jedrider wrote:So, a Democratic President is just a figurehead.
evilgenius wrote:You gotta wonder if the impasse in Washington is the result of two parties that can't work with each other, or two parties that can't be seen working with each other? The difference is subtle.
Newfie wrote:It is 2 parties in existential war with one another.
Like 2 ant hills warring for the same turf. The other must DIE.
Another remarkable and unexpected symptom of national decline is the intensi- fication of internal political hatreds. One would have expected that, when the survival of the nation became precarious, political factions would drop their rivalry and stand shoulder-to-shoulder to save their country.
In the fourteenth century, the weakening empire of Byzantium was threatened, and indeed dominated, by the Ottoman Turks. The situation was so serious that one would have expected every subject of Byzantium to abandon his personal interests and to stand with his compatriots in a last desperate attempt to save the country. The reverse occurred. The Byzantines spent the last fifty years of their history in fighting one another in repeated civil wars, until the Ottomans moved in and administered the coup de grâce.
Britain has been governed by an elected parliament for many centuries. In former years, however, the rival parties observed many unwritten laws. Neither party wished to eliminate the other. All the members referred to one another as honourable gentlemen. But such courtesies have now lapsed. Booing, shouting and loud noises have undermined the dignity of the House, and angry exchanges are more frequent. We are fortunate if these rivalries are fought out in Parliament, but sometimes such hatreds are carried into the streets, or into industry in the form of strikes, demonstrations, boycotts and similar activities. True to the normal course followed by nations in decline, internal differences are not reconciled in an attempt to save the nation. On the contrary, internal rivalries become more acute, as the nation becomes weaker.
Newfie wrote:The fall of Byzantium was much on my mind when I wrote that.
But there are many other examples above that, throughout history.
Pettiness.
vtsnowedin wrote:OK for today's bold prediction!!!
Expect all the blue states to remain pro choice and even strengthen their laws to that end and supporting and funding women coming in from pro life states to get around their states rules.
vtsnowedin wrote: That leaves just five states, give or take a few, where really restrictive anti abortion laws remain in place past the next two or three election cycles and these states will become unimportant backwaters to American society.
vtsnowein wrote: Republicans in red states that try to shovel against this tide will find themselves looking for paying work.
Plantagenet wrote:C8 wrote:The reality is that democracy has a fatal flaw seldom taught in our schools- it exacerbates internal conflict.
Thats not a fatal flaw.......that is a strength. By having open debate and contention over political issues, democracies allow all sides of every issue to be explored and debated and fought over and then resolved.
It is dictatorships that have an innate fatal flaw. Countries like Russia under the dictator Putin or China under Xi or Germany under the Nazis are totally under the control of their great dictator, and when that dictator goes crazy, or even just makes a bad policy decision, there is no way for the system to correct it. People in Russia who are smart and brave and honest enough to oppose the Ukraine war, for example, are being arrested and harassed and beaten and jailed by Putin's toadies to suppress their views and opinions. The result is a country utterly ruled by the wishes of one lone madman....a country forced to pursue Putin's crazy policies without debate or discussion or dissent until crazy Putin leads Russia to disaster.
Consider crazy Putin's war in Ukraine and its effects on Russia. Already Putin has created an economic schism with Europe and instead turned his country into essentially a colony of China. Russia is now selling its coal, oil and other commodities to China at steep discounts to the actual world price for these items.....thats exactly what a colony does. A colony supplies cheap natural resources to its colonial masters, just as Russia is doing for China.
Cheers!
AdamB wrote:vtsnowedin wrote:OK for today's bold prediction!!!
Expect all the blue states to remain pro choice and even strengthen their laws to that end and supporting and funding women coming in from pro life states to get around their states rules.
Sounds solid. Too bad the social-economically challenged women in the non-blue states will be forced to carry their rapists babies through gestation because they don't live in solid Bernie supporting states like yours. Never thought of America as two different America's, but I guess that reality is creeping up on us fast.vtsnowedin wrote: That leaves just five states, give or take a few, where really restrictive anti abortion laws remain in place past the next two or three election cycles and these states will become unimportant backwaters to American society.
Oh come on VT, 5 states? This isn't calculus VT, this is simple counting them up. Could you even be 21 short? Want to bet the number will be closer to one than the other, and the one it is closer to won't be yours?
Out of curiosity, you might be a hyper reverse partisanship type, but you haven't ever struck me as an enthusiast of depriving other Americans of something they had for generations just out of general malice.vtsnowein wrote: Republicans in red states that try to shovel against this tide will find themselves looking for paying work.
Or will be heavily favored in all elections in the Bible belt (or those 26 states previouosly mentioned) and other conservative areas wher they are doing.... THE WORK OF GOD!!!! I wonder why the religious nutters are generally Republicrats? And no VT, half the states in the union aren't going to become backwaters just because they are fine white, Christian and gun owning folks. Hell, sounds like they might be like Vermont doesn't it?
vtsnowedin wrote:This thread is about BOLD PREDICTIONS so there is no reason to be precise or timid in my prediction.
vtsnowedin wrote:
My prediction is that most of the red states will have more moderate Republicans win in upcoming elections and the far right religious groups will have to give way to leaders that actually represent the majority of public opinion. Of course my guess of five states being held by the far far right is of course just a guess as I have no state by state polling data that breaks down party membership by religion.
Feel free to make your own bold predictions but I think mine is as plausible as any.
vtsnowedin wrote:I have a wife and three grown daughters, one of which lives and works in a red state. She being well paid could just fly home to Vermont if needed.
vtsnowedin wrote: My prediction has nothing to do with my empathy or lack of it for the poor women involved as my feelings will have no impact on the outcome.
vtsnowedin wrote:About half of the women in America live in Congressional districts that will continue to offer abortion on demand. Many others live just one state away and a doable car ride from a clinic. Many others have currently access to plan "B drugs.
So despite all the outrage and furor there will be very few babies brought to term and delivered by mothers that wished to abort it.
AdamB wrote:but you appear blase on it happening to ANOTHER AMERICAN.....because... A) it isn't you and
involves primarily women of a certain socio-economic status and racial background
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