Presidential Race 2016

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by dcheather, Dec 10, 2015.

  1. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    At the beginning of Clinton's second term, Newt Gingrich stated that "Bi-partisanship means helping the Democrat president succeed." From that point on, the position of the Republican party has been to thwart EVERYTHING the Democrats and their president want -- even down to providing health care for 9/11 first responders and legislating against insurance fraud in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

    The thing is, our Constitution created a government that's built on compromise, on the opposing party finding a way to get a mutually desired result by negotiating with the other side. The best example of this was Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and his House counterpart Sam Rayburn getting together after the 1952 election and saying, "He's not our guy, but he's the guy we've got. Let's work with him." Which they did for Eisenhower's eight years. That's also when the phrase, "Partisanship ends at the water's edge" was coined -- meaning that the government shows a united front when dealing with the world.

    Since Gingrich, that's all history -- for the Republicans. The GOP's "government is the problem, not the solution" mantra has gotten us a Congress filled with people who believe it's their job to hamstring government at every turn. It's why a US Senator can contrive with a foreign power to scuttle an international treaty and be lauded as a GOP hero in the process. We just finished eight years of "vote against anything that the president wants" as the "governing strategy" of the GOP. Contrast that with the congressional record of the Democratic Party in opposition to GHW Bush and GW Bush.

    Trump? Trump doesn't scare me nearly as much as does Paul Ryan. I can give you several examples of how he strikes fear in me, but this is already getting long enough. What scares the the MOST, however, is what's going to happen when Trump's campaign rhetoric meets the reality of keeping the country moving. The "alt right" -- the Alex Jones/KKK/militia loonies -- have always been much more pissed at the GOP than the Democrats. They don't expect anything from the Dems so they aren't as likely to take to the streets after their lies, but they rallied around Trump from day one because they believed that he would actually do what he said he wanted to do.

    Once they realize that there really are limits to what a president can do -- even one with an ego the size of the Rocky Mountains -- I think they just might decide that the government really IS the enemy, that the tree of liberty needs to be fed with the blood of patriots. They just might take themselves into the street and start gunning down the people they've been told over and over are the reason why this country needed to "be made great again." You know who those people are, of course ... folks with dark-colored skins, folks whose religion isn't Christian, those with college educations, those who speak with "funny" accents, those who weren't born here, those who fall in love with people of the same sex.

    If this happens, NONE of this will be Trump's fault. If Trump is a Republican -- which is still arguable -- he's only been one since he won the nomination. No, this impending street violence will the the legacy of the GOP that decided in the early 80s to rid itself of its liberal wing and embrace the racist extremists that LBJ's new Democratic Party evicted. But most of all, it will be the fault of Newt Gingrich, who decided to throw our form of government under the bus just about 20 years ago.
     
    #161
    MicahMan likes this.
  2. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2005
    Don's roughly my age, was in the military like me, and I know where he's coming from. And I've known people.. one or two who fit his description.
    Thing is... we've been hearing about this threat since the early sixties and with the exception of the Murrah Tower bombing, there's been no big 'putsch' in evidence. It's been mostly featured in tv fictional episodes.
    Yes, the threat is real and always has been but my theory is the Alex Jones operatives would wait until they're sure of overwhelming popular support. And despite Don's argument, that isn't now.
    In fact, Trump's election might cool off that possibility quite a bit.
    Why?
    Because I know a lot of Trump voters and I've wondered how they identify with his histrionics. I've asked specific questions on his policies, to wit.
    "Do you believe most illegals are drug dealers, rapists etc and if you ran across illegals would you turn them in?"
    Well, some of them have run across illegals, I most certainly have. And their answer is the same as mine:
    Summarized:
    "No. They're only here to better their families' lives. It's not my job. It's up to the government to enforce the law and they aren't doing that."
    Do you expect Trump to send them all back.
    "Nah. That's just campaign talk."
    They expect him to enforce the law. And treat our borders the same as every other country treats theirs.

    Getting back to the threat of the Radical Right. They believe in Alinsky's Rules too. That's fact. And they probably believe that they need at least one strong cohort ally. I'm thinking that they like me believe that someday Black America will wake up and when they realize the real motives of the Progressive left, will be highly pissed and turn against the establishment.

    How will that turn out? Depends a lot on how Trump governs. And how he communicates. Seems to me it wouldn't be hard for him to convince Black America that unfettered immigration is bad for their future. All he has to do is point out the racism inherent in the Phrase "They come here to do the jobs Americans wont do."
     
    #162
Similar Threads: Presidential Race
Forum Title Date
Miscellaneous Edwards Admits Sexual Affair; Lied as Presidential Candidate Aug 8, 2008
Miscellaneous A Mind Exercise on Presidential Governance Jan 28, 2008
Miscellaneous Varsity Boat Race Apr 3, 2010
Miscellaneous DigiCam: The 'MegaPixel' race Sep 18, 2008
Miscellaneous Race Bias poll: More 'Not so News' Jun 22, 2008

Share This Page