The American Politics Thread

Kepler62 wrote: I don't get it. You giuy write more about politics here than you do about progressive rock.

They surely didn't come here for crappy American prawg rock.   

omphaloskepsis wrote: This could be bigger then Watergate.   Spying on opposing Presidential party and leaking the information is a felony.   Even though Trump was spied on, the current evidence suggests Trump did nothing illegal.   With two weeks to go in his presidency Obama signs order which releases collected data obtained from wiretaps to 16 different agencies.

micky wrote: forget about it....  all those fools are good for are throwing bombs and being against what others try to do.. now in power.. oh yeah.. no sh*t.. it is a big problem .. and a very complex issue. They'll try.. probably come up with something that will fail. As anything economically they have done in the last 40 years other than make the rich richer and sh*t upon the very working class people that INCREDULOUSLY still think they clowns actually care about them. I guess.. we'll add heathcare to the list of messes we'll have to clean up after Trump is gone. and hopefully the fools in control of congress too gone with him.  The ACA wasn't perfect and needed to be fixed... you don't fix the problem that was health care in the first move... you indentify the problems and address them...but as usual ... common sense has no place in GOP politics.  They roped themselves in the red meat they fed their meathead supporters about REPEAL REPEAL REPEAL.. yet they have NO plan.. never did.. as to either improve the first step that the ACA was.. much less come up with a better system. In fact... I fear what they do will be much worse. why... they are playing politics and ideology with this.. not reason.. not compassion.. and not economics.. always did.. and it is too late to back away from it now.

well I stand corrected.... in a way. Yes..  this is going to be a sh*t show and a colossal failure. You think the ACA was bad.. just wait.. at least that tried to help those in need. This current bill... it barely conceals the fact it cares nothing for those in need. f**king those in need and making the rich richer.

In fact...  there may well be an underlying rational for it.

or more to the point... the question everyone (minus the airhead Trump voters) is asking.

WHAT IS THE RUSH...

there is a reason.

the rush is because what they are doing is not intended to 'fix' healthcare.. that much is obvious by a simple purusal of the proposal.. but what it is intended to do... but move fiscal goalposts for the next step in the Congressional agenda.  Massive corporate tax roll backs that due to some obscure (to non policy wonks) rule that would allow such cuts to proceed without a chance of Democrats killing it under the terms the House 'health care' bill would set.

god bless you 'Trump voter'... you're going to need the help. It wasn't the Hispanics, blacks, gays or the urban elite you needed to fear.. it was the fools you put into office. Just wait till they try to go back to trickle down economics again..  you do remember how well that has worked out before ..
don't you? 

Oh yeah.. you all forgot.  Poor people...

"The CBO report lays out a stark example of how older and poorer Americans would be hurt by the GOP bill. If Obamacare were still in place in its current form a decade from now, a 64-year-old earning $26,500, or just less than twice the federal poverty level, would pay $1,700 for premiums in a year after accounting for federal assistance. Under the GOP plan, a 64-year-old at the same income level would pay $14,600 in premiums for coverage that would also have higher out-of-pocket costs."

^ It is interesting that many who voted Dem are reasonably comfortable and many who voted Repub are not; American politics turned on its head, and now the price is being paid.   There seems to be no continuity to our political history--  one minute we're cheering a man of the people, the next we're convinced a 'strongman' should be in charge.   Hoover;Roosevelt;Eisenhower;Kennedy;Nixon;Carter;Reagan;Bush;Clinton;Bush;Obama.  What the hell is that?

I should be in bed but since it is snowing like hell here I sure as hell am not going to work tomorrow.

no doubt David.  I think it was sort of lost in the whole Obama coalition of 08' and '12 which fixated on the racial part of it, what was lost or perhaps not really recognized is the educational-economic divide that has really opened up between the parties.  It has sort of been a flip flop.. the more well off have migrated to the Democratic party, the less off to the Republicans.

why?  Good damn question. Looking at it from pure economics neither make much sense. So one can immediately scratch economics as to why.  Well off people should be Republican, the poor working sods Democratic.. but they are not.I can answer why for myself, and have throughout these pages and threads. but do they apply to others? Perhaps.. perhaps not. 

So if it isn't economic? What could it be.

If I had to take a guess David. I'd say it was social.  There was good reason why many Trump voters got tarred and feathered as bigots, racists, desencitized heartless b*****ds.  They obviously weren't, or were simply too stupid to see, voting on economic self interest.

Trump?  economic champion of the working class

*spits water on monitor*  Yeah right..

For various reasons David.. and sure there are exceptions but they don't apply here for this isn't about individuals but a millions.  It isn't about economics... it is...  for the 100th time. A battle of the heart and soul of America. the culture war I've mentioned time and time again. 

The notion of what made this country great. Accepting immigrants, welcoming them and celebrating them

or try9ing to hold on to white privilege, white america social and economic darwinism and hyper-nationalism and fear of those different. Pretty powerful stuff..  spiced up with all teh bullsh*t right wing TV and radio throws at their listeners.  Who needs affordable healthcare, good education when you got God, guns, and your white skin to protect you.

what else could it be that not only many Republicans continue to vote against their self interests.. but many (as you note) Democrats as well. 

Trump's numbers are falling, firmly in negative territory, even Rasmussen shows it, makes me wonder more and more...why the hell did 46% of the population vote for this guy???

Edited by JJLehto - March 14 2017 at 00:14