It's hard to be an optimist about America right now

[dajoki]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-hard-to-be-an-optimist-about-america-right-now/2019/11/27/8020e526-115b-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html

<<snip>>

There is another concerning trend that threatens America’s constitutional character: the ever-expanding power of the presidency. Whatever you think of the charges against President Trump on Russia or Ukraine, his position of resolute noncooperation with Congress should trouble you deeply. If Congress cannot exercise its core oversight capacity, obtain documents and subpoena administration officials to testify, the essential system of checks and balances has broken down. The presidency will have become an elected dictatorship.

We have been going down this road for a while. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. wrote about “The Imperial Presidency” in 1973. The legislation and culture after Watergate led many to believe that matters were under control. People actually began worrying about a weakened and emasculated White House. In fact, as Schlesinger noted in a 2004 reissue of his book, the presidency in recent years has become stronger than ever. The fear after 9/11 proved to be the gateway for an out-of-control executive branch. The president gained the ability to snoop on private Americans, use military force at his whim, torture prisoners and detain people indefinitely. The president can now order the execution of American citizens who are deemed — by him — to be terrorists, without due process.

In Attorney General William P. Barr, Trump has found an extraordinarily useful aide, who appears to believe, despite all this history, that the great problem in the United States is that the presidency is too weak. He has enabled a policy of stonewalling and silence, in which top administration officials almost behave as though Congress does not exist. People often ask themselves what the founders would think of America today. It seems to me that the greatest shock to them would be the incredible growth of presidential power. Congress and the courts are recognizable from their times; the White House is not.

Tensions over profound demographic change, fierce political backlash and a presidency that refuses to be checked. My optimism is wearing thin.

[at140]

1. There is at least one reason for me to keep smiling

I have a good excuse now to lend no more money to any of my 4 brothers-in-law,
because they all have found jobs.

[DENVERPOPS]

7. You can

You can slowly over the next month break the news to them that they will need TWO jobs, not just one.
And tell them to put their wives on notice that they will need to do the same........

Not so LOL anymore.......

[at140]

13. I guarantee they will not get a 2nd job

None of them have that much drive. When I was 28, I had a full time job with frequent over time, averaging 45 hours/week, and still I found a 2nd part time job writing computer programs where I put in 15 more hours/week. After doing the multiple jobs for 10 years, suddenly I had enough money to pay off the mortgage and the car loan. None of my brothers-in-law have that kind of drive. They will just ask me to borrow them money when short. One of them was about to lose his house and I had to give him an emergency loan, which I am never going to get repaid.

[DENVERPOPS]

16. Like alot of people in America

it will not be that the "WANT" to get a second job.

Keep telling yourself: Sucker me once, shame on you, Sucker me twice, shame on me........

[FirstLight]

2. Me too

I'm looking at the primaries and the contenders and thinking of who will be able to put the broken pieces back together? And will there even be a peaceful transfer of power...regardless of how fucked up and questionable the actual Election is or will be.

[DENVERPOPS]

6. Amen to that FL

It is completely un-comprehensible what we have and are witnessing.

A country that has a huge segment of the population, totally unable to exhibit rational or reasonable thought processes.

We find our selves in the middle of a quagmire, where Rule of Law, the constitution, the supreme court, the DOJ, Judges, Police, etc etc are a vague and distant memory.........

WASF..........

[zentrum]

3. Mine too. Very thin.

The more I read and understand, the darker I feel.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. wish I knew how to fix it

[DENVERPOPS]

17. With the way

With the way these clowns are all totally and completely trashing the environment every which way they can to devise ways to make money, Mother Nature may soon take us all out our misery........

If she removes humans from the equation, mother nature will restore the earth all on her own.

[Pepsidog]

5. Payback is gonna be a bitch.

[SCantiGOP]

8. Historical perspective:

Not long after Independence we passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which effectively killed the concept of Freedom of Speech.
1830's: We were actively killing off most of the native inhabitants east of the Mississippi, with those in power either supportive or complicit, and culminating in the Trail of Tears.
1860: We were about to embark on the bloodiest war in our history, with both sides filled with hate, distrust and the conviction that they
were on God's side.
post 1860's: A vicious and enduring fight to deny basic human rights to those brought to this country in slavery.
1920's: America gets a taste of the exhilaration of imperialism and Manifest Destiny.
1940's: We were literally facing a war against pure evil, with the consequence of defeat likely meaning the end of our Democracy.
1950's: The invention of the Cold War, which had, and has, the capability of ending life on Earth.
2000: The beginning of America's first religious war, fought against the Muslim world and with no end in sight.

2016: Trump elected.
We have survived, and moved ahead before under much more dire circumstances. Our institutions are strong, and our people have an intrinsic affinity for liberty and justice.
So, I will see your pessimism and Trump, and raise you an FDR, three Kennedys, a King and an Obama. I will not give up, but will do what every generation has done to insure the future for my grandchildren.

[yaesu]

10. The problem is we have a short memory, never learn from our past mistakes and there will

be more fascist tyrants in our future, more unnecessary wars, ect...

[Evolve Dammit]

9. Your post resonates completely. I hope it is not too late to save the Republic.

[H2O Man]

11. Respectfully disagree.

We're just warming up.

[UCmeNdc]

12. I hope all Americans "wake up" and see the coming disaster Trump is creating.

This includes the MAGA Americans.

[DENVERPOPS]

15. You know what?

You know what........I am beginning to believe that it is truly too late at this point. Seriously, not just talking...............

I am telling everyone I know, "Don't even try and wrap your mind around what may happen on November third and fourth of 2020."

And silly for all us to have been freaked out and upset and worried about Y2K........comparatively that was maybe a two or three on a scale of one to a million........(And Boy, did we miss a speeding bullet on that one, by the way)

With all that is happening and has happened, I would like Greg Palast or William Rivers Pitt, or some other super writer to write a long article, just for fun, predicting all the things that either can, or that they feel will, take place Nov 3-4.........

Any fool thinking that if a Dem wins, all will be solved. Hardly........

First, even if the Dems should miracuously win, despite Putin and the rigged voting machines, it will be rejected by the current administration, the Republican Senate, The DOJ, The U.S. Supreme Court, etc etc They will acknowledge that they have discovered that there truly was fraud in the election voting, but that it was all by the Dems or Trump would win by landslide margins.

The will "Declare" Trump the winner and "Appoint" him president, not at all unlike Gore vs Bush in 2000.
Remember that????????? How about the rigged voting machines across America and especially in Ohio during the 2004 election???????? After Trump slivers back into office, it will be "KATY BAR THE DOOR" from then on in............
The Nuevo Republican Party are just one millimeter away from winning their 40 year long wet dream of installing a Tyrant Fascist Gov't......Do you think they are just gonna roll over and die, or whimper off into the sunset ??????????????????????????

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

14. One thing that can't be quickly repaired: the Supreme Court

If RBG or one of the other reasonable justice leave office in the next year, another Kavanaugh will be fast-tracked into the seat. And if Trump wins re-election or the senate remains in Republican hands, the same threat will remain for the next four years.

We need a Dem prez and a Dem senate. We've seen how McConnell can block any replacement justice picked by a Dem prez. We need both.

I'm hoping RBG hangs in there for another year. It seems unrealistic to ask her for five years.