Raising social involvement, self awareness and self improvement topics, because our communities are the sum of our personal beliefs, behaviors, action or inaction. Only "we" can improve our family, work place, school, city, country, etc.
Do we think the country is falling apart because we lost the election? Ad Friedman argues? Not me, I think. I think our country has been in decline in a fairly continuous way for quite some time. It has happened when (both sider alert) when both Republicans and Democrats were president. The election of Donald Trump is evidence of the decline of America, but the fact is, he did lose the popular vote, we won the popular vote, yet America is still in decline.
And Friedman makes it very clear that both parties are failing because they were set up based on a past that does not match up well with our very different modern world. Did you listen to his talk on the MPR link?
Parties are failing for a lot of reasons. Parties, like the media, used to be able to screen things. But the internet has provided us with away around that screening function. A candidate like Donald Trump could never have been taken seriously just a few years ago.
Has the Democratic Party become irrelevant to the choice we have to make? My own sense of what is going on is that the problem our system is having, the area in which it's decadence can be most clearly seen is that while we can make choices, we have lost the ability to implement them. Our policy objectives are clear, and there is wide agreement on them, we just find it nearly impossible to bring them about. Health care is a primary example of them. We all know and agree on what we want. Good health care, available to everyone, at a reasonable price. There are a million ways to achieve these goals; it's not rocket science. Yes we find it virtually impossible to get anything done. This isn't the result of a failure of policy, we know what solves the problem, it's a failure to agree on what the policy should be, and to implement. That is how are system is failing.
Do we think the country is falling apart because we lost the election? Ad Friedman argues? Not me, I think. I think our country has been in decline in a fairly continuous way for quite some time. It has happened when (both sider alert) when both Republicans and Democrats were president. The election of Donald Trump is evidence of the decline of America, but the fact is, he did lose the popular vote, we won the popular vote, yet America is still in decline.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
And Friedman makes it very clear that both parties are failing because they were set up based on a past that does not match up well with our very different modern world. Did you listen to his talk on the MPR link?
ReplyDeleteParties are failing for a lot of reasons. Parties, like the media, used to be able to screen things. But the internet has provided us with away around that screening function. A candidate like Donald Trump could never have been taken seriously just a few years ago.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
Very true.
ReplyDeleteHas the Democratic Party become irrelevant to the choice we have to make? My own sense of what is going on is that the problem our system is having, the area in which it's decadence can be most clearly seen is that while we can make choices, we have lost the ability to implement them. Our policy objectives are clear, and there is wide agreement on them, we just find it nearly impossible to bring them about. Health care is a primary example of them. We all know and agree on what we want. Good health care, available to everyone, at a reasonable price. There are a million ways to achieve these goals; it's not rocket science. Yes we find it virtually impossible to get anything done. This isn't the result of a failure of policy, we know what solves the problem, it's a failure to agree on what the policy should be, and to implement. That is how are system is failing.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
Have you listened to it yet?
ReplyDeleteI have listened to a portion of it.
ReplyDelete==Hiram