Romney tries really hard to "both sides" this, but he misses an important distinction. The left is supposedly ignoring immigration and national debt. The right is supposedly ignoring climate change and attacks on our political system. I'm willing to grant those for the sake of argument, but here's the difference: the attacks on our political system have made it impossible to solve any of the other problems - even the ones that those supporting the attacks supposedly have as priorities. The only way to avoid a dystopian future (or more dystopian if you really can't resist hyperbole) is to solve that one first. The only way to solve that, in turn, is to stop listening to "both sides" and get the people attacking democracy out of power - ideally behind bars - before it's too late.
America Is in Denial
61–70 of 84 posts
Re: America Is in Denial
#62Romney's right, but incomplete. Our current problems are made cataclysmic by our also becoming unable to function anymore except by groupthink. I think our lifeblood is not tribalism — we aren't that alike to divide into only two tribes — I think the real problem is fear. We've allowed ourselves (and the past 30 years of childrearing) to be overwhelmed by it and now can't function without assurance: being in a crowd…
> The hallmark of our times is the death of the individual.
I see it as the opposite. The current mood of the day in the US is individualism over any sense of civic obligation or cooperation.
Re: America Is in Denial
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do their voting records reveal them to be anything other than mainstream Republicans? I'll admit that Romney's votes to impeach the man whose endorsement he sought in 2012 were unusually bold,but I can't think of any effect he's had on his party. Quite the opposite actually - at one point Romney claimed he was pro choice, but he's clearly fallen in line. His evolution towards mainstream Republicanism also put him in…
You said it yourself - he was the only republican senator who voted for impeachment. When he voted against the party - you say he had no effect on his party. When he votes with the party - you say he has fallen in line. What exactly is he supposed to do? No one person has the power to change the party. I just appreciate someone, an individual, doing a good thing when they do it. This post is a good thing. The least I…
What is he supposed to do? I don't know - I agree it's a hard problem, but Romney has clearly chosen his tribe, though he's had an on-again-off-again relationship with the chief of that tribe. If anyone could run as an independent in Utah, it would be him, but do you think Romney would do such a thing?
Men like Romney tear at the social fabric of America for financial gain, that's what he and his party are dedicated to. To be fair, if they could make more money by not tearing at it, they would - the point is the money; the rest is meaningless. I've worked for private equity, they're every bit the monsters we've been told. Of course they put on a good show and a nice suit - and that's who Romney is and what posts like this are all about. But at the end of the day, he and McConnell and their party are just trying to create a moral justification for greed, the same as any conservative. They just don't like Trump because he lets the mask slip.
Re: America Is in Denial
#64> When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. At least in the case of global warming, the US are in good company: the whole world is failing (some more, some less, but nevertheless all failing) to confront the challenge.
We're just exiting an ice age. The world is currently one of the coolest times its ever been.
This is an excellent demonstration of the denial that Romney is pointing out
Re: America Is in Denial
#65This essay was Mitt's entry in the annual 4th of July platitude contest.
He is a consummate politician who is afraid to offer any concrete suggestions to deal with the problems he mentions.
It might have been interesting to hear his ideas about gun control, abortion rights, etc. - If he has any.
But, the 4th of July is just another day in America, "Home of the Brave":
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/shooting-reported-july-4th-...
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Re: America Is in Denial
#66Re: America Is in Denial
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
We're just exiting an ice age. The world is currently one of the coolest times its ever been.
you can downvote me but it's science. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/whats-hotte...
If the scariest thing in that graph of the earth's estimated global temperature over its lifetime isn't the near vertical upward line at the end it just means you don't believe humanity's existence is particularly significant (which is not an unreasonable conclusion depending on your perspective).
The planet and life in general will thrive no matter what we do. I'd just rather we actually give ourselves a shot of being around a little longer to witness it.
Re: America Is in Denial
#68Romney's right, but incomplete. Our current problems are made cataclysmic by our also becoming unable to function anymore except by groupthink. I think our lifeblood is not tribalism — we aren't that alike to divide into only two tribes — I think the real problem is fear. We've allowed ourselves (and the past 30 years of childrearing) to be overwhelmed by it and now can't function without assurance: being in a crowd…
> The hallmark of our times is the death of the individual. I see it as the opposite. The current mood of the day in the US is individualism over any sense of civic obligation or cooperation.
But that's been true in the US for long while (pretty sure any outside observer would agree). How the US dealt with covid compared to the rest of the developed world only made that painfully obvious, but I'm not sure you could demonstrate it's something that's become significantly more extreme recently.
Re: America Is in Denial
#69> When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. At least in the case of global warming, the US are in good company: the whole world is failing (some more, some less, but nevertheless all failing) to confront the challenge.
WTF? Every country failing to act on an impending crisis is not good news, it's worse. Nature does not dole out milder climates to countries which pollute less either. We're all in the same boat.
Are you assuming the phrase "good company" is suggesting there's something praiseworthy about such a situation? It's just a figure of speech...