Distinctions without Differences
Playing the margins to burn the middle.
Reagan shooter John Hinckley to receive unconditional release
How bad has it been before? Bad enough that four United States Presidents have been murdered. And over a dozen more Presidents suffered assassination attempts. So, yeah, maybe our era of history seems like it is the worst ever. But it’s not. It’s just our selfish tragic nature to believe so.
It’s not even as bad as it was in 1964, the last time a President was killed. No matter how much hatred is spewed towards the current President and his immediate predecessor, that hatred has not spilled over into an assassination.
So we rage and yell. Protest and march. Riot and insurrect. Somehow stopping short of the ultimate act of betrayal. For all of the public posturing by so many, the Bad Orange survived his one term, and we expect our current President to not get killed during his first term as well.
I found a list, of course, on my way down the fabbit-hole, Assassination Attempts On US Presidents. Every President since Nixon has had attempts made to assassinate them. Can one imagine the damage to this country if a modern American President were to be killed in office?
I don’t think we can. I know it was popular during his term to fantasize about it, but pause a moment to reflect on that circumstance. Even a president you despise, and one that signifies all that is wrong and evil in the world in your opinion. Can you justify the killing of that person? And what it would do the the country and the world?
Do feelings of hate and loathing permit an assassination? They may, in the damaged brain of a crazy person. Rationalizing a psychopath’s homicidal intent and actions as they relate to political proclivities and partisan predispositions is itself an insane act.
Have you ever talked to a crazy homeless person? Watch a Michael Schellenberger video. They use words that we understand. But they cannot string them together in any meaningful method. Check out the assassinators of presidents - indeed, most have claimed mental illness and many have been released!
Point being, the country is right where the voters put it. Split right down the middle. Speaking of the middle, 2024 may finally be when that group truly comes into its own and discovers the immense power it holds. It’s up to us.
Spot the Difference
I’m looking at the results of the past week, and I’m reminded of Obama’s quip about Biden, “don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up”. The same could be said of the Republicans. They are inept. To the core.
I’m unloading on the two leaders of the Senate, Schumer and McConnell. Each exhibits not only a disdain for the American public in general, but an acute antipathy to the voter themself.
Bitter rivals from opposite ends of the political spectrum, they are always throwing word bombs at each other. But how different from us are they? And how similar are they to each other? Let’s just take a look at how these men have carried themselves over the decades.
They even engage in petty juvenile gamesmanship that disrespects the office and the voter.
McConnell’s response? This caused McConnell to laugh as hard as you'll ever see him laugh, per a source familiar. Great. Nothing makes the American voter feel better than sharing a laugh with a lifelong senator.
Take for instance McConnell, who entered the Senate in 1984, nearly 40 years ago. Before that, he worked in different government capacities starting the year after he graduated law school, in 1967. He taught a night class in poly-sci at University of Louisville. That’s probably the closest he’s gotten to a real job.
Schumer became the youngest New York State Assembly member at 24 right out of law school, in 1974. He never looked back, nor gave up the teat of public service. He bristles when confronted with the question of whether he’s ever held a private-sector job.
During high school he worked for Stanley Kaplan, who, at the time, had a small test-preparation business, which is now widely known as Kaplan.[11]
“It was a mom-and-pop operation in those days," Schumer told The Wall Street Journal in 2009, adding that he worked for Kaplan for three years while in high school.[11]
“The future politician operated a mimeograph machine in a small office in a former dentist's suite in Brooklyn,” the paper reported.[11]
"It was my first job," Schumer said in the article. "I would go get him dinner at the cafeteria."[11]
A high-school job. Ok Al Bundy, relive that glory. Schumer is a man of the people for sure! He knows the struggle of the grind. How it feels to work like a dog and not have enough to feed the dog at the end of the week. Schumer feels that pain and shares that struggle.
McConnell oozes empathy for the citizen through his passionate opposition of campaign reform and spending limits. Yay for America.
McConnell earned a reputation as a tough opponent of campaign finance reform and campaign spending limits. From the 1990s he consistently voted against a series of such measures, including some sponsored by fellow Republicans. When a popular bipartisan measure sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Russell D. Feingold was signed into law by President Bush in 2002, McConnell promptly sued the Federal Election Commission, calling the law a violation of free speech. In a December 2003 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law.
Wait. What? He’s a Republican, and he voted against other Republicans, and then sued to overturn a bipartisan passed law. WTF Mitch? His quote about candidate quality really helped things for his side. And now, he’s lost the leadership. Poor Mitch.
Or is it really that heartbreaking? I don’t think he really cares. In a way, he has less work and responsibility like this. He gets to whine and bitch and moan about how bad things are. Like the border. Wait. Again. Why does everyone seem to forget how many times one party controls all three branches of power.
It happens a lot. The Bad Orange enjoyed that and all they passed was a tax cut. Nothing else. And all the Repubs constantly yammer on about the border. Why didn’t they fix it? Because it’s a great point to argue and keep a power base pissed off with.
And what about the Dems? All three branches and no national abortion law. Why not? They promised to pass one, AFTER the midterms if they keep all the branches. They didn’t. And now both issues remain viable political divisions, sure to reap valuable political benefits for those firmly ensconced in their roles of power distribution.
And now we have gridlock, which is being hailed as the best possible outcome for these times. Perfect for our times and exactly what we deserve. A bunch of septa- and octogenarians prattling on about supposed and perceived differences. They both are cashing the same paycheck. Kinda hard to see the difference between them.
Why did it happen like this?
Real simple. People like me did not vote. Or they voted for the party in power. Totally upending history and the polls. I don’t mind some chaos like that.
Here is a thoughtful piece that breaks it down pretty accurately.
The GOP’s Lost Independents
For all of the talk of the middle, and for all of the populist gains made in the past six years, all were squandered by a selfish 80-year-old who seems to care very little about anyone but himself.
Thanks Mitch.
Glenn Loury explains his position in the most sensible of terms, and speaks, I feel, for a whole bunch of Independents.
If Democrats get serious about containing urban crime, if they get serious about instituting a sensible border policy, if they get serious about tamping down racial demagoguery in their party, then I might have a hard decision to make when it comes time to cast my ballot. I’m not a partisan. I don’t have an a priori commitment to the Republican Party. I think the 2020 presidential election was legitimately decided. My vote is winnable, as are the votes of many, many, many people like me who chafe at the idea of “party loyalty” but nevertheless find themselves consistently voting Republican, because that seems right now to the be the only party that understands the direness of the situation in which we find ourselves.
This piece breaks down Gen-X and our apparent fuck-it attitude towards this election. so much for all the polls and punditry and establishmentarians and chattering class who are experts and know everything so much better than normal people going about their work-a-day lives.
It’s almost like a total psych against the Repubs. And it’s a hard fake to the Dems. One side was burning the thread holding Damocles Sword and the other was waiting to fall upon it. But that all switched up.
After the Repubs cheered on Dems shooting inside the tent, the Dems can now just keep selling the bullets that the Repubs are shooting in their circle jerk. And the dumbasses just keep buying and shooting.
The Midterms and Gen-X Super Voters
Finally, a piece that pretty much tells us shit we already knew - members of upper classes are snobs and think that they are better than everyone else. It takes a PhD to figure that out? Not really, just to publish it in the journal of psychology. Fair enough.
People In Higher Social Class Have An Exaggerated Belief That They Are More Capable Than Others
Now a word from the author - I can’t figure out why I am struggling with writing. I wonder if it could be that the struggles in my life have lessened to a degree that leaves little angst to generate emotion?
Or that the struggles in my life have so beat me into submission that I have given up on all productive means of expression? An interesting dilemma to be sure, and one that is affecting the delivery of my written word product.
Have you ever felt this way? I’m sure I have, but what I’m not sure of is if I ‘ve ever spent the time wondering why? I think the change in my life has come not because I don’t have problems or struggles.
It’s become because I am aware of how those problems and struggles are affecting my emotional state, and how my decision-making skills are affected by that emotion.
The destination of self-actualization is paved with moments of self-awareness. Listen to the playlist I made for this post. I’d love to hear what it makes you feel like.
Thanks
Ric
I just want a GenX President... Please America!