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Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

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Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#351

Whatever his style, Trump didn't start any wars during his term. Lets see if Biden will do as well.

The only reason is because we are politically smart enough not to call them "wars" any more. He's personally responsible for the wholesale slaughter of people in Yemen - something Biden said he'd put an end to.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#352

While it’s true that the US government needs structural reform, the issue wasn’t anything the Constitution can fix by nibbling around the edges. The issue is that the unified Republican elite, along with > 35% of the electorate, is fundamentally lawless and anti-democratic, and will do anything it can to cheat its way into power. All three branches are implicated and have been for a while: Bush v Gore in 2000, the US…

Without the electoral college we become a nation ruled by the cities. I prefer to maintain the republic so all states have a voice and not go full democracy.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#353

While it’s true that the US government needs structural reform, the issue wasn’t anything the Constitution can fix by nibbling around the edges. The issue is that the unified Republican elite, along with > 35% of the electorate, is fundamentally lawless and anti-democratic, and will do anything it can to cheat its way into power. All three branches are implicated and have been for a while: Bush v Gore in 2000, the US…

> unified Republican elite, along with > 35% of the electorate, is fundamentally lawless and anti-democratic, and will do anything it can to cheat its way into power.

This is unnecessary. I am of course relieved that Biden won. I am also appalled by Trump and his enablers in the Republican party. I'm also extremely disappointed that more people did not clearly repudiate Trumpism.

But that 35% of the electorate, which is closer to 48% per Trump vote share, are people and neighbors. This kind of rhetoric only serves to continue the bitter fighting. There may very well be a core of unredeemable, white supremacists behind Trump. But I'd like to believe that most are misled, misinformed, yet good people. I know my neighbor is one in fact.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#354

What is really keeping me up at night is the existential problem the US faces for the next 50 years: the ever increasingly large divide that is the polarizing of the electorate. We have to come together as Americans or someone will divide and conquer us.

There was this really good take on this divide by Andrew Yang a few days ago on CNN [clip from Twitter - 0]. Yang is the only candidate I saw who seemed to understand people from all parts of the US. Also, it would have been nice to have a president who understood technology.

[0] - https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1324552953861210112

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#355

I've always felt that the Trump presidency served as an effective form of "Chaos Engineering". Regardless of your views of Trump's politics, his administration and method of leadership has exposed a lot of flaws in how our government has been designed and engineered. The postmortem of the last 4 years should be analyzed deeply in order to identify the weak points in the infrastructure of our government in order to ma…

For me, the icing on the cake was the press conference at Four Seasons Landscaping.

Someone made a silly mistake in the booking, but either nobody noticed, or couldn't be bothered to correct it, or dared not be the one to tell Trump the mistake had been made. So the President (staff? apparently not him) gives a final press conference in the parking lot of a suburban store. It would be like watching the Emperor of Japan surrender in a dinghy because somebody brought the wrong Missouri.

Unforced error. Abandonment of dignity. Refusal to acknowledge the situation. Hallmarks of the administration.

(News accuracy notice: while it appears to have been an official press conference only Guiliani was actually there and not Trump himself)

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#356

While it’s true that the US government needs structural reform, the issue wasn’t anything the Constitution can fix by nibbling around the edges. The issue is that the unified Republican elite, along with > 35% of the electorate, is fundamentally lawless and anti-democratic, and will do anything it can to cheat its way into power. All three branches are implicated and have been for a while: Bush v Gore in 2000, the US…

We need a better word than "Trumpism". It will be too easy to disregard all the other very good examples you gave by dismissing it as Trumpism and now that he's gone, so is the problem.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#357

I've always felt that the Trump presidency served as an effective form of "Chaos Engineering". Regardless of your views of Trump's politics, his administration and method of leadership has exposed a lot of flaws in how our government has been designed and engineered. The postmortem of the last 4 years should be analyzed deeply in order to identify the weak points in the infrastructure of our government in order to ma…

Peak Orange Hell Site, my dude.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#358

What is really keeping me up at night is the existential problem the US faces for the next 50 years: the ever increasingly large divide that is the polarizing of the electorate. We have to come together as Americans or someone will divide and conquer us.

There was this really good take on this divide by Andrew Yang a few days ago on CNN [clip from Twitter - 0]. Yang is the only candidate I saw who seemed to understand people from all parts of the US. Also, it would have been nice to have a president who understood technology. [0] - https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1324552953861210112

If only Yang himself understood technology. His blockchain voting proposal was hilariously bad.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#359
post #346

What is really keeping me up at night is the existential problem the US faces for the next 50 years: the ever increasingly large divide that is the polarizing of the electorate. We have to come together as Americans or someone will divide and conquer us.

I absolutely agree with you and I think we've gotten ourselves into a state where the "fix" (whatever it may be) will be so unpalatable to either party or to anybody who wants to survive in a political environment that it'll be impossible to implement. For example, want to bring manufacturing jobs back? 1. Implement trade-protectionist tariffs and import restrictions. 2. Unionize rural workforces to make the pay and…

Build strong international relationships.

Open the gates for immigration.

Work with allies to impose extreme tariffs on China.

Build manufacturing in India, Mexico, Vietnam, and Africa. Own the shipping.

Offer US statehood to Taiwan and keep the South China Sea open to all US Allies. Korea, Japan, Vietnam, etc.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#360

I've always felt that the Trump presidency served as an effective form of "Chaos Engineering". Regardless of your views of Trump's politics, his administration and method of leadership has exposed a lot of flaws in how our government has been designed and engineered. The postmortem of the last 4 years should be analyzed deeply in order to identify the weak points in the infrastructure of our government in order to ma…

> the weak points in the infrastructure of our government

You're not wrong, but:

> But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

* James Madison, 20 June 1788, Papers 11:163

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