02-05-2021, 09:32 AM
(02-04-2021, 06:03 PM)mamabug Wrote: 1. The power is limited only if they are not acting in unity. It won't be until actual legislation is proposed and voted on that it will be known how much consensus there is for some of the scarier ideas floating out there, until then this remains a point of concern. It also won't be until the GOP actually uses the filibuster for something the DNC wants that we will know if it is going to hold. I figure I'll know sometime within the next three months whether or not my worries are unfounded.
Accept the inconvenient fact that the filibuster is already a zombie, eating brains and corrupting the process of governing. It was always a segregationist tool. Now it's used for everything. We're eyeball deep in several interlocking crises. Obdurate obstructionism will not be tolerated much longer.
mamabug Wrote:2. I don't trust the Supreme Court on civil liberty issues. Roberts *will* cave if it means protecting the institution, he's already proven that; Kavanaugh and Barrett are establishment with poor records on upholding the rights of the little guy against the state; Breyer, Sotomayor, Thomas, and Alito are hit and miss depending on the rights involved and how political the issue is; Gorsuch I don't always agree with but his reasoning is usually pretty solid and he isn't afraid to break across ideological lines; and Kagan is completely useless. Again, though, it all comes down to point #1 - if the DNC is unified enough around an agenda then they can pull another 'nuclear option.'
The country has been ungovernable for decades -- especially the last 10 years or so. The action in the streets is a direct reflection of how little power the government has been able to bring to bear. Trump was and is still popular because he simply ignored precedent and the law and did as he pleased. There is a hunger for that. So you better adjust to the emerging reality that we're going to have a much more intrusive government, because chaos is not an option. If you chose to stand for something that will not be in vogue again until the 2T, feel free to be a contrarian. Been there; done that.
mamabug Wrote:3. Again, not sure if you are deep in cognitive dissonance or are legitimately unaware of the actions and agenda of what is increasingly becoming mainstream left-wing thought. I can point to at least three things being seriously discussed on the left in the last week alone that are illiberal bordering on dystopian. Beyond the actual proposals, though, is the general feeling of animosity and desire to punish coming from those who, ostensibly, won. That is never a good sign in the victors regardless of whether those feelings may be justified - just ask the women of East Berlin in 1945.
Really? There has not been a Progressive government able to make any changes to speak about since Lyndon Johnson. Is the left angry? You bet! The Dems have the voters but not the power, and they're about tired of being rolled. Expect change. And it might help to understand the difference between the left and radical left. Even AOC and the Squad understand the limits of government. That doesn't apply to idealists who assume if they think it so it can be. To misquote Jesus: the wackos have always been with us. And this is far worse on the right, as the raid on the Capitol more than made clear.
mamabug Wrote:4. The law unevenly applied is not justice. Once upon a time the Left believed that.
Unachievable justice isn't justice either. People of color receive stiffer sentences, less benefit of the doubt (as the prison population more than validates), and that's just the criminal justice system. If I was black and had to give my son 'the talk' just to keep him safe, I wouldn't think that justice was evenly applied ever in the history of the republic.
mamabug Wrote:5. Worrying that a unified political and social elite might infringe upon the civil liberties of it's opponents is a fascist argument? I guess in a world where silence is violence and violence is mostly peaceful that almost makes sense.
Real power can rule without violence. Real power controls lives at their core level: economics, social standing and access to <insert the 'good' of your choice>. We've been there for a long time already.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.