A Monumental Task

We are reaching the tipping point, and I don’t mean just tipping old confederate statues. Our competing ideologies have retreated to the far ends of the spectrum where any kind of compromise is seen as treachery.

Can cooler heads prevail? I’d like to think so, but when the extremes are obsessed with winning it all, it seems unlikely.

As I have said here before, it’s too bad that we are bent on destroying such a nice country.

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22 Responses to A Monumental Task

  1. George Rebane says:

    Upon closer examination, I believe you’ll find that only one “extreme” is “obsessed with winning it all”.

  2. Ken Jones says:

    Hard to perform a close examination when one is blinded by bias and is incapable of seeing any fault in the other extreme.

    • George Rebane says:

      Plenty of fault to go around. What you missed is the side obsessed with “winning it all”. The other side just wants to get away, and not doing a good job of it.

  3. rlcrabb says:

    Does anyone believe that if Republicans held all three branches of government they would compromise on ANY legislation? Nah, it would just be a mirror image of the Democrats in Sacramento.

    • Chris Peterson says:

      So, you’re saying that the Republicans DON’T hold all three branches and DO compromise?
      Interesting.

      • rlcrabb says:

        Last I checked, the House was still in Democrat hands.

        • Chris Peterson says:

          And four of the Supreme Court justices are supposedly liberal, but no one would say the court isn’t conservative. The House may be controlled by the Democratic Party, but the self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper”, Mitch McConnell, does not compromise on anything in the Senate, and I’d call that control of the Congress.
          If you stand by your comparison to the Democrats in Sac, I’d say the comparison is spot on.

          • George Rebane says:

            “… but no one would say the court isn’t conservative.” OK, then I’ll say it – SCOTUS is NOT conservative.

    • George Rebane says:

      Perhaps you’re right Bob. Then it comes down to which mirror image appeals to you more. Our Founders tried to put in place a system of governance that made it hard for one party/faction to control the whole shebang. Today, those who do want to control the whole shebang are trying to do away with that system and its foundational documents by making them “living”.

      • Chris Peterson says:

        I disagree, George. Although it turned out differently, almost from the get-go, the founders did their best to create a government devoid of faction.
        And when I said “‘no one’ would say the Supreme Court isn’t conservative”, I was attempting to word it in a way that wouldn’t offend anyone. There will always be those who believe more in the image than the reality.

  4. George Rebane says:

    Indeed it is. But one side wants to command and control all, the other side wishes to escape and live free. Perhaps you can tell the difference.

    • Michael Anderson says:

      I don’t know any liberals, or members of the Democratic Party for that matter, who want to “command and control all,” for the simple reason that I have no idea what that means. George, “command and control ALL” is a hyperbolic phrase, and if you really want to have constructive discussions you would do well to drop the absolutes.

      Regarding “escape and live free,” no one is stopping you from starting a compound somewhere so you and yours can do whatever you please, as long as you follow the local, state, and federal rules and regulations that we have all agreed to follow as citizens of our American republic.

      If you don’t like the current local, state, and federal rules and regulations–and I don’t know anyone who likes 100% of what currently exists–then you are free to put forth candidates and lobby for their election in order to guide those rules and regulations into a direction that suits you better.

      I don’t know if this is true, but I think that maybe when you say “command and control all” you are complaining about rigged electoral systems. If that is what you mean, then I agree with you that we have a lot of work to do in that arena. I would suggest that allowing moderates like Mr. Crabb to reform and improve those systems when get us on the road to finding an electoral system that doesn’t exacerbate our divisions so much like our current system — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system

      • George Rebane says:

        We definitely live in different universes. Extensive discussions of governance have been ongoing on RR for almost 14 years. You are a leftwinger, not a student of history, and apparently not a follower of Americana over the last half century. Therefore it is hard to make constructive progress in such a discussion.

        • Chris Peterson says:

          George,
          I would be genuinely interested is hearing your opinion on Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States, if you have indeed read it. If not, never mind.
          Thanks

        • Michael Anderson says:

          George, I’m sorry that I wasn’t clear enough so that you could understand what I was trying to say. That’s my fault and I apologize.

          Let me try again. Bob’s point was that extremism has taken over and that winner-takes-all attitudes are preventing compromise. You then proved his point by saying only one “side” has that attitude, the other “side” just wants to “escape and live free,” which is code for “everyone who lives in my contado has to believe and live as I do.” That sounds pretty extreme.

          You then decided to bring up your discussions in RR which was irrelevant, claimed I don’t know American history, and labeled me a “leftwinger.” I’ll just let that go for now, but my proposal was that we might be well-served if moderates like Bob were allowed to adjudicate some of the differences of the extremes.

          It was a modest proposal for achieving what I think is Bob’s goal of finding compromise. Capice?

          • George Rebane says:

            Not at all. No one has to believe as I do. Everyone can believe like you guys do. But those of us who do choose to retain the common culture we have had, we’d like to be able to live together and practice it without fear of the retribution we receive every day for a wrong word or thought. That’s your world, not ours.

            And before any productive discussions can occur, we have to identify a suitable middle ground, which no one has been able to do.

  5. RL CRABB says:

    I’ll stand by my assertion that both parties would be more than happy to have a veto proof majority, and do what they can to hold on to it.

    Republicans have been gerrymandering the states where they control the lines for decades, and doing their best to make voting difficult. (Dems gerrymander as well, but
    Republicans have made it into an art. Some of their districts look like they were designed by Picasso.) The recent election in Georgia shows just how bad they are run. Fewer precincts, broken machines, lines backed up for hours, it’s enough to discourage anyone but the hardiest souls.

    And this neverending crusade on all things Obama. There comes a point where its just vindictive, with emphasis on being dicks. Trump’s administration has become the elephant’s graveyard for many stalwart Republicans who thought they were going to ride the conservative train to the shining city on a hill. Instead, they found themselves thrown to the wolves, and twittered into exile. Is it any wonder they are writing scathing diatribes against their standard bearer six months before the election?

    I’ve had plenty to complain about the Democrats here in California, mostly with the travesty of Assembly Bill 5. This law has put thousands out of work while the legislature dithers with picking out winners and losers in the amendment process. These things should have been addressed before it ever became law. If you watch the “debate” in the assembly before it was passed, you can see that input that addressed those shortcomings from the minority was completely ignored. Afterward, the dismissive attitude toward those of us who complained soured many on voting blue.

    We’ll see how they juggle the budget now that they don’t have the Jerry Brown’s rainy day funds to fall back on. They’ve made so many promises to so many constituencies there is no way they can fulfill them without more massive taxes, and that’s not going to go over well under the present circumstances. You can already see the special interests running ads beseeching voters to call their reps and save their sacred cows.

    It’s the problem of being the majority. They can’t blame everything on Trump, and even if he comes through with another stimulus it won’t cover all the problems we’ve piled up. The threat of fire, the lack of housing, the scourge of homelessness, and all of it compounded by Covid-19. We can only hope that the San Andreas fault doesn’t sink half the state into the shark infested waters of the Pacific, or Mt. Shasta doesn’t spew rivers of lava into the valley and turn the state’s water supply into a steaming cesspool.

    In closing, I’d like to say I still believe there’s hope for our sick nation, but it will probably get worse before it gets better. When I look around at the people closest to those they serve, I see people who are determined to make the best of what they have to work with. Maybe someday, those people will take the government back from ideologues.

    Maybe.

    • Chris Peterson says:

      And today’s:

      AG Barr: SDNY US Attorney Berman has resigned.

      Berman: No I haven’t.

      Barr: Well, the President just fired him.

      Trump: No I didn’t.

      More popcorn, please.

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