Saw a conversation earlier today between mk and goobster on the election, and specifically Joe Biden. I wasn’t too excited to vote for him, but there are substantive policy ideas within this podcast episode. Spends a lot of time talking about global warming, infrastructure, and a “green” transition. Really learned a lot, and now I AM VERY excited to have given him my vote.
He's a nice, intelligent, only-sometimes-slightly-awkward dude who cares. Or at least, that's how he comes across to me, and probably in general, as long as people manage to watch any footage of him that isn't the Fox News "Joe Biden Stuttering So He Has Dementia Supercut". My grandma would tell me that "Biden clearly has dementia" every single day that I took care of her earlier this year. She couldn't remember that she had already told me just a few hours prior, because she has dementia. She forgot to vote Trump this year. Bummer. If Biden wins, great, and it looks very, very likely. Currently like 19:1 odds. If Trump actually vacates the White House, hell yeah, but this isn't over. Some sort of sado-populist genie has been uncorked and has deeply seeped into the political landscape, and I don't think it's going away without us all addressing it at the grassroots level. And this disruption is not a uniquely American thing. The core of it seems to be exploitation of the internet to undermine a collective, common reality, without which we are much more susceptible to being pitted against other not-ruling-class citizens, while the ruling class robs the citizenry blind. It's not really a partisan issue, when you frame it in those terms. Regarding that framing, yes, there are plentyyyyy of problems with the democratic party, but... "cmon, man!", as Joe would say. Trump's pathetic.
Our government is designed to balance power amongst competing branches, so no radical changes can be made in a short time. It is designed to be slow and ponderous, and not rush to adopt whatever the latest fad is. That's why Obama's second term was so ineffectual; Republicans owned the Senate and held a single solitary belief and policy: anything Obama said was bad and should be quashed. Obama, on the other hand, thought that it was possible to negotiate with the neighborhood bully, and - if he accepted enough punches to the mouth - they would acquiesce on a few of his key policy initiatives. And that gamble didn't pay out. Because he was working with morally bankrupt peons within the performative arm of the GOP, like John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and other people who carry water for the big money interests that actually control the politicians and their positions. (See: The Heritage Foundation. And the shadowy organization that works in the background to position key individuals for Supreme Court seats, and has a 100% success rate... but I am blanking on their name right now...) So. Biden can have all the plans he wants, and all the proposals he wants, and all the ideas he wants. He still needs to win the Presidency, Democrats keep the House, AND Democrats win the Senate, before any of his proposals will EVER BE READ. The Senate Majority Leader (aka Mitch McConnell) decides on the agenda items the Senate will address, every single day. If he decides not to add Biden's plan to the agenda, it never comes to a vote, and can never be passed or made into law. Boom. Headshot. Dead plan. If the Dems take the Senate, they get the item on the Agenda, it gets voted on, and hopefully passes. (Fuck you Rand Paul.) Then, once implemented, every single element in the plan will be fought by Republican partisan lawyers, working carefully crafted cases, through Trump-appointed lower judges, up to the fully partisan and GOP-held Supreme Court... where the policies/plans and everything Biden ever does will be ruled unconstitutional and repealed by the Supreme Court. (Which they can do now to ANYTHING, after their ruling last week in Wisconsin; the Supreme Court is now the ONLY ruler in the land, and is completely owned by the people behind the GOP machine.) Until the Electoral College is abolished, the Supreme Court is increased to 15 (or more) judges, and Trump's judges are removed/die-off from the lower courts, no Biden policy will be actionable. Because, in the end, every businessman responsible for their annual budget expenditures knows this is how it is going to go. So even if Biden were to sign the Green New Deal into law on January 21st, NOBODY will take any action to put the plan into place because they know that it will be tied up in the courts for 4-12 years before even the first step can be taken. (See: The ACA.) It all comes down to how our system was designed; slow, ponderous, and difficult to change direction. And the GOP's puppetmasters who have mapped out their plan in the background to pervert the basic premise of majority rule in our democracy. So I say, Good for Biden for having a plan! But it is too little, too late. The Republicans already have a plan, they have executed on it, and now we live in their world for the next two decades, or so. And we are stuck there until progressives start punching conservatives in the mouth for being dicks. And that ain't never gonna happen.
What is the point in living in America? I don’t mean that tongue in cheek, either, based on your current opinion and this comment, why would you continue to live here if we’re stuck in GOP land for 2 decades?
My wife and my parents, honestly. I've lived overseas in many different countries. And I would do it again, if I could. The issue is that my parents are in their 70's and 80's. My wife owns our house outright, and she loves the place. If we left, I think she would get used to living elsewhere - she'd love it actually - but neither of us would forgive ourselves for not spending as much of the remaining years with our parents as we can. Once they passed away, we would beat ourselves constantly with the knowledge that we didn't share as much time with them as we could. Regret is hard to overcome. But it is easy to avoid. Assuming my parents pass in the next 10 years or so, we could leave the country. We'd be in our mid-60's, though, and that is a HARD time for countries to allow new people in. We would be well past our earning prime, and would not have paid into the socialized systems in place in that country (Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, etc.), so we would largely be a burden (cost) on their systems... which would only continue to increase, until we passed. There's no money in letting old people immigrate to your country. So, due to the love of my family, we may be stuck in this GOP-crafted hell for the rest of our lives.
I think, if nothing else, it sounds like you and your wife crafted out a niche which will make things tolerable. Plus, in some ways there is the benefit of living in the Puget Sound versus most other areas subject to federal law and Supreme Court rulings. I really appreciate where you’re coming from, thanks for that response.
Yeah, we have it very good, in addition to winning the genetic/lifestyle lottery of being white, straight, married, middle-aged, middle-class, home-owning, DINKs. Which honestly makes it even harder to see the shit our friends are having to deal with, who don't have that sept-fecta of privilege. Our housemate is a black man. We have transgender friends. Gay married friends. Disabled friends. Foreign friends whose visa could be revoked for any little thing. Poor artists. Geriatrics with old age issues. Immunocompromised people with fragile healthcare. Musicians. Farmers. Small business owners. Etc... Every one of these demos is being brutalized by the conservative hate machine... and I am largely powerless to materially help make the environment we all live in one in which they have the same opportunities and advantages we have enjoyed. Opportunities that have led directly to our comfortable lives amidst this apocalypse. The dichotomy hurts. Every day. Running away to another country would feel good in one way... and bad in others.
So did anyone listen to the podcast episode orrrrrr...?
Gnocchi!!!! What kind are you making? Potato? That’s a top tier pasta.
Ricotta. Thats probably the best Biden has ever sounded on camera. His pharmacist and handlers deserve medals for making a geriatric look and sound that good and coherent. All that said none of it matters when trump throws out the election and his pet Supreme Court gives him the country
I liked it. I especially like that they let him ramble when he got passionate about a subject. They just let him go and spin out these complex and interconnected ideas, and draw the whole landscape without having to rely on soundbites to get a complex idea across. Biden clearly actually understands the interconnectedness of all these ideas and plans. I know he's a good dude and wants the best for America. I'm just not sure he has the balls to do what needs to be done to the people who have destroyed our institutions, reputation, and standing in the world. We need him to announce Nuremberg/Reconciliation trials on Jan 21st.
I would looooooove to see mass trials occur ASAP, that, unfortunately seems like a fools dream. Agree on liking that Biden has connected the dots on global warming - though I do agree with cgod - anything shy of a total upheaval of how we live and work is just putting lipstick on a pig. Too bad nobody listened in the 70s/80s.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that took place after the fall of Apartheid in South Africa is a model that I think America needs to seriously look at. This was a way for both victims and perpetrators to share their stories and their humanity, so the country could come together and move forward into the future. I will also mention that the South African national rugby team - the Springboks - also won the World Cup that year, bringing the country together in sport and pride, and under the new national flag. And the US national rugby team is finally in the Top 10 teams in the world, and our Rugby 7s team is the best in the world. So... maybe there is some future there, as well! :-)
Democrats have no problem putting out policies, but a terrible record on actually getting anything done. On climate change, we need drastic action, and I don't think that a Biden administration will do more than eat around the edges (especially since the Green New Deal was specifically excluded from the Democratic platform earlier this year). The Democrats have fucked around for too many years for me to have any real faith that they'll do anything real.
I think that's a little unfair. The ACA was the biggest health care deal since LBJ. The Obergefell decision was made by the Supreme Court, but Obama's and Biden's endorsement went very far to swing public opinion, which the Court is obviously reactive to. The Paris accord was a major deal. And the Iran deal was also a big effort. Obama's legacy, of which Biden was an undeniable major part, is bigger than a lot of people like to give credit for. The fact that the GOP has spent the last 11 years rabidly trying to roll it all back speaks volumes. If it weren't consequential, then nobody would care.
The ACA was a compromise that didn't need to be made - the Democrats had complete control of the government for two years and squandered it. The Paris Accord was symbolic, and hasn't led to any meaningful action. I think giving them credit for influencing Obergefell is a stretch. Meanwhile, you have significant problems that continue: racial injustice in the legal system, police brutality, climate change, and immigration, about which they did nothing or even set us back. Let us also not forget that they set the precedent of saying it's totally fine to execute American citizens abroad without due process (to say nothing of all the foreign civilians they killed via the drone program).
I know so many reasonably well off democrat like to tell me how fantastic the ACA was. I knew multiple working class people who bought their mandated health care and took their kids to the doctors when they got sick but couldn't afford to use the health care they had paid for themselves because they wouldn't make rent or be able to buy school cloths. My families health care, which we got through my wife, went up faster than her pay rate for a decade. Every one of Obamas eight years in office we were less well off than the year before because the cost of health care. "Well he bent the curve" says snooty McKoolAid fuck. Tell that to someone who has paid for healthcare (Yea, he expanded coverage) but can't afford to get care for their chronic back pain lest they lose their house (I need the insurance in case I have a car accident). Pretending that the ACA was a game changing piece of legislation means you are a loyal consumer of propaganda. People are so invested in political war all they care about is the score card an nothing about results. Same shit with the environment. Pairs accord is window dressing when compared to the reality of the situation. It's anything but comforting listening to Obama tell us all about how Joe isn't a socialist. If you looked at his record sinking bankruptcy reform that would have helped the working class you'd know that. Same with his service to the credit card industry. He's been a boon to the police state and the military state. He's done fine work on tax shelters. We are so fucked that we are happy to get shit asses like Obama an Biden in office, I'm in absolute despair that anything will ever get better.
I couldn't have said it better. I've been spending time on leftist Discord, which has helped me learn a lot of things from a new perspective, but also to help commiserate about how ugly things have gotten.
I'm not arguing that Obama was perfect or that he made the world a Utopia. I'm saying that when you compare his policy achievements to the last several presidents, he stacks up very well. Just think back to Bush's and Clinton's major policy initiatives. They're almost all catastrophes.
Yes, he definitely managed to clear those very low bars.