The Dunces Have Elected A Dunce

Discussion in 'BS Forum' started by RonPi, Nov 14, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. joe

    joe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2009
    Messages:
    8,990
    Likes Received:
    5,632
  2. Br4d

    Br4d 2018 Weeb Ewbank Award

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2004
    Messages:
    36,670
    Likes Received:
    14,472
    The founding fathers weren't looking for representative democracy. They were looking for government by men of means with large property holdings with the mercantile class as the effective middle class and primary voting bloc. A few states were generally democratic in terms of how they allowed the vote to be distributed but several were already oligarchical in their approach as well.

    The modernization of representative democracy has extended the vote to large swathes of the population that were never viewed as having any say in the government by the original vision. The peak extension of civil liberties and the right to vote was from 1955 to 1990 or so.

    For the last generation the GOP has been fighting a stealth war to disenfranchise as many people as possible via onerous voting rights laws in the states and by redistricting to minimize opposing viewpoints by cramming as many dissenters as possible into voting districts while giving friendly representatives a safe 60-40 ratio. In this way you could say that they are following the vision of the founding fathers - carefully minimizing the impact of the rabble while giving themselves maximum leverage over government.

    The collision between their view and the reality of modern democracy will be resolved peacefully if modern democratic norms are allowed to prevail and will likely end violently in great upheaval if autocracy and oligarchy are allowed to control the processes instead.

    The failure of the GOP to adequately contain Trumpism is a precursor to much worse abuses down the road. Somewhere in here principled Republicans in Congress are going to have to make a stand - assuming any of them still exist.
     
    zace and HomeoftheJets like this.
  3. Jetaho

    Jetaho Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2009
    Messages:
    5,134
    Likes Received:
    2,287
  4. Greenday4537

    Greenday4537 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2011
    Messages:
    5,721
    Likes Received:
    3,181
    Trump is doing what benefits him personally best and fucking America is doing it for him.

    Thanks to mass media, it's become a lot harder for them to hide how craptastic they are.
     
  5. RonPi

    RonPi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2015
    Messages:
    408
    Likes Received:
    330
    What?

    Every president works his butt off while in office, and if they want to make some money afterwards with
    speaking engagements or consulting, who has a problem with that? What profiting was Hillary going to do
    that was any different from that sort of thing?

    Do you understand the difference between that and the utterly corrupt selling of rooms and golf course
    entertainment to foreign agents who want to influence our government? Not to mention the stuff Kushner
    was cooking up with the head of a Russian bank? Which we can't even find out about because none of these aholes will
    talk to investigators? What planet are you on?

    Ron
     
  6. JetsVilma28

    JetsVilma28 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2005
    Messages:
    8,720
    Likes Received:
    1,921
  7. Cman68

    Cman68 The Dark Admin, 2018 BEST Darksider Poster

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2002
    Messages:
    36,837
    Likes Received:
    30,473
    The hands are too big...
     
    stinkyB likes this.
  8. jetophile

    jetophile Bruce Coslet's Daughter

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2004
    Messages:
    14,753
    Likes Received:
    8,210
    In other news, Putin offered James Comey political asylum. Hahaha, c'mon. Putin trolls the U.S. so fckn hard, you can't script it.
     
    Cman68 likes this.
  9. Satan

    Satan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2005
    Messages:
    1,784
    Likes Received:
    1,484
    Wonder if any of Trumps buildings have the dangerous cladding
     
  10. HomeoftheJets

    HomeoftheJets Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2016
    Messages:
    15,178
    Likes Received:
    22,332
    Is he grabbing Lady Liberty by the pussy? :eek:
     
  11. mute

    mute Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2010
    Messages:
    9,113
    Likes Received:
    3,142


    Sent from my KFASWI using Tapatalk
     
    zace likes this.
  12. JetBlue

    JetBlue Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2004
    Messages:
    11,622
    Likes Received:
    5,835
    Our political leaders aren't the primary problem, we are. We vote these imbeciles in. Even their divisive rhetoric is simply catering to the extreme and irrational rhetoric that the people spout first. They simply cater to it to keep themselves in power by supporting our own positions that anyone with opposite views are our enemy. We do this to ourselves.

    Sure, it would be great if we had strong political leaders who would tell us to shut the fuck up and stop being emotional hysterics. But anyone who did that wouldn't get votes.
     
  13. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2012
    Messages:
    14,039
    Likes Received:
    8,637
    The first thing we need to do is stop referring to these guys as "leaders." We, the people need to retake leadership and if these hacks insist on playing their self-serving games, they should be left in the dust, or the swamp, as the case may be. It will take effort; it will take enough people to care about what the candidates really are saying rather than simply what color hat they're wearing. It's all about accountability and there's not a single name we all know that would pass that test today.
     
    JetBlue likes this.
  14. HomeoftheJets

    HomeoftheJets Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2016
    Messages:
    15,178
    Likes Received:
    22,332
    There have always been corrupt politicians in this country, and we weren't where we are now. The bigger problem isn't corruption, it's polarization and that's a result of us. Whether we like it or not, we need to vote in candidates who promise to compromise with the opposition party.
     
  15. HomeoftheJets

    HomeoftheJets Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2016
    Messages:
    15,178
    Likes Received:
    22,332
    This guy's got balls. :D

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Satan

    Satan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2005
    Messages:
    1,784
    Likes Received:
    1,484
    spicer out?
    Seth wright in?
     
  17. BrowningNagle

    BrowningNagle Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2003
    Messages:
    25,903
    Likes Received:
    26,656
    they don't even have pressers anymore so what does it matter? King Trump can just tell us what they are doing on twitter
     
    Cman68 likes this.
  18. RonPi

    RonPi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2015
    Messages:
    408
    Likes Received:
    330
    Don't worry, the wars will distract everyone from the Russia investigations, the business-ties investigations, the obstruction of
    justice investigations, and the health care bill travesty.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...sks-quagmire-and-catastrophe-in-syria/530841/

    "And the push for escalation is a particular betrayal for Trump voters who supported the
    candidate based on rhetoric about quickly defeating ISIS and otherwise eschewing war.
    Here is what Trump had to say back when President Obama was contemplating a greater U.S.
    role in Syria: “What I am saying is stay out of Syria… AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER,
    DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE
    U.S. GETS NOTHING!”"

    "“We’re inching toward an outright invasion and extended occupation of northern
    Syria,” French writes at National Review. “All without congressional approval. All
    without meaningful public debate.” Will Trump’s base stand for this betrayal? So
    long as he is commander in chief, the U.S. will suffer from the worst qualities of
    the establishment and its antagonists. It is hard to imagine a president less fit
    to avoid catastrophe."

    Ron
     
  19. RonPi

    RonPi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2015
    Messages:
    408
    Likes Received:
    330
    http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/14/trump-isnt-being-a-ceo-hes-just-awol-afghanistan-pentagon/

    "Presidents often say that the hardest thing they have to do, and their most sacred
    responsibility, is to decide to send troops into harm’s way. Presidential candidate
    Donald Trump declared two months before the 2016 U.S. election that this is “the most
    difficult decision you can possibly ever make” and that “there is no greater burden
    that anybody could have.” Apparently, the decision is so difficult and burdensome
    that President Trump has now opted to avoid it altogether.

    On Tuesday it was widely reported that Trump had given Secretary of Defense James
    Mattis the power to determine U.S. force levels in Afghanistan. This revelation
    comes after reports in April that the Defense Department had been similarly authorized
    to determine force levels in Iraq and Syria. During that time — and to further hide
    the reality of war from Americans — the Trump administration inexplicably stopped
    disclosing major conventional troop deployments to Iraq and Syria, a practice
    generally upheld by the past three presidents."

    "This latest transfer of commander-in-chief-like powers from the White House to
    the Pentagon is unprecedented for such a consequential decision, and it establishes
    a dismal model for the remainder of the Trump presidency and for future presidents
    as well. Trump is not simply further delegating authority in line with his boasts
    of giving military commanders “total authorization.” Rather, the president is
    dispersing his own responsibility to an extremely popular and colorful retired
    Marine general. The buck for war and peace no longer stops in the White House
    Oval Office but in the Pentagon E-Ring."

    "As a presidential candidate, Trump declared: “I will never send our finest into
    battle unless necessary, and I mean absolutely necessary, and will only do so
    if we have a plan for victory with a capital V.” Now, as president, he will allow
    his stand-in commander in chief to likely send a few thousand more of our finest
    into Afghanistan without a clear strategy or defined objectives. Given that Mattis
    is such a careful and thoughtful scholar of civil-military relations, it is puzzling
    why he would endorse and participate in such an extraordinary relationship with
    President Trump. There has been nothing like this in the 70 years since the
    defense secretary position was established. The best we can hope for is that
    James Mattis addresses this honestly in a memoir someday."

    Ron
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page