While we are only three days into the Impeachment Trial of Donald John Trump I think it is time to start thinking about were we, as a nation, will be when it is over. This is going to be more questions that answers so Please jump in with an answers you have.
My first question is just how is the GOP going to convince most Americans that our elections are open, fair, and honest. That is, how can we trust our elections to really be the will of the people? Why didn’t I include the Democrats? It is because it is the Republicans who are being shown to not be willing to do anything to prevent foreign intervention. It is the GOP who seem to be more concerned with unlawful voters than hacked/stuffed voting systems.
Given the documented (look at Senates own website for all bills passed by the Senate in the current Congress) poor work performance of the GOP controlled Senate? Yes, I know this is wonkie, but I am a bit of a wonk. It is true that the Current Senate has confirmed more federal judges than almost ever before. It is also true that this class of new judges has one of the largest number of person who are considered “Unqualified” to hold the office by their peers.
Given the above, just how will the GOP get the majority of Americans to believe that we are all equal before the law. Be with MAGA, RINO, Democrat or undeclared. If the judge is hearing the case is just a political hack appointed because he/she is “right” on abortion and immigration what faith can we give him/her we will get a hearing?
Given the lackluster effort to even address the issue of incorrect information floating around the internet by the GOP/MAGA what faith can anyone give to any News? Will not the next four years be the age of All News is Fake News if I don’t agree with it? Is there nothing we, as individuals, can do? Is there nothing we techno-geeks do? (More on this soon.)
That’s all for now. I look forward to getting lots of comments with answers to my question. The best will be shared!
Yes, I know the election is over a year way, but the 2020 election is going to be history making in ways most Americans don’t know about. This is going to be the first Presidential election where the electorate has been told, and is mostly aware of, all the election tampering being done by foreign governments (mostly Russia). At the same time one side, the GOP, has been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off screaming about ‘election fraud’. If the 2020 election is a close one, or worse yet one where the winner of the Electoral College does not get a plurality of the popular vote, then we are in a world of hurt.
So lets run a little thought experiment here. There are basically two conditions we need to think about. An election where one side wins big and one where the winner just squeaks by (like 2016). With the former Americans can have some faith that the elections were fair as it is very very difficult to massively stack the results in 40+ states. So lets look at the latter.
Lets say the Donald Trump and the GOP just barely squeak by just holding on to the Presidency and control of the Senate. Let us further state that Donald Trump wins just like he did in 2016. The Democrats can, and should, cry out that it was a stolen elections. But besides that, how can the GOP erasure the people that it wasn’t stolen. How can we trust the results?
Little to no effort has been taken by either the National nor State GOP to do anything reassure us that the elections are fare. Indeed in the last few years it has been then GOP who have taken actions to skew the elections in their favor with means both lawful and unlawful. Just the latest is the North Carolina congressional district gerrymandering that violated the State constitution. An let us not forget all of the efforts to prevent voter impersonation election fraud and all of the efforts to have proper IDs. While this is not a bad idea, the way it has been gone about leaves much to be desired. Seems like in most cases these laws impact poor voters. Of course, given the position of many in the GOP that most election fraud is done by ‘liberals’ and/or Democrats this is not to unexpected.
But the point is that the GOP has, for many many years been complaining about how fraud ridden our elections are but seem powerless to make any substantial changes. An the changes they do make seem to make maters worse not better. Now let us add in the widely held belief that in 2016 the Russians used the internet and social media to influence our election. Plus we now have reports of the election systems of some states, like Florida, have been hacked. This is leading us to a very big problem.
If the Trump Administration and/or the GOP in 2017 had taken the position that any interference by anyone is totally unacceptable. That it unfairly casts dispersions on the validity of Donald Trumps election. An to demonstrate that neither he nor the GOP will have any truck with this kind of action. We would not be where we are now. We have a President who totally believes that it doesn’t mater how you win as long as you win. We have a political party so afraid of its far right base that it is totally unwilling to do anything that might though any doubts on the legitimacy of it’s power that it will do nothing. So even if they win, they loose.
So what need to be done? Simply put, but hard, very hard to do, is to create a ‘wave’ election. An election, no mater who wins, that will put into Washington people who will say “enough is enough” and creates a bi-partisan national effort to secure both our elections, the internet, and social media. This will be a tall order, their are people who will see these changes as a challenge to both their power and their wealth. They will join with those out side the country who wish to see the USA in political disarray to do everything in their power to keep things as they are. Finally we need to do one thing:
I have now watched (alright listened) to two of the scheduled Democratic Presidential Candidates debates. Unlike most, if not all, of the talking heads I will not be talking about who won/lost or about the “horse race”. Since 1964, yes that long ago (55 years now), I’ve been more interested in the subject mater (issues) discussed. I want to hear what the candidates are interested in campaigning on.
I really don’t think modern political campaign debates are really debates. This I blame my mother ‘ED’ Daniel a true aficionado of rhetoric and debate. From 1972 till she suffered brain damage in the 2000’s she and I would look upon Presidential election years as a fun time to vivisect candidates on their debate capabilities. I used to tease her that she selected who she would vote for by how well they spoke and debated. She would just laugh and smile. What I wouldn’t give to have her input on these last two debates.
That said, back to the issues brought forward so far. I think there are really only three that have any staying power. I say three, but their is really only two with one have two parts. In no order of preference other than my thought process here goes:
Issue One A: Health Care
From these debates it is clear that what we are going to be doing about healthcare in this country is going to be a major issue in the coming election. 99% of the population has some major concerns about getting and paying for healthcare. Those that have some kind of insurance worry about will they keep it and will it cover what ever happens. Ever since the baby boom Americans have grown up thinking they will get the health care they will need, mostly. It was only the poorest amongst us who had to worry, and they had charity, right?
Question:
Who reading this remembers the time before the law(s) making in mandatory for ER’s to accept anyone who shows up? I remember reading the horror story’s in the afternoon paper about dying people being turn away from Hospitals because they could produce an insurance card. It did happen back in the day.
We hear about people who get their insurance thru their union, but less than 10% of the non governmental work force are now union members. Or you get it thru your job, but that means you have to stay steadily employed, not so easy in this new job market. An what about the ever growing group smiling known as ‘Independent Contractors’? I was one, not because I wanted to be but because it was the only way I could find work. An this wasn’t some unskilled labor, I was a programmer aka software engineer. (See Bellow) even if you can keep the contacts coming in so you work steady you still have to buy your insurance. (Also even tho you may get anything from 150%-200% of what a w2 employee gets paid you can have to pay over 100% more in taxes) you still need to buy your own private insurance. If your over 40 this can get very hard.
Issue One B: Healthcare
This is where the rubber meets the road for most of the Democrats, what do we do about it. This is where we all have to be very careful with our words. It is easy to say Medicare for all. But just what does that mean? So far I have found more than two distinct meanings for the slogan and I fear there will be more. In fact I will go out on a limb here and say that “Medicare for All” means exactly what the hearer wants it to mean. More on this later.
Other candidates want to ‘fix’ Obama care. But so far they have all been kind of lite on details. What we do know is that the GOP has no idea how fix Obama care, they tried last congress with came up a cropper.
Issue Two: Who is best to Defeat Donald Trump?
For me this is really a non-issue. The answer is as simple as almost any of them or none of them can. It is that simple. No one really has any clear idea of why Donald Trump ended up being President. Hillary Clinton should have won, she didn’t. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “It will take at least 50 years before the Historians and Political Scientists will figure it out”. So get over it an go on. The only thing for sure is the Democrats need to get a fighter. It can be a down in “the mud, the blood, and their beer” fighter like Truman. Or it can be an elegant ‘Mohamed Ali‘ dancer like JFK or something totally new. Just someone who knows they are in for the fight of their life with someone who cheats a golf! So it is ‘no holes bard’ and “Winning isn’t the everything, it is the only thing.” Fight.
I have no patience with the people who are worried about the Democrats tearing themselves apart. The Democrats need a fighter who ‘knows’ they are in for the fight of the century.
