The Coronavirus

[David Horn]

(07-21-2021, 06:45 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: I see this as a multiple crisis.  Covid, racism, climate change, division of wealth, infrastructure and war are the issue candidates, more or less in order with debate quite possible.  Climate change has already had a bunch of catalysts, be they Katrina, other hurricanes, the western wildfires and draught.  However, the reds seem to be immune to them.  Will the draught become severe enough to cause a breakthrough?  It would take something big to raise that issue higher.  

I should have read the entire thread before responding to other posts, because we're solidly in agreement on this one.

Bob Butler Wrote:I agree war is unlikely.  The Chinese are into brinksmanship and if you play those games so constantly there is always the chance of miscalculation, but I agree that financial games are more profitable since somewhere between the invention of the machine gun and nukes.  The idea of gathering power by heavy militarily conquest seems obsolete, though some conservatives stick with old thinking.

Hypersonic and laser weapons may change that calculus. War in minutes rather than months and years is almost unthinkable, but becoming more possible by the day.

Bob Butler Wrote:The key tipping point is looking like the 2022 mid terms.  The Republicans seem to be betting on the recent trend that the winner of the prior presidential contest tends to lose ground two years later.  On the other hand, the last crisis FDR won by ever increasing margins as his fixes to the crisis problems seemed to work.  During crises you have to fix the crisis problems, so the do nothing stay the same faction generally fades.  If the Republicans are so obviously blocking solution to the crisis problems, how will they hope to pick up votes?  If you obstruct popular actions, do you gain?

If the Dems lose either chamber in 2022, all bets are off. We're dealing with a GOP that seems totally immune to reason and unmoored from facts. If opening the economy and society in general is OK even in the face of rapidly rising COVID cases, what's off limits?

Bob Butler Wrote:I know Biden wants to break through before then, and maybe he will.  Trump will be greatly diminished by his legal problems.  Things are still teetering.  It seems 2022 will give a clean victory in the Congress where every senator doesn’t have a veto.  We shall see.

Biden has been a breath of fresh air I didn't expect. So far, he's doing well, but he needs every vote in both houses to do much of anything.

Bob Butler Wrote:But there are a lot of issues.  Even if the agenda for solving them is set, everything won’t go away instantly.  The pandemic is hanging on.  Global warming will take decades to turn around even with real commitment.  With his Dream speech MLK presented a list of demands which were mostly met, but did not prevent a need for more and different demands now.  Will other demands come another time?

“Answer hazy”, says the magic eight ball.  “Ask again later.”

I have to agree, and will not see the end of this mess personally. Mostly, I hope for my grandchildren.