What's new
By:

The Biden Administration and All Things Politics

The Thriller said:
Raskin is a Democrat. So I think the fundamental problem he’s referring to is we have a significant part of an entire political party, its voters, and its propaganda apparatus that doesn’t believe elections are free and fair when they lose. For them, elections don’t decide who is in power. That’s already been decided since Democrats are considered illegitimate and the majority of the population that resides in our major economic and cultural centers is considered alien. Elections are just hoops we jump through before Republicans and their strongmen take over to “whip” this weak Jewish errr globalist trans loving vaccine taking nation into shape. Make ourselves into a truly strong homogeneous Christian nation, like Russia! MAGA!
Click to expand...

This noise buys into a bigger problem with our democracies, how unrepresentative they are. I get some of the noise from Trump supports about nobody representing them, they're right. They're Trumps forgotten people, effectively you've had two centre right parties representing the interests of the middle class for the last 60 years. That was fine while the rising tide lifted all boats but it a hasn't for the last 25 years and people are pissed. They're right to be pissed, Trump is not the answer but he's the best supported establishment answer. (Firmly believe Bernie should have run and would have won against him four years ago but the democratic establishment wouldn't have it.)

I live in an Australian Labor Party heartland and in areas like mine, outer western suburb electorates Labor is losing ground, why? A lot of the people who live here are immigrants, labor has not been strong enough on this, a lot of the people who live here are self employed trade types, a lot of people who live here are experiencing huge cost of living pressures and mortgage pressure they are erroneously of the belief that conservative governments deliver lower interest rates and cost of living. These electorates generally have low union membership density and have significant religious minorities. (think my electorate was the only Victorian electorate to vote against the recent gay marriage plebiscite.)

These are fertile grounds for politicians who come in and say "your problems are caused by unregulated immigration," The Labor party can't manage public debt! Through COVID the previous conservative government borrow and spent money (rightly) at levels unseen's since the second world war, but they will run from this legacy and its cost to the economy now. The government has done nothing about energy prices (15 years of politicising energy policy has lead to drastic under investment in the sector which now is rearing its ugly head in high prices.) Cost of living is through the roof! Meanwhile during their ten years in power they did nothing to address this, broke up no functional monopolies, did nothing around wage growth.

What none of them will cop to is that both sides of politics have massively inflated the housing market, that young working people have been allowed to over borrow, all to increase the nest eggs of our largest demographic and voting block (baby boomers) who are rapidly approaching retirement and we have no idea how to pay for it. The problem now is while this generation have all become millionaires through property ownership, the run away cost of living is outstripping their capacity to divest and afford to live.

Welcome to hell.
 
Rubashov said:
This noise buys into a bigger problem with our democracies, how unrepresentative they are. I get some of the noise from Trump supports about nobody representing them, they're right. They're Trumps forgotten people, effectively you've had two centre right parties representing the interests of the middle class for the last 60 years. That was fine while the rising tide lifted all boats but it a hasn't for the last 25 years and people are pissed. They're right to be pissed, Trump is not the answer but he's the best supported establishment answer. (Firmly believe Bernie should have run and would have won against him four years ago but the democratic establishment wouldn't have it.)

I live in an Australian Labor Party heartland and in areas like mine, outer western suburb electorates Labor is losing ground, why? A lot of the people who live here are immigrants, labor has not been strong enough on this, a lot of the people who live here are self employed trade types, a lot of people who live here are experiencing huge cost of living pressures and mortgage pressure they are erroneously of the belief that conservative governments deliver lower interest rates and cost of living. These electorates generally have low union membership density and have significant religious minorities. (think my electorate was the only Victorian electorate to vote against the recent gay marriage plebiscite.)

These are fertile grounds for politicians who come in and say "your problems are caused by unregulated immigration," The Labor party can't manage public debt! Through COVID the previous conservative government borrow and spent money (rightly) at levels unseen's since the second world war, but they will run from this legacy and its cost to the economy now. The government has done nothing about energy prices (15 years of politicising energy policy has lead to drastic under investment in the sector which now is rearing its ugly head in high prices.) Cost of living is through the roof! Meanwhile during their ten years in power they did nothing to address this, broke up no functional monopolies, did nothing around wage growth.

What none of them will cop to is that both sides of politics have massively inflated the housing market, that young working people have been allowed to over borrow, all to increase the nest eggs of our largest demographic and voting block (baby boomers) who are rapidly approaching retirement and we have no idea how to pay for it. The problem now is while this generation have all become millionaires through property ownership, the run away cost of living is outstripping their capacity to divest and afford to live.

Welcome to hell.
Click to expand...
What would a party supporting Trump’s people look like? The majority of Trump supporters are middle to upper class. They’re business owners, rural white farmers, land developers, tech CEOs, and people who work in finance. They consist of affluent people bored with their lives and folks wanting more tax cuts. If anything, they’ve been over represented over the years.

This myth that Trump tapped into the “working class” suffering from “economic anxiety” was refuted long ago.
2016 election:
7030C26F-C135-4422-868F-E61448F3FB7E.png
2020 election:
ED449721-DB80-4883-AEB9-81F7645B3FEB.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Globally, the states suffering from high levels of RW nationalism (See the UK, Hungary, Brazil, and the US.) aren’t poor. They’re affluent countries driven by affluent leaders who are preying on cultural resentment and affluent bored people looking for a point to their lives.

Cultural resentment is the driving force in politics in the 21st century. The lack of want and the abundance of peace has created a mess for western democracies as people argue ceaselessly over cultural issues and find personal jihads against school libraries and vaccines.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Last edited:
LogGrad98 said:
What is the fundamental problem? That we have decades of free and fair elections with virtually zero voter fraud in our history so that needs to be fixed or something?
Click to expand...
I’d just prefer electing presidents by popular vote, like other elected officials.

Policy Research

NCSL’s experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. We answer more than 20,000 requests for information a year.
www.ncsl.org
 
Red said:
I’d just prefer electing presidents by popular vote, like other elected officials.

Policy Research

NCSL’s experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. We answer more than 20,000 requests for information a year.
www.ncsl.org
Click to expand...
But if we did that it would force candidates and parties to actually compete in the marketplace of ideas and actually try to be attractive to most Americans. Oh the horror.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What a stunning surprise….

www.huffpost.com

Marjorie Taylor Greene Rages At Tulsi Gabbard For Not Going Easy On George Santos

The far-right Congress member was not happy about the Fox News guest host's takedown of her incoming House colleague.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com

www.amny.com

Editorial | It’s not a lie if George Santos believes it – amNewYork

Pathological liar George Costanza of "Seinfeld" fame once said, "It's not a lie if you believe it." And it would seem that Congress Member-elect George Santos
www.amny.com www.amny.com

What is not true about this statement from the above article: “In many ways, George Santos perfectly encapsulates the problem with the Republican Party today: the brazen lying to voters, the lack of personal responsibility, and the wholesale disrespect of government and its institutions.” I’m not inherently anti-Republican. But, from where I stand, that quote describes that party.
 
Last edited:
Red said:
What a stunning surprise….

www.huffpost.com

Marjorie Taylor Greene Rages At Tulsi Gabbard For Not Going Easy On George Santos

The far-right Congress member was not happy about the Fox News guest host's takedown of her incoming House colleague.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com

www.amny.com

Editorial | It’s not a lie if George Santos believes it – amNewYork

Pathological liar George Costanza of "Seinfeld" fame once said, "It's not a lie if you believe it." And it would seem that Congress Member-elect George Santos
www.amny.com www.amny.com

What is not true about this statement from the above article: “In many ways, George Santos perfectly encapsulates the problem with the Republican Party today: the brazen lying to voters, the lack of personal responsibility, and the wholesale disrespect of government and its institutions.” I’m not inherently anti-Republican. But, from where I stand, that quote describes that party.
Click to expand...
Good post. I’d just like to add that he feeds into the mentality of GOP voters that even the worst Republican is still better than ANY Democrat. How can anyone of any character still support Santos? I guess all that matters is power. McCarthy needs him to become speaker and he needs McCarthy to not make this a big deal. And Repub voters want to win, no matter the costs. Even if it means electing another narcissist who’ll say anything to get elected.

After all, they excused Trump for far worse. Right?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I thought this was interesting; after 1 year of State Covid policies and lockdowns most people who moved, moved to more conservative leaning states.

I understand why people left Louisiana, not a great state to live. California and Illinois lost almost 1% of their population. New York lost 3.5%. Virginia surprised me that it was a net negative. The top ten didn’t surprise me other than Alabama (other than Mobile, I thought the state was nice). I haven’t lived in Utah for 9 years, but I though they would have been in the top 10.

Was is Covid or political policy, remote work, or retirement? Mixture of both?
We have noticed it here in Florida (1.5% gain). Can’t build schools fast enough (over populated), home prices and rent are still up compared to many states. Still building a lot of new developments around Tampa.

23C588D7-8F83-4280-AA4A-7AAC25671495.jpeg
 
Bucknutz said:
I thought this was interesting; after 1 year of State Covid policies and lockdowns most people who moved, moved to more conservative leaning states.

I understand why people left Louisiana, not a great state to live. California and Illinois lost almost 1% of their population. New York lost 3.5%. Virginia surprised me that it was a net negative. The top ten didn’t surprise me other than Alabama (other than Mobile, I thought the state was nice). I haven’t lived in Utah for 9 years, but I though they would have been in the top 10.

Was is Covid or political policy, remote work, or retirement? Mixture of both?
We have noticed it here in Florida (1.5% gain). Can’t build schools fast enough (over populated), home prices and rent are still up compared to many states. Still building a lot of new developments around Tampa.

View attachment 13601
Click to expand...
Remote work has made it possible for people to live anywhere (depending on job and policy). Some people want to move where it's cheaper, or just a smaller town.

I moved to Corvallis, OR about 11 years ago. We wanted to be closer to the coast, but there were no jobs there. We're planning on moving to either Newport or Coos Bay this summer, because it doesn't matter where I live.
 
Last edited:
gandalfe said:
Remote work has made it possible for people to live anywhere (depending on job and policy). Some people want to move where it's cheaper, or just a smaller town.
Click to expand...
Exactly. People moving from more expensive to less expensive states has been going on for at least my lifetime. Anyone else remember when there wasn’t anything between the Lehi Roller Mills and the prison? I remember as a kid going to a fun water park just above the prison and below widow maker road in Draper. One of my favorite rides used to be driving on what’s now Timp highway from I-15 Timp cave. There wasn’t anything out there and you could see the entire valley. Then Micron built their building. And then things exploded. Anyone else remember that narrow road? Utah in the 80s and early 90s was still a really rural place. Like there were still spaces in-between most towns so it actually mean something if you lived in Riverton, Sandy, etc. Now it’s just all endless sprawl.

When we lived in Sandy, our landlord talked about how he bought his house in the 80s for under $100k. It’s now worth well over $800k due to all the people moving in and building in Sandy/Draper. Around Dimple Dell it still retains its rural roots. There are still some properties with horses and large lots from when there wasn’t a run on housing.

I’m guessing once Lehi and Saratoga are built out, the overspill will continue into Payson and Nephi. Those are some nice communities that are fairly cheap right now. Give it another 10-15 years and they’ll probably be the next Saratoga/Lehi.

Once Utah is built out, where to next? Wyoming? Will we see a re-calibration of the population moving back to states that had previously seen losses?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top