Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalWhy isn't raising taxes on the rich on the table in budget talks?
If budget deficits are such a serious problem, why does the debate and the "compromise" to avoid a government shutdown only include spending cuts?
The administrations of GW Bush and Trump passed huge tax cuts for the rich, creating larger budget deficits while expanding the huge gulf between the insanely rich and the vast majority of Americans. Tens of millions are struggling to get by, but the only apparent solution is to cut programs which help the poor and the sick. Rescinding at least a portion of the Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy is never included in any compromise. Why?
It's almost certain that Republicans would be unified against any such measure, and if it somehow passed the House it would be filibustered in the Senate.
But that's no reason Democrats should not bring rescinding those cuts to the bargaining table every time the self proclaimed "fiscal conservatives" across the aisle cite budget deficits to push their extreme demands for cuts that would harm so many Americans including children.
At the very least, this would remind voters whose interests the Republican Party truly represents.
He is a manifestation of the worst traits of American voters
Ignorance, bigotry, spite, and susceptibility to charlatans.
He is also the creation of those who see him for what he is, including a means to pursue their own greed and lust for power.
Trump as a dangerous force in American politics would not exist without a receptive audience and influential enablers.
Empowering the Devil in the name of God
Donald Trump is the most un-Christian completely amoral POtuS ever to leave a stain on the White House. He is a malignant narcissist and pathological liar totally lacking human empathy, spewing hateful vindictive rhetoric as he telegraphs his plans to use the power of the presidency to imprison his political opponents and government officials who dared to hold him accountable for his numerous crimes, including inciting a violent insurrection to stay in power after losing an election.
The self proclaimed "Christians" flocking to Mar-a-Lago to make a deal with the Devil are selling their souls in their own lust for power, perfectly willing to destroy the United States Constitution in the process.
It is no surprise that such unscrupulous charlatans seek to impose their narrow minded views on everyone else. What is truly alarming is that so many American voters are eager to join this unholy crusade, enthralled with the Devil themselves.
We don't know for certain how much of TFG's fascist agenda could succeed, but
What is truly alarming (in addition to the prospect of TFG getting a 2nd term) is that so many US voters eagerly swallow the lies and the apocalyptic rhetoric.
The mindset of tens of millions of Americans is such that they will not only go along with the rest of the agenda but some of the most extreme members of the cult are capable of intimidation and murder against anyone who stands in the way of this "final battle."
The guardrails manned by career public servants which barely held against the most dangerous commands in TFG's first adminstration will be dismantled in the 2025 project.
The survival of our public might depend on an untrustworthy Supreme Court, and even if they rule against Herr Shitler, he will control nearly all the enforcement mechanisms.
Very thoughtful post, but I think a Palestinian state in the WB is next to impossible
Very few if any WB settlers will leave, and no Israeli government would survive the next election if it tried to force them to leave.
And where would they go? Does the tiny state of Israel have a surplus of empty housing or land to develop communities comparable to what the settlers already have in the WB?
The only real leverage the US has over Israel is the withholding of aid. Politically, that is very risky in American domestic politics. Far too many voters would swallow the shrieking narrative that we're taking the side of vicious terrorists over our longtime democratic ally.
I'm not religious but I would pray to God I'm wrong about this, if praying would do any good.
But I don't see a good ending emerging from the rubble of the current horrific violence and death.
Seeds for the next generation of terrorists have been firmly planted. Extremists on either side can all too easily scuttle any progress in a fragile effort for a peaceful solution.
I have great respect for Bernie, and I agree that aid to Israel
...should NOT be unconditional. And yet, it always has been even when a rightwing extremist government continues to undermine our own national interests in the region and render the two state solution IMPOSSIBLE.
NO Isreali government will forcibly evict the settlers from their West Bank settlements, some of which are multi generational communities. Netanyahu has been steadily establishing facts on the ground. There can be no sovereign Palestinian state with the West Bank sliced & diced by Jewish settlements and the roads connecting them controlled by Israeli forces.
Barring eviction, would a more left wing Israeli government remove its forces protecting the settlers, leaving them as residents subject to the authority of a Palestinian government and people with deep resentment and scores to settle against them?
I think not, especially in the wake of the Oct 7 atrocity and what followed. Hamas invades Israel, brutally murdering more than a thousand civilians, and this results in abandoning the Jews in the West Bank to the tender mercies of a Palestinian authority after Israel kills 10x as many of their civilians in Gaza?
Ain't gonna happen. The potential for a two state solution is an irreconcilable shambles, and there is no one state solution that is not an Apartheid state. Demographics are such that Jews could become a minority in a unified land, and Israel would cease to be the Jewish state if Palestinians had full citizenship rights.
There is no end in sight to the horrible tragedy and endless cycle of violence surrounding Jerusalem, which should be an international city of peace and brotherhood for the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions.
How many voters who care about the issues cited in the OP
Will vote for a Republican in the general election if they don't get everything they want from the Democratic candidate?
They get ZERO from the Republican Party. If they really care about issues they will vote, but they might vote 3rd party and therein lies the advantage of the Cult party.
But elections are often won by swinging voters who are in neither camp. Not everyone who has voted Republican in the last elections are in that cult.
Republicans have an advantage among swing voters because of a double standard in the mainstream media and a less than responsible approach to educating their audience.
Two cases in point:
Only 3 years separate the ages of Biden and Trump, yet Biden's age and mental fitness is portrayed as more conerning. Any little slip is widely reported, yet Trump's frequent breaks with reality and unhinged rants have essentially been normalized. No longer newsworthy, at least not enough to change public perception as to whose mental state should be of greater concern.
On the economy by every objective measure President Biden has done a fantastic job, with results directly attributable to legislation he championed. Trump couldn't match those numbers even before the pandemic. His signature legislative victory was a major tax cut which overwhelmingly favored the rich and drove up budget deficits, but public perception -- which greatly influences election outcomes -- is that Trump is much better on the economy.
Trump's incessant lies echoed by his party and the complicit "conservative" media push the overall needle rightward, whereas Democrats hold themselves to a higher standard of truthfulness.
Another disadvantage for Democrats is the agressive gerrymandering (primarily affecting House races) and voter suppression (also impacting the presidential election) by red state governments, some of which were key swing states won by Biden in 2020. The BIG LIE of that election being stolen has been used as justification for Republican efforts -- in the cause of "election integrity" -- to steal the 2024 election.
It's not an even playing field, not even close, for all those reasons.
Yet we must overcome those disadvantages, or we may soon be talking about American democracy in the past tense.
Changing the Trajectory of the Arrow in Flight
The arrow may begin its flight well and true, but it flies through a world of good and evil and many things in between.
How can the trajectory of a child's life not be affected by the indescribable hardships of war and the emotional trauma of seeing loved ones grotesquely killed by death from the sky or enemies at the gate?
"we tend to recognize those who kill babies and little children as extremely repulsive beings" -- but every one of those beings was once an innocent child.
Should not the efforts and resources of a civilized society be devoted to guide those trajectories towards a better future for every child regardless of their race, creed, or national origin?
"We look to our Palestinian relatives who, like us, continue to demonstrate the power of resistance against colonialism"
That sounds an awful lot like an endorsement of the recent atrocities committed by Hamas.
Before citing the arguably much worse litany of atrocities committed against Native Americans or the atrocities committed by the State of Israel, I will argue that an unequivocal statement regarding Hamas is needed:
1. Hamas was justified in what they did, a legitimate course of action given the Palestinians' plight.
2. Nothing justifies the deliberate targeting and slaughter of civilians including women and children.
I underlined targeting because that is the most contentious aspect to the current unfolding tragedy.
Israel can claim, with some truth, they are targeting Hamas and its capabilities to commit more atrocities against Israeli civilians. However, I think it's fair to say they do so knowing full well that thousands of Palestinian civilians including women and children will be killed. Calling them "human shields" does not change this knowing slaughter.
All the arguments placing more blame on one side or the other with or without historical context since the founding of Israel and the many centuries before that do not bring us one step closer to ending the horrible tragedy unfolding on the world stage. There is no easy solution, and any specific proposal for peace will be met with a multitude of arguments why it wouldn't work and/or would be terribly unjust to one or both sides.
I do not have the expertise to come up with a solution, and I'm fairly certian the experts don't either. Nevertheless, the focus of the world very much needs to be on a peaceful solution that will endure.
Perhaps we can start with an unequivocable rejection of deliberately slaughtering civilians.
Antonio's aside to Bassanio can be applied to a number of modern day charlatans
The most prominent being the one who is
The quote above is from the article linked below:
Half of evangelicals believe Trump is anointed by God
The article is based on an interview with Reza Aslan (a convert to Evangelical Christianity) and a number of surveys which add some nuance to the title of the article.
Very few things are entirely black & white and we should avoid painting with too broad a brush, but generalities can be necessary to explain macro trends which seriously impact our society. I would argue the near cultish attachment to Donald Trump -- a pathological liar, malignant narcissist, and very likely a criminal -- by "conservative" evangelicals poses a serious threat to American democracy and to the environment which is the subject of this thread.
On a personal basis these can by very nice people who donate to worthy charities and obviously love their children, but they vote in great numbers for politicians and policies which are terribly destructive to life on Earth and contradict the core teachings of Jesus Christ.
I'm agnostic while my wife is a practicing Christian. Religious faith is a very personal thing. Religious freedom is the freedom to practice one's own beliefs -- not to impose them on others. America's foundational separation of church and state is the greatest guarantor of freedom for all faiths or lack thereof. The "Christian Nationalist" movement gaining steam in the Republican Party is in my view un-American and fueled in no small part by the strain of xenophobia which has always been an undercurrent in this country.
I think Trump's popularity touched upon that undercurrent. He validated some of the worst impulses and prejudice which had became less acceptable as minorities (racial, gender, religious) formerly discriminated against gained more equal rights. He expressed their resentments, triggered their fears, broke norms with an in-your-face braggadocio, and they love him for it. From there it was a small step to believe he was anointed by God to save their America from all the perceived threats to their way of life.
Everyone is of course free to believe what they want, but we have a real problem when those beliefs endanger civil rights and the long term environmental health of this planet upon which we depend for life itself.
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