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Facing reality.

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_priapism

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on: May 09, 2019, 06:04:12 PM
1. America is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.  It is a very wealthy corporate banana republic.

2.  America is not a representative democracy.  40 million Californians have 2 US senators.  40 million people who comprise the population of 23 states have 46 US Senators.

3.  The popular vote has prevailed in 3 of the last five.  So, 60% of the time the winner of the popular vote goes to the White House.  Can anyone call this a successful system.

4.  America makes it harder to vote than any of its Western democratic counterparts.  Gerrymandering, voter suppression, purging voter roles, intimidation at the ballot boxes.  Again this is not how successful democracies operate.

5.  Since Citizens United, corporate money and PACS have flooded the system and bulged incumbents war chests.  No hope for gun control, pharmacy price regulation, access to healthcare, environmental controls, financial oversight, food and drug inspections, restrictions on GMO’s, pesticides in food, water quality controls, air quality, nuclear inspections, control of BPAs.  So the rich get richer, and the rest of us die earlier and in tangibly worse ways.

6.  The courts are being stacked by the Right and weaponized. If Trump loses in 2020, expect a Supreme Court challenge to overturn the results based on false allegations of wide spread voter fraud.  It is already in the works.  The briefs are being drawn.

7.  America is definately dumber than it was 30 years ago.  The Right has attacked and undermined free public education, and it is working. Betsy DeVos.  My Über driver told me Donald Trump is the greatest president ever.  My driver has a gig job with no benefits,  no overtime, a subsistence wage, long hours, and he probably paid more taxes last year than Donald.
  
8.   America is awfully sexist, racist, and homophobic. And now, so is its President. It always has been, but you didn’t have people shouting things on buses and beating the shit out of people on the sidewalks.

So it’s pretty discouraging from where I sit.  I’m beginning to wonder if the America I thought existed ever existed at all.  Perhaps it’s always been this way.  Odds are it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2019, 06:11:13 PM by ToeinH20 »



psiberzerker

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Reply #1 on: May 09, 2019, 06:42:07 PM
I appreciate the irony, but "Political Reality" is a contradiction in terms.  Rulers don't deal in reality, they deal in Laws, and Ideals, of a utopian nation (Under God) with perfect people, and "Criminals" that don't belong in their vision of what society should be.  For them.

People are self absorbed, and only pretend to know what each other want, as if they care.  Governments are created by people, and executed by people.  Fallible, deluded, self centered Politicians.  Honestly, the ideal government would be a benevolent God, but without that (Or a God that doesn't answer his Prayers) the next best thing might be an AI.

Unfortunately, people don't trust AI, because of all the science fiction, which tells them they'll inevitably turn evil, and violently genocidal.  You know, like people.  IDK, it hasn't been tested, but I kinda doubt the ability for people to create something that is infallible, and a completely Logical machine couldn't possibly account for people's irrational feelings.

Now, I'm not going to argue that America is great, was ever great, nor could ever be a perfect Utopia.  Even with a good governing program on an infallible machine (If we're capable of creating it.)  However, I have to aknowledge how priviledged I am to have been born here, the shitty (Texas, and North Carolina) public education I've gotten, and the wealth I can't just take for granted.

I've been to Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Etheopia, in the 90s.  Remember that?  Well, I signed up for the UN Peacekeeping force, trying to prevent a drought from turning into a despotate of warlords, and helped found the most stable Anarchy in recorded history.

It's easy to point out what's wrong with something.  It's almost impossible to come up with something better.  The goal of government shouldn't be Utopia, because in Reality, that's an impossible.  The goal should be the same as any good parents':  Making it better for the next generation than the one we grew up in.

All that is moot, if our heirloom pollution makes the world too toxic to live in.



psiberzerker

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Reply #2 on: May 09, 2019, 06:53:08 PM
Some Americans blame the votors, but have you ever asked yourself if the best America has to offer in the way of leadership is good enough?  If the best, and most fit to rule, in the entire history of the Human Race is that much better than the voters.  Politicians believe that.  Some politicians believe that there are people, who for whatever reason are more fit to Rule than everyone else.  Have you ever asked yourselves, whether or not you're willing to accept that, too?  

American politics is Marketing.  The President is a Product, of our society, and for the people.  The House, and Senate are basically rubber stamped incumbent for decades, because the votors don't go to the trouble to research who represents them in the legislature, if they even know their Senator's name.  

What does the House of Representatives do?  How many do you get in your state?  (I have a good educated guess.)  How long has your Representative been in office, and what was the last thing he, or she voted on?

The American voter is Ignorant, and you're an American voter.  I can almost hear the thoughts:  "I'm not ignorant!"

Of course not.  There's your reality check.  The whole system is fucked, because it was created by the people, for the people, and then they trusted the best that America had to offer for centuries.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2019, 07:02:24 PM by psiberzerker »



psiberzerker

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Reply #3 on: May 10, 2019, 03:14:27 AM
The electoral college system is flawed and I think there are fairer systems that could be used, but why the fuck would anyone want to replace it with the popular vote? A popular vote system grants the most densely populated areas disproportionate power and it allows for sparsely populated areas to be basically ignored entirely.

Only because the majority of Americans live in shitties.  If more people lived out in more urban areas, and we shifted away from the Commercial economy (That's helping destroy our habitats) then this wouldn't necessarily be the case.  However, I agree that it is now, it just needn't be so.



Offline Katiebee

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Reply #4 on: May 10, 2019, 05:11:47 AM
There is only one way.
Aux barricades!

There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who can count, and those who can't.


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Reply #5 on: May 10, 2019, 05:55:57 PM

1. America is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.  It is a very wealthy corporate banana republic.

2.  America is not a representative democracy.  40 million Californians have 2 US senators.  40 million people who comprise the population of 23 states have 46 US Senators.

3.  The popular vote has prevailed in 3 of the last five.  So, 60% of the time the winner of the popular vote goes to the White House.  Can anyone call this a successful system.

4.  America makes it harder to vote than any of its Western democratic counterparts.  Gerrymandering, voter suppression, purging voter roles, intimidation at the ballot boxes.  Again this is not how successful democracies operate.

5.  Since Citizens United, corporate money and PACS have flooded the system and bulged incumbents war chests.  No hope for gun control, pharmacy price regulation, access to healthcare, environmental controls, financial oversight, food and drug inspections, restrictions on GMO’s, pesticides in food, water quality controls, air quality, nuclear inspections, control of BPAs.  So the rich get richer, and the rest of us die earlier and in tangibly worse ways.

6.  The courts are being stacked by the Right and weaponized. If Trump loses in 2020, expect a Supreme Court challenge to overturn the results based on false allegations of wide spread voter fraud.  It is already in the works.  The briefs are being drawn.

7.  America is definately dumber than it was 30 years ago.  The Right has attacked and undermined free public education, and it is working. Betsy DeVos.  My Über driver told me Donald Trump is the greatest president ever.  My driver has a gig job with no benefits,  no overtime, a subsistence wage, long hours, and he probably paid more taxes last year than Donald.
  
8.   America is awfully sexist, racist, and homophobic. And now, so is its President. It always has been, but you didn’t have people shouting things on buses and beating the shit out of people on the sidewalks.

So it’s pretty discouraging from where I sit.  I’m beginning to wonder if the America I thought existed ever existed at all.  Perhaps it’s always been this way.  Odds are it’s going to get worse before it gets better.


With all due respect, Toe, this comes off more like the whining of a cranky old guy than insightful and informed analysis.

Granted, some of your points are on target. What I find disturbing -- and I'll beat this dead horse once again -- is that with a vital election coming up next year, the attitude for those who which to see the current president voted out of office should not be to give up and walk away or say, "Fuck it, we're screwed." That attitude contributed to Trump's election in 2016. Do we really want to go down that road again, with its attending consequences? I know I don't.

To your specific points:

1. In what way(s). How have our freedoms been curtailed in recent years? To take just one example among hundreds, a few years ago the Supreme Court handed down a decision that removed barriers in all 50 states to same-sex couples who wished to legally marry.

2. Your facts are true, but your conclusion is false. It's true that California, with a population of close to 40 million people has only two Senators, while Wyoming, with a population of about 580,000 people, also has two Senators. But it's also true that California has 53 seats in the House, and Wyoming has one. If the former is unfair, then the latter is also unfair. Besides, the makeup of our Congress was specifically designed this way, to allow states with larger populations to have proportional representation in the House, and for states with smaller populations to have equal representation in the Senate. It's called "balance." 

3. Yes, everyone could -- and should -- call this a "successful system." The elections you cite were carried out in the strictest accordance of the U.S. Constitution, as has every single previous election in U.S. history. That's the definition of "successful." U.S. presidents are not decided by the candidate who receives the most popular votes, nor have they ever. It's a fact that these candidates receive more popular votes than their competitors. And that fact is meaningless in context. The bottom line is this: Those who insist on asserting the fact that losing candidate X "received more popular votes" exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of how our presidential electoral system works, and how it has always worked, from the first presidential election to the most recent one.

The good news is that our presidential electoral system can be changed, and change in a very straightforward manner. Most successful people, when they come upon a situation they believe to be unfair, unjust, or unworkable, strive to change the system. It's only unsuccessful people who sit on the sidelines and whine about it. Asserting for the 846,340th time "But Hillary won the popular vote!" will do absolutely nothing to affect change in 2020.

4. I agree with you about gerrymandering, though changes in district boundaries do not deny a single person the basic right to vote. I'd love to see some specific examples of voter suppression and intimidation at the ballot boxes. And as you're assembling this information, bear in mind that President Trump made these exact same assertions after his election.

5. I agree that the Citizens United decision, and the enormous infusion of cash into the presidential candidates' coffers, is the second biggest problem the country faces in this area. But the greatest problem we face is voter indifference, with eligible voters voting in embarrassingly low numbers. And that problem is attributable less to campaign financing and more to voter indifference. And voter indifference is often inspired by attitudes like the ones you express in your first point, i.e. "Fuck it, we're screwed."

6. How has the Supreme Court been "stacked by the Right"? The two most recent Supreme Court justices took their places on the Court in strict accordance with the Constitution, following a procedure that has been in place for over two centuries. The process did not deviate from every other Supreme Court appointment one iota. And would you also assert that during Obama's administration the Supreme Court was "stacked by the Left"? Or, to look at it another way, is it such a surprise that a Republican president would nominate a justice who's philosophy seems to align more with his party's, or that a Democratic president would nominate a justice who's philosophy seems to align more with his party's?

7. Not "dumber," but certainly less educated and informed. And this problem is only going to get worse.

8. I agree that "America is awfully sexist, racist, and homophobic." Any type of sexism, racism, or homophobia is "awful" by definition. But America today is incomparably less sexist, racist, and homophobic than it has ever been in its history. Again, Obergefell v. Hodges. You can strive to build upon these advances, and seem them as a sign of hope. Or you can keep your head turned to the past, and see signs of pessimism, and thereby give up the struggle to increase and improve upon these advances. The choice is yours. 

As I said, whining on the Left played a major role in Trump's election in 2016. Looking to 2020, you can continue to carp and whine from the sidelines, or you can encourage people to vote in general and to vote for the best candidate in particular. Against, the choice is yours.







"Sometimes the best things in life are a hot girl and a cold beer."



Offline herschel

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Reply #6 on: May 10, 2019, 06:39:57 PM
Katie has a good point--pretty much what Christopher Hedges has been saying.

Unfortunately, it didn't work in France, because when you cut off the head of a Hydra, it just grows two more heads. The real power is not with the figureheads--be they elected officials or the royal court--but rather with those who buy and sell figureheads.



psiberzerker

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Reply #7 on: May 10, 2019, 07:01:09 PM
This partisan delusion: That everything wrong with the world is all the other side of the aisle's fault, is shared by both sides of the aisle.

The reality?  Is that we, all have to work together, as a Race, to stop being a Mass Extinction event.  You're talking about the lesser evils, which are not only specious, but speciest.  In that whole entire laundry list of political problems, you didn't once even mention Pollution, so here's another reality check:

We're polluting the planet.  Not just the atmosphere, but the water, the soil, the flora, and the fauna.  Right now, they're talking about taxing 1 compound.  Carbon Dioxide, you heard of the Carbon Footprint?  Yeah, well that's 1 compound, of 1 element, which is the backbone of every molecule of Life as we know it.  

What about Benzene, Ammonia, Lead, Sulpher, Mercury, Allumina, Arsenic..?  Where's the tax on those?  After all, if we're going to regulate pollution, then why not make money (For the government) from it?

This is a bipartisan, and non partisan problem.  Nationalism?  It's keeping us from working with an over-populated Asian country with a massive Coal power grid, and generations of wearing masks to the point where it's a Fashion Statement, and they had to practice literal Eugenics favoring male births because girls weren't as valuable to the state.

That's JUST China.  Not counting Korea, India, and Japan.  This is what your political "Reality" is ignoring.  This is what it's allowingto happen, and profiting from it.  Carbon taxes, trade embargoes, fuel wars, what are we going to do about China, now that we stopped ignoring them for over half a century, declare War?  Send aircraft carriers, with areal tankers, so our missiles can be flown within range of the landlocked provinces, and while we're at it, do nothing about the genocides in Nepal, and Thibet.

I know, let's have an election, lose it again, then blame the other side for winning, instead of owning the fact that you let the dumbest raving lunatic come to power because the Chick's fanclub gaslit the Jew's fanclub so they wouldn't vote for her.

We suck, as a race humanity sucks.  Because we care more about Money, Race, Nation, Communism vs Socialism, and political party than we do about what goes in our gas tanks, where it comes from, how much diesel it takes to get to our tanks, what comes out of the tail pipe, and what happens to the filters when we throw them away to start a new lease on a newer car.

I don't even want to compliment your 8 petty little points by going over them.  They're petty, and literally missing the big picture:  



^This is important, for every person, and specie that lives here.  We're losing our Glaciers, our Tundra, entire categories of Habitat are being destroyed, because fuel is cheaper than energy, and we don't give a cintillafuck how everything in our cities get here.  We're lazy, it's just so easy to pay Blue Apron by Credit card, and gardening is hard.

Until your parties agree to stop fighting, and tackle this problem, this Human problem as a race.  Until your nations stop fighting over the imaginary lines between Us, and Them.  Until people stop fighting over whether sharing all the resources among the people, or voting among the people is the right thing for the people (Without asking all the other species how they feel about being run over when they try to cross the road) the human race will continue to be the problem.

Check your Reality.  While it's still here.



psiberzerker

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Reply #8 on: May 10, 2019, 07:29:49 PM
Fuel Economy

You know what that means?  Here's a hint: that's what we have, as a race right now.  It's politically correct to talk about "Energy" but what they mean is Diesel.  Crude oil burns diesel, to make more diesel.  Pretty much since we switched over from Steam, and Whale Oil to Coal, and Natural Gas in the 19th century, that has been the backbone of the Global economy.

The Gold Standard.  Let me ask you this, if we decided to pay off our national debt to China (As a negotiation point to broach the subject of Pollution) how would it get from Fort Knox to Beijing?  Diesel.  Your gasoline (Or Petrol) gets to the gas station in a diesel powered Tanker.  The pumps (I worked on as an Industrial Engineer, Pipe Fitter, and Hydraulics specialist) that force pressurized crude through pipelines to the refinery are diesel powered, so are the pumps that suck it out from the limestone cap between it and the groundwater from here to Oklahoma.  The diesel to run the pumps is delivered by a diesel tanker.

The Diesel (And Octane) Standard.  Now, look around you, right now.  That screen you're looking at, where did it come from?  How did it get there?  Now, read this sentence before you look up from this screen:  I want you to spot, from where you're sitting, or standing, 1 thing that comes from within 1,000 miles of that spot.

How did it get there?  The most likely answer is Diesel, and/or Octane (The median chain length of the various hydrocarbons we collectively call "Gasoline."  That's why it's measured in "Octanes.")

Can you find an exception?  1 thing from within 1,000 miles of that spot, you can see from there?  Okay, now find 2.  If you can't, then congratulations, everything else as far as the eye can see was shipped in from over the horizon.

Stand up.  From 6' off the ground, the Horizon is a little less than 3 miles away.  That's your Carbon Footprint, farther than you can see, standing on your own too feet.

You'd need an airplane, or a tall building to see past it.

That's our reality.  That's the reality we created for ourselves, so we can't see the other species it's killing.  Until We can't live here any more, either.  Then, it'll be our problem.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 07:36:50 PM by psiberzerker »



Offline Jed_

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Reply #9 on: May 10, 2019, 08:09:39 PM
Psilocybin mushroom decriminalization narrowly won on the ballot in Denver.  If we don’t want to face reality, we can move to Colorado.

Hey MissB, road trip!



psiberzerker

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Reply #10 on: May 10, 2019, 08:56:32 PM
Honestly, Reality is too large to grasp, and as mentioned earlier, we tend to focus on the things we care about.  How it affects us, because we're human.  Finite, so our attention is limited, and Reality is so large it may as well be infinite.



Offline herschel

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Reply #11 on: May 10, 2019, 09:29:09 PM
At some time in the near or distant future, when one of the species that has gone extinct is us, the ghost of humanity will look back and think to itself 'It was fun, while it lasted, for some anyway, and hell for a lot of others.'



psiberzerker

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Reply #12 on: May 10, 2019, 10:14:48 PM
At some time in the near or distant future, when one of the species that has gone extinct is us, the ghost of humanity will look back and think to itself 'It was fun, while it lasted, for some anyway, and hell for a lot of others.'

Well, I don't believe in Ghosts, but I try to think of aliens discovering our ruins, after we're gone, and doing enough Archaeology to discover what we did.

It's kind of embarrassing to think that they won't find nuclear fallout, or bullets in the skulls of the remains, but science fiction about teraforming Mars, and climate evidence (I'm assuming the ice-caps grow back) to show that we terraformed ourselves to death, so we could drive around the corner, and buy a pack of cigarettes.

That we dug up Fossils, shipped them into cities, and burned them, until there was nothing left but ruins, and fossils of us.

That's kinda fucked up.



Offline Athos_131

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Reply #13 on: May 10, 2019, 11:06:22 PM
At some time in the near or distant future, when one of the species that has gone extinct is us, the ghost of humanity will look back and think to itself 'It was fun, while it lasted, for some anyway, and hell for a lot of others.'

Every great empire has fallen.  The United States of America is closer to the end than the beginning.

#Resist

#BlackLivesMatter
Arrest The Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor

#BanTheNaziFromKB


psiberzerker

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Reply #14 on: May 10, 2019, 11:09:52 PM
The United States of America is closer to the end than the beginning.

#Resist

I definitely agree with that!  I just wonder if we're going to take everyone else down with US?



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Reply #15 on: May 10, 2019, 11:51:08 PM

I'd love to see some specific examples of voter suppression

http://www.kristensboard.com/forums/index.php?topic=52527.0

6. How has the Supreme Court been "stacked by the Right"? The two most recent Supreme Court justices took their places on the Court in strict accordance with the Constitution, following a procedure that has been in place for over two centuries. The process did not deviate from every other Supreme Court appointment one iota. And would you also assert that during Obama's administration the Supreme Court was "stacked by the Left"? Or, to look at it another way, is it such a surprise that a Republican president would nominate a justice who's philosophy seems to align more with his party's, or that a Democratic president would nominate a justice who's philosophy seems to align more with his party's?

Did Mitch McConnell Say One of His Proudest Moments Was Telling Obama ‘You Will Not Fill This Supreme Court Vacancy’?

Quote
In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: "One of my proudest moments was when I told Obama, 'You will not fill this Supreme Court vacancy,'" and in 2017, he said, "Apparently there's yet a new standard now, which is not to confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all. I think that's something the American people simply will not tolerate."




True

#Resist

#BlackLivesMatter
Arrest The Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor

#BanTheNaziFromKB


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Reply #16 on: May 11, 2019, 07:25:00 PM
Though the US economy is doing well and unemployment is at the lowest in 50 years I still worry about what the future holds in store for my children and grandchildren. Will there still be Social Security? Pensions? Can the United States afford what politicians keep proposing? Will civility in the Presidency ever return? The United States cannot go it alone in the World.

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.