Attack on the Feds independence

[Rainer]

Some may not want to believe it but the American Empire is collapsing in front of our eyes. The difference now is we're all globally connected and we can watch this happen in real time.

 

[Irrelevant]

Not pointed at you, just a good statement to expand on.

I don't "fault the Democrats" for running a bad candidate, though they surely have. I do toss it back to them when they talk about Trump being so flawed, which I agree with. The toss back from me is, "If he's so bad, why couldn't your candidate beat him?"

The reason is that the Dems listen to a small handful of strategic advisors, the same as the Repubs listen to their small handful of strategic advisors. And for the last 15 years, the Repubs strategic advisors are running circles around the Dems advisors.

The Dems are still carrying the baggage that came with Hillary's "Basket of Deplorables" statement and Obama's statement painting small town folks who are missing out on the economic waves as "...bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them."

Both of those are as arrogant, condescending, and damaging as anything they could say in the context of it coming from the people who want to claim the moral high ground of open-mindedness and intellectual understanding. And not a single apology or acknowledgement that such statements were complete bullshit. Coming from a small logging town where economic challenges are high and folks live pretty simple and conservative lives, I fully understand how damaging those statements were.

Some would say, "Get over it, that was Clinton and Obama." True to some degree, but not a single person in Democratic leadership has stated how condescending and arrogant those statements are. Rather, they reply with how stupid these same people are by "Voting against their own interest." Another arrogant and condescending statement I often hear from my friends who proudly fly the Dem flag. Fugg that - nobody votes against their self-interest. They just prioritize issues in a different manner. To claim that is voting "against one's self-interest" is a level of arrogance on the same plane as the two comments from Clinton and Obama.

That said, we are in a time where Congress has completely abdicated their duties and handed their powers to the Executive office, with this Congress controlled by Rs. Obama tested those waters slightly and when he had Dem majorities - they just let him do whatever he wanted. Then came Trump I, and he pushed it beyond anything prior to his time. Biden had Dems in Congress who have him a free pass on anything/everything. And now, we have Trump II with a Republican-controlled Congress that has let him go far outside the bounds of what most Americans find comfortable.

There are two other branches of the government - Legislative and Judicial. If they are not going to stand up and exercise the powers granted them in the Constitution, it is not a surprise at all that a spoiled brat Executive such as Trump would take advantage of that ineptitude/dysfunction of Congress. He also knows that the Judiciary hates to look political, so they find legal rationale to avoid looking political.

Trump and his advisors have expertly read this landscape and they're not looking around for permission from society or Congress. The only group who can put some side rails on him would be Congress, but the Republican members are too chickenshit to do anything and the Dems are too busy worrying about shit that doesn't really matter. So, Trump can do what he wants, how he wants, where he wants, and when he wants.

The topic of this thread, allowing Trump to attack the Fed, with an independent Fed being one of many cornerstones of the "Conservative" ideology, shows me how the Rs have lost their way and their claims as "Conservatives" is a laugh-out-loud statement. There is nothing in the Trump doctrine that fits the Conservative ideology that I was raised in while voting for Reagan, Bush (I and II), McCain, Romney, and others who came through primary elections that convinced voters they best represented the Conservative ideologies. They are trying to say that the Trump doctrine is the new brand of Conservatism. Bullshit.

As a person who puts the Constitution and the rights of citizens as paramount to any political party or any politician, seeing an unhinged Trump without any side rails from Congress, a Congress controlled by Rs who want to make the false claim that they are "Conservatives," disturbs me greatly.

If the Rs in Congress were true Conservatives, they'd defend the Constitution. They'd exercise the powers the Constitution provides to Congress as a balance against the Executive. They'd be as concerned about the 1st and 4th Amendment infringements as they claim to be about the 2nd and 10th Amendment violations. They'd have stood up for "law and order" and our law enforcement institutions by imposing such harsh consequences that Trump would have never pardoned the Jan 6th criminals. They'd have forced more fiscal discipline on the spending side when granting large tax cuts. They'd have (insert here the many examples where Trump and the current Rs in Congress are the antithesis of conservatives). They've done none of this.

I believe in America and that someway we find our way forward. The pace at which the political pendulum swings in today's world is stunning, exceeded only by the distance from the center that the pendulum swings when we have changes in power. Right now, the challenges caused by a combination of a Congress of bootlicking enablers and a Democratic opposition that has nothing to offer beyond their performative screams and yells, makes the challenges look more daunting than anytime in my life.

In America, "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility , .........." have always met the challenges. That document, the Constitution of the United States, has been the rulebook by which the citizens and their rights/liberty were protected from and overreaching government. The topic of this thread, the Fed's independence being usurped, is a symptom of the bigger issues, most of which I attribute to two political parties being more interested in winning, in having absolute power, in placing the party above the country, and electoral process that results in mostly hyper-partisans elected/appointed who view themselves as only representing only a small fraction of Americans.

Sorry for the ramble. I have zero trust in either party. I blame them equally for all the problems needing to be fixed. I see neither of them leading our country to bright future. I strongly feel that the party system has outlived any useful life in our country. Maybe I'm alone in that vision and I need to just drill a hole in the ice and wait for the bobber to go under rather than concern myself about such. I'm afraid I'm not wired in a way that let's me ignore what my eyes see and my ears hear.

Man BF I generally like your take on just about everything, it's typically well thought out and balanced. But this is utter BS. To compare a couple of phrases from operatives decades ago to the trash being spewed from the Cheeto and his band of incompetent idiots is complete and utter nonsense.

I think it's less disruptive for joe schome to vote the party ticket than for actual intelligent, capable, and influential leaders to use mental gymnastics to argue there is not a grand canyon scale gap in the two parties.

 

[SAJ-99]

I don't think broad statements denigrating people help. Theres a difference between ignorance and being deplorable.

Sure they don’t help, but I view that excuse as a BS cop out. The words hurt their their feelings so much they voted for the guy that raw dogged a porn star while his wife was pregnant, said “grab ‘em by the pu$$y”, and later tried to steal an election. To win elections you have to start by admitting some voters have two different standards for candidates.

 

[rogerthat]

Man BF I generally like your take on just about everything, it's typically well thought out and balanced. But this is utter BS. To compare a couple of phrases from operatives decades ago to the trash being spewed from the Cheeto and his band of incompetent idiots is complete and utter nonsense.

I think it's less disruptive for joe schome to vote the party ticket than for actual intelligent, capable, and influential leaders to use mental gymnastics to argue there is not a grand canyon scale gap in the two parties.

Cheeto? Sheesh. Have some respect for the president of the United States! President Gold Member it is from here on out

 

[Moserkr]

Great thread to learn who to block or mute - will add you to the list with buzz. The only issues I have with Trump are his stance on the 2nd amendment and the lack of prosecutions of corrupt government officials, as well as their civilian cohorts. Amazes me how many people, especially on here, are still completely under the spell of propaganda from the mainstream government news "ngo's". Only on page 2 of this thread but I will grind through the dribble.

 

[Big Fin]

Man BF I generally like your take on just about everything, it's typically well thought out and balanced. But this is utter BS. To compare a couple of phrases from operatives decades ago to the trash being spewed from the Cheeto and his band of incompetent idiots is complete and utter nonsense.

I think it's less disruptive for joe schome to vote the party ticket than for actual intelligent, capable, and influential leaders to use mental gymnastics to argue there is not a grand canyon scale gap in the two parties.

I made no comparison between what Clinton/Obama said and the crazy things Trump tries to get people to believe. If you read it again I doubt you will see the comparison you've claimed. I didn't.

Many in the Dem leadership are incredulous that Trump won even once and they lack any self-inspection to their contribution to that. I was pointing out some of the events that happened along the way that Dems seem to be oblivious to, either intentionally or by lack of understanding, that have caused them to lose touch with many of the voters they historically counted on.

Among the hardcore party Dems I encounter today, that same level of arrogance and condescension continues and they are just as oblivious. I provided an explanation of the problems Dems have and don't seem interested in fixing, not a comparison to Trump. Their inattention to their position is why they aren't going to save us from the problems of today, at least not in my view.

And none of it is letting the Rs off the hook for their contribution to the problems. The spineless Rs in Congress want to secure a political future by being a Trump bootlicker. They're a bunch of enablers who ten years from now will be embarrassed when asked to explain why they were so absent when their leadership was so badly needed.

I have no use for Trump, his unfit character, his disregard for the Constitution, or his group of spineless minions working the levers of power. Maybe a more accurate term for my feelings about him would be "despise." There are some of his policies I agree with, but I never have, and never will, vote for a person who I see to be as morally and ethically bankrupt as he is, a person who degrades every institution that has made America great, and is laughing as he wipes his ass with the US Constitution.

Rather that vote for either of the mainstream party nominees, since 2016, I've ended up writing in Condoleezza Rice and John Kasich for my Presidential/VP vote.

None of that is a comparison or an equivalency. It's two different accounts, about two different groups, taking two different paths, in the same race to zero, as explained through the lens of my lfie experiences.