I yearn for a more progressive president. I yearn for a whole country, not many separate states loosely connected-- mostly by media it seems. Republicans have tried to wear the mantle of conservatism while really and blatantly being extremist and fascist ludicrously pointing to Democrats as too progressive. Democrats are really fearful, …
I yearn for a more progressive president. I yearn for a whole country, not many separate states loosely connected-- mostly by media it seems. Republicans have tried to wear the mantle of conservatism while really and blatantly being extremist and fascist ludicrously pointing to Democrats as too progressive. Democrats are really fearful, trying to hold the line and keep us barely democratic, dreaming of bipartisanship too. They are unsuccessful and shying away from meeting the challenge as democracy slips away. Here too with the debt ceiling which is another way of legislating- by force of blackmail.
Biden is not in the real world if bipartisanship is what he thinks can be achieved in this atmosphere; he's way too fearful and does us no favor kicking the can of debt ceiling blackmail down the road. It may be about winning the next election. He has stuck his neck out by running as old as he is ( as much as we rationalize it) and in effect has caused others to back off the challenge. Because of the real weaknesses of the Democratic presidential ticket there is the danger of DeSantis or Trump making 2024 a close election again and even a worse disaster befalling us.
Biden is the best US president I have lived under. Since my first election, I have always chosen my politicians both on what they say they want to do, and what I think they will be able to get done. Biden gets things done in the seemingly impossible situation that Trump has created in our government. I can envision what sorts of other deals needed to be made in order to make this happen. We are not at a point where it has already defaulted and people like my mom would not get their social security checks. And, he has set things up so that in 2 years, if people are smart enough to get us both branches of Congress and retain the White House, we could really get some things done. We need to move beyond Manchin as our majority Democratic vote. Democrats do no one any good if they cannot get voted into power. The mandate has become clearer, but we have a horrid mainstream press, which tells people how they are thinking, which I don't think is the news, but they don't analyze why things are happening, and they don't go after Republicans like they should. Absent that, in a country full of light thinkers, and brain dead technology addicts, and people who are manipulated by their religious leaders, Social media and the Bots that Troll them, the message gets coopted.
We are in a "seemingly impossible situation that Trump has created"... only seemingly. I think people yearn for a stronger response though. The far right (and their vulnerable supporters) is willing to play chicken and test constantly with what they can get away with. And they win that way because the other side wants cooperation and gives in. Obama was good at talking the talk and then he gave in. Biden is somewhat better and quieter in his accomplishments but too fearful (as re the debt ceiling and Ukraine).
The country has moved to the right this way over the recent years. And so any movement to the left is now claimed by propaganda ( as opposed to real measure) as extreme and pushed by "progressives" (a dirty word now, not the growing tip of our goal of social democracy).
I can appreciate what you are saying. I am apparently older; I can remember when I had more faith in the voter. Life is more complicated. The media has made a difference. The internet has made a difference. We have moved more towards corporatism- across the board: what we eat, what we wear, what news and opinion we ingest. We have divided more at least on the surface. At the same time the idea of public education struggles, especially when we need publicly funded higher education (which I had).The public welfare struggles. Biden started off with encouraging ideas about this and being a lot more progressive than he has been able to accomplish. I agree he has been excellent considering. Considering. He said he was a "transitional" president...given the devastation of the recent past president and political developments within the GOP. We have not quite transitioned.Elections should not be SO close when the issues are so starkly laid out about equality, tolerance and democracy itself. Biden has not been able to stop the bleeding. It's too much for one president.
I yearn for a more progressive president. I yearn for a whole country, not many separate states loosely connected-- mostly by media it seems. Republicans have tried to wear the mantle of conservatism while really and blatantly being extremist and fascist ludicrously pointing to Democrats as too progressive. Democrats are really fearful, trying to hold the line and keep us barely democratic, dreaming of bipartisanship too. They are unsuccessful and shying away from meeting the challenge as democracy slips away. Here too with the debt ceiling which is another way of legislating- by force of blackmail.
Biden is not in the real world if bipartisanship is what he thinks can be achieved in this atmosphere; he's way too fearful and does us no favor kicking the can of debt ceiling blackmail down the road. It may be about winning the next election. He has stuck his neck out by running as old as he is ( as much as we rationalize it) and in effect has caused others to back off the challenge. Because of the real weaknesses of the Democratic presidential ticket there is the danger of DeSantis or Trump making 2024 a close election again and even a worse disaster befalling us.
Biden is the best US president I have lived under. Since my first election, I have always chosen my politicians both on what they say they want to do, and what I think they will be able to get done. Biden gets things done in the seemingly impossible situation that Trump has created in our government. I can envision what sorts of other deals needed to be made in order to make this happen. We are not at a point where it has already defaulted and people like my mom would not get their social security checks. And, he has set things up so that in 2 years, if people are smart enough to get us both branches of Congress and retain the White House, we could really get some things done. We need to move beyond Manchin as our majority Democratic vote. Democrats do no one any good if they cannot get voted into power. The mandate has become clearer, but we have a horrid mainstream press, which tells people how they are thinking, which I don't think is the news, but they don't analyze why things are happening, and they don't go after Republicans like they should. Absent that, in a country full of light thinkers, and brain dead technology addicts, and people who are manipulated by their religious leaders, Social media and the Bots that Troll them, the message gets coopted.
We are in a "seemingly impossible situation that Trump has created"... only seemingly. I think people yearn for a stronger response though. The far right (and their vulnerable supporters) is willing to play chicken and test constantly with what they can get away with. And they win that way because the other side wants cooperation and gives in. Obama was good at talking the talk and then he gave in. Biden is somewhat better and quieter in his accomplishments but too fearful (as re the debt ceiling and Ukraine).
The country has moved to the right this way over the recent years. And so any movement to the left is now claimed by propaganda ( as opposed to real measure) as extreme and pushed by "progressives" (a dirty word now, not the growing tip of our goal of social democracy).
I can appreciate what you are saying. I am apparently older; I can remember when I had more faith in the voter. Life is more complicated. The media has made a difference. The internet has made a difference. We have moved more towards corporatism- across the board: what we eat, what we wear, what news and opinion we ingest. We have divided more at least on the surface. At the same time the idea of public education struggles, especially when we need publicly funded higher education (which I had).The public welfare struggles. Biden started off with encouraging ideas about this and being a lot more progressive than he has been able to accomplish. I agree he has been excellent considering. Considering. He said he was a "transitional" president...given the devastation of the recent past president and political developments within the GOP. We have not quite transitioned.Elections should not be SO close when the issues are so starkly laid out about equality, tolerance and democracy itself. Biden has not been able to stop the bleeding. It's too much for one president.
I highly recommend Timothy Snyder's Ted lecture, only 1/2 an hour but worthy of your time "Is Democracy Doomed? The Global Fight for our Future" https://www.ted.com/talks/timothy_snyder_is_democracy_doomed_the_global_fight_for_our_future/c?language=en