The Coronavirus

[pbrower2a]

(03-20-2021, 09:48 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(03-19-2021, 03:06 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Yep. He picked some great cartoons that can be easily turned around and used against him today. Unfortunately, you're not the President. You're just another worthless partisan hack like PB who elected the stupid leadership that's completely fucking up the possibility of the country remaining one country who don't realize they're on the verge of losing the bulk of their rights and legal protections associated with the American side when the American side votes to formally part ways with the Democratic party all together. I hope you are fully prepared for the nasty stretch road that lays ahead for those associated with the Democratic party.

Please exit stage extreme right.  Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.  We'll take our chances.

Yes, politics is about assessing and taking risks on a large scale. Most start locally and go up some ladder of elections for "higher" and "higher" offices. So someone runs for a small-town city-council seat, then mayor, then state representative, then State Senator, then maybe Secretary of State, or US Representative, then Governor or Senator before becoming President, maybe the latter at age 60. At each level of complexity (and there are other routes for different communities and different sorts of preparation, as with law) the challenges get bigger and one must meld one's background with one's talent. Of course we know that nobody capable of fitting Texas' First Congressional District Cook R+25)





could ever win in new York's 15th Congressional District (D+44):



Obviously the politicians that a district elects to Congress will mirror that district. Districts will change with their demographics, which explains why Loretta Sanchez could supplant "B-1 Bob" Dornan in the 43rd Congressional District. Dornan's wins kept getting narrower and narrower. This district went from strong R to strong D:

      

The geography explains everything. It also explains that someone who particularly well fits either district is unlikely to fit America as a whole, or even their states, as both districts are far from being a microcosm of America or even their states.  A State governorship, the US Senate, or (less often) the Vice-Presidency is usually the last stop before becoming President. Such is no guarantee of Presidential greatness (Harding, Nixon, Carter, Dubya), and having never been a Senator, Governor, or Veep is no guarantee of disaster (Eisenhower was above average) or may be irrelevant (Herbert Hoover, hamstrung by economic orthodoxy that failed catastrophically), it shows in Trump. 

If there is one office that I am surprised is not a forcing ground for Presidents it is "mayor of a giant city". It is clear that the Mayor of Los Angeles is responsible for the welfare of more people than is a Governor of Arkansas... and that more of America is urban than rural (and don't try to keep alive the distinction between "urban" and "suburban", as many suburbs are now legitimately urban in their problems. Where urban pols fail is in understanding rural issues... although Barack Obama, about as blatant a city-slicker as there is, was able to formulate a coherent agricultural policy. Trump did well in rural areas in 2020 because he opened the spigot on farm subsidies as overcompensation for his trade policy that hurt farmers badly.

As for Classic X'er and my choice of cartoons: 

COVID-19 is good for some dark humor, and anyone who trivializes its danger is a fool who may be putting the lives of those who heeds them at risk of death, a shortened lifespan, or crippling damage to vital organs. I do not need to be a liver expert to know that I want to do anything to put my liver at risk. I have never been drunk in my life, and I drink rarely. I know my limit: one.  I know that tobacco use is a pure detriment to health. I do not smoke at all. An occasional drink might have some health benefits, so I do not quite have a "Mormon liver". But I do have "Mormon lungs". At my age that may be the difference between alive despite some serious disability and no linger being around.

COVID-19 is definitely to be avoided, and one little debauch is enough to put one in serious danger of death or something too close for my taste. If I am to die at this stage of life, then let my death serve some purpose.  

I consider the districts NY-15 and TX-01, however different they may be in demographics, equally American. It is extreme arrogance on the part of Classic X'er, along with pundits and pols who are or were his inspiration, to claim that one part of America is more American than another.  

What is an American? Who knows? Let's start with the obvious: the "average American" is about 1/16 African in origin. How many Americans fit that description? One would also be about 1/8 of origins in the Hispanic world. And... about 1/32 Asian. 25 of 32 great-great grandparents would be clearly of European origin and the other seven would not be.