Polyticks: Bob Butler's Perspective

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Bob Butler
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Recovery

Post by Bob Butler »

Guest wrote:
Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:15 pm
Reagan would say a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. And a recovery begins when Biden loses his.
The Democrats have been working the ‘kitchen table’ issues, mainly the price of gas and inflation. Inflation at least is beyond his control between Covid recovery and the Ukraine war. You could wish they would go away, but that is the sort of thing happens in a crisis. At least we don't have a crisis war. But with things like the inflation control act, he has done what he can.

The Republicans? They just want Biden to look bad. The hope is that they will get back in power one day. Gaining power is more important than serving the people. Thus, if Biden is doing his best for the people, the Republican are against America.

The best I can see happening is that the Democrats hold the House, and pick up a few more seats in the Senate. Thus, filibuster could be killed, the voting rights bill would follow, and the rest of the Democratic agenda as well.

The worst in the short term? The Republicans just have to take either part of Congress. They would vote against everything to make Biden look bad while running silly investigations. They might try a few impeachments that will go nowhere in the Senate. They might want to cut taxes on the rich and corporations, but are apt to run into the veto if they try. At any rate, they are not for the American people.

It’s odd. One party tries to do its best, the other to muck things up, and the voters haven’t yet seen through it. Two more years are apt to do it.

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Bob Butler
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Conspiracy Theory

Post by Bob Butler »

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/politics ... index.html
CNN  The Republican gubernatorial nominee in Michigan invoked a conspiracy that the Covid-19 pandemic and protests in the summer of 2020 after the killing of George Floyd were part of a decades-long plan by the Democratic Party to “topple” the United States as retaliation for losing the US Civil War, adding that the party wanted to enslave people “again.”
This again reflects the fallacy that the Democrats were the conservative rural racist agricultural faction in the Civil War. The Republicans were the progressive urban abolitionist industrial faction. The party switched positions on race with LBJ and the civil rights movement and Nixon's southern strategy. The conspiracy theory the governor candidate has enough other flaws, but it starts from there.

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The issues...

Post by Bob Butler »

FullMoon wrote:
Sat Nov 05, 2022 11:02 am
I'm not too worried about Dems as they're falling apart in rapid fashion. But all the hardships they've promoted weren't necessary a part of the political party and will probably still linger. Dems are just bigoted fools who actually thought that they were so universally and absolutely correct on such important issues that it was OK to weaponize the government to force their agenda and worldview. I think they were tricked themselves and used as a tool. They were just much more amenable to disposing of freedom and liberty. Some nefarious actors are behind it and probably communists. The 'woke' ideology seems the likely attack vector. Hopefully it's also their downfall as we can see patience has run thin on their lies and criminality.
Let’s run down the issues…

Black Lives Matter. Do not have the police using unjustifiable violence. Do not have rural gangs invading minority neighborhoods to commit violence. Do not shoot up minority gathering places. Equality. Lack of bigotry.

Abortion. Do not have religious and moral choices enforced by law. Freedom. Choice. Yet, the Republicans will go against the will of the people to appease their core.

Covid. Prioritize curing the disease over keeping the economy going. Value life over dollars. America did poorly at preventing death, mostly due to Trump’s warped sense of priorities.

The Ukraine. Of late, the Democrats are holing firm on containment, the Republicans have begun to talk of caving in to Putin. After years of presenting themselves using FDR’s idea of containment, when push comes to shove the Republicans want to side with the communists?

Insurrection and the end of democracy. The democrats are against. The Republicans (many of them) are for.

Globalization. Yes, especially during the long unraveling, profits for corporations and the elite were considered more important than the American worker. Campaign contributions from the rich were more important than serving the voter. This is starting to change for the Democrats. Issues such as the above are taken seriously by them now. The Republicans?

The subtle one is working to put your party in power rather than to pursue what the voters want or benefit from. McConnell has his people voting as a block against Biden’s plan. A good tactic, but does he care about America more than power?

The woke philosophy? I never dived into that perspective, but it is basically a secular rewrite of Christ’s commandment to love. You treat everybody well. You can’t really complain about it and claim to be Christian.

“Lies and criminality?” The party of Trump wants to talk about lies and criminality? If you stay loyal to MAGA and Trump, you are on the wrong side of this one too. Make up conspiracy theories at whim? Deny accusations backed up by evidence? Blatantly lie about there being organized cheating in the 2020 election? Get more people in the last administration in legal trouble than ever before? Bringing that up takes a lot of cheek.

It is possible to itemize the Democratic agenda and present yourself on the side of the angels most of the time. Globalization was a mistake. Hillary’s broad brush declaration ‘deplorable’ was at best a mistake that likely cost her, no matter how accurate the characterization. The Democrats were not ideal saints.

Can anyone run down the issues this crisis and present most of them as favorable to the Republican position? It is more usual to switch to personal attacks or remain silent rather than defend what the Republicans are trying to do.

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Bob Butler
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Trump's Real Defense

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The main stream media has been reporting lately that Trump is regularly confessed to various illegal deeds. They report how he is driving his lawyers crazy, ignoring advice, which has been mainly a recommendation to shut up.

This makes me wonder if his real defense is to claim insanity? No sane individual would confess so regularly yet claim innocence? This builds from his feeling of entitlement, that he could do anything yet not be prosecuted, for example to shoot someone in Times Square and walk away, but still you can see an inability to comprehend reality.

But we'll see.

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A more perfect Union?

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John wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:39 am
But there's more. I've also learned vastly more about how the brilliant US Constitution protects America. in this election, the Democrats were attempting a takeover of the government, neutralizing government institutions like the supreme Court and the electoral college, an actual coup. that actually might have worked in some other countries but not in America. the US Constitution made that absolutely impossible and we're seeing that today.
I’m less impressed. One fanatic president can stack the Supreme Court such that even basic human rights precedent can be culled.

FDR needed to regulate the economy, but that was not perceived as necessary in Revolutionary times. So he did it anyway. After initial resistance, the Supremes went along with it.

To get the south to agree to the US, the agricultural rural bigot faction was given the Senate. A minority of the voters was given half the power of Congress. While slavery is long gone, this gift keeps on giving.

The electoral college? Why would a direct popular vote not be better?

But most of the bad parts of the Constitution benefit the conservative faction, so you perhaps have less cause to complain.

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Bob Butler
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Midterms

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Well, it looks like the basic elements of the midterms are over. The big factor is Trump was the looser. It was often asserted that if he lost, violence would result. Instead, it became clear that when Trump endorsed election deniers, the election deniers would loose. No violent MAGA crowd surfaced. Satisfying the Trump 2020 myths was not a road to Republican victory, and thus it has become easier for Republicans to beak from the Trump influence.

It is not clear that the MAGA faction is gone, that there won’t be primaries to be won by being MAGA. It looks like if you go that route, you win the primary but lose in the general election. This will be a problem for the Republicans, but I have no sympathy. I expect the remnants of MAGA will not be strong by the 2024 elections. Too many Trump family legal woes.

Right now, the biggest or at least most talked about item on the Republican agenda is investigating Hunter. I will admit to distrusting families profiting off their influential family leader. Hunter would be as questionable is Ivanka and company. Let’s see if the investigations come up with anything. But which family has more legal problems would be a slam dunk. Making sure no one considers their family above the law or is involved in selling influence would be a fine thing. Let’s see if the GOP can make it stick on the Biden family.

The big question is whether the GOP will care more about making the Democrats look bad than helping the American people. Since Obama, they have been voting as a block to make the Democrat in the White House look bad, while the White House has generally been genuinely trying to help the people. Will the Congressmen be allowed to vote for what is best for their state, or will they vote as a block to make the other party look bad? Is the objective of the GOP leadership to help their voters, or hurt their opponents. That is what I will be looking for, and I will concede I am not optimistic. Still, helping the voters will be key if the Republicans hope eventually to win elections. Still, it is not until the crisis is over that the conservative reinvent themselves. You have to see the results of the crisis values before you can present something to confront it.

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Tom Mazanec
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Re: Polyticks: Bob Butler's Perspective

Post by Tom Mazanec »

BB, what issues do you think will define the Crisis of 2100?
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain

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The 2100 crisis?

Post by Bob Butler »

Tom Mazanec wrote:
Tue Nov 29, 2022 2:03 pm
BB, what issues do you think will define the Crisis of 2100?
I think a combination of environmental problems - global warming, pollution, resource management and population - will rise to a head. What do we intend the Earth to be like steady state? By that time you will have to be absurdly willfully blind to ignore the threat of rising sea levels, hurricanes, fires, shifting crop areas and the rest. We have taken significant action this time around, but I expect this will be the central focus. Some tipping points will have been reached. We will take it seriously too late.

Autocracy, conquest, prejudice and imbalance of wealth are perpetual. While all should take a big hit this time, I find it hard to believe we will achieve any sort of ultimate victory over all of them. Sure, Russia’s war and China’s economic woes will end badly for the current autocracies. It is not clear exactly what shape such countries will be left in. People are so tied up in the aftermath of January 6 that one forgets a lot of the bad actors were originally concerned with prejudice and were motivated to keep a bigot in charge. Yes, I expect ’never again’ corrections to be implemented, but some people don’t learn. At least some of these issues will manifest again.

Any other suggestions?

Clarkmod
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Re: Polyticks: Bob Butler's Perspective

Post by Clarkmod »

Bob Butler wrote:
Thu Nov 03, 2022 9:40 am
guest wrote:
Thu Nov 03, 2022 7:14 am
Higgenbotham gets it. Butler never will. He will end up like the Boomers i have know, unwilling to admit to anything.
What did you expect? The unraveling is a time of selfishness. Folks cared more about their own greed than the country. Conservative philosophy dominated.

I contributed to America and was rewarded with security, then retired. I never smoked dope. (Well, once. Shhh.)

Now comes the crisis. Yet some are still pushing for themselves not the country. Trump tried to cling to power. McConnell would rather make Biden look bad than work towards the benefit of the voters. He is more looking for power than the good of the country. Bigots rage that black lives don’t matter. Some religious seek to use the government to enforce religious ideals.

As I see it, and as usual, the conservatives are trying to extend the old pattern, trying to cling to power, concerned more with themselves than America. On the other hand the progressives are championing democracy, equality, freedom of choice and containment. Progress, as usual in a crisis, is looking to overcome stagnation, selfishness and greed. The cycle turns again, even if in this new age the crisis war is looking to be missing.

So who doesn’t get it? Who fill fall to the wayside? Well we indeed have another new birth of freedom? We’ll see what happens in the midterms, and the response to the wave of indictments that look apt to follow. Perhaps the Democrats will lose their control of Congress, and the crisis will go on another two years. I don’t know. But the progressives have always come out on top in the crisis. I anticipate they will again. Perhaps we need two more years of conservative obstruction, but I anticipate most will want to move on.

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Re: Polyticks: Bob Butler's Perspective

Post by Clarkmod »

Bob Butler wrote:
Sat Nov 05, 2022 3:48 am
spottybrowncow wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:26 pm
Trevor wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:09 pm
Hatred and distrust of China is one of the few things Democrats and Republicans agree on.
But is this really true?

From my perspective, the Democrats admire and envy the Chinese, especially the way they monitor and control their population.

Didn't American companies help the Chinese develop the tools to exert this control, at least initially
(https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/goo ... ensorship/)? Was this a practice run for using those tools in the U.S.?
Didn't companies and politicians make tons of money from the Chinese, intentionally and / or inadvertently subverting myriad U.S. interests in the process?
Don't the Democrats think they will steer the U.S. to a social system similar to the Chinese, with them in control here like the CCP is there?

But then, I'm probably just a deplorable conspiracy theorist, lacking the sophistication of the international elites, so probably I'm wrong.
I'd love to be wrong.
Somebody convince me I'm wrong.
I'll try.

Democrats are favoring freedom and equality. Freedom of choice. Black Lives Matter. Elections. It is the Republicans who are more into spreading control over the population, to enforcing white culture, ending democracy, which leaves autocracy as the alternative. They are pushing for a more China like experience.

Yes, corporations like Google and Apple far too easily went along with Chinese censorship and profited from cheap asian labor. In the middle of the unravelling, it was corporate profits first with the American people second. Given a choice, most corporations valued profit from China in spite of contributing to oppression. That shifted somewhat with Covid, with nations more aware that crucial products should be produced locally. You want to be reasonably self sufficient, export what you have most of, import non crucial amounts of what others do best. Again, no, Democrats favor freedom and equality over control and enforcing culture. Corporations? Their priority is on profits, not social issues.

So I see it as the elites to want to profit from China, not to spread their social system. Your typical Democratic voter doesn't want badly to be oppressed.

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