This, so much this.
Democracy is actually a good(ish) concept that is completely derailed by lobbying.
I think the bigger problem is that with more representatives, the few that hold key positions (like Senate Majority Leader or Finance Committee Chair) become even more important and can result in less actual accountability. Because if theyāve got enough seniority to have got that high up the food chain, theyāre likely from āsafeā districts with little risk to acting like assholes instead of representatives.
Thatās the story Donald. Chris Krebs wonāt back your completely unsubstantiated and false claims of massive voter fraud, so fire him. Itās obviously his fault you lost the election 
While youāre at it, I heard Kushner urged you to concede, perhaps you should fire him too. Please?
Donāt know how he did that with a straight face (mostly)
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My thought is with more of them there would be more third party reps. Sure, mostly there big two, but libertarians , greens, and likely actual Socialists and Communists. So the people in those positions also see their power diluted.
Terms limits Iām kind of meh on. Yeah, it keeps people from becoming a Pelosi or a Turtle. But from my understanding being a first term rep is so confusing and difficult that its hard to have an affect on anything. Maybe a limit to 24 years total.
Here is the deal thoughā¦ Congress, and most of the people, seem to be stuck thinking if they donāt make laws they arenāt working. Look at the actual docket sometimes. Due to budgets not being a thing anymore they keep getting stuck on continuing resolutions, which are a mess. But hey, we have time to declare its tea biscuit day in Montana today.
Congressional hearings are sick. Start with a veiled insult as a rhetorical question, talk about how awesome you are for 4.5 and then ask a irrelevant question at the end with no time left.
Removing lobbying is tricky. Where is the line between a grassroots neighborhood effort to get something done and a lobbyist? How about people who used to work in the government canāt work for lobbiests? Stop the revolving door.
I think the real issue there is most of congress doesnāt know how anything works anymore. Controlling the pool they pick advisors from is more important than people think. If one side is being advised by Dr. Kevorkian and the other by Mother Teresa on end of life care there is not real debate.
This needs to be a thing ASAP
Good idea. Iād also suggest removing/vastly limiting the amount of money lobbyists can funnel to a politician or candidate.
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Iāve been keeping an eye on the things Trump has been doing since the election in preparation for something else I want to write about shortly. Thereās quite a few things that may have more going on beneath the surface, which can have far-reaching implications.
Hereās some of them and what it appears to be on the surface:
- Will not accept the results of the election because he did not win. The surface is that heās a person that is so used to winning that heās become dependent on it and canāt cope with anything different. Thereās also the fact that his brand is built on winning, so a very public loss like this hurts his brand.
- Taking some drastic steps in his lame duck period, such as firing people he doesnāt like. The surface is that itās consistent with his behavior of expecting absolute loyalty and the moment youāre even fractionally not loyal, itās a betrayal against him so he gets revenge by firing you. The people heās replacing them with are people that will be in the job for a while, promoting his views.
- Fox News isnāt as favorable towards him as it used to be, so heās considering creating his own news channel or streaming service. The surface is itās another act of revenge.
- Has been getting information on pardons, including for himself. The surface is heās taking steps to cut down on the number of lawsuits he may face after heās a private citizen again.
- Has been considering running again for President in 2024. The surface is that it would help him look like a winner again and that news channel or streaming service would keep his brand in the public spotlight until he announces it.
- Sending out feelers now about running for President again has another effect of hindering other Republicans that might also want to run for President at that time.
- Refusing to concede the race and is preventing Joe Biden from getting information necessary for becoming the President and dealing with the pandemic. The surface is itās another example of how he canāt face reality and is using this to get back at Biden.
- Complaining to make sure people donāt forget his role in getting the COVID-19 vaccines going. The surface is itās his ego making sure he gets the glory for it.
- Obsessing over election results he probably canāt change no matter how many lawsuits he throws at them and performing almost nothing of the Presidential duties he should be doing at this time. The surface is it goes back to he always has to be seen as a winner and everything else isnāt important.
When you add those things together, the possibility becomes that it isnāt just someone whoās a sore loser, canāt face reality, and acts impulsively based on whether heās trying to get back at someone for something.
What if this is all deliberate, with a goal of building towards a 2024 candidacy?
What if the short-term obstructions to Joe Biden becoming President, the longer-term obstructions that will come with the people heās appointing to replace those he fires, and the other decisions he makes in the next few weeks are intended to set Biden up to fail? Make the job so difficult that Biden canāt get the problems under control fast enough, or at all. Thereās Republicans that want to get out from underneath Trumpās shadow but canāt because of the influence he has, so theyāll be stuck with continuing to support Trumpās policies even beyond January 20, 2021. Then in three years, Trump comes back and says, āSee? Voting for Sleepy Joe was a mistake. If youād just voted for me back in 2020, this wouldnāt have happened.ā In effect, creating conditions so that he can present himself as the USAās savior when 2024 rolls around.
What if thatās what Trumpās actually working towards right now?
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That could also partially explain why the GOP is enabling him. They know that heās not going to be the candidate in 2024, likely because heāll be in jail or they believe they can just get rid of him, but it gives them the same tagline - āSee, you voted for the Democrats and look how that turned out. If youād just voted for usā¦ā
Keep in mind how many Obama appointees Trump left in charge of things and how hard that bit him. Biden is a political animal he can get over that.
āBit himā is kind of a relative term, but letās not forget the parade of advisors Trump appointed that he ended up firing because of how hard they bit him. In this case, we should probably look at what all those people had in common, no matter which president they came from, and thatās the guy who claimed to have been bitten.
Trump made several administrative mistakes. First of all he trusted that the people running things would actually do what they were told. And then when they didnāt because āResistā or whatever which started before he was even inaugurated he replaced them with people that might have been more loyal to him, but was still undermined by the bureaucracy.
Look back at the news stories 4 years ago. Clinton supporters were calling for the Electoral College to break from their states and vote the ārightā way. The talk of impeachment was hot less than 24 hours after Clintonās concession. Instead of a handover Obama pushed forward with an investigation into claims that came out of opposition research by people that were making shit up as they went. Clinton said as recently as this year that Trump was a illegitimate president who stole the election.
Good lord, the last transition was about as bad as it gets. I hope this goes smooth myself, but calling for unity is a bit much.
And Bidenās choices so far! Lol, so much for children on the border, letās appoint the woman who was involved with defending it in the first place. His choices so far look like a flat out betrayal to the far left. Back to crony politics with a side of a stupid Iran nuclear deal and letting China run around like a bull in a ā¦ umā¦ China shop?
Itās more than a bit revisionist to blame that on the outgoing administration.
One of the incumbentās alleged selling points was how great he was at picking the right people for jobs. Demonstrably, this is untrue.
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Trump made lots of administrative mistakes, and I donāt see how you can blame anyone else for Donnieās mad skilz in critical thinking or picking out people who would do his bidding. It certainly isnāt Clintonās fault. There are probably earlier precedents, but I recall that one Deputy National Security Advisor was fired because Melania didnāt like her. No, if anyone bit Trump, it was Trump.
Pretending that Iām being objective, what we know about Trump is that he loves to be on tv no matter what the circumstances. Having a continuing line of people being fired and standing in front of a running helicopter certainly seemed to work for him in that respect.
I donāt have any stats in front of me, but his choices were certainly the worst made by any president in recent history if youāre going by who he ended up firing. A turnover rate higher than McDonaldās counter-workers is nothing to brag about.
And I wouldnāt worry. Youāll have plenty of Biden stuff to complain about in the coming years. No sense in burning yourself out early.
Yeah, canāt wait to go back to $4 gas and an unchecked China. Not to mention deploying more troops back to the Middle East and maybe another war or two.
One of Trumpās claims about voter fraud is the few cases where some states had him leading and then a few hours later, Biden was suddenly leading. The problem is now Trump wants the sudden turnaround for himself. He keep promising thereās voter fraud and heāll prove it real soon, trust him, youāll see.
Except, his law suits are being dismissed one by one and weāre only days away from when states have to legally certify the results of the election. So, if after months of claiming voter fraud and weeks of lawsuits claiming voter fraud, he finally gets around to showing proof of it, that raises the suspicion that he manufactured the proof. After all, if it had been going on all this time, he would have been able to present the evidence way before now.
To withhold it until the last minute would be consistent with his need for spectacle and attention, and Iāll admit that if it turned out to be true, would be very damaging to the Democratic party and to the voting system itself. But withholding it is like a police department holding press conference after press conference, saying āWe have evidence of who the killer is, where they live and why they did it. Have we arrested them? No. Weāre waiting until the last minute to make the arrest and then weāll let you know what we found out.ā Meanwhile, the killer is still out there and free to keep killing or to escape.
I think this is going to turn out to be the same as when Trump walked out of that interview in October and had press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany hand the interviewer a book that supposedly had his comprehensive health care plan, but was really just a big list of ideas and executive orders about a health care plan.
He might put on a good show, but when he keeps making empty promises, eventually people will get tired of the show.
And I canāt wait until the government isnāt pandering to the religious right by attempting to legislate people like me out of existence. And thatās only temporary. If a Republican president is elected in 20204 weāll be right back where we started.
You know what. Never mind the book I
I wrote.
Biden despite decades of being against gay marriage and trans rights will convince Congress to make the necessary laws. He will unite the government in a way heās never shown the ability to do so far and fix it all
He was against them until he was for them. Maybe not perfect, but he hasnāt taken away rights in recent memory and has shown an ability to take in new data and change his opinions based on that. I like leaders who can change their minds based on new information.
I know he was against it. You know whoās more against it? The GOP. At least with a Biden presidency I get four years to plan an exit strategy. I never said Biden was perfect. Far from it. At best heās a band-aid. But I can breathe a bit easier now that heās going to be president instead of Trump. Although the current makeup of SCOTUS is also concerning.
Iām not one of those Biden supporters who thinks he can do no wrong. He was probably my fifth choice in the primary but he got the nomination and Iād rather have him in the White House than the current occupant. But heās the poster child for establishment Dems so I donāt expect him to actually do anything. But I also expect him to not actively try to make things worse for me, which is more than I can say for Trump and his peeps.
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