11-03-2016, 02:54 PM
(11-01-2016, 01:46 PM)David Horn Wrote:(10-29-2016, 04:45 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(10-29-2016, 04:29 PM)naf140230 Wrote:(10-29-2016, 09:35 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Many of the vulgarians are proud of Hillary Clinton's label "deplorable", even wearing the word as a badge of pride. Such people would never think of deciding why Hillary Clinton labels them 'deplorable'.It goes both ways. At the last debate, Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton a nasty woman. Clinton supporters are wearing that word "nasty" as a badge of pride, too. I have seen this on Twitter.
Which to me isn't a change for the better on either side.
Apparently we are no longer a nation of thinking adults. We have regressed to middle school and should be ashamed, but we aren't ... at least not enough of us to stop the lunacy. Are we talking about issues? Not really. Both candidates have made statements, but I'm not sure either is serious. Hillary knows she won't be allowed to do anything and Trump won't want to do anything that might require thinking and hard work.
We have four years of vacuous posturing ahead of us. Will that aid or retard the transformation of the parties? 2020 is a critical election, much more so than this one, and I don't see anything in the works that will move use in a better direction. It's obvious that the old structure is dead, and this poisonous election is doing nothing to help.
That is penultimate example of the false equivalency derived from the very non-thinking that you critique.
A stalemate with Clinton in the WH and a GOP Congress will look pretty much like it does today, and that means not rolling back the ACA, immigration executive orders, and a host of other Progressive milestones that Obama was able to squeeze out. Moreover, our foreign policy will look like it at least has someone trying to understand the issues.
Moreover, if the Dems actually take the Senate, or just even it out with Kaine as the tiebreaker, then at some point Schumer is going to nuke the SCOTUS nomination obstruction at least once and perhaps as many as 3-4 times in the next 4 years... and that will start the long-haul process of rolling back the voter suppression, the Citizen United corporate takeovers, the vulgar gerrymandering and a host of the rear-guard actions of a dying GOP.
Compare that to Trump in the WH and a GOP Congress. The ACA will be repealed before they even clean up the liter left over on the Mall from the inauguration - 20 million people will be thrown off insurance plans and several million more kids under 24 years old will be taken off their parents' insurance immediately. There will be no replacement other than having the insurance companies, just like the credit card companies, all headquartered in Delaware - why do you think credit card interest rates never dip below double digits even when 10-year Treasuries hold below 2%?
There will be massive efforts at deportations; any GOP critter standing in the way of that will be un-elected in 2018. Janet Yellen will be replaced with a deficit hawk and interest rates will shoot up overnight. Tariffs will be imposed just like Smoot-Hawley. And that's just in the first month of President Trump. There will be an economic depression to rival the 1930s - why do you think the stock market has gotten so very nervous in the last week?
That economic despair and public backlash, along with Trump's anger management problems, will set the stage for some foreign striking out that will make Bush's invasion of Iraq look honorable and reasonable in comparison. Choose your favorite - Iran, N. Korea, China Sea, Russia - and none of those are wars where you will get to sit back and watch on TV in the comfort of your living room.
Such false equivalency of the two choices we face is the epitome of the problems we have, and the sheer stupidity.