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I can’t afford this Trump economy

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The Thriller said:
Good video.

Ultimately, I think what you’re describing are two different issues:

1. Institutional problems with our politics (i e, electoral college, how we do primaries, money in politics, our political seasons). These fuel cultural division but aren’t the root cause.

And

2. Our social problems; a people so decadent and bored as ****, that they’re desperately inventing new divisions and wars for attention. The grift on the right is so real and prevalent. Andrew Tate, Benny Johnson, Joe Rogan, Facebook, twitter, Fox News make so much ****ing money just pumping poison into our country. You’ll never find truth or come to a consensus when millions aren’t getting their information from people and institutions built on fragmentation.

I don’t know how you solve the latter. But i do think some legislation could solve a lot of the former. You just can’t solve the legislative piece without overwhelming majorities in congress. And you can’t get those majorities when people would rather vote against their own interests.
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The problem is the legislation needed is specifically to restrain the politicians and will affect their ability to cash in on their positions. That's the problem. We need them disconnected from big money more than anything else really, yet this means they are disincentivized to pass such legislation, on both sides. First and foremost we need to eliminate the lobby, yet this is where we see politicians come into office as wealthy people and leave as multimillionaires with lucrative corporate connections. Why would they ever vote against these connections when their personal benefit is so great? No way to ever get meaningful legislation passed in this context.
 
LogGrad98 said:
The problem is the legislation needed is specifically to restrain the politicians and will affect their ability to cash in on their positions. That's the problem. We need them disconnected from big money more than anything else really, yet this means they are disincentivized to pass such legislation, on both sides. First and foremost we need to eliminate the lobby, yet this is where we see politicians come into office as wealthy people and leave as multimillionaires with lucrative corporate connections. Why would they ever vote against these connections when their personal benefit is so great? No way to ever get meaningful legislation passed in this context.
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I don’t see big money as the biggest problem with politics and it’s definitely not impacting both sides evenly. Party primaries are the biggest problem. If you’re on the right you can’t say anything negative against Orange god king or else you’ll be primaried at the least and terrorized or killed at the worst. You can’t have legislators fearing for their lives if they’re disloyal to one man. That’s the #1 problem in my view and it’s disproportionally impacting one party, causing our entire democracy to collapse.
 
The Thriller said:
I don’t see big money as the biggest problem with politics and it’s definitely not impacting both sides evenly. Party primaries are the biggest problem. If you’re on the right you can’t say anything negative against Orange god king or else you’ll be primaried at the least and terrorized or killed at the worst. You can’t have legislators fearing for their lives if they’re disloyal to one man. That’s the #1 problem in my view and it’s disproportionally impacting one party, causing our entire democracy to collapse.
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So democrats good, Republicans evil. No nuance, just one good one bad. Got it.
 
LogGrad98 said:
The problem is the legislation needed is specifically to restrain the politicians and will affect their ability to cash in on their positions. That's the problem. We need them disconnected from big money more than anything else really, yet this means they are disincentivized to pass such legislation, on both sides. First and foremost we need to eliminate the lobby, yet this is where we see politicians come into office as wealthy people and leave as multimillionaires with lucrative corporate connections. Why would they ever vote against these connections when their personal benefit is so great? No way to ever get meaningful legislation passed in this context.
Click to expand...
This is certainly an issue and one that predates Trump by a lot. We will never have "good" federal governance if we do not figure out how to get out from under the big money choke hold on our politicians.
 
Sardines said:
So democrats good, Republicans evil. No nuance, just one good one bad. Got it.
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Onto the ignore list you go and it’s because of these types of unserious trolling posts. No different from PJF. Not sure what happened to you? Either you’re consuming weird media or your spat with me has broken your brain.

Democrats? Imperfect but fairly normal political party.
Republicans? Authoritarian party actively working to establish a fascist regime in America and align itself with fellow authoritarian broligarchs and fascists around the world.

Yes, the GOP led by Trump is the #1 problem in America today, not the Democrats.

I suggest you read what our European and Asian friends see today. Denmark, Germany, Japan, etc. read what some of their leaders and news agencies are saying. America is seen as a threat. That’s because of the GOP, guys. Not sure why you’re downplaying the fascist movement in America that threatens global stability.
 
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Sardines said:
This is certainly an issue and one that predates Trump by a lot. We will never have "good" federal governance if we do not figure out how to get out from under the big money choke hold on our politicians.
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Here if a great page detailing this. The increase in personal wealth of politicians ranges from substantial to staggering and even obscene.

Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index)

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics
ballotpedia.org ballotpedia.org

Total average gains​

As compared to the yearly average gains, the total average gains percentage change looks at the total change between the first year data is available for each member<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_...sentatives_(Personal_Gain_Index)#cite_note-36">[36]</a> and the 2012 data. Although this data is harder to compare member-to-member because the starting year may be different, it still provides insight as to who experienced the most drastic total increases. The average change in net worth for the members in this study was 72.6 percent.
Click to expand...

Ten greatest overall gains​

The ten current senators and representatives listed below experienced the highest overall net worth gains (by percentage) from 2004-2012.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_...ives_(Personal_Gain_Index)#cite_note-after-37">[37]</a>

CPGI-TOP-10-Graphic.png

Some experienced a decrease in net worth.

Ten greatest overall losses​

The ten current senators and representatives listed here experienced the greatest declines in net worth (by percentage) from 2004-2012.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_...ives_(Personal_Gain_Index)#cite_note-after-37">[37]</a>

CPGI-BOTTOM-10-Graphic.png

But the vast majority added substantially to their wealth during their time in office. So what incentive is there for them to pass legislation affecting things like transparency of finances, term limits, or restricting/eliminating lobbying? Until we get a handle on this they will always, invariably, pass legislation that helps them get ahead, and they will always push the agenda of whoever is paying them first and foremost, and maybe if it doesn't interfere with their gravy train, the needs of their constituency will be addressed later, at a much smaller rate. They know the buttons to push to keep themselves in power, and if they push these buttons enough they can continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the regular guy because the regular guy only cares about sound bites. A couple of these buttons are abortion for republicans, LGBTQ+ representation for democrats, for example, and among plenty of others. The more extreme they are in pushing these buttons, the more likely they are to be voted in again, regardless of anything else they support and how much money they pocket. So those who scream the loudest get ahead the furthest, even if they don't for a second believe any of it.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Here if a great page detailing this. The increase in personal wealth of politicians ranges from substantial to staggering and even obscene.

Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index)

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics
ballotpedia.org ballotpedia.org



Ten greatest overall gains​

The ten current senators and representatives listed below experienced the highest overall net worth gains (by percentage) from 2004-2012.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_...ives_(Personal_Gain_Index)#cite_note-after-37">[37]</a>

CPGI-TOP-10-Graphic.png

Some experienced a decrease in net worth.

Ten greatest overall losses​

The ten current senators and representatives listed here experienced the greatest declines in net worth (by percentage) from 2004-2012.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_...ives_(Personal_Gain_Index)#cite_note-after-37">[37]</a>

CPGI-BOTTOM-10-Graphic.png

But the vast majority added substantially to their wealth during their time in office. So what incentive is there for them to pass legislation affecting things like transparency of finances, term limits, or restricting/eliminating lobbying? Until we get a handle on this they will always, invariably, pass legislation that helps them get ahead, and they will always push the agenda of whoever is paying them first and foremost, and maybe if it doesn't interfere with their gravy train, the needs of their constituency will be addressed later, at a much smaller rate. They know the buttons to push to keep themselves in power, and if they push these buttons enough they can continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the regular guy because the regular guy only cares about sound bites. A couple of these buttons are abortion for republicans, LGBTQ+ representation for democrats, for example, and among plenty of others. The more extreme they are in pushing these buttons, the more likely they are to be voted in again, regardless of anything else they support and how much money they pocket. So those who scream the loudest get ahead the furthest, even if they don't for a second believe any of it.
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I don’t disagree that money has a malignant influence on our politics.

However, money in other liberal democracies exists. And yet they don’t have major political parties with 35 percent of the population and a cottage industry of propaganda hell bent on destroying the liberal democracy of those countries. I think both you and sardines are weirdly downplaying the threat that Trump and the GOP play on American and world politics. The root cause of Trump isn’t money in politics, but a large part of the population that has become disenchanted with democracy and modernity.
 
The Thriller said:
I don’t disagree that money has a malignant influence on our politics.

However, money in other liberal democracies exists. And yet they don’t have major political parties with 35 percent of the population and a cottage industry of propaganda hell bent on destroying the liberal democracy of those countries. I think both you and sardines are weirdly downplaying the threat that Trump and the GOP play on American and world politics. The root cause of Trump isn’t money in politics, but a large part of the population that has become disenchanted with democracy and modernity.
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We have consistently called out the threat and called for action. People are capable of holding more than one opinion on subjects like this, especially as polarized as our society is in this regard, and we just don't hold any illusions that because one side is now the most destructive party our country has ever seen that justifies belief that the other side is the exact polar opposite and perfect and saintly in every way the republicans are not. Your cult was threatened briefly and you responded as we would expect a cult member to respond. Just because we do not revere the democrats that means we suddenly espouse the republicans. That could not be further from the truth.

Realistically eliminating the lobby and supporting the rise of a third viable party would be huge in leveling out our politics and protecting us against demagogues.
 
LogGrad98 said:
We have consistently called out the threat and called for action. People are capable of holding more than one opinion on subjects like this, especially as polarized as our society is in this regard, and we just don't hold any illusions that because one side is now the most destructive party our country has ever seen that justifies belief that the other side is the exact polar opposite and perfect and saintly in every way the republicans are not. Your cult was threatened briefly and you responded as we would expect a cult member to respond. Just because we do not revere the democrats that means we suddenly espouse the republicans. That could not be further from the truth.

Realistically eliminating the lobby and supporting the rise of a third viable party would be huge in leveling out our politics and protecting us against demagogues.
Click to expand...
Who calls the Democrats saintly?

My cult?

lol

When your house is on fire, it’s probably not the right time to critique the handful of fire fighters who bothered showing up. Your criticism of Democrats doesn’t help. It saps energy needed to fight against fascism. If you want a third party then that’s going to come after this authoritarian movement has been defeated by those in the center and on the left. After the fire has been put out then you can envision a better future. Not until Trump and Trumpism has been defeated. Hence, why democratic allies need to unite.
 
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