sdoyel wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:38 pm
There’s 2 damn senators sabotaging this entire bill.
This should put to rest any illusions that we have the Greatest Democracy in the World. A vast majority of the people want something that people who represent a vast minority are blocking.
Yes, quite sure. Even in WV the programs that their Senator is blocking is polling above 60%.
Lost in all of this drama is the fact that 50 Senators don’t give a flying f-k and one major political party is only interested in regulating women’s reproductive rights and fealty to a dictator wannabe.
The US is definitely not the greatest country on earth. It was at one point, but those days are long gone. But, have no fear, the brainwashing still continues!
zsn alluded to this, but it's amazing how many white lower middle class americans support legislature and politics that keep them in the lower middle class. I remember watching an interview a few years back with some hillbilly who was ranting about how much he hated Obamacare and how it was nothing but free stuff for lazy people. The interviewer asked him if he had healthcare. His response was something like, "Yes, I have the Affordable Care Act"
kinda depends on your definition of “vast”, but he has a certain history
i actually did something i rarely do, and emailed him to convey my thoughts (i think i’ve corresponded with elected officials maybe 2 or 3 times previously). doubt i get a response, but we’ll see
MICHHAWK wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 9:55 am
4 years of dt and almost 1 year of uncle joe, and we are still the greatest country on earth. hands down.
we are bulletproof.
The only people who think/say things like this are people who have no meaningful relationships with non-Americans.
I agree that we have too many advantages to "fail" over the course of the next several generations.
BUT, our fractured and divided house means we're unable to lead on a truly existential threat. And, it seems more likely than not that our failure to lead will have catastrophic consequences.
Every country ever thinks they’re the greatest country on earth.
We’re the “greatest,” perhaps, in the sense we have the biggest military or biggest economy. But military-wise, much of the world views us as just some imperial bullies.
And though we have the biggest economy, we also lag behind on actually providing for our citizens, relative to pretty much every other developed country.
And as far as social metrics, life expectancy, happiness metrics, we’re behind on that too.
And I like the optimism that we have too many advantages to fail. But, between the fractured and divided house, the fact that one of those divisions is both really pissed off and really well armed, and just generally how quick we saw the shit the fan (March 2020, Jan. 6, etc), I’m not always so optimistic.