Bardeaux
Bluelight Crew
what is the donald's tax plan?
(I know I could google, but meh
)
(I know I could google, but meh

Donald is going to be the next president.
Donald is going to be the next president. This presidency will show just how little power the president has. I picture major gridlock. Trump would be good in certain aspects but his plans on reforming immigration policy do not seem very plausible.
Please don't kill the world USA.![]()
This is a most depressing election. The Republicans terrify me, the Democrat-that-the-press-has-already-elected disgusts me, the only voice I hear that I can stand to listen to has a snowball's chance in hell and when I send off my pathetic little donations to his campaign I class them as being in the same category as my donations to save the African elephants-fultile, but a pathetically raised fist in the face of the hurricaine. This election is the way we have been going for a long, long time but this one has undeniably arrived. Money puts the candidates in the media. The media creates slick, packaged "debates" , ridiculous red, white and blue productions that look like the Colbert Report except they are real and are plastered with actual corporate sponsors. The candidates never answer a single question. The audience is made up of their base and boos and shouts predictably instruct the zombified, shrinking audiences of actual voters on how they should react. Whoever brings up the particular fears of their base the most comes out on top. I force myself to watch and become more cynical with every scripted moment I am wasting.
I come from parents and grandparents that were moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats. Everyone paid attention, everyone debated, we argued and we listened and we decided for ourselves. My mother is a Doctor of political science and a former government bureaucrat implementing policies that affect the lives of everyone in this country. It is in my blood to be involved. But I have watched the polarization of this nation in the polarization of the following generations in families (starting with my own) and it is a depressing sight. We are a nation of self-righteous, arrogant and self-defeating people. We are as scared of each other as we are of "outsiders". We talk smugly with people that already agree with us and condemn everyone else as "idiots". We see reflected in the politicians our own need to simplify a complex world and even though we vote for the "lesser of two evils" in every single election we end up with war every time. We accept hypocrisy and corruption because we have given up. Either that or we see screaming insults at each other as giving a shit about things. Now that I've gone and depressed the hell out of myself (and everyone else) I'm just wondering if Socko would let me couch surf over there at least through November. My husband calls me a "quitter" every time I bring up abandoning america but ,seriously, trying to stay involved in this cesspool inevitably leaves you covered in your own shit just as much as the shit of everyone else.![]()
No, the complete obsession with it is. The problem is the GIGANTIC DEBT to the Chinese... The country is prosperous - money does not solve issues alone. What you do w it is. It's s means to an end, not the end.The amount of random people that I have met that support trump is ridiculous. The owner of this local health food store just completely threw me for a loop. Listening to NPR on the back I thought she was gonna be sanders all the way.
If trump does get elected I do not think he is going to be a bastion on conservatism. I think he will be concerned with making the country as prosperous as possible. When the country becomes proserous again all these other issues disappear. Lack of Money is the the root cause of most people's problems IMO.
This is a most depressing election. The Republicans terrify me, the Democrat-that-the-press-has-already-elected disgusts me, the only voice I hear that I can stand to listen to has a snowball's chance in hell and when I send off my pathetic little donations to his campaign I class them as being in the same category as my donations to save the African elephants-fultile, but a pathetically raised fist in the face of the hurricaine. This election is the way we have been going for a long, long time but this one has undeniably arrived. Money puts the candidates in the media. The media creates slick, packaged "debates" , ridiculous red, white and blue productions that look like the Colbert Report except they are real and are plastered with actual corporate sponsors. The candidates never answer a single question. The audience is made up of their base and boos and shouts predictably instruct the zombified, shrinking audiences of actual voters on how they should react. Whoever brings up the particular fears of their base the most comes out on top. I force myself to watch and become more cynical with every scripted moment I am wasting.
I come from parents and grandparents that were moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats. Everyone paid attention, everyone debated, we argued and we listened and we decided for ourselves. My mother is a Doctor of political science and a former government bureaucrat implementing policies that affect the lives of everyone in this country. It is in my blood to be involved. But I have watched the polarization of this nation in the polarization of the following generations in families (starting with my own) and it is a depressing sight. We are a nation of self-righteous, arrogant and self-defeating people. We are as scared of each other as we are of "outsiders". We talk smugly with people that already agree with us and condemn everyone else as "idiots". We see reflected in the politicians our own need to simplify a complex world and even though we vote for the "lesser of two evils" in every single election we end up with war every time. We accept hypocrisy and corruption because we have given up. Either that or we see screaming insults at each other as giving a shit about things. Now that I've gone and depressed the hell out of myself (and everyone else) I'm just wondering if Socko would let me couch surf over there at least through November. My husband calls me a "quitter" every time I bring up abandoning america but ,seriously, trying to stay involved in this cesspool inevitably leaves you covered in your own shit just as much as the shit of everyone else.![]()
what is the donald's tax plan?
(I know I could google, but meh)
Brilliant post; extremely insightful as always, herbie.
Australia is much the same. I have glimmers of hope from time to time (we are not as populous or diverse a nation as the USA), but it is hard not to get down sometimes, being one of the people who gives a damn.
For once we agree. It's all very depressing. I think of it like a roller coaster or a train wreck, there's no getting off, so just enjoy the ride. One way or another insanity, corruption, stupidity, and incompetence will be the rule not the exception. Unlike a lot of people though, I don't think the primary problem is sponsors, lobbyists, big corporations etc. Not that they aren't a big part of perpetuating the problem. But I still ultimately lay the blame on the people. One could argue no matter what the people do the status quo would find a way to win, but we don't know that for sure because the public doesn't try in the first place. Humans are on average just very very bad at making good, rational, intelligent evaluations and decisions. And it's a democratic system. So the average decides the outcome.
Just my opinion, ultimately whatever you think the cause is or the blame lies the problem remains the same.
It's sad to say but I think believing the glimmers of hope prove to be naive more and more every election. I'm not an obama fan (I'm not a fan of republicans either), but I feel really bad for the people who voted him in expecting so much more than they got. In hindsight it seems so obvious, but we so badly want to believe one day someone will come in with real vision and the determination to fix this mess, whatever your own opinion of what the mess actually is may be.