Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Campaign 2020 First Bernie Sanders Thread 2020

I'm saying that we should have started lobbing bombs at them immediately after Reagan began enforcing Powell on Steroids.
We sat back and bowed our heads in shame, "End of an Era" etc etc.

Suddenly now we're all supposed to be revolutionaries? Hah!
We don't even have any bullets yet, it's like we're supposed to throw aspirin pills at COVID-19 and pray the aspirin takes hold.

I agree with you on everything you say about them being mostly "corporate lobbyists, political campaign bundles weapons contractors, etc" but the fact is - - we got too good at attacking each other and all they did was feast on the other end of the carcass while we weren't looking, and all that protein made them strong.

If we're going to fight, we need to be strong, and in order to be strong, we need to be able to breathe.
Four more years of Trump and I'm dead, simple as that. I'm dead, Karen is dead and my son will be dead.

That's not overly dramatic, it is an actual fact.
Karen is very sick, I am just now recovering and realizing I am sicker than I thought I was even though I feel better, and my son is still facing a heart transplant...someday. He will not get better without it, only worse.

Who knows, maybe all us sick people need to just get out of your way.
Heh, not ready to do that just yet.

Yep. The way I see it, the left is really only good at or prone to attacking the edge of the right that most closely aligns with the left.

The actual fascists are a harder target, so it's cheaper and safer to attack them and claim it's the same as attacking the Trump machine.

It could be possible if the dems and the left could unite.

But both factions are more interested in losing with a halo.

I didn't say it was a PERSONAL attack, but it IS an attack which is probably very misguided, if the top priority is getting rid of Trump and the Republican majorities.

Sorry dude, I really really want a President Sanders, and I really really WANT to see the bulk of Reaganomics dismantled forever.

And I am confident that we can get all of that done.
I am not confident that we can get together in unity sufficient to muster the political will to do all of it at the same time in one election however, and part of that IS the fault of the "all or nothing" attitude of some on the Left.
And what's particularly frustrating to me is that I know your next response will be to tag me as a crypto-servant of the Republicans because I am not willing to burn it all down in service TO the Left on the heels of a possible Bernie flameout.

All or nothing...if we don't blast Trump and every single one of his sycophants in Congress straight to Mars on a one way ticket, we WILL witness the yawning chasm of nothing, right before we are pushed into it.

Meanwhile Mick Mulvaney is on TV mourning the markets in the middle of a global pandemic, as the most qualified medical policy wonk in the country is being ordered to stand down from the talk shows, lest he fail to deliver the most important message: PROTECT TRUMP!.

If the Left is content with four more years of that writ large, then the Left is attacking me, and anyone like me.

Well, there was civil rights and voting, for starters.

When Obama got Obamacare he tried to get the Public Option enacted at the same time but couldn't get the Dems to go along with it (other elected Democrats).

It seems that there are many here who believe in some dark conspiracy in the Democratic party. My wife worked for the Democrats for several years and I asked her about that and she just laughed (she was, and is, a member of the party). This stuff is, I think, a cousin of the deep state of the Trumpies. I am not a big believer in conspiracies. If they are true then they are also very secret and NOBODY actually knows. I could be wrong about this and that would make absolutely no difference. Its a little like arguing over who has the best God. I don't think anybody has ever won one of these arguments but it is, I think, a great time user for them with too much of that on their hands.

Oh, I have also watched any number of conspiracy movies. The last one had to do with a Christian political conspiracy which was pretty good and probably does exist.

Gone!
SCOTUS gutted most of the Voting Rights Act and it's now once again legal to discriminate in several states.
Didn't think that could ever happen? It did.

It's pretty clear that Republicans intend to destroy our republic entirely.

You are flat out right about that.

I have often wondered about how the lobbyists figure into it all. Its my understanding that the Republicans have somehow removed all the expert consultants from the congress and substituted Lobbyists. I am not sure that this has happened but I did, once, read an article claiming that. I have always considered the situation with lobbyists to be the beginning of congressional corruption, pure and simple. Anyway, I just googled:
crs and lobbying
congressional appointed experts and consultants
congress substitute lobbyists for experts

This boggled me big time. There are, apparently, some confusions between congressional experts, congressional researc, and lobbying.

Just for the heck of it, in case you don't know about it:
https://www.opensecrets.org/ (LOTS of interesting stuff here)

For the last forty years, and especially in the last TEN, think tanks have been cranking out gavel ready legislation and piping it directly into both congressional chambers.

You've no doubt heard of the American Legislative Exchange Council, aka "ALEC". It is no secret at all, they are PROUD of the fact that they generate finished law for direct consumption by congress critters, and they have made it clear on many occasions that they will not tolerate any meddling or even any pesky questions from lawmakers.

Either you pass what we send you or you WILL be primaried and booted out.
Norquist put it into blunt terms:



Again, this is not a secret.
And it all started when Lewis Powell issued his call to arms for corporate America. All think tanks lead back to the Powell Memo.

All roads lead to Powell.

Lordy, I forgot about that! thank you! I thought it had gone away. I am beginning to wonder if its possible to get rid of this kind of stuff.

Not if our Congress critters continue being the chickensh!ts that they are. That's also why, despite my continuing love and admiration of "the Bern", I caution anyone to take into account what Sanders will inherit.

If it's Dem majorities in both chambers, a fair number of them will still be chickensh!ts, and like AOC herself said, he cannot just wave a magic wand.

It would take a very very brave and courageous complement of Reps and Sens to do some of the heavy lifting Sanders dreams of.
I honestly think half of them are cowards...maybe more than half.

It doesn't change my admiration and devotion to him but it tempers my expectations to the point where I have to be honest with myself about the fact that no matter WHO we put in the White House, we only get the kind of leadership that Congress is willing to proceed with.
And the think tank army is still holding fast and sucking in vast amounts of cash. That has never abated, and no mechanism currently exists to strip them of their influence.

And Congress is rated less admired than German cockroaches, except of course when it comes to "their own" particular congress critter...you know how that goes.

I want Bernie to be Bernie, but I think it may be too much to hope that our legislative branch will ever be anything more than a collection of hopeless grifters dotted by a few very frustrated patriots. Mister Smith has not gone to Washington for almost a century, and even then it was just a heartwarming story anyway.