July 16th, 2024
Let DJT be the catalyst for the obvious reforms our experiment with Democracy needs. The abhorrent truth is not so much what he brought. Instead, it is the fact he was able to do it at all. The problem is not Trump. There is an entire stable of Trumps, perhaps not as good at embellished absolute’s “you know, I know, and everybody knows” marketing. In fact, some of them push the envelope even further, like DeSantis. The problem is embedded in the system, and I’ll give ya one guess what it is.
MO Money MO Corruption. MO Money MO Blatant Lies. MO Money MO divided Government. MO MO MO $ even more divided voters. If that continued, it would last until one group took enough of a large, perhaps super majority, control. Without reforms, that would be the path we would continue in a zero-sum game.
The religious fundamentalists/ Ayn Rand raw capitalists/ Gun Nuts, and Anti_Immigration people provide a very formidable coalition. Enough to Be Scary! Many of these problems were solved following FDR and WWII. However, they have been buying our Government for some time now and changing the rules. The new rule is an old rule that some consider the real ‘Golden Rule.’
“He who owns the gold makes the rules.”
They are trying to enhance that at whatever level they have achieved. Legislators try to decide elections when they don’t like the outcome. While they call themselves free-market guys, they support monopolies, one significant source of their power. How different is that? Would an enhancement of the system be much different than Russian Oligopolies characterized by mutual interdependence? We own the gold. You make rules. We execute them.
On the surface, it appears democratic, but when you peel the onion back, it reeks of influence from donors—the people who own the gold. You don’t need to look far to see this in action. It has been reported that Kirsten Sinema could not raise enough money online like some other progressive candidates. She may have thought she still lives in a strong Republican state, so she could pick an issue or two she could get away with.
So perhaps she drank the Kool-Aid and used the support to send out over sized, colorful postcards defending Big Pharma’s ability to continue to make life-saving drugs. Then she did her John McCain squat show vote in the Senate. She may be drunk with her position; she is not that popular. She barely beat lying Martha McSally. She had to change from a Democrat to an Independent then drop out of the Senate race. It makes sense she will become a lobbyist. It was not the first time she angered her base with her Senate votes.
So, clearly, the Democrats have not been vaccinated from the money-drunk virus our experiment in Democracy is having. However, while the virus is clearly spreading, the Democratic party is the only party that wants to reform the election system with more guardrails. Some are just in keeping what we have rather than the Republican party wanting to decide elections over the voter’s choice. They have difficulty winning majorities, especially in national elections where gerrymandering is mute. I see academic articles documenting how the political parties change policy positions over time. Perhaps, but since the GOP inherited the Dixiecrat’s I have not seen overwhelming olive branches to the African American and LGBTQ community by Republicans. The numbers have clearly shown it.
I am not sure the choice has ever been more apparent. I find it difficult to believe in the Ayn Rand philosophy; the economy would have recovered faster without FDR’s reforms. How would that have happened when nobody had enough faith in the Banks to deposit money in them?
Nothing is democratic about the Heritage Foundation’s latest proposal of ‘All power to the President.’ The separation of powers in our Federalist system may have saved us from a Trump Oligarchy. They have a very ambitious dream of returning our government to the size it was before the New Deal. You know, the government is only for the defense of the country. The Ayn Rands like a volatile boom and bust economy. An essential element to understand here is ‘Traders’ like volatility. Volatility is their friend. If an asset does not go up or down, it’s hard to make fast money. That is also true for the overall economy.
If you return us to that kind of Government, small for defense only and with few regulations, you will return us to a volatile economy—boom, and Bust, with the busts often being depressions—something we have not experienced since 1929. If you remove all the guardrails that prevent depression, they will come back. The Ayn Rand dreamers don’t care; they can make more money in those economies than the average person. Herbert Hoover was probably rolling over in his grave seeing the money the Fed’s poured into the economy from 2008 to prevent a depression and protect assets. Is that a function of Government to see our home does not lose value? I don’t disagree with what they did I do disagree with how much they did it. They created the biggest asset bubble in history in Stocks, bonds and Real Estate. The Goal was to reach 3% inflation. They finally got there and then some with consumer inflation finally catching up. And, you thought Joe Biden was responsible for all of it.
Late in the Reagan administration, Reaganomics could not cut social welfare programs. Over his eight years, he created a slow recovery by building up the military-industrial complex. Almost anyone can do that, just like Hitler did. Reagan fought inflation for nearly his entire Presidency, raising taxes more than once. As such, we got the first 1.4 Trillion Dollar budget from the fiscal conservatives. After that, the GOP decided the only way we would ever cut social welfare programs like Social Security was if we spent so much money, there was no more to be spent. We would then have to cut welfare programs for sure.
If they ever were, they would not be ‘Fiscal conservatives’ anymore!
Pay attention to what they do. They are not fiscal conservatives any longer. The large amount of red ink from GOP administrations since Eisenhower just might make one believe the Republican intent is to bankrupt the United States to get rid of those social welfare programs. Then they can say we cannot afford that kind of thing anymore. You hear it when they say cutting spending has to start with entitlements. When I have told a tribal republican this, they simply say that it is not true or they don’t care. Tribalism does not require a look at the track record.
That is when I point out the 8 Trillion dollar hole in the Trump budget. Trump is like a blow heart Texan; he does everything big and great. So, indeed, it could not be because he did not know that if he cut taxes a lot and spent the same, he would be big in the Red. Trump would see it as OPM. ‘Other people’s money’ Trump is just smart enough to be dangerous even if he did pay someone to take his college entrance exam! Why would you support and vote for someone who paid someone else to take his college entrance exam! Really! This is the guy running for President, so much for merit.
I see what they are doing, so I’m not writing it off. I’m not voting for any Republicans, either. While Democrats sell influence as well, they are not owned by the Religious Fundamentalists, Gun Lobby, and Ayn Rands in the percentage of GOP Representatives. If they were allowed to vote their conscience, you would have had more Republican votes for impeachment. They could not do that like they did in the Nixon era, and the difference is: MO$ MO$ Every election is MO$, and more legislators are bought off as a whole or in part enough to obstruct.
Some of the biggest problems we now face are because of the rule changes promoted by MO$. It was lobby influence that produced Fox News or News-corp. It was reported that Reagan had given Murdoch everything he wanted. Buying influence on legislators accomplished that and further monopolization of the media. The Scripps Corporation is reported to own 80% of the local TV stations in the country. They are using them for political purposes with subliminal advertising. Joe Biden is too old and provides identical word-for-word Op Ed’s across all their TV stations. Local news is ugly. Watching it regularly would make you believe it is too dangerous to leave your home. Kari Lake is the kind of people it can produce.
Election 2024 –
President of the United States:
_ GOP – Donald Trump (He who owns the Gold)
_Dem – Joe Biden (He who would make the country more democratic)
Perhaps the last chance of continuing the experiment more importantly stopping the bankruptcy of the United States Government the GOP seems to be seeking)
If you take a hatchet to the budget, cutting only social welfare programs without reforming them will create an economic collapse. You could reform Social Security but not eliminate it without replacing it with something better. Better means less costly and just as or more effective, even if that is such a thing as a means test or a conversion to a guaranteed income. A guaranteed income could be more effective and less costly as if you don’t need it you would not get it. You could do away with Social Security, unemployment, Child tax credits and reform the disability program. Perhaps we should look at those things before we start giving consumers $25K to make a down payment on a home. The battle over Guns Vs Butter may be close to a conclusion.
Tom Flash