The American Politics Thread

Yes, plus there is always the odd feeling of "not counting," because of the hour differences.  

And thank you for the links to supplemental reading.  Always appreciated.

As indeed a knowledge of history is important in the understanding of the Complete President, is it not?  Don't even get me started on the deification of Reagan.  Speak of the dead as they acted in life, I always say.  

I think that perhaps there was a feeling that there was at least a modicum of belief in doing the "right," thing underneath Bush Classic (love that, btw).  Something entirely lacking these days, at least in my viewpoint.

And thank you again for the links, as always.

Nothing dirty or underhanded in that statement.  We all cam to learn the low character of Clinton.  That statement was straight up true.  Now Clinton did manage to be a fairly effective Chief Executive in spite of this, but his character was definitely bottom of the barrel.  

And even if it was an unfair statement, Bush didn't start this either.  Go back to the TV commercials against Reagan with the mushroom cloud implying this hawk would bring nuclear annihilation to us all (in reality he helped usher in just the opposite.. and end to the Cold War).  

But it goes back even further than that... all the way to the beginning of our nation.  Read about the squabbles, badmouthing... and even duels (you know, real duels with guns) between some of our founding fathers.... even before there were Republicans and Democrats.  

In reality, Bush, while being praised for being a gentlemen, was too nice.  When Congress told him that if he gave them a new Luxury Tax, they'd cut spending, he actually believed them.  He gave them the new tax, but Congress failed to keep their end of the bargain.  The new tax helped stifle economic activity, which plunged the nation into recession and then the Democrats were able to use that recession (borne of the tax they wanted), along with Bush's reversal of his "no new taxes" pledge, to unseat him.  This "gentleman" was duped by one of the most underhanded, and harmful, political maneuverings in our nation's history.  

Ironically, Clinton then repealed that tax and got credit for the associated economic recovery.    More ironically, the one thing the left praises Bush for is the one thing that led to his political undoing.  Check that, there's nothing ironic about it... it is exactly as the left deftly planned and executed.  Politically brilliant... Machiavellian to the max.

And if Willie Horton had been white, they would have used the same strategy... the topic was who would be tough on crime and the point was that dangerous criminals were being released.  Willie Horton just happened to be the most egregious example of what happens when dangerous felons are released.  He was chosen because of the horrific nature of the crime and he was incarcerated... and released... in Massachusetts under the policy of the Dukakis state administration.  Had Willie Horton been white and committed grand theft, attempted murder, and multiple rape, he still would have made a fine example and the exact same point would have been made.  Just because he's black doesn't mean using him as an example was the weaponization of race.  

The Trump presidency, the rise of nationalism (see Poland, Hungary, Germany, and many more),

political correctness in its extremes, social justice warriors, social unrest, political unrest, Brexit:

I see all these as an indirect result of globalization, and Trump is just one of many symptoms.

I’ve never been a friend of it, but I acknowledge that it’s something that we have to live with

now. It could have been a great thing, but it’s been mishandled and misused with devastating

results.

Frustrated populations are trying to wind globalization back (see Brexit and the list above in

general), especially the industrial nations whose populations have been the hardest hit, but

it’s headed towards a disaster. In the end, it’s just a desperate attempt to close Pandora’s Box

after someone has thrown the lid away.

Yes, the recession had started, which is why that was exactly the wrong time to implement an economically stifling tax.  The direct effects are well documented.  The “rich” simply cut back on buying luxury goods.  The effect was felt across the economic spectrum, but most painfully in the yacht building industry.  The problem was that the reduction in consumption of luxury goods actually led to a net loss in tax revenue.  Worse yet was the loss of jobs… blue collar and administrative jobs… as a result, these sectors not only had less employment, they also now required unemployment, welfare, and they couldn’t contribute to the economy.  This then permeated throughout the economy and the death spiral began.  Yes, an economic downturn was already in the works, but this exacerbated it greatly and submarined any chance of recovering before it got deep. 

 

Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not some rabid anti-tax fanatic, and I reserve judgment on the recent tax cuts.  The US has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, so the corporate tax cut may or may not bear out to be a bad thing, but the reduction in the top level income tax was almost certainly uncalled for. 

 

Of course I expected Clinton to harp on “Read My Lips.”  My point was that the whole thing was set up brilliantly.  Indeed Perot hurt as well.  Clinton won (both times) with far less than a majority and there’s no doubt the businessman siphoned off more votes from the Republican side than he did the Democratic side.