Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Trump 2.0

I find it discouraging that people seemed more up in arms about the Bush II administration than they are about Trump 2.0. But I suppose it was inevitable.

Americans seem to fall into one of three big buckets:

1) People who do not care enough to get involved in politics or anything to do with a wider community than their own family and small group of friends. If they engage in political discussions at all, they are in the vein of "It doesn't matter, they are all the same." If they vote at all, they will inevitably vote for the most well-known candidate that provides the simplest answers to the questions that register in their consciousness, i.e. their personal economy - invariably manifested in the price of gas.

2) People who are all-in on the path of the country. They want authoritarianism. They want discrimination against those who do not look or think like they do. They want chaos. They despise others, whether for gender, race, political leaning, religious beliefs, national origin, or education - any and all are sufficient reason.

3) People who believe in the principles laid out in the founding documents of the US and in the rhetoric of both major parties from the 1940s until the 1970s. This group is not as homogenous as some would have one believe: there are both traditional conservatives and traditional progressives in this group.

Group #3 is rapidly shrinking while group #1 is gaining. Group #2 doesn't care about demographics beyond what is necessary to gain control of the federal government. They have accomplished this with almost always less than 50% of the national vote.

Now that group #2 has gained complete control of the federal government and the party that represents group #3 has devolved into an incoherent and increasingly irrelevant entity, the complete takeover of state and local government is not far off. They are already silencing academia, the "free" press, law firms, technology firms, and state and local governments through intimidation and the cutting-off of funds.

Some think it is impossible that the government will outlaw the opposition. I am not so sanguine. This administration has followed the authoritarian handbook to a T so far. Why would they stop before they reach the finish line? Disqualifying candidates and declaring a party as anathema to a country's core beliefs has a long history; not only in other parts of the world, but in the US as well.

There is nothing to be done about the people in group #2. Group #1 can be activated, but it would take either a major economic collapse and/or a disastrous war. Even then, someone would need to step forward as a uniting force. If something doesn't happen soon, it won't matter - since that person would never reach the people once the regime has taken complete control of all media including the internet.

A thought or two. Reference group 1. On average 45% of all eligible voters don’t bother to vote in presidential elections, 60% don’t vote in the midterms. These folks pay little to no attention to politics. They go about living their daily lives regardless of what is going on in government. Did you know only 37% of all Americans know who their representative is. That 57% can’t name a senator from their state. There’s an apathy out there among the masses when it comes to politics.

While the numbers you cite are historically valid, I don't think they tell the real story. In previous posts I have suggested the actual number of people for which politics is very important is very small. I unscientifically guess less than 10M, and probably closer to 3M - 5M. When I use the word politics, I do not mean people who simply vote, dedicated voters , knowledgeable voters, or pass by voters. I mean those who have made their voice heard and so have a visible profile, which has attracted attention. So for everyone else the only real meaningful politics any are interested is the economy, otherwise does it really matter who is in charge, be they benevolent kings or evil dictators? I don't judge them for this, as I think it true across the board, be it here or in some foreign land. For some however, there is a higher calling. For me I am one of Irked's group #3's. I prefer having a more forward looking party in power, but can easily tolerate a more regressive party. Like I have said, we can survive bad policy, no matter from where it emanates. What I am not sure about is whether we can survive the destruction of the Foundations of Democracy. Based on what Trumpists say and have said, I don't think so. They don't use the language of Democracy, rather the words from dictatorships. Certainly within the group of people who are not intimately involved in politics, there are large groups which have beliefs which run contrary to Democratic principles, so in the short term I don't see a vocabulary of unification. However, on the bright side for our future generations, as I have typed numerous times, the inexorable inertia of progressivism will win.

I’m one of those who basically just votes. But I do follow politics closely. I used to write letters and call my congressman and senators about this or that issue. But all I got back is a form letter telling me how good a job my congressman or senator is doing on this or that issue. Not a mention as to what I wrote them about with the required please send money at the end. I also donated to some candidates, but stopped that also.

The thing about the public messaging that, amongst other things, revealed National Secrets did a really great job of displaying just how far Mr. Trump has gone in assigning folks to run our government and and his efforts to destroy the United States of America. There were a number of persons, high in our government, and not a single one of them, when this was revealed had the good sense to simply say something like; "We really screwed up, sorry, we will really try to do better". Not a single one. Even after the entire thing was revealed to the public they were still at it. Making excuses, denying that it happened, you know, virtually everything they could think of to just make it go away. After all, that is, exactly, what Mr. Trump does. If he wants something to go away he simply says that it never happened or he knew absolutely nothing about it. His minions, on the other hand, has not denied there was the thing just lied about it.

So, Mr. Trump is sticking to his efforts to fail, yet again. He has now installed a bunch of incompetent liars to get together together and help with the destruction of the nation. What really bothers me is the number of people who support this man. It would seem that a big portion of the American Voting Public lack common sense and are determined to adore one of the great public liars, and convicted criminal, in the history of the nation. I keep remembering when a newspaper started keeping track of, and counting the lies in his first presidency. They simply stopped when it got over something like 600 lies and counting. Nobody is doing this now its a kindofa "Who Cares?" thing.

I was going to rumble on but - well, you know..........

perotista, your experience with your elected officials mirrors my own. The only exceptions have been Jack Metcalf and Rick Larsen the previous and current WA-2 Congressperson. Don’t get me wrong, they both asked for money and replied with form letters but they were form letters that addressed the questions/concerns I raised. Metcalf was an old fashion Republican like the late great Dan Evans. Larsen is a moderate Democrat.

I guess I was lucky there. Many other WA friends in other districts (and me when I didn’t live in the 2nd) have had the same experiences as you have described.