ACA Repeal/Replace: Progressives Face Moral Dilemma

[Eric the Green]

(01-20-2017, 02:48 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(01-20-2017, 09:16 AM)Odin Wrote:

(01-20-2017, 04:46 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: (Odin)

Quote:Meanwhile, the divide has come from the right-wing. I watched PBS Frontline's "Divided States of America" last night, and was reminded of the tactics and angry fanaticism of the people (Classic X'er is) siding with, and what they have done over the last decades and especially during Obama's term to force their will on us and shut down the government. I think the divide is pretty well baked in now until one side wins and a consensus is thereby achieved. It may not be a full consensus, but at least the nation will move on. If it moves in a progressive way, the nation will prosper. If it moves in the direction you have supported, it will not. As to who will win, sure your side is winning now. But the nation remains evenly divided, and the winner goes back and forth. You may be disappointed if you think the contest is over.

Without question the leadership of Republican Party chose to reject any cooperation or compromise with President Obama. They chose to avoid the usual practice in the legislative process that expects the minority party to try to hone the legislation. The purpose was to gut the authority of the then-majority party. The minority party of the time expected to get everything that it was going to get if it had a majority beyond any challenge.

Today the Republican Party gets almost the sort of power that the Communist Party of China has.... on behalf of people who believe that no human suffering is in excess so long as it turns, indulges, or enforces a profit... with a few scraps for the Religious Right. America becomes a country in which the modern versions of Gilded Age plutocrats, Southern agrarian magnates, and the real-life equivalents of Elmer Gantry. We have a real-life Berzelius Windrip taking an office once held by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.

We have 1461 days of what could well be the most dangerous time in American history. At the least, neither Abraham Lincoln nor Jefferson Davis had nukes. We had an ocean between ourselves and both of the demonic powers of the Axis. We face 1461 days in which every joy in life is tainted. The best one can extract from the Trump Presidency is a sort of Schadenfreude in watching a political train-wreck due to the incompetence and extremism of the Republican Party and a horrid President.

This election has showed that the greatest ally of the Right is the weakness and incoherence of the Left. The mix of turnout problems and pet-issue-ism is killing us.

Well, as you're watching TV and watching the ugly images of yourselves being displayed live right in front of all of us for all to see, you shouldn't be proud of what you are seeing and be thankful that you weren't there talking part in the foolishness. What do you expect from a group that's focused on different wants/goals that has no chance of stopping Trump from becoming president with one million supporters in town? I assume one million supporters coming in town to see their president could over shadow and overwhelm a few thousand anti-Trump supporters.

What I remember is that as soon as Obama was elected, the Tea Party rabble loudly insulted and resisted him with street protests, and organized candidates for elections, and they handicapped progressives in the 2010 elections for the foreseeable future. The Left now must do similar things. Not with the same hatred and delusions, but with the truth and the passion for justice that has always fueled Left movements. And what I see is advocates of various causes joining together. Your numbers are wrong, but it's true we cannot stop Trump from becoming president. It will be up to him how much fuel he gives to us to use against him, and how effective the Left will be in dethroning him if it happens. I know it will take a lot of fuel, because most Republicans have little respect for the law or the constitution, but only in getting their way.