The Tipping Point

[Birdjaguar]

...Because the GOP offers nothing to anyone who isn't dying off.

And not all of us who are dying off support the GOP.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And not all of us who are dying off support the GOP.

Me neither. I even beat the dying off. My GOP days are long behind me.

 

[Cutlass]

No, I'm the one saying that they are winning the war despite losing some battles. The amount of twisting the process to wring out a victory for the GOP just keeps climbing from battle to battle. They are keeping up, no question, but that cheating, in my opinion, has limits. That's why I described it as a three foot dike facing a ten foot tide. 2008 was a leak in the dike. I expect this year there will be another. But ultimately the leaks won't matter because the tide will just top the dike and it will be all over but the flooding, because nothing has really slowed the tide.

In 2012 you had a serious cause for complaint. More votes were cast for Democrats in the house elections than were cast for Republicans, but gerrymandering flipped the result. Then voter suppression started being heavily applied, so subsequent elections again saw more GOP votes than Democrat votes, but despite all suppression the margin has continued to slip and again in 2016 only the gerrymandering kept the margins from being accurately reflected in the result. Squeezing more out of gerrymandering is unlikely. Even with fairly complete control of government that tilt is actually decaying, not increasing. Squeezing more out of suppression is either past a point of diminishing returns or at the very least is close to it. And the tide against the GOP still just keeps rising.

At this point if the Democrats get another two year window its game over for the GOP. Any reform that restores voting rights, or even just protects them against further decay, and the tide rolls over the wall since the tide just keeps going up. Because the GOP offers nothing to anyone who isn't dying off.

You're thinking in terms of Democrats getting back to winning the bulk of elections. This is debatable in the short to middle term.

But what you aren't looking at is that they have already lost on all key matters of policy.

We have generations of Americans who are poorer than their parents, despite the country becoming richer. This is the reason that the Republicans have done all that they have done, and they have won. There isn't a change of policy which can fix this.

When all is said and done, everything which has happened since Reagan took office has happened for the purpose of redistributing wealth. That was the goal. All the culture war, all the racism, all the division, all the fascism, the purpose behind it all was to redistribute wealth.

And it is done. No matter what happens at the elections in the future, it is done, and they have won, and it can't be fixed.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

You're thinking in terms of Democrats getting back to winning the bulk of elections. This is debatable in the short to middle term.

But what you aren't looking at is that they have already lost on all key matters of policy.

We have generations of Americans who are poorer than their parents, despite the country becoming richer. This is the reason that the Republicans have done all that they have done, and they have won. There isn't a change of policy which can fix this.

When all is said and done, everything which has happened since Reagan took office has happened for the purpose of redistributing wealth. That was the goal. All the culture war, all the racism, all the division, all the fascism, the purpose behind it all was to redistribute wealth.

And it is done. No matter what happens at the elections in the future, it is done, and they have won, and it can't be fixed.

Sure it can. We just need to eat them. That's the cycle of economic life. Wealth concentrates, and concentrates, and concentrates. The systems get more and more complex in order to disguise the fact that the wealth is getting more and more concentrated. Eventually a tiny handful of people have almost all the wealth, and no system can be devised that is complicated enough to hide the fact...and they get eaten.

 

[HoloDoc]

Sure it can. We just need to eat them. That's the cycle of economic life. Wealth concentrates, and concentrates, and concentrates. The systems get more and more complex in order to disguise the fact that the wealth is getting more and more concentrated. Eventually a tiny handful of people have almost all the wealth, and no system can be devised that is complicated enough to hide the fact...and they get eaten.

I intend to eat Trump well done, with ketchup.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I intend to eat Trump well done, with ketchup.

Just expect that your piece is going to be really really tiny.

 

[Estebonrober]

You're thinking in terms of Democrats getting back to winning the bulk of elections. This is debatable in the short to middle term.

But what you aren't looking at is that they have already lost on all key matters of policy.

We have generations of Americans who are poorer than their parents, despite the country becoming richer. This is the reason that the Republicans have done all that they have done, and they have won. There isn't a change of policy which can fix this.

When all is said and done, everything which has happened since Reagan took office has happened for the purpose of redistributing wealth. That was the goal. All the culture war, all the racism, all the division, all the fascism, the purpose behind it all was to redistribute wealth.

And it is done. No matter what happens at the elections in the future, it is done, and they have won, and it can't be fixed.

Oooh oooh same link different thread. I win!

https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/

It can certainly be rolled back, some of the ultra rich acknowledge this, but they do too little to get it done.

 

[HoloDoc]

Just expect that your piece is going to be really really tiny.

I'm planning to eat his hands, so I already expected that.

 

[Lexicus]

We have generations of Americans who are poorer than their parents, despite the country becoming richer. This is the reason that the Republicans have done all that they have done, and they have won. There isn't a change of policy which can fix this.

We can fix it. It will take policies which are politically impossible under the current regime, but it is certainly technically possible.

The problem is that fixing it sooner than, you know, several decades down the line will require a healthy dose of Jacobinism. Which most people on the "left" are totally unwilling to even consider.

 

[HoloDoc]

We can fix it. It will take policies which are politically impossible under the current regime, but it is certainly technically possible.

The problem is that fixing it sooner than, you know, several decades down the line will require a healthy dose of Jacobinism. Which most people on the "left" are totally unwilling to even consider.

Good luck beheading Congress when the ancien regime controls the courts, police, and most of the military. I sympathise, but it just ain't gonna happen.

 

[Lexicus]

The military is still fairly politically neutral. Which is why it's imperative that Democrats control the executive branch When It All Goes Down. If they don't it will just be the Republicans putting anyone they think is dangerous in camps. If Democrats control the executive branch we have a fighting chance.

 

[Hrothbern]

The Scientific American of this November published a lenghty article of the economist Joseph E. Stiglitz: "The American Economy Is Rigged"
Describing the vicious spiral that has formed: economic inequality translates into political inequality, which leads to rules that favor the wealthy, which in turn reinforces economic inequality.

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (/ˈstɪɡlɪts/; born February 9, 1943) is an American economist, public policy analyst, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979).[3][4] He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and is a former member and chairman of the (US president's) Council of Economic Advisers.[5][6] He is known for his support of Georgist public finance theory[7][8][9] and for his critical view of the management of globalization, of laissez-faire economists (whom he calls "free market fundamentalists"), and of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz

Stiglitz has received more than 40 honorary degrees, including from Cambridge and Harvard, and he has been decorated by several governments including Bolivia, Korea, Colombia, Ecuador, and most recently France, where he was appointed a member of the Legion of Honor, order Officer.
In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[14] Stiglitz's work focuses on income distribution from a Georgist perspective, asset risk management, corporate governance, and international trade. He is the author of several books, the latest being The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe (2016), The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them (2015), Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity (2015), and Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth Development and Social Progress (2014).[15]

The article is a description of that rigging by a scholar specialist, believing in regulatory changes to counter the regulatory changes that made the rigging we are in.

The article:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-american-economy-is-rigged/

 

[r16]

Agreed. As has been demonstrated, voting is one area where the only way to even have some semblance of accuracy and legitimacy is to keep the process "primitive" and get rid of voting machines.

wellcome to far more developed New Turkey . In one of these elections a cat indeed went into a electric fuse box or whatever and the whole district went into darkness and people still claim that neighbourhood did not vote that way . Well , maybe by 2025 ...

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hey guys guess what?

Brian Kemp (GA gubernatorial candidate/currently t secretary of state) is alleging there was an attempt to hack the states voter registration database and as a response to this, he is opening an investigation into his opponent's campaign the day before the election.

The FBI told him the database was vulnerable a while back but he refused help. Guess he decided it was best to keep this all in his back pocket to use it to attempt to steal the election as it is coming down to the wire.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/04/po...tion-hacking-attempt-investigation/index.html

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I also just found out that North Carolina's legislature lost a gerrymandering case but managed to sandbag the courts long enough that their maps will be used in this election.

Speaking of NC, that legislature also rammed through a ton of rule changes and new laws during their lame duck session to handicap the incoming Democratic governor after they lost in 2016. I wonder if House Republicans will follow suit and pass as many political landmines as they can after defeat tomorrow?

Also beginning to wonder how many elections the Republicans will declare invalid tomorrow night?

 

[Lexicus]

Also beginning to wonder how many elections the Republicans will declare invalid tomorrow night?

I'm still pretty convinced that late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning Trump will just declare that the election results can't be certified due to Chinese hacking. After that the scenario @Timsup2nothin mentioned in the I-forget-which thread will play out. And that will be game over for American democracy.

 

[HoloDoc]

I also just found out that North Carolina's legislature lost a gerrymandering case but managed to sandbag the courts long enough that their maps will be used in this election.

Speaking of NC, that legislature also rammed through a ton of rule changes and new laws during their lame duck session to handicap the incoming Democratic governor after they lost in 2016. I wonder if House Republicans will follow suit and pass as many political landmines as they can after defeat tomorrow?

Also beginning to wonder how many elections the Republicans will declare invalid tomorrow night?

That was in one of the articles I posted. It's before the SCOTUS now, which means the corrupt rapists will reverse the initial decision.

 

[Oerdin]

Wasn't that a damned Robert Mugabe quote?

The correct anwser is Mao.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The correct anwser is Mao.

Not only correct, but promptly provided multiple times four pages ago when the correct attribution was asked for. Sorry we woke you. You may go back to sleep now.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hey guys guess what?

Brian Kemp (GA gubernatorial candidate/currently t secretary of state) is alleging there was an attempt to hack the states voter registration database and as a response to this, he is opening an investigation into his opponent's campaign the day before the election.

The FBI told him the database was vulnerable a while back but he refused help. Guess he decided it was best to keep this all in his back pocket to use it to attempt to steal the election as it is coming down to the wire.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/04/po...tion-hacking-attempt-investigation/index.html

So the FBI warned about Russian/foregin interference with these voting machines months ago and he sat on it. But now the pre-warned hacking happened and he immediately begins an investigation of the Democrats? How much more transparent do power grabs get?

Oh yeah, Kavanaugh and Garland. That's how naked they get.