Friday, February 17, 2017

What the Hell Just Happened?

The unthinkable happened. Because the American electorate revelled in their unthinking. We saw it unfold in microcosm right here in the venerated blogosphere. Asked who they would vote for, uncaring millennials said something like, "Oh, I dunno. I'll probably vote for Jill Stein." Bernie Bots openly flouted their hatred of Hillary Clinton whilst claiming true liberal cred out of the other side of their mouths. When asked if their boy lost the primary, would they cast their votes for HRC? "We won't!" they proudly proclaimed.
What just happened? Who are the good guys? Who can we trust? We thought Jill Stein was a crunchy progressive?

Turns out she actually campaigned on the concept of principled collaboration with Russia, spouting the pseudo-liberal line of bullshit, "The United States is now embarking on a $1 trillion program to update its nuclear weaponry while we are slashing programs to fight hunger, address homelessness, and provide economic security for our people,"

And the full-on crock-of-shit, "Solutions to problems such as jihadi terrorism will require Russia and the United States to work together, shedding outdated cold war attitudes that prevented collaboration on problems facing both nations."

And even the reprehensible, "The Obama Administration's obsession with toppling the government in Damascus is fundamentally inconsistent with winning the fight against ISIS," Stein asserted. "US pursuit of regime change in Libya, Iraq, and Syria created the chaos that promotes power grabs by extremist militias. Many of the weapons we are sending into Syria to arm anti-government militias are winding up in the hands of ISIS. This isn't a clever foreign policy - it's disastrous militarism."

On another topic, I'm sure you were as dumbfounded as I was when Rand Paul said it was time to get busy repealing Obamacare instead of investigating. They trying to pull young minds into the abyss.

8 comments:

  1. I actually agree with Stein. Not on working with Russia (not under Putin, at least), but she's right about the rest. Unfortunately, whenever we topple evil regimes they are replaced with people who are even worse.

    I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary and Hillary Clinton in the General, btw. I don't know how many Bernie supporters didn't end up voting for Clinton, but it was too many (whatever the number). Although I think many of them wouldn't have voted for HRC even if B-S had not run. Many (I think) would haven't voted at all. Those people (IMO) are the most to blame. Roughly half of eligible voters didn't bother to cast a ballot.

    Idiots like Luke. Although (pre-election) Luke wrote on his blog "I'm rooting for Trump". Now he says he's opposed to Trump. But he did not even bother to vote. In fact, it's clear he's proud that he didn't vote. As dmarks has said, if you don't vote that is a show of support for whoever wins (more proof that Luke is pro-Trump).

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    1. I know you voted for Hillary. We talked about it before the election. But I talked to some of the more hardcore Bernie guys over at Southern Beale and they said as much that they would definitely not be supporting HRC in the general.

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  2. Well Derv,

    Of course I agree in principle. There's a lot of things that Paul the elder said about reducing our military budget that I thought made sense. I haven't heard much from Paul the younger recently presumably because he cares more about staying Senator than his libertarian values.

    I feel that Stein was disingenuous because she pulls this $1,000,000,000,000.oo figure out of thin air without offering proof. Of course I would love to see at least 75% of the Pentagon budget directed towards feeding the poor, job training and placement, affordable housing. That would be lovely. But it's a red herring. The two really have little to do with each other. Number one, this modernization of the nuclear arsenal has been continuous for decades. We are not embarking on any new program to completely replace all existing nukes. There was such a program during the Bush administration as I recall.

    The truth is that we are a wealthy nation and we can afford to help other countries while at the same time taking care of our own people. I would like to see the congress take aim at the bloated pentagon budget. But you and I know that is not going to happen any time soon.

    I just feel like Stein knowingly or unwittingly served to sabotage Hillary's election. It looks an awful lot like Putin pwned her.

    OTOH I hold no such animosity for Bernie. I continue to admire him to this day.

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  3. You should change the formatting of comments to include the date. I didn't tick the notify box. I just kept checking back. Now you've replied, but I have no idea when. Was it 10:16am today or a few days ago?

    BTW, I read recently on Lisa's blog that Jersey McJones (a frequent commenter on RNUSA) that he voted for Stein. Dumb, given that he lives in FL* and Hillary could have won FL (*I'm guessing. His profile says his location is "That state that looks and acts like a phallus"). [comment submitted 3/11/2017].

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  4. Hi Dervish,

    I was a hundred miles out-of-town the early part of this week testing my desert survival skills in search of tiny wildflowers. Reports of a banner year for flowers were exaggerated, but it was exciting just to be out in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Thank you for stopping by to read the Dog Report. I almost let Luke completely kill my blog. Without free commenting, traffic has fallen away, effectively dousing my writing muse. I still post my more serious efforts to the Swash Zone. I guess Luke went off in hopes of finding other liberal blogs to destroy. He'll probably be back if I ever open up commenting again.

    So much for the dream of trimming the Pentagon budget. I guess Trump isn't party to libertarian-speak. Rand Paul isn't much of a libertarian since he would rather cut government-subsidized health insurance instead of the Ass of Evil, aka the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex. It looks like Trump wants to set the gigantic ass that is our military right on top of Syria and Iran. F.O.B.s complete with Burger King, cigarettes and liquor, air-conditioned tents, TV and electronics retailers & cetera. Most likely he would like to set up a green zone around Tehran as big as Dallas-Fort Worth and build a few hotels. He may covet Dubai just from a money-making point of view.

    Trump has already got privatized ICE detention centers exacting the last pound of flesh and the blood as well from innocent Americans who have been living and working in the U.S. their whole lives. Did you hear on NPR about the company called, Libre, that pays 50% of the bail bond to free undocumented prisoners from the ICE detention centers, but then forces them to sign contracts and wear ankle bracelet GPS devices that cost $420/month to rent? I feel so much shame. Cuts to the EPA and State Department. Special cuts for his arch-enemy, California. Rolling back minimum fuel efficiency standards for cars in 2030. We are talking nightmare scorched earth policies. Gutting our commitment around the world to fight greenhouse gas emissions. Allowing coal sludge to simply be dumped back in waterways. Living in Tennessee, you know exactly what I am talking about.

    It's a rough ride. We are in denial. We want it to all just go away. But that's just magical thinking.

    I will look into your dashboard suggestions. Later this Spring, I will have two commentaries on the historical role of popular literature in changing civil rights legislation. I am analyzing two short stories from 1940 and 1945. So much has been lost. There is little chance of ever getting it back the way things are looking.

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  5. We are an aging dempcratic republic entering the early stages of decline. As unfortunate as it is the likelihood of reversing this is slim to none.

    We will undoubtedly continue on the present hyper partisan pathway with little inclination to seek compromise, nevermind understanding the vital importance of that fine art.

    There surely are people, as well as some groups, who are reasonable and willing to find common ground. Unfortunately they are in the minority.

    I guess the dumbing down of America that started years ago has accomplished its unstated goal. Divide and conquer. We're on our way. But really the real result will be divide and destroy.

    When raw ideology and blind partisanship rule the day no republic or democracy is safe. We have arrived methinks.

    At the end of the day we all bleed red.

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  6. I agree with your thoughts. It is frightening how much Americans have moved in opposite directions over the last forty years or so. I think that democrats and republicans truly did have more in common in post WWII America. The differences seemed non-problematical. They were anything but insurmountable. Of course, I perceived the world through the rose-colored glasses of a privileged youth and a liberal education. Everything I learned about the Americas and Europe seemed to be very healthy and vibrant. But even as I became aware of crucial disagreements in political thinking here at home, war and conflict in Indochina and elsewhere, the staunch defiance of China and Russia in the cold war, the puppet governments, banana republics, oil states and brutal dictatorships in corners of the world, I remained faithful that the U.S.A. was and always would continue to be a force for good and human achievement. I believed in my heart that we would always be a force to promote peace and an end to suffering for those less fortunate than ourselves. It’s funny how Obama had me thinking just that all over again.

    Nobody at all really believes that today.

    But I was the hyper-partisan you describe. I never thought of us as polarized when Carter was vilified. I just shook my head and wondered how anyone could be stupid enough to hate a man like that. I didn't see it when Clinton was president. In fact, I had never really envisioned a vast, right-wing conspiracy until Hillary Clinton pointed it out to me. I basically thought that everything was still okay, as did millions of other Americans.

    But then something suddenly changed. We decided to blame Bush for the polarization that we saw all around us. But it was fallacy. It was nothing he did at all. It had already happened, however gradually, many years ago. He was, ironically, a conservative who cared very much and reached out to the other side. He actually did believe in the concept of compassionate conservatism. And he demonstrably cared about the average, working American.
    So, of course, I have always blamed the other side for destroying the fabric of our society.
    But your point of view is different. You don't simply say that, "Both sides do it." You know that that will never play with hardcore liberals who feel that it is the conservatives who have gone to far in embracing extremism. You simply say that all of us need to avoid hyper-partisanship and relearn the art of compromise.

    That's hard to argue with.

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  7. Thanks for understanding my point Flying Junior. You hit the nail squarely on its head with your remarks. You see I was that partisan conservative 8,10,15, 20 years ago.But I began to question conservatism sometime around 2005 and after observing repubs and conservatives during President Obama's 2 terms I knew they were not only wrong they were disgustingly wrong. I looked at myself and said I could no longer be part of that crowd.

    Hyper partisanship, wherever it comes from, is poison. It's fine to have differing views and argue them strongly. But only by settling differences through compromise can we ever hope to achieve true harmony and lasting progress.

    Yes, this is something I suspect both hyper partisan progressives AND conservatives will never accept.

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