Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

I'm not American, just a Malaysian worried about my own country getting fucked by a China vs US showdown.

As far as I can tell, Obama didn't try to extend the authority wielded by the POTUS. Trump on the other hand, has publicly announced that he will seek a third term (and more), and he absolutely will try.

The same militias that you just spent a page ridiculing? You know why they came back, and it has nothing to do with Obama actually being a despot. Obama is gone and they're still here.

Also, f**k your wars. Tell that to the people who had to endure the US flinging its military penis in their faces.

 

I say this from a relatively uninformed position, but I would disagree. Healthcare =/= insurance and vice versa. We have en masse insurance because healthcare costs got out of control after the 70's from what I understand (and the little bit of research and number crunching I did... key word here is little though). US didn't suddenly become way better at healthcare when the costs drastically increased either. To me the ideal situation is just to have healthcare that was affordable enough that insurance was only needed for big stuff or emergencies, etc.

Again, I may be all wrong, but from what I can see, this seems to be a big political problem, not a mathematically impossible issue, not completely due to big pharma / biotech (although they do add a significant amount of costs), wasteful / inefficient systems and spending (also a real cost adder but not a deathblow), etc etc.

I should also say that I may have a little more personal interest / stake in seeing the system fixed than some other people.

 

Re: Trump and dictatorship, for fine examples of how a democratic system doesn't prevent this from happening and how it's legally done, take a look at how it happened recently (last 2 decades) in Turkey and Russia. They are both still technically democracies but the reality is very different. BTW, Hitler and the Nazis were also democratically elected.

A bit of study into the above makes everything plain as day.
If you want a concrete example, how about de-funding the post office right before an election during a pandemic? Yes I know, "mail in ballots are fraudulent". Yet the guy perpetuating this bullshit has voted by mail his entire life. So either it's a lie (it is - there is zero proof that mail-in voting is any more fraudulent than any other type of voting) or, he's ok with fraudulent voting as long as he's the one doing it. Look at Texas where counties are being limited to single ballot boxes. There are cases where you have to drive tipple digit miles to get to the ballot box. And this is even if you have an absentee ballot which supposedly is not fraudulent. Why is this not done in states that he is guaranteed to win?

These steps may not have huge implications but they make clear the intentions: reduce the ability of people being able to remove you from power. While we may be wowed by big shocking political events that fundamentally change the political landscape of a nation, more times than not, it's slow deliberate erosion of the existing checks on power.

As for him personally, do I really need to spell it out? I mean the guy has a blatant hard-on for being on top, undisputed, unquestioned, and followed mindlessly into whatever. He fawns over Kim Jong Un and Putin (paragons of freedom). He's straight up said that HE will be the one to decide if he leaves office should he lose the elections. No that doesn't sound dictatorial at all. "The voters don't decide if I leave - I decide". Using military against civilians for photo-ops? Are you really going to defend that?

 

This thread reminds me that our founding fathers were some of the smartest people in their time....

I don't like the direction of American politics, but I'll always love the Federalism concept.

@Pancakes wouldn't survive NYC.

 

Correct, which what the FL GOP was pushing for decades when they taken over the State Gov from the Dems in the 90s. However, this time around thanks to Trump's mouth a lot less GOP voters are requesting mail ballots. Dems are really killing the GOP on the mail ballots this time around in FL. However, expect a big tick up of GOP voters in Early Voting and their domination on Election Day.

When Trump keep talking crap about mail voting the FL GOP were shitting in their pants, hoping Trump can shut up about it. FL GOP doesn't want to world to know who votes by mail the most in FL (the GOP voters, lol). Hey, in FL every vote count including the ones in the mail!

 

No, it does not count.

This. Actually internally in the USA I think this is widely recognized, which is why the Dem's do not try to hard to make some false narrative of war monger stick (not that it is not a normal part of the spaghetti on the wall election season rhetoric).

I am with you @Tachikoma in that American taxpayers have footed the bill at keeping Russian tanks out of Europe (allowing European's to enjoy generous self-funding of extravagant social welfare programs for 70 years), China contained, and the like for far far too long. I say we pull our boomers back and form a ring around North and South America, and signal to the rest of the world you are on your own. After a painful process we can wean ourselves off of cheap Asia labor/process and have South America build all of our widgets.

 

Yes @ultrabike , you lay out the status quo thinking post WWII, with roots going back to the late 19th century. Indeed, it is hard to even imagine an alternative scenario, it all seems so necessary and natural. Certainly both parties are fully on board with it, despite occasional minor grumblings from the hard libertarian right and the "socialist" left.

Thing is I don't want to pay for it anymore and I sure as hell don't want my children paying for it. Indeed, I admit I resent the hell out it and I am willing to question the progressive premises of these so called "self interests". I was sitting in the stadium at Oklahoma State U in 1990 (as a sophomore) when Bush senior gave the commencement speech, which was really a political speech all about how we need to staty committed to Europe and Nato (right after the fall of the Berlin wall). Even then I thought "bullshit - it is well past time they find the civilizational vitality and confidence to defend themselves and/or unite, or we can let them fall apart on their own".

What would it mean to be a "superpower", which is to say a robust economy with a MAD level nuclear force yet was not playing and paying to be the worlds, or even Europe's or East Asia's army/peace keeper? The status quo thinking is really just PTSD left over from the very bloody 20th century, anchored on WWII (though WWI through Berlin wall is really how long that war lasted). We have never dared think in terms other than a progressive one centered around deterrent, containment, 'interests', and basically doing for others what they can not or will not do for themselves. It's all quite arrogant and "colonial" if you think about it.

It is damn well time we try something different. I propose a real conservative one - one that keeps certain aspects of the status quo like strong deterrent and even spheres of influence, but yet acknowledges that even if in theory can keep Europe, East Asia, and the rest of the world from themselves (as if you can "save" an alcoholic from walking into the bar) we simply can not afford it - not now, and not even in the past.

 

I always ask people to read the founding documents before they start being too opinionated about the US politics.
I once read back to back the American Constitution and the draft of European constitution I think written by a former French president, the draft that was soundly rejected.
The Constitution of the US is 22 pages, with amendments, of amazing clarity. And it is all how to protect citizens against the overreach of government.
The draft of the EU constitution was 160 pages of aspirational bullshit and every page was dedicated to making sure that government does not need to give a rat's ass about what people want.
I was in France then, waiting for the immigrations visa and I remember talking to my French friends, They were of the same opinion.
Very educational

I get it, I get it.. you hate the guy, but I am only into implications. This is the top job in the world and the only thing that counts are actions and implications.

 

Been there, done that, no problem. I'm quite able to be at least as big of an asshole as the next guy.

 

Stood in line for 5 hours during first day of early voting in GA (yesterday) and cast my vote.

 

It takes exactly 1 drone to wipe out your entire household and melt all the guns inside it. Sorry but unless real military weapons are legalized for citizens, nobody is countering anything other than their neighbor (maybe).