Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalThe case against TFG is about false claims of a stolen election;
the conspiracy to overthrow election results; and inciting a violent insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
The Big Lie of a stolen election has become a core belief propagated by the Republican Party and "conservative" media.
The rhetoric and actions of Trump and his Party MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE is responsible for undermining faith in our elections and democratic (small d) institutions.
The attempt to pin that on Putin should be laughed out of court by any honest judge, with severe admonishment.
Not disagreeing with Sec Clinton; just saying that the current trauma and carnage
Will turn some young people into recruits for the next generation of terrorists. To embrace peace, hearts and minds must be changed for the better, not the worse.
This situation is a nearly insoluble conundrum on multiple levels.
Hamas can't be destroyed without extensive civilian carnage, which will give rise to the next Hamas.
The root source of the conflict -- two different peoples with a long history of conflict -- both want the same land.
Difficult and fragile efforts at peace can be derailed by bad actors on either side who are unwilling to compromise.
The international community is also divided, unwilling and/or unable to agree upon a solution and commit to making it a reality.
Chasing profits drives the economy, but can ultimately destroy us
Maximizing shareholder value by minimizing labor costs means less disposable income in the hands of the majority, which can hurt a consumer driven economy. There will always be economic cycles with occasional recessions, but the consequences are potentially catastrophic when so many families are living paycheck to paycheck. They have no cushion, so a plummet in consumer spending can produce a snowball effect rolling dowmhill to a depression.
The vast disparity of wealth is unsustainable, both economically and politically. The best way to avoid a revolution or a populist demagogue coming to power is an economy that truly floats all boats.
Cutting regulations will not only kill consumers it will hasten the demise of natural ecosystems upon which life depends while increasing the devastating effects of catastrophic climate change.
Regulations aside, our current model of consumerism with success measured by never ending growth is unsustainable because it transforms finite resources into various forms of pollution -- landfills, toxins in our food, water, and air, including greenhouse gases.
Greed is part of human nature. Human ingenuity has mostly been harnessed toward the pursuit of profits, increasingly in the hands of a small number of insanely rich individuals who hire smart people and fund the careers of politicians to ensure their huge piles of money grow ever larger.
This should not be possible in a functional democracy, but the uber rich also control a large segment of the mass media, omitting important information and delivering misinformation while triggering the tribal instincts in human nature to divide the public and pit us against each other instead of working together for our own common intetests.
For our long term survival, human civilazation needs to evolve beyond short term greed and tribal conflicts. Lifeboat Earth cannot sustain it. We need much better education which includes the vital necessity of cooperative action to build a better future for the children we ostensibly care so much about.
Human nature will likely always include a large component of self interest, but that needs to be a form of enlightened self intetest with the realization that personal success and survival requires collaberation to ensure sustsinability.
Primitive tribal societies did not survive without collaborative efforts for the common good. In this global technological age we have to start acting like a single all encompsssing tribe, celebrating diversity while working together towards common goals in everyone's long term best interests.
Why isn't raising taxes on the rich on the table in budget talks?
If budget deficits are such a serious problem, why does the debate and the "compromise" to avoid a government shutdown only include spending cuts?
The administrations of GW Bush and Trump passed huge tax cuts for the rich, creating larger budget deficits while expanding the huge gulf between the insanely rich and the vast majority of Americans. Tens of millions are struggling to get by, but the only apparent solution is to cut programs which help the poor and the sick. Rescinding at least a portion of the Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy is never included in any compromise. Why?
It's almost certain that Republicans would be unified against any such measure, and if it somehow passed the House it would be filibustered in the Senate.
But that's no reason Democrats should not bring rescinding those cuts to the bargaining table every time the self proclaimed "fiscal conservatives" across the aisle cite budget deficits to push their extreme demands for cuts that would harm so many Americans including children.
At the very least, this would remind voters whose interests the Republican Party truly represents.
He is a manifestation of the worst traits of American voters
Ignorance, bigotry, spite, and susceptibility to charlatans.
He is also the creation of those who see him for what he is, including a means to pursue their own greed and lust for power.
Trump as a dangerous force in American politics would not exist without a receptive audience and influential enablers.
Empowering the Devil in the name of God
Donald Trump is the most un-Christian completely amoral POtuS ever to leave a stain on the White House. He is a malignant narcissist and pathological liar totally lacking human empathy, spewing hateful vindictive rhetoric as he telegraphs his plans to use the power of the presidency to imprison his political opponents and government officials who dared to hold him accountable for his numerous crimes, including inciting a violent insurrection to stay in power after losing an election.
The self proclaimed "Christians" flocking to Mar-a-Lago to make a deal with the Devil are selling their souls in their own lust for power, perfectly willing to destroy the United States Constitution in the process.
It is no surprise that such unscrupulous charlatans seek to impose their narrow minded views on everyone else. What is truly alarming is that so many American voters are eager to join this unholy crusade, enthralled with the Devil themselves.
We don't know for certain how much of TFG's fascist agenda could succeed, but
What is truly alarming (in addition to the prospect of TFG getting a 2nd term) is that so many US voters eagerly swallow the lies and the apocalyptic rhetoric.
The mindset of tens of millions of Americans is such that they will not only go along with the rest of the agenda but some of the most extreme members of the cult are capable of intimidation and murder against anyone who stands in the way of this "final battle."
The guardrails manned by career public servants which barely held against the most dangerous commands in TFG's first adminstration will be dismantled in the 2025 project.
The survival of our public might depend on an untrustworthy Supreme Court, and even if they rule against Herr Shitler, he will control nearly all the enforcement mechanisms.
Very thoughtful post, but I think a Palestinian state in the WB is next to impossible
Very few if any WB settlers will leave, and no Israeli government would survive the next election if it tried to force them to leave.
And where would they go? Does the tiny state of Israel have a surplus of empty housing or land to develop communities comparable to what the settlers already have in the WB?
The only real leverage the US has over Israel is the withholding of aid. Politically, that is very risky in American domestic politics. Far too many voters would swallow the shrieking narrative that we're taking the side of vicious terrorists over our longtime democratic ally.
I'm not religious but I would pray to God I'm wrong about this, if praying would do any good.
But I don't see a good ending emerging from the rubble of the current horrific violence and death.
Seeds for the next generation of terrorists have been firmly planted. Extremists on either side can all too easily scuttle any progress in a fragile effort for a peaceful solution.
I have great respect for Bernie, and I agree that aid to Israel
...should NOT be unconditional. And yet, it always has been even when a rightwing extremist government continues to undermine our own national interests in the region and render the two state solution IMPOSSIBLE.
NO Isreali government will forcibly evict the settlers from their West Bank settlements, some of which are multi generational communities. Netanyahu has been steadily establishing facts on the ground. There can be no sovereign Palestinian state with the West Bank sliced & diced by Jewish settlements and the roads connecting them controlled by Israeli forces.
Barring eviction, would a more left wing Israeli government remove its forces protecting the settlers, leaving them as residents subject to the authority of a Palestinian government and people with deep resentment and scores to settle against them?
I think not, especially in the wake of the Oct 7 atrocity and what followed. Hamas invades Israel, brutally murdering more than a thousand civilians, and this results in abandoning the Jews in the West Bank to the tender mercies of a Palestinian authority after Israel kills 10x as many of their civilians in Gaza?
Ain't gonna happen. The potential for a two state solution is an irreconcilable shambles, and there is no one state solution that is not an Apartheid state. Demographics are such that Jews could become a minority in a unified land, and Israel would cease to be the Jewish state if Palestinians had full citizenship rights.
There is no end in sight to the horrible tragedy and endless cycle of violence surrounding Jerusalem, which should be an international city of peace and brotherhood for the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions.
How many voters who care about the issues cited in the OP
Will vote for a Republican in the general election if they don't get everything they want from the Democratic candidate?
They get ZERO from the Republican Party. If they really care about issues they will vote, but they might vote 3rd party and therein lies the advantage of the Cult party.
But elections are often won by swinging voters who are in neither camp. Not everyone who has voted Republican in the last elections are in that cult.
Republicans have an advantage among swing voters because of a double standard in the mainstream media and a less than responsible approach to educating their audience.
Two cases in point:
Only 3 years separate the ages of Biden and Trump, yet Biden's age and mental fitness is portrayed as more conerning. Any little slip is widely reported, yet Trump's frequent breaks with reality and unhinged rants have essentially been normalized. No longer newsworthy, at least not enough to change public perception as to whose mental state should be of greater concern.
On the economy by every objective measure President Biden has done a fantastic job, with results directly attributable to legislation he championed. Trump couldn't match those numbers even before the pandemic. His signature legislative victory was a major tax cut which overwhelmingly favored the rich and drove up budget deficits, but public perception -- which greatly influences election outcomes -- is that Trump is much better on the economy.
Trump's incessant lies echoed by his party and the complicit "conservative" media push the overall needle rightward, whereas Democrats hold themselves to a higher standard of truthfulness.
Another disadvantage for Democrats is the agressive gerrymandering (primarily affecting House races) and voter suppression (also impacting the presidential election) by red state governments, some of which were key swing states won by Biden in 2020. The BIG LIE of that election being stolen has been used as justification for Republican efforts -- in the cause of "election integrity" -- to steal the 2024 election.
It's not an even playing field, not even close, for all those reasons.
Yet we must overcome those disadvantages, or we may soon be talking about American democracy in the past tense.
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