No democracy needed here. The donors decide. That's about all you need to know. The US isn't a representative republic (forget about a "democracy"), it is an oligarchy. I have always tried to stress to people how dangerous it is to let individual people, who may not even be mentally stable, to have billions, tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars. Why that is not the sole subject of concern right now perplexes me. It is obviously an existential threat to humanity when a small number of narcissistic billionaires control the world.
You want "Reality" we are basically like a Cannibal, ghastly Cult:-- we subsist on the dead bodies of our ancestors and distant relatives "Coal, oil & gas are called fossil fuels because they are made from the fossil remains of beings from long ago . The chemical energy within them is a kind of stored sunlight originally accumulated by ancient plants. Our civilization runs by burning the remains of humble creatures who inhabited the Earth hundreds of millions of years before the first humans came on the scene." Carl Sagan; Billions & Billions: The Warming of the World
Biden promised to deliver a national address to the nation "later this week." Rather smart move for the Big Guy - or whoever.
So, this week's news cycles will be about the intrigue surrounding his announcement, e.g., the senior staff was only informed by email one minute before the public email; if or when Harris will be anointed; choice of VP that can be kept going until at least August 19th; and all the time waiting for whatever he's going to say.
Meanwhile, Trump and Vance can only react - and it keeps the Orange Man from grabbing all the TV time. I'll be curious how much the Republicans can pull the attention back to the Trump shooting and the Secret Service failures.
That's exactly why Biden's announcement didn't happen last Thursday, the day Trump accepted the nomination [that idea You floated last week].
There is that News Cycle to tend to... .
And i suspect it's only a matter of choreographed time before Republicans in Congress launch a JFK Assassination- or 9/11-type investigation of the "attempted assassination."
The same editorial pages that were filled with the 'Joe has got to go' narrative are now awash with, "Oh, what a courageous move; Oh, saving our democracy for a second time." (Duh! He was just regime changed by his own party, the press and big $$$. He hardly went quietly into the night.) Perhaps the only thing harder to take are my "friends." For weeks it was, "Hang in there Joe. You're such a wonderful leader. Such a great humanitarian. One of the best presidents ever. You'll beat Trump and save our democracy!" Now, there giddiness for Kamala wants to make me puke. "I'm with her!" Where have we heard that before. One post has Trudeau, Starmer, Scholz, Zelensky--"Class acts supporting Biden's courageous decision."
And sad to say the Dem loving expats here in Ecuador are just as bad as my stateside friends. Mercy, I wish they'd leave the caca behind and open their eyes to what the global majority sees that they refuse to see for the sake of "vote blue no matter who."
Totally agree with your, "regime changed by his own party" line, Tom. It was a coup largely perpetrated by the media. The hypocrisy is indeed nauseating. I wonder what we'll think of the NYT "Joe must go" editorial come November 6th.
That's nothing new. The party always selects the candidates and the DNC (and same for RNC) controls who gets nominated. Yes, we get to vote on the candidates, but our choices are always limited to the one or two nominees selected by the party which is controlled by the Central Committee. Everything is controlled by the party and the party is controlled by its patrons ( big donors). That's the nature of party politics.
Democracy is a fairy tale. There has never been a true democracy in the world's history. The closest thing to a democracy in the U.S. is in those states that have the rights to referendum, initiative and recall where the voters have a direct say in the enactment or repeal of laws and can remove elected officials. (Those states are few in this country.)
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” ~ attributed [probably wrongly] to Benjamin Franklin
Good point. But does the analogy describe "democracy" as is it is in reality?
And "democracy" is indeed an abstract concept. But what about a "republic"? Is that equally abstract with no reality? Or a "dictatorship of the Proletariat"?
What we're looking for here is not how political philosophers define and use those terms. Rather, how those terms manifest in the real world with real people running real governments that call themselves a democracy, a republic, or a dictatorship.
I was just made aware that Harris has released an initial Presidential campaign ad targeting the orange one. As it's over three weeks until she can be officially nominated, and she only has about half the required delegates so far, I think that's a bit presumptuous. But maybe that's just me.
I'll take the risk of disappointing some readers and say that I'm not featuring anything especially underhanded going on here.
Joe Biden has agreed to step down. It's a double-bind to hold the view that he's too cognitively impaired to be trusted to make decisions, and then accuse the people around him of coercion when they're successful at persuading him to withdraw as the Presidential nominee.
Coup? come on. Of all the hot takes. That's hyperbole. Histrionics.
Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee because of her incumbent status as Vice President. That's a massive advantage for anyone's Presidential candidacy, especially this late in the game. (Consider the 2000 race, when Al Gore beat his only competitor, Bill Bradley, by a 5-1 delegate ratio. Or the 1988 Republican nomination, where VP George Bush Sr. beat his two rivals by a 2-1 margin.)
I know very little about Kamala Harris, other than what I've read online and in the papers. That's most likely also the way I'd have to learn about her possible rivals, few of whom seem to have a similarly high public profile.
So I'm leaving it there. And I'll be the one to decide how Kamala Harris is. I don't trust outsourcing the opinion to someone else who's out to "school" me about her.
After cataloguing Biden's record and concluding "Expect more of the same if Kamala Harris becomes president," Bill, i would suggest expecting more of the same. no matter Who becomes President.
Including Trump.
She and he ~ like everybody else in DC [or wants to be there] ~ are both operated, owned, commanded, and controlled by the same Ruling Political Class and Deep State.
If they weren't, they would not be actual, real contestants to be the next POTUS.
No democracy needed here. The donors decide. That's about all you need to know. The US isn't a representative republic (forget about a "democracy"), it is an oligarchy. I have always tried to stress to people how dangerous it is to let individual people, who may not even be mentally stable, to have billions, tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars. Why that is not the sole subject of concern right now perplexes me. It is obviously an existential threat to humanity when a small number of narcissistic billionaires control the world.
You want "Reality" we are basically like a Cannibal, ghastly Cult:-- we subsist on the dead bodies of our ancestors and distant relatives "Coal, oil & gas are called fossil fuels because they are made from the fossil remains of beings from long ago . The chemical energy within them is a kind of stored sunlight originally accumulated by ancient plants. Our civilization runs by burning the remains of humble creatures who inhabited the Earth hundreds of millions of years before the first humans came on the scene." Carl Sagan; Billions & Billions: The Warming of the World
Do You have a source on all that? Or are You just pulling it out of... ?
Thank You.
I guess when you cut off your nose it really does spite your face. :p
Biden promised to deliver a national address to the nation "later this week." Rather smart move for the Big Guy - or whoever.
So, this week's news cycles will be about the intrigue surrounding his announcement, e.g., the senior staff was only informed by email one minute before the public email; if or when Harris will be anointed; choice of VP that can be kept going until at least August 19th; and all the time waiting for whatever he's going to say.
Meanwhile, Trump and Vance can only react - and it keeps the Orange Man from grabbing all the TV time. I'll be curious how much the Republicans can pull the attention back to the Trump shooting and the Secret Service failures.
That's exactly why Biden's announcement didn't happen last Thursday, the day Trump accepted the nomination [that idea You floated last week].
There is that News Cycle to tend to... .
And i suspect it's only a matter of choreographed time before Republicans in Congress launch a JFK Assassination- or 9/11-type investigation of the "attempted assassination."
💯 Anybody want to learn more about Kamala from a NON-partisan, independent perspective, here's some links
Youtube short of Kamala's worst actions:
https://youtu.be/ysYVkrAyDyU?si=-SeOlUv7oCG7qhlD (9 minutes)
Longer speech of her bad actions:
https://youtu.be/5_oDRb-O1AE?si=UrrXZVMe-WJh3hKi
144 page book about her history (if you don't have Amazon, it's cheaper to buy on Thriftbooks so here are 2 links):
https://www.amazon.com/Kamala-Harris-Future-America-Essay/dp/B08HGZK7P4
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/kamala-harris--the-future-of-america-an-essay-in-three-parts/27068178/
Finally if you want to listen to a free reading of that book I linked above, you can find it here:
https://youtu.be/rNIpulcW0Vo?si=5NaLAE_PptjmhBuQ
Thank You, Rachel, for sharing that,
It’s interesting, though, that Obama has not yet endorsed Harris. Is that a confounding factor?
Nor has Pelosi, last i heard.
Pelosi endorsed Harris this afternoon. But the time it took for her to do it was....interesting.
The plot thickens.
The same editorial pages that were filled with the 'Joe has got to go' narrative are now awash with, "Oh, what a courageous move; Oh, saving our democracy for a second time." (Duh! He was just regime changed by his own party, the press and big $$$. He hardly went quietly into the night.) Perhaps the only thing harder to take are my "friends." For weeks it was, "Hang in there Joe. You're such a wonderful leader. Such a great humanitarian. One of the best presidents ever. You'll beat Trump and save our democracy!" Now, there giddiness for Kamala wants to make me puke. "I'm with her!" Where have we heard that before. One post has Trudeau, Starmer, Scholz, Zelensky--"Class acts supporting Biden's courageous decision."
And sad to say the Dem loving expats here in Ecuador are just as bad as my stateside friends. Mercy, I wish they'd leave the caca behind and open their eyes to what the global majority sees that they refuse to see for the sake of "vote blue no matter who."
Totally agree with your, "regime changed by his own party" line, Tom. It was a coup largely perpetrated by the media. The hypocrisy is indeed nauseating. I wonder what we'll think of the NYT "Joe must go" editorial come November 6th.
That's nothing new. The party always selects the candidates and the DNC (and same for RNC) controls who gets nominated. Yes, we get to vote on the candidates, but our choices are always limited to the one or two nominees selected by the party which is controlled by the Central Committee. Everything is controlled by the party and the party is controlled by its patrons ( big donors). That's the nature of party politics.
Democracy is a fairy tale. There has never been a true democracy in the world's history. The closest thing to a democracy in the U.S. is in those states that have the rights to referendum, initiative and recall where the voters have a direct say in the enactment or repeal of laws and can remove elected officials. (Those states are few in this country.)
Yes, but please give me the illusion that my vote matters. :-)
Your vote does matter. You get to choose between the lesser of two evils - and that's important. But that doesn't make it a democracy.
What You really have is having to deal with the Evil of two Lessers.
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” ~ attributed [probably wrongly] to Benjamin Franklin
Your analogy has merit, but does not describe democracy. Democracy is simply an abstract concept that has little or no basis in reality.
Don't try to compare to something that is real, because there is nothing realistic about it.
Good point. But does the analogy describe "democracy" as is it is in reality?
And "democracy" is indeed an abstract concept. But what about a "republic"? Is that equally abstract with no reality? Or a "dictatorship of the Proletariat"?
What we're looking for here is not how political philosophers define and use those terms. Rather, how those terms manifest in the real world with real people running real governments that call themselves a democracy, a republic, or a dictatorship.
You are absolutely correct. But to add insult to injury, they are tax exempt corporations under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.
And so are PACs.
As Trump might say: "the swamp's choice"
I was just made aware that Harris has released an initial Presidential campaign ad targeting the orange one. As it's over three weeks until she can be officially nominated, and she only has about half the required delegates so far, I think that's a bit presumptuous. But maybe that's just me.
The fix is in, Denise.
The fix is always in.
I guess SO!
Have money will spend. Wire Harris, San Francisco.
Well now Nancy's onboard. Wonder how long Obama can hold out for an "open convention."
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-campaign-biden-drop-out/nancy-pelosi-endorsement-00170365
What happens next: https://babylonbee.com/news/what-happens-if-biden-steps-down-the-7-steps-that-will-transpire-next
More Babylon Bee: https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-wakes-up-from-nap-asks-if-he-missed-anything
Meanwhile the Babylon Bee has the real Biden story: https://babylonbee.com/news/jill-biden-drops-out-of-presidential-race
I'm guessing a Harris administration would be a lot like the Biden administration. Only worse.
It will do exactly as it is instructed to do.
As did Biden's, as did Trump's, as did Obama's, as did Cheney's, Clinton's, Bozo;s, and so forth.
Fart.
I'll take the risk of disappointing some readers and say that I'm not featuring anything especially underhanded going on here.
Joe Biden has agreed to step down. It's a double-bind to hold the view that he's too cognitively impaired to be trusted to make decisions, and then accuse the people around him of coercion when they're successful at persuading him to withdraw as the Presidential nominee.
Coup? come on. Of all the hot takes. That's hyperbole. Histrionics.
Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee because of her incumbent status as Vice President. That's a massive advantage for anyone's Presidential candidacy, especially this late in the game. (Consider the 2000 race, when Al Gore beat his only competitor, Bill Bradley, by a 5-1 delegate ratio. Or the 1988 Republican nomination, where VP George Bush Sr. beat his two rivals by a 2-1 margin.)
I know very little about Kamala Harris, other than what I've read online and in the papers. That's most likely also the way I'd have to learn about her possible rivals, few of whom seem to have a similarly high public profile.
So I'm leaving it there. And I'll be the one to decide how Kamala Harris is. I don't trust outsourcing the opinion to someone else who's out to "school" me about her.
After cataloguing Biden's record and concluding "Expect more of the same if Kamala Harris becomes president," Bill, i would suggest expecting more of the same. no matter Who becomes President.
Including Trump.
She and he ~ like everybody else in DC [or wants to be there] ~ are both operated, owned, commanded, and controlled by the same Ruling Political Class and Deep State.
If they weren't, they would not be actual, real contestants to be the next POTUS.
The difference is Trump is more of a wild card. He's less tractable. They prefer an easier puppet, e.g, Kamala Harris.
That may be the case, Bill. But a puppet is still a puppet.
And if it gets too intractable, it's strings get cut.