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spiderteo.bsky.social
Silly Little Flip/Illustrator/Massage Therapist/TTRPGer/LARPer/Wrestler/Kung Fu Fighter/Video Gamer/Tired, cynical, bitter old man Taking #commissions
525 posts 31 followers 55 following
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... an actual political strategy. Laugh and roll your eyes and "lol" all you want, but denial of history doesn't make it any less true. But then, the young tend to exaggerate their minute experiences in supplanting whole records of the past. So it is forgivable on their end.
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... from both parties, was possible, in order to avoid gridlock. And to be fair, it wasn't some beautiful happy utopian harmony of political wills and restraints. Politics is, and always has been, ugly. But personal enmity between political parties wasn't so exorbitant until Gingrich made it as ...
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... open hostilities were made public. Gingrich simply used past identity politics to build a more systematic hate ideology that was continued with the Tea Parties and magnified by MAGA. Anyone who actually lived politics before 1990s understands this. There was always a sense that compromise...
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Oh, there was partisanship in the past. What I am saying is that there wasn't such a blatantly antagonistic animus entwined in one's political identity until Gingrich practically codefied it into the party structure. Yes, the "moral majority" started back then, but it wasn't until Gingrich that...
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Any myopic viewpoint otherwise simply wishes for one tyrannt over another form of tyranny.
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,,, Trump and MAGA today. One good example is Nixon's resignation. Even the GOP felt that it could no longer support Nixon after what he has done. And compared to Trump, Nixon was a frickin' boy scout. No, compromise was a possible once in American politics. It can be again, but not at this time.
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If you don't recognize what impact Gingrich had on American politics, then of course you wouldn't know what the fuck I'm talking about. Now, to be sure, there were some petty power grabs in the past before the 21st Century, but they were not as blatantly partisan or in bad faith as it is with...
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I made no mention of who deserves what in my posts. But since you want to bring that up, then here's my take: the collective society deserves whatever they legitimately voted for. And if they voted for democracy, then it is deserved. If not, then that is deserved as well.
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... enticed by Trump's promised bread and circuses. If we want more people to vote Democratic, then we need to change people to be less tolerant of racism, misogyny, greed, corruption, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. Otherwise, the Democrats will never have the numbers to succeed.
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It needs to be done on the individual level. Right now, the Democrats shouldn't be blamed for "failing." Their "failure" was only possible because they were outnumbered. And democracy is a numbers game. More people were fine with racism, misogyny, greed, corruption, and xenophobia and were...
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yearn for those yesteryears. Indeed, I still think that the point of a democratic government is to work with political opponents. But I have no illusions that this is not possible until the MAGA crowd has been eradicated. But to eradicate such a movement cannot wholly be done politically.
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... millennial who only remembers the nostalgic days of George W. and Obama. Everyone else who are older remember when there was a time when compromise could be achieved between the two major political parties. Such a time probably is no longer possible today, but I wouldn't judge those who still...
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Compromise and "making friends" was once a staple in U.S. politics. Prior to 9/11, destruction wasn't the intended goal of opposing political parties. We can thank Newt Gingrich for that attitude that permeates the GOP today. And if you don't know who Gingrich is, then you're probably a ...
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Yes, let's blame Biden and Harris because they were inferior candidates to Trump. People voted for Trump because he was the superior choice. Sarcasm aside, as for the SCOTUS, they might not have made Trump a "king" per se, but they allowed a wide exemption for him in the rule of law, like a king.
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I don't think Rep. Goldman holds that much esteem for Trump or his political prowess at all.
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... people are hyperventilating over this stupid comment. And that is the whole point. Trump is a troll, and he will continue to troll. His performative tweets are meant to "own the libs," and we fall for it if we put more outrage into his "king" comment than him blaming Ukraine for the war.
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This is because it really isn't a big deal. Or at least nothing new. For a long time, people have known that Trump will act like a dictator. For a long time, people have known that Trump will push the Constitution to its limit and then tear it up. Right now, as Rep. Goldman had predicted...
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Now, I'm sure that @stirfrygirl.bsky.social is no dummy, but yelling at people to do something that is not possible, such as using the House and Senate rules to counter executive orders, is not really conductive to saving the Union. These are unprecedented times. We need time and patience to plan.
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... when that machine isn't even there in the first place. What is happening now is the use of Executive Orders, which Congress doesn't control, so the Dems in Congress can't directly monkeywrench those executive orders. Instead, they are using the courts to challenge those executive orders.
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... that stuff you mentioned above. That also includes Tuberville. Now flash forward to now. Congress, under GOP control, really haven't been legislating as they should. Outside of Cabinet confirmations, Congress has done nothing of significance. It's pretty difficult to rage against the machine...
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... a little history, the Dems under the Obama and Biden administrations were able to carry out their agenda with control of Congress (e.g. ACA, Inflation Reduction Act, etc.) During the midterms, when the GOP bounced back and took enough seats to upset the Democratic majority, they caused all...
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No, I'm kinda old, really. But yeah, that's a good idea, but one little detail: Democrats do not have a majority in either the House or the Senate. The GOP were able to get away with their shennanigans because they had some sort of political pull, which the Dems don't have right now. If we do...
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Okay, we have the replacements lined up. Now what should they do once they are elected? Mind you, the reason national Dems are "Do Nothing" is that they were not elected in the first place. Of course, if you have specific ideas on what unelected leaders should do right now, then we're all ears.
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To have all this make sense, we need to remove the assumption that they are intelligent people, and use the premise that they are not inteliigent people.
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I would add that MAGA will also complain that Dems didn't do enough, and let the GOP completely off the hook, much like what the progressives are doing now.
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These are great sentiments, but whom would liberals/progressives want to replace the old guard, and what exactly do they expect the replacements to do?
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To be fair, Schumer and co. probably still respect and believe the electorate to be halfway intelligent, rather than the near illiterate trolls they have devolved into.
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... then they won't have enough to purchase and run a mega-information news and social media empire, nor contribute to campaigning.
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It's too bad the liberal/progressive Left don't have enough billionaires on their side to buy up and control the various media outlets to spread propaganda like the lying GOP/MAGA do. I mean, if they keep using money, energy, and other resources on charities and other good causes...
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There is a party that you are describing but, well, they were not ELECTED. So, I guess that one is on us, boo.
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Yeah, sure, if it still works.
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... monkeywrenching, etc.) but we could help with giving some ideas ourselves. These are unprecedented times, so no one will have a comprehensive playbook on what to do. Nickel n' diming efforts are better than nothing, but a real plan will take time and patience.
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I've been reading through these threads, and I don't disagree with many of the posts here. However, many of the post calls for the Dems to do something, but suggesting nothing of what to do. We can help with specific ideas. Some have been mentioned already (protesting, educating, committee...
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Too soon! Too soon!
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... mechanisms of government can and will stop this MAGA madness, then there will be defiant rioting in the streets.
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... political power. Being vocal and yelling and shouting and protesting are all fine and good, but real actions will take time and patience to enact. Of course, this is me being optimistic. I hope this doesn't end up as open rebellion against the "state," but I do agree that if no other...
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... are doing. I don't know what more they could have done in the last election cycle to change things. And right now are unprecedented times; the Dems are probably as confused as the rest of the citizenry, so I give them a little leeway for not immediately pushing back when they have no real...
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... November elections. And by everything, I mean actually governing and passing laws and policies during the Biden Administration. The Dems might suck on the campaign trail, but at last they don't neglect their governing duties. Personally, I don't like to blame the Dems for what the GOP/MAGA...
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I would like to say we elected them to do a job, rather than hire them. And unfortunately, elections have consequences, as the saying goes. The Democrats just happen to be outnumbered this past election cycle. As for the Democrats themselves, they did everything they could up until the past...
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To be fair, the Democrats can't do much because they have no political power right now. With majorities in the House and Senate, the GOP can do what they want. The only real political options are to take matters to the courts, which are still not wholly controlled by GOP (SCOTUS not withstanding).
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... stagnant when it is viewed side by side with the GOP/MAGA/conservative platform, which does want to establish change from the "status quo" (interpreted to be the present liberal/progressive admin). Wanting not to back slide and reverse progress is not the same as not wanting to progress at all.
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Really? That's not the message that I got from Kamala Harris at all. The message I perceived was more, "We can be better, we should be better!" Never did I feel that there was a movement to maintain the status quo (from Dems, at least). I can understand how some might view their message as being...
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... about how this country is being run, but it's definitely not the immigrants' fault. Well, maybe one immigrant, but that immigrant is filthy-ass rich. Coincidentally, it's mostly the filthy-ass rich people, immigrant or not, that are messing up the country.
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Oh, I understand completely that counter argument, that "the country's not fucked." On the contrary, I do believe that the country is fucked, not completely fucked, but fucked in certain ways. But, I still don't think MAGA's message is being fully truthful. Yes, there are reasons to be concerned...
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Of course not. But hey, if they voted that way, who are we to gainsay them?