tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post1007925548709509077..comments2024-03-28T14:52:13.218-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: Winning CivilizationJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-24207930514890338792017-04-03T18:53:55.196-05:002017-04-03T18:53:55.196-05:00I know what you mean about being galled although J...I know what you mean about being galled although Jill Stein was in NO way an alternative to Hillary. And Hillary certainly isn't "perfect". My problem is people who keep referring to her as the "more evil" choice vs. Trump. Really??? EVIL??? I suggest people look up the meaning of the word before using it to describe an intelligent, capable, experienced woman who has given much of her life in service to this country. I suspect that epithet is very much grounded in misogyny. And anyone who knowingly helped 45 into office instead of continuing to try to progress forward (a GOP Congress notwithstanding) should not be telling anyone else how to "fix" this mess they helped create.<br /><br />Pam in PAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-42692519706203729712017-04-03T12:31:36.567-05:002017-04-03T12:31:36.567-05:00"You find the people, whatever their politics...<i>"You find the people, whatever their politics, who believe civilization is better than the alternative."</i><br /><br />That's a terrific idea. Just one little problem...what if the people you're trying to compromise with would rather wreck the joint rather than accept a "civilization" that's not on their terms.<br /><br />There was this guy. Kind of a liberalish dude, really a mainstream corporate-capitalist sort of politician but in the liberal tradition that believes that governing is to "get things done" for the majority of the citizens. Sorta wonky. Hawaiian dude, funny name, can't quite remember it. But he was president back in the day. Remember him?<br /><br />Remember how he tried to "compromise" with these people? Offered them all sorts of private profits, all sorts of corporate goodies, tried to defer to their "sensibilities" about things like religion and sex and gender and all that guff?<br />And remember how they "compromised" with him?<br /><br />Yeah. Me, too.<br /><br />Tell me, Jim; how the flippin' fuck do you "compromise" with people - and I'm talking your bog-standard Republicans, your soccer moms and Home Depot dads, not the shoutycrackers and the Stormfront bros - who think and thought that Barak Obama was a Kenyan commie out to destroy their freedoms? Who thought that living through eight years of having to press "1" for English and not being able to use the word "faggot" at PTA meetings was sheer tyrannical hell?<br /><br />I'm serious. This is getting ridiculous. You keep on and on about "compromise" as if the Left hasn't. Even. Tried. While that's about all the left HAS done. Given ground on abortion. Given ground on equal rights. Given ground on health care.<br />Sweet Christ, these wingnuts have gotten damn near everything they've whined about...but did that motivate them to moderate their insistence that the queers hide back in the closet and stop getting all "married" and the blacks stop getting pissed off about being shot by cops and the wogs be fine with getting carpet-bombed and tortured and the uppity wimmen shut up and lie there and plutocrats get the tax cuts they need to better buy and sell government?<br /><br />Ummm...no.<br /><br />And much as I hate to be a "die, die!" libtard, but equal justice and equitable democracy and other details like clean air and water aren't really negotiable. They're starting points; from there I'm fine with arguing the details of potty time with people who are terrified that they will be assaulted in the ladies' can by a Cambodian ladyman in a Balenciaga cocktail frock.<br /><br />I think you've got the fundamental relationship wrong. It's the fundies and wingnuts that are doing the "die, die!" thing here. They're fine with destroying the U.S. of the New Deal if they can't get white supremacy and plutocracy and corporate oligarchy. They'd rather fight liberalism to the death than compromise with it; their insane furor over the ACA and the other ridiculously moderate liberal institutions of 2017 America - their "fears", as you label them - pretty much gives them away. To them we're "babykillers" and "dhimmicrats" and "libtards". They don't want to compromise with us. They want to destroy us. That's not MY words, its theirs.<br /><br />So sorry to spoil the fun. But you're preaching to the wrong choir. You need to tell the Right all this "compromise" stuff. I'll be here with the popcorn to see how far you get.<br />FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-80271245568654327192017-04-02T09:58:28.944-05:002017-04-02T09:58:28.944-05:00Geert Wilders' party just went from 15 to 20 s...Geert Wilders' party just went from 15 to 20 seats in Parliament.<br /><br />He lost, though - because he can't form a government until his party gets the absolute majority (impossible in the Netherlands).<br /><br />Why ?<br /><br />Because the first chance he had to be *part* of the government, he blew it - quite literally: He blew up the Rutte I Cabinet because he couldn't get his pet issue.thttp://moene.org/~toonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-40833102016263467972017-04-02T08:55:30.025-05:002017-04-02T08:55:30.025-05:00In February, 2016, I was in a meeting with one of ...In February, 2016, I was in a meeting with one of my friends, a (5 years older than me) successful lower manager of an extremely successful US company.<br /><br />I always assumed he was a Republican, but I never bothered him with it. However, it was the week of the primaries in New Hampshire, where he lived. Being interested in the US elections (even at that stage) I asked him whether he could vote being absent from his state.<br /><br />His answer ?<br /><br />"I could vote by absentee ballot, but I didn't bother - none of the Republican candidates are reasonable."<br /><br />So there must still be reasonable Republicans (and Independents) that we can talk and ... reason with.Toon Moenehttp://moene.org/~toonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-45569304201100674612017-04-01T22:02:13.036-05:002017-04-01T22:02:13.036-05:00Dominion.Dominion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-65951596510297779932017-03-31T23:15:37.160-05:002017-03-31T23:15:37.160-05:00I am an old Political Hand from Alaska. I go so f...I am an old Political Hand from Alaska. I go so far back that I worked for Mike Gravel and was heavily involved in Willy and Gene's Campaigns. And that means nothing to folks from the Lower 48 but, it does mean that I have a lot of experience with politics of the past and watched the evolution of the animal to today's maladaptive political parties.<br /><br />Driving a car from your home to work/play/grocery store involves millions of small compromises every inch of the way. Organizing and feeding two people one meal involves multiple compromises. The Fact is Compromise is not difficult nor is it strange. But...<br /><br />Compromise in our political climate today is nearly impossible because the multiple sides do not even see the same world. Health Care: One side sees the need for single payer universal health care (Pre-Womb to Tomb) and the other side sees it as a business problem requiring guaranteed profits with no costs to each individual not receiving direct care. For the Profit based view point each cog in the care system is a profit center and these profits must be paid. The other side sees health care as a common good provided by a sane social order. I am unable to see a unifying value here. This dualistic world view does not have an agreed upon National Value Statement. These principles are valid throughout our social/political order. I am in my mid 70s and for the first time in my life I have no idea of how to establish a common ground with my fellow Americans.JazDoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16935716182962347234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-24657471466869491462017-03-29T22:42:40.601-05:002017-03-29T22:42:40.601-05:00Greetings John... at first you sounded like a rela...Greetings John... at first you sounded like a relatively rational and eloquent speaker... but there was something off, even from your first post. Your second post cemented things... I would have been considered a "republican" for a fair portion of my life... but as I watched the Republican party shift further and further away from the "socially progressive & fiscally conservative" values I grew up with, I found myself fitting in more with the Democrats... It wasn't until the years after Reagan that I found the Democrats were also sliding into untenable areas as well. At that point I registered as "Independent and essentially identified closest to the Green Party Platform overall.<br /><br />That being said, the "problems" you are referring to were not really problems except by your perception... Yes, there are extreme "whiners", "activists" and wingnutz on both sides of the spectrum, whose antics are cringeworthy from nearly anywhere else... The very ones that make you shake your head, roll your eyes and make the universal symbols/gestures for "loony" Most rational people laugh them off and point in sarcasm and derision... You sir (and I use the term loosely) decide to lob a tactical nuke... this registers to me as the sign of a dangerously unhinged mind, totally incapable of rational reasoned thought... *despite* your faculty with words and concepts.<br /><br />I am also particularly galled at the concept being bandied about on *ALL* sides, that there were "no oither options"... Sorry, I call Bullshit.... Jill Stein was another option... While definitely not "perfect", she was an alternative to Hillary and her weak standing and a *yuge* improvement over the clown circus that was the Republican party this time around... If people could have let go of the asinine "party affiliations" and looked at the actual platforms and issues, there was an alternative to the "two evils"... one that would have *Guaranteed* more options for us in the future as it would have brought a third party onto the playing field as somewhat of an equal. You wanted "change"? That would have been game changing explosive change... the other two parties would have to realize they are *not* the only game in town and don't get to set all the rules... they would have had the massive wake-up call that they still need to serve "the people" and that the "sheeple" were waking up to their game. But NOoooooo.... Tactical nuke the whole thing... completely trash any and all progress made over the past two decades and allow the whims of the self-centered and petulant to rule your life in the interest of "change"....<br /><br />Thank you John... for being another one of the millions of pawns used to advance someone else's agenda to the detriment of all... including yourself.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03607958820308109307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-4512946728804680962017-03-29T19:55:30.589-05:002017-03-29T19:55:30.589-05:00Q:"How do we compromise with those who voted ...Q:"How do we compromise with those who voted for Trump?<br /><br />Not just those who voted for Trump, but especially if those conservatives don’t honestly care that he’s engaged in deliberate falsehoods?<br /><br />Particularly if they themselves know President Trump’s statements to be false?<br /><br />How do we compromise with people like that?"<br /><br />A: "We don't because those types of people are probably fanatics. And fanatics can't be compromised with, they are the ENEMY!"<br /><br />Q: "Ok then, so how do we compromise with people who voted for Trump who aren't those fanatics?"<br /><br />A: "We MUST compromise with them! We absolutely HAVE to! It's essential for government! For getting shit done! For Civilization!"<br /><br />......<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-49425941645914848372017-03-29T12:09:49.341-05:002017-03-29T12:09:49.341-05:00My teabagger congressman may be turning rational. ...My teabagger congressman may be turning rational. He voted against making online activity available for sale.Tina Blacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-22064122326244069842017-03-29T05:47:31.070-05:002017-03-29T05:47:31.070-05:00I agree wholeheartedly with the last part of your ...I agree wholeheartedly with the last part of your post, about the need for large-scale change, but as you mention the first step towards this is getting elected, and I can see a better way than reaching out to people who voted for Trump. <br /><br />Much of the reason Trump won was that he managed to get people (mostly deeply horrible people from my PoV) to vote who normally didn't - as well as getting most of the people who normally vote Republican to also vote for him. We can do exactly the same thing. <br /><br />People who aren't white (quite sensibly) loathe Trump, and many red states with large populations and lots of House Reps and Electoral College votes have large non-white populations - Florida, Georgia, and Texas being three especially obvious examples, but people of color also on average are less likely to vote, but this needn't always be the case. <br /><br />It's now exceptionally clear that the DNC's top down approach to elections is a terrible idea, especially since it's been known for more than a decade that phone calls are an utterly useless method of getting out the vote. Instead, in person, door to door work is what succeeds. I know several groups that are starting to do exactly this in red states, and are specifically working in neighborhoods with high non-white populations. I heartily support it, both because I think it has a high chance of success and also because it doesn't require reframing our message for people willing to vote for Donald Trump.heron61http://yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-23584688004281198872017-03-29T01:45:58.060-05:002017-03-29T01:45:58.060-05:00A key to finding common ground requires finding so...A key to finding common ground requires finding something simple and neutral that the "other side" has or does in common with you. It may require a deep breath, some good simple acting and a bit of a white lie to make that first connection. As hard as it may seem to muster, it may start out as a sincere sounding "excuse me sir" or "excuse me mam" followed by a question or observation regarding something simple and harmless that allows that entry connection.<br />A few examples of engaging "the other side":<br />Maybe you crochet or knit and you see they have something made in that fashion. You could say "excuse me Mam, did you crochet that hat?" If they answer yes, compliment them on it or ask how they did a particular pattern.<br />Maybe you see a guy with a Labrador Retriever in the back of his rig and you say "that sure is a fine looking Lab you have there".<br />Those are examples of observations being used, it can be anything as to what it is.<br />The method of question requires some humbleness, actual or fiend lack of knowledge to engage the conversation. A couple of examples:<br />"Excuse me Mam, how did you get your garden to be so healthy? Mine is a mess"<br />Or maybe "Excuse me Sir, I was wondering what brand of work boots you are wearing? I'm trying to find a decent work boot for my Son and really don't know where to start."<br />Now these might sound hokey or stereotypical, but hopefully you get the drift.<br />Be nice, be simple, be complimentary, ask for an opinion, ask for input. I won't kill you to do this. It might be as brief as the "Nice Labrador" and you move on or you stop and end up talking for a hell of long time about Labs. Just go with the flow.<br />However brief or long the encounter or subject, end it with "Thanks!" and walk away.<br />Take the high road for once, kill 'em with kindness, let your guard down, listen and just maybe that connection will be made, or just the start of one. We gotta start realizing we are all in this together and yes, things might be a bit lopsided for awhile. Just try it and keep at it, we have more in common with each other in this country than we think. <br />Sitkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15947822002695098506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-57765936057262548472017-03-29T00:16:23.449-05:002017-03-29T00:16:23.449-05:00And when/if we get back in power we need to not on...And when/if we get back in power we need to not only DO the right thing, we need to codify those things in law. We know now we can't depend on common decency or goodwill or accepted policies and procedures. We need actual laws to make sure politicians at all levels will be out of office and in jail if they lie, cheat or steal. We need a Constitutional Amendment that clarifies the Emoluments Clause and adds a requirement for divestiture so a President can never again seek to enrich himself and his family from his office. But - when the Democrats had the power in the past, none of this was done, or at least not enough. Has the lesson been learned? Sharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17317118608813622766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-10775747332456152202017-03-28T23:05:01.726-05:002017-03-28T23:05:01.726-05:00Kevin Drum, over at Mother Jones, comments that Tr...Kevin Drum, over at Mother Jones, comments that Trump is still very popular with Republicans. No idea how to pry these people loose from him.<br /><br />http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/03/correction-heres-how-trump-doing-among-republican-votersRaven Onthillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06634556869209594389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-92187013035017826002017-03-28T20:45:52.761-05:002017-03-28T20:45:52.761-05:00Find and treasure those who are reasonable. Unite,...Find and treasure those who are reasonable. Unite, form strong bonds through interaction and reason where reason is possible. Listen to one another. Ask honest questions of one another. Don't give up. As stated, whether we agree with the details or not, our civilization is at stake. This historic monument to Human achievement, this fragile, delicate balancing act of diverse strivings and convictions is in real danger. Each of us is responsible for it's success or demiseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-52796626483064223292017-03-28T20:16:48.117-05:002017-03-28T20:16:48.117-05:00Confirmation bias is a factor, but not everyone is...Confirmation bias is a factor, but not everyone is an unthinking autobot. I too had a lifelong Republican family member hold her nose and vote for Hillary. She's a social and fiscal conservative, but no so conservative that she believes people should suffer for things beyond their control.<br /><br />My own father, near the end of his life in 2004 (he died in 2006 at age 94) was a lifelong Republican. He voted for Kerry in that presidential election, which shocked the heck out of me--but Dad was disgusted with Bush's incompetence.<br /><br />Now, I do have some family members who are rabid conservative zombies. I won't waste my time with them. But the others exist, and need to be won over.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03079852628674185384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-62151141126309583832017-03-28T19:57:14.350-05:002017-03-28T19:57:14.350-05:00Not every genus is put in the position of adapt or...Not every genus is put in the position of adapt or die. You will note that those are all modern species, albeit of ancient lines.<br /><br />OTOH, "adapt or die" seems to be the way of civilizations. Jared Diamond has a nice treatise on the subject titled "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed".Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03079852628674185384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-83780609437118679342017-03-28T18:15:28.471-05:002017-03-28T18:15:28.471-05:00http://www.iflscience.com/environment/science-know...http://www.iflscience.com/environment/science-knowledge-has-almost-no-effect-on-republican-beliefs-according-to-survey/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-42000563042714311472017-03-28T15:47:50.597-05:002017-03-28T15:47:50.597-05:00There are a lot of frustrated people who want to h...There are a lot of frustrated people who want to help but are unsure what they can do or where to go. I just came across an interesting article in Mother Jones regarding the coalitions that <br />Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks (TYT) is working on and with.<br /><br />http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/young-turks-becoming-breitbart-left<br /><br />Uygur and colleagues launched Justice Democrats, a political action committee that aims to recruit and fund primary challengers under an anti-corporate, progressive banner. They joined forces with Brand New Congress, people from the Bernie Sanders campaign. They want to run more than 400 progressive House and Senate candidates in 2018.<br /><br />Uygur is preparing to deploy his show—which appears on YouTube and the Young Turks website—as a battering ram against Democrats who don't fall in line. He says he will offer airtime and fundraising help for progressive challengers whose lack of success has been partly due to mainstream media outlets depriving challengers.<br /><br />Uygur is gearing up to do battle in Democratic primaries, he's mounting a major expansion at TYT which has an advocacy that's atypical for a news outlet.<br /><br />Uygur and Kulinski say they intend to use their shows and their social-media accounts to provide a platform and raise money for the candidates they endorse. <br /><br />In 2011, Uygar launched Wolf PAC, a group that aims to end corporate political influence by forcing a new constitutional convention of the states. The convention would then, in theory, pass a "Free and Fair Elections Amendment" limiting corporate donations. Another group, We Will Replace You, was launched in February with a similar intent.<br /><br />Sanders' former director of digital organizing wants to organise around the decentralized model of the Vermont senator's presidential campaign on behalf of other long-shot challengers. "We want to make it clear to Democrats that they need to pick which side they're on," she said. "They can either pick the side of Donald Trump and his Wall Street cronies, or they can pick the side of the people who are on the streets." We're going after the core of the party"<br /><br />Johnny HogueJohnny Hoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06871398447108997898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-8824242650105037522017-03-28T15:34:42.660-05:002017-03-28T15:34:42.660-05:00Sorry - this is part two of my dribble. I posted i...Sorry - this is part two of my dribble. I posted it before and received an error from google / blogger, don't know if what came through. Please delete what needs to be deleted, thank you.<br /><br />I already saied it, and I say it again, a nice little war is unifying. "We could not know" is an excuse that did not work in Germany 1945, it will not work in the USoA in 2017/18.<br /><br />You have the means - there is stupidifying tv all over the cuntry - if nothing works, this shit is at it ! <br />You should have access to the web everywhere - this is not Siberia, is it ? <br />There is still free radio, just before your Leader will kill it. <br />Don't know if something like independent newspapers still exist. <br />Anyway, there are means to form "a public", to discuss, to form an opinion - work the democratic process in full. <br />Now you only need <i>da peopell</i> to take part in it.<br /><br />I doubt they will. Because there is no democratic tradition - at least nothing that reaches out over the village boundaries. <br /><br />Where are the blue areas ? At the coasts, mainly. What is the difference to the read areas - sociological, economical, educational, religiously - ? I don't know, I'm not even an American.<br />The Leader and his <i>bagage</i> will not go away. The system as is, leaves only one way open, that is the other party. The system as is, does not work bottom-up, but head-down. So in the short run it is only elitist democratist back-room mongering, no grass-roots change. Start it now, and in thirty years you'll see change. "Bottom-up" will only end your nice "union". Do not underestimate the centrifugal forces, something not even the dying SU could manage.<br /><br />BTW if there will be a Free State of Texas, I'm in.<br />Sorry for the long bla. Hope I do not come over as too confused.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-23585451007207217482017-03-28T15:22:43.174-05:002017-03-28T15:22:43.174-05:00Just a note to those choosing Anonymous but would ...Just a note to those choosing Anonymous but would rather use your name, here's how I do it: choose Name/URL and just put your name, no URL required.<br /><br />A lot of really well-written comments here. I especially like the responses to John White.MarianWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-18692089437396613302017-03-28T15:15:57.427-05:002017-03-28T15:15:57.427-05:00Sorry, I did not read through all the previous com...Sorry, I did not read through all the previous comments, so surely someone has saied it better before : Summarising, you plead for turning to those conservatives and / or republicans who are still interested in communication with the other part of the electorate, are reasonable and open to other opinions. Come to an understanding, form a compromise, change politics.<br />Sadly such people are not to be found in the actual administration.<br /><br />You use at some points the word "we" - I am a bit uneasy with such a "we" - could you either tell me please, who "we" are, or where I can read about this "group" in your essays ?<br /><br />I find it very interesting that you end with "civilisation" (what, if I get it right, equals the European, especially German <i>Kulturbegriff</i>). <br />Isn't it the super-advisor Bannon - the man who calls your president "a tool" "we" "use" - the super-advisor, I say, who resurrected the stinking cadaver of the "super fascist" (his own definition) Evola - a fact that should finish him, at least in a serious, intellectual surrounding, but makes him one of the most influential persons in the current administration - isn't it saied Mr Bannon who spoke about "clash of civilisation", of the need for a "tabula rasa", who phantasises about the end of "the" "state" as we know it ?<br /><br />BTW *sarcasm on* you sound like one of those wonky European liberal intellectualists, daht's not American ! *sarcasm off*<br /><br />You need to find those who are willing and able to discuss things in a civilised way in that red sea - good luck : The digital public in the form of "social" "media" is already manipulated to some extent, so-called "echo-chambers" do exist and are usable - didn't these Oxbridge-Foundation-blokes brag about that only some weeks ago ?<br />BTW when I read in European media about the Mid-West (the red sea) I mainly read about rust, un-employment, drugs (H is cheap again - who'd thought ?!), guns & hate crimes, and poisoned environment.<br />The answer of your "Leader of the Movement" is to go back to coal mining - big companies will do all the good. All along the tune : Heck it went bonk - let's do it again !<br /><br />From my outlandish point of view it is a sociological problem. I think you have not "one" society in the US, you have a lot of societies there. and no unifying, connecting idea that keeps it all together. This "american dream"-thing finally became a bit stale, didn't it ?<br />"State" is something not only conservatives shudder about - while people complain about crumbling bridges and shitty education. Two of the main fields of a state's activity, of a state's responsibility towards its citizens and their goddamn offspring : Infrastructure and "culture".<br />But to me it seems that the average American in a kind of reflex hits at anything that only slightly resembles something called "state" / <i>Staat</i>, without any reflection. <br />Fine, you have the life expectancy of a Third-World-Cuntry in some of those "red" "states", possibly the commies' fault.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-23725415961295062302017-03-28T14:22:55.144-05:002017-03-28T14:22:55.144-05:00I've gotta give Utah some credit. Yeah, that s...I've gotta give Utah some credit. Yeah, that state went hard for Trump, but a lot of voters there went for Evan McMullin--almost the same number that went for Hillary in that state: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/501069078/utah-2016-presidential-and-state-election-results <br /><br />To this day, McMullin, whom I'd call a principled conservative independent, speaks out vocally against Trump's policies, especially those tied to foreign policy, civil liberties, and--well, basic human decency.<br /><br />If we progressives can unite with McMullin's supporters and the Never Trumpers around these values and the need for human decency in our leaders, well damn, "we the people" can be a force to be reckoned with.Everyone and Their Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12226555758811435275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-50818880328287438412017-03-28T14:20:40.413-05:002017-03-28T14:20:40.413-05:00I'll generally agree with you though I am a sm...I'll generally agree with you though I am a small Gov guy so the Dem's don't have much to offer me. <br />I'll only offer up that the main issue is that many who the Dems should be reaching out to is that those people generally "Don't Care" about what is going on in the Urban Enclaves until they are "Made to Care". If the Democrat party wasn't so focused on National Level Solutions for Local issues then they'd be able to make inroads. But subjecting family owned restaurants to a nation wide "two minutes of hate" over willingness to serve pizza at a wedding (as an example) is going to turn off your avenues into those red states that make of the middle of the country.<br /><br />The Republicans have been focused on the State level for the last couple of decades and it seems to have paid off rather than resulting in them being reduced to a regional party as some were crowing just 8 years ago.<br /><br />What do you think about the Article Five Convention movement that is going on? You talked about Amending the Constitution but there is a possibility that the R focus on a State Level ground game may be paying off with a lot of Federal functions and powers being returned to the state level.Sandman02https://www.blogger.com/profile/13738087964735181957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-83095141965053383132017-03-28T14:11:50.529-05:002017-03-28T14:11:50.529-05:00"Because there is no single big answer.
&quo..."Because there is no single big answer.<br /><br />"There are just a million small ones."<br /><br />I'll repeat one small answer that you yourself came up with, and I think it's freaking brilliant.<br /><br />http://www.stonekettle.com/2015/06/bang-bang-sanity.html<br /><br />Now if we can rally a fair number of Republicans and Democrats (at both the state and national level) around making the NRA rules the law, I'd be so down with this as a solution to our gun crisis.<br /><br />How's that for a start?Everyone and Their Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12226555758811435275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-15814543707481128002017-03-28T11:55:07.578-05:002017-03-28T11:55:07.578-05:00I just finished the Star article you link to above...I just finished the Star article you link to above. I am now convinced we are in the final throes of the death of the American experiment in democracy. No sense calling the EMT's, call the coroner. I have said to my children, all of them under the age of 30, their future in this country will not be one where science and education are valued. As they are all working in those fields, I have advised them to seek a future in a country that does value those two ideals over the ideals of guns and religion. Compromise has become a dirty word here, go where its acceptable. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com