02-08-2017, 01:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-08-2017, 02:02 PM by Eric the Green.)
(02-07-2017, 09:13 PM)Marypoza Wrote:(02-07-2017, 04:54 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(02-07-2017, 04:04 PM)Marypoza Wrote:(02-07-2017, 03:04 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:(02-04-2017, 08:19 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Donald Trump did not run on a platform of ravaging the environment or promoting financial corruption. Neither did he say that he would gut public education. But he has quickly aligned with people who act as if no human suffering is in excess so long as they get what they want. We should have gotten a hint that he was bad news with his calls for violence, his ugly bigotry, and his "grab (women) by their pu$$ies".
The most rapacious plutocrats are not our benefactors; they are our exploiters. Military contractors should not be setting foreign policy; oil companies should not be setting energy policy; financial hustlers should not be allowed to determine how America does finance; mining companies should not be setting environmental policy. Donald Trump's policies are akin to letting pornographers determine the sexual mores of us all.
Four years from now we will be asking ourselves how we could have done to ourselves so much harm by electing Donald Trump, who offered vague promises of prosperity so long as we do not ask how we were to get it and who would reap the benefits. He has shown himself a cruel man, and I expect no trace of human decency in his economic policies.
When we get through this mess we will need to make major political changes, shoring up the Constitution against corporate power and ruthless operatives -- and lengthening the norm of education so that American adults can be less gullible when a demagogue, Left or Right, offers vague promises of safety and plenty so long as we do not ask any troublesome questions.
When Citizens United was decided I was initially quite happy to see it. However, since then, I have come to despise that outcome. Among other things it allowed unions to become unlimited political syndicates, it allowed false front "corporations" to bundle foreign money and as many on the Left continue to argue, it gave actual corporations status as people. Here's the deal about giving a corporation status as a person vis a vis US politics. You want to be considered a legitimate person? Then you need to be an actual US entity. How many corporations are US entities any more? Talk about bundling foreign money and allowing interests potentially inimical to the US to have a voice in electoral processes and lobbying.
Citizens United has turned out to be a disaster. It is exactly the sort of thing George Washington feared. He we are. Where is the George Washington of the 21st Century?
--- the DNC sabotaged his campaign last yr
Who keeps bringing it up, Mary? Hillary might also have been that leader. We'll never know.
Quote:He's still raising hell in the Senate however
He is our real leader.
-- yeah l bring up Bernie. I'll cop to that. He's still relevant. X asked where our George Washington is. Others have asked in different threads where our Franklin Roosevelt is. Answer- he got screwed over last yr & we got stuck with the Donald. This 4T is taking us down a different path
The voters chose Hillary. I'm not sure Bernie could have beat Trump (9-4), going by Bernie's current 14-7 score on my system. If anything, if I make any changes, his score is more likely to go down than up. And if that happens (I have no plans to further change my system now, but it's always fuzzy around the edges as any number system is), then IF Hillary's Jupiter rising (assuming I chose the right chart for her) is worth 10 points, then she's about equal with Bernie on my system anyway.
But it looks like Trump had the numbers to win on my system, and that the other main indicator that favored the party in power only applied to the popular vote. We're stuck with The Donald, so the only hope for regeneracy lies with the opposition.
Another point I like to make to those who say the 1990s were a long time ago. I say they were only 1 year ago, because we have had less than a year of movement forward since 1995. So, why should any of us assume that 22 years have passed, when only 1 of those years has been lived in a country that was not in stalemate or regression?
Lichtman also predicted Trump would win, based on his system that was only wrong in the year 2000 when the Supreme Court selected the president. So unless Lichtman gave Bernie the "charisma" key that he denied to Hillary, and also didn't assign the primary challenge key to the election (or changed another key such as the third party candidate), then Bernie would not have won the election either. Lichtman's system is largely based on the performance of the party in power during the previous 4 years.
https://youtu.be/lDXHv5cIBCA