Institute for Empathetic Studies. One good turn deserves another (or something like that)….

      Henri

  • HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

    Today is the day in which Americans celebrate the birth of their country by blowing up a small piece of it.

    I am not ashamed to say that I love my country – even as I am ashamed of many of my country’s actions. I love her ideals as enshrined in the constitution – even as our government ignores them. I love the fact that I live among millions who have been raised with the idea of liberty and the rule of law – even though many of them misunderstand it to mean that they can pass laws to restrict other people’s liberties. I would love to see her last another quarter-millennium – even though I doubt it will happen.

    On this day, I would ask my fellow Rallfans to remember that there is a huge difference between the actions of a rogue government and the people they govern; and to never assume malice on the part of those people when ignorance is a sufficient explanation for their actions.

    Oh, and FIRE IN THE HOLE!

    • Malice need not be assumed but should never be discounted in the face of abundant evidence. 🙁

      • «Malice need not be assumed but should never be discounted in the face of abundant evidence. 🙁» Spot on….

        Henri

      • @derlehrer –

        I dunno, I’ve got it on good authority that any abundance of evidence can be discounted simply by repeatedly stating that it doesn’t exist. >;->

        But I digress …

        I was speaking more to the ignorant farmboys who’ve been suckered into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re not there to exchange blood for oil, or for imperialism, or to enrich the Kochs. They honestly believe they are fighting for our freedom. They’ve been lied to, deliberately kept ignorant of world politics, and played for fools – but they are not there out of malice.

        Or the guy in his SUV – he’s not actually trying to destroy the world’s climate. He doesn’t understand the science and he’s been conditioned to believe those he’s been conditioned to see as leaders. He’s been lied to, deliberately kept ignorant of science, and played for a fool – but he is not acting out of malice. (towards the environment, anyway)

        The grossly overweight guy ordering five hamburgers at the drive-through isn’t deliberately trying to starve Ethiopians – he’s simply eating what’s in front of him, and his natural instincts have betrayed him.

        The US has a disproportionate amount of the world’s wealth – but very few of us actually stole it from others. We simply live & breed where we were born. The truth is that any other group of humans on earth would do the same if they’d lucked into it.

      • @ CrazyH –

        “… I’ve got it on good authority that any abundance of evidence can be discounted simply by repeatedly stating that it doesn’t exist….”

        Do you mean, for example, Number 45’s continuous use of the phrase “Fake news”?
        *
        “On this day, I would ask my fellow Rallfans to remember that there is a huge difference between the actions of a rogue government and the people they govern; and to never assume malice on the part of those people when ignorance is a sufficient explanation for their actions.”

        My misinterpretation of your meaning hinges upon “those people,” which I took to mean the puppeteers of the “rogue government,” rather than those “ignorant farmboys.” You see from the link following that it is not merely “ignorant farmboys” who have empowered Number 45 and his cadre. There are sufficient numbers of “ignorant voters.”

        Thank goodness the U.S.A. now has Betsy DeVos to remedy that ignorance by means of the power of her station.

        http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/07/05/trump-fans-just-accidentally-bashed-declaration-independence-defend-trump/

      • @derlehrer

        One of the interesting side effects of writing in English is that statements which seem perfectly clear to the writer are not necessarily clear to the reader.

        I agree with your sentiments and take them one step further. One should always assume malice first and foremost when dealing with certain classes of people. Politicians and one-percenters must be considered guilty until proven innocent.

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