~8 months in... I certainly like the fact that Biden tells the truth more often than his predecessor.
However he seems SO SCREWED... He has:
- Progressives demanding over reach on all fronts, even though it will likely cost them the House and Senate in 2022. (ie spending, migrants, police reform, voter rights, etc)
- Republican politicians who seem happy to destroy the US economy just to make Biden look bad. (cut off nose to spite face)
- Crazy irresponsible anti-vaxxers who seem to be happy supporting the spread of COVID and the death of their neighbors.
Oh well, the DEMs had a chance to show they could manage the country better than the GOPers... So far it does not seem to be working out very well for them. Oh Well...
19 comments:
Something Biden has learned from his time in Washington is that if you don't do something, something doesn't get done. Trump talked about leaving Afghanistan but he didn't actually do it, because it was difficult and because the Times would say mean things. President Biden got it done.
Its virtually Democrats will lose control of one if not both houses of Congress next year. With Republican control of the Supreme Court cemented, that means the effective end of the Biden administration, and the possible loss of politiczl power for the rest of the decade. Anything we want to get done must be donw now.
--Hiram
I often wonder why parties can not hold Congress through the mid-terms?
I assume it is because they choose to placate their extreme base with over reach, which scares all the independents like me back to the other tribe...
Obama with ACA...
Trump with everything...
Biden with spending, immigration, etc...
Now if the DEMs had come in and...
- Raised taxes on the rich to balance the budget.
- Secured our borders
- Passed normal infrastructure
Could they hold Congress?
It's because lots of bad things happen in the world, and it's very easy to blame the party in charge for them. Even the good things that happen are, arguably, not good enough. I am amused by how Biden is blamed for the negative consequences of good things. The economy is prospering. Republicans aren't, of course, giving him credit for that, but they are blaming him for the inevitable inflationary pressures caused by a prospering economy.
This time around, it will be the first year of reapportionment after the Cns coensus and the gerrymandering will still be fresh. Because Republicantrol more state legislatures than Democrats, Republicans will have a tremendous advantage in congressional races that they didn't have in 2020.
--Hiram
Don't blame the Republicans for the DEM dysfunction and over reach....
If the DEMs get toasted in 2022, it will be because they passed or tried to pass unpopular things.
The problem with Republicans is that they mistWake criticism of policy with whining about outcomes. With Republicans the further you get from rocks, the more they gripe about proximity to hard places. Republicans told us for many years we should get out of Afhghanistan but they never did it, because they knew it would be a disaster, accompanied by harshly worded editorials in the Times, something they just cannot bear.
Lots of things were wrong about Trump and the Trump years, and each of us has our favorite wrong thing. For me, it was when the Republicans at their 2020 convention refused to adopt a platform, effectively saying that we were for anything our leader says we are for. The Grand Old Party that once stood for the abolition of slavery, at long last, formally stood for nothing. So my question is this. How can a party that stands for nothing ever be in a position to criticize a party that stands for something? On what foundation do Republicans stand from which they can level criticism?
--Hiram
I know of no policy that addresses a difficult issue that doesn't have it's upsides and it's downsides. I am thinking here of health care policy, but there are lots of other examples.What we saw with Obamacare was a policy where many people did very well, some people did moderately well, and others may have been hurt just a bit in ways they could easily remedy in ways they could afford. This is what happens with any policy initiative, and there are things people can do about it who want to act in good faith. They can propose changes that improve the orignal bill. All complex legislation is imperfect and can be improved as we learn from experience. They could propose an alternative policy. The problem the Republicans had with Obamacare was that it was a Republican policy for the most part. The only alternative Republicans could have proposed would have been a Democratic policy, and Republicans just couldn't bring themselves to do that. The third alternative, I suppose, was to say that as flawed as it is, the health care policy was good enough, and just move the heck on. But Republicans could do none of these. They couldn't even do nothing. What they did do is kvetch, and when you get down to it, that's all Republicans ever do except reduce taxes and stick the next generation for the bill.
--Hiram
Yes "entitlements" are like a highly addictive narcotic for the masses.
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.”
People get entitlements because they earn them. That's why they are called "entitlements".
this Republic is coming to an end, and I don't think the reason is universal health care.
--Hiram
No they are given because someone wrote a law...
No one "earned" them...
A new law can make the entitlement vanish...
Agreed... I think it is because of excessive greed...
Most citizens want more than they are willing to pay for.
That is only sustainable for so long...
Lots of bad things are going to happen and Republicans will blame President Biden for all of them. That has become an unfortunate reflex with them, with occasional embarrassing results for them.
https://www.salon.com/2021/09/23/kayleigh-mcenany-tries-to-biden-for-spike-in--but-quickly-realizes-it-was-under/
Entitlements are and should be enforceable, not because a piece of paper exists, but because they represent promises and an exchange of promises, a contract if you will, that people honored and should have a right to rely on.
--HIram
Crime Spike oops
So you want to burden future tax payers with bad promises and programs that were inadequately funded by the citizens?
In essence, because your generation promised yourselves money... You think the kids should give you theirs?
How did our country get so selfish and greedy?
A deal is a deal. That at some later point you might not like the deal isn't a justification for pulling out of it. Do you want to renegotiate? Fine. What are you bringing to the table. One reason why Social Security is in trouble is that high income earners have never put enough in it. So in a renegotiation, what are they willing to bring to the table?
==Hiram
Hiram,
It wasn't a "deal"... The people funding it were not even born yet.
It was a bunch of citizens giving themselves more money than they were willing to pay in.
And since benefits are capped, wealthier people will get far less out of the system than they paid in. That is why the poor and disabled folks can get much more out of the system than the paid in.
It is a welfare system after all...
A covenant then.
--Hiram
Covenant "a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action"
Same problem... The kids did not promise the old folks anything... They were not even born...
The kids did not promise the old folks anything
We have become a society where no one has made any promises to each other. In the movie "Blood Simple" in the opening monologue, M Emmett Walsh, says "In Texas, you are on your own." Our entire nation is becoming like that. I hope things work out better for us than they mostly did for the characters in "Blood Simple".
--Hiram
I know... You think it is okay for old folks to spend the money and leave the kids with the debt.
I will never understand that selfish perspective.
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