This dangerous Scorched-Earth Rhetoric needs to End

[winetourdriver01]

There's a scorched-earth tendency going on these days and I want to state that I don't want any part of that.

No matter what the issue is, no matter what the subject, the tendency today is to automatically blame the other political aisle for it. Just immediately, we're all about "The Train Wreck is Trump's fault." Yeah, ok, he did cut the regulation that might have prevented it, it doesn't mean that Norfolk Southern would have retrofitted all their trains for that requirement yet - but then that generates the response that "The Train Wreck is Buttigieg's Fault" because he didn't *restore* that regulation fast enough. (And it does take time to implement regulations, it's not a snap of the finger.)

Seriously? Maybe, just maybe, it's not that simple.

Read more:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/5/2156366/-This-dangerous-Scorched-Earth-Rhetoric-needs-to-End?pm_source=story_sidebar&pm_medium=web&pm_campaign=recommended

[onecaliberal]

1. I didn't blame trump for the derailment, although he did sign deregulation bills.

I blame all the politicians who voted for said deregulation over and over. Even after it was obvious that lack of safety was killing people.
I also blame people who don’t pay attention and continue to vote for this, or outright don’t care and vote to own the libs.
Across the board they are killing themselves.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

2. I blame trump for it

Because he removed the regulations that would have made those accidents less likely.

But I am dissapointed that Biden didn't side with the railroad workers union too.

I blame all republicans,the obscenely rich and corrupt assholes and capitalism for it too.

[Botany]

3. It is just that simple but nobody talks about it. Overseeing the clean up should have been ....

... handled by the Ohio DNR & the Ohio EPA from the get go. Both the OEPA & the ODNR work for the Republican
Governor of the State Mike Dewine. Also my own little mind thinks that "they" (the RxR company and the environmental
clean up contractor) let the fires burn because that was easier and cheaper then off loading the chemicals (Vinyl chloride).

It was not Joe Biden (although he called the Dewine the next day) or Mayor Pete's job to oversee the clean up.

[IbogaProject]

4. I blame every single Republican for most of our ills

They support tax cuts, with middle class tax hikes inside. They oppose most any healthcare access. They oppose abortion, while opposing most every family or social service. They have been on a war against regulation since the 1920s, so even if the GOP implemented a few reforms under Teddy Roosevelt, they kicked him out of the party right away and have run from most any meaningful reforms.

[Trenzalore]

5. When there is a clear line between deregulation and the results of the deregulation

Yes, the administration that deregulated is at fault

Is Trump personally at fault, no Trump can barely understand a model train around a Christmas tree. However, he appointed zealots which made things more dangerous.

[former9thward]

6. The accident had nothing to do with the regulation.

That has been stated by the federal investigators. It was due to a bad bearing on a wheel which had nothing to do with the regulations. The train was going under the speed limit at the time of the accident.

[Igel]

7. And yet the brakes weren't the issue.

The regs wouldn't have applied to this train even if they had taken affect. The regulation that was cut (initially by Trump) wasn't pertinent, and while some continue to say this, at this point it's past being misinformation. It's long enough after clarification that the only reason to cite the error is not wanting to notice the new and upgraded information. https://www.factcheck.org/2023/02/ntsb-chair-contradicts-posts-that-wrongly-claim-trump-to-blame-for-ohio-train-wreck/

Years ago, some research indicated that the upgraded brakes wouldn't have much practical effect in any event.

It's not Buttigieg's fault because Congress overruled the reg in question and Buttigieg can't override Congress. Mostly that's not what he's being blamed for, but I suppose some do.

The brakes didn't fail; what failed were bearings. That's partly a fluke: the bearings tripped a hotbox detector only just before failure and weren't yet hot enough as the train passed the previous hotbox sensor 20+ miles earlier. Perhaps ramping down the interval between hotbox detectors would be a help, but I haven't heard that suggested. Then again, the NTSB hasn't weighed in but political actors on all sides have.

Most of the remedies proposed are "just use this as an excuse for what we wanted last fall" sort of thing. For example, requiring, because a train with two engineers on board produced the E. Palestine disaster, in order to stop such disasters, must have two engineers on board. The only proposed solution that counts is more bearing inspections, but even that's inconclusive pending a final NTSB report and might be irrelevant. (Note that if we wait to actually address the problem identified in the report, then the urgency of fixing non-contributory problems will be lost and a crisis will have gone to waste; of course, this runs the risk of having a bunch of solutions to fix the problem undertaken without knowing that none of them address the problem.)

[elocs]

8. The reality is that there are lots of things that need to end,

but never will.