American Politics Is Changing

 

For decades, Democrat politicians have based their campaigns on the idea that capitalism was mean to poor people.  Trickle-down economics doesn’t work.  Poverty and inequality can be cured only through socialism.  The only reason for you to complain that your taxes are too high is if you hate poor people.

Now that Democrats are in charge, and are implementing their preferred policies, we are seeing their impact in real-time.  Particularly on poor people.  Inflation bothers rich people like me, but it’s devastating to those trying to live on $50,000 a year.  Voters are starting to wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, centralized control systems are less humane than Democrats have claimed.  Bernie Sanders is responding to this as one might expect, by demanding expansions of Social Security and Medicare.  But other Democrats are reading the tea leaves differently.

I think that all Democrats can do, at this point, is double down on racism and global warming:  “Ok, our fiscal policies are horrifying.  But if you elect Republicans, they’ll kill black people and destroy Mother Earth!  Do you hate black people?  Do you hate our planet?  No?  Well then, you have no choice but to vote Democrat.  Never mind the economy, the border, European wars, or all those other petty complaints.  You vote on the side of the angels!”  This is an interesting, but fundamental, change to our national discussion.  But wait – there’s more!

Because Democrat policies were obviously destructive, Americans have long been hesitant to put too many Democrats in power.  Bill Clinton was a “New Democrat”.  Barack Obama was a saintly figure above earthly politics.  Joe Biden didn’t campaign on anything – in fact, he didn’t campaign at all.  No Democrat could win running on Democrat policies.

But the Democrat party continued our leftward surge with two institutions:  the media and the Supreme Court.  The media did their best to promote leftism, and the Supreme Court wrote new laws that Congress could never pass.  This worked fairly well, for a long time.

But the internet has created problems for the old media.  Fox News was the first crack in the dam, but The Daily Wire, Powerline, Ricochet, and many others have provided a source of alternative viewpoints that didn’t exist until recently.  Not just conservative viewpoints.  But alternative viewpoints.  People started to think, just a bit.

And the Supreme Court has changed.  It has recently developed an interest in the U.S. Constitution.  Which is obviously a very serious problem for Democrats.

So I look at the Democrats being forced to change their message from hope for a better day, to simply avoiding mean tweets.  And I look at alternative forms of media gaining a foothold.  And I look at a new Supreme Court which seems more interested in our Constitution.

And I think to myself, “The Democrats have a very serious problem, here…”

Of course, my optimism is based on the idea that America selects its leaders via elections.  If that is no longer true, then never mind – forget I said anything.

But if elections resume in the future, then perhaps the Democrats have a problem, and perhaps America has hope.

What do you think?

Are these changes as significant as I suggest?

Is there hope that America can climb out of the hole that we have dug for ourselves?

Perhaps things are changing.  Perhaps there is hope.

What do you think?

Published in General
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 190 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Imagine that.

    • #181
  2. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levonorgestrel

     

    The primary mechanism of action of levonorgestrel as a progestogen-only emergency contraceptive pill is, according to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), to prevent fertilization by inhibition of ovulation and thickening of cervical mucus.[20][21][22][23] FIGO has stated that: “review of the evidence suggests that LNG [levonorgestreol] ECPs cannot prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. Language on implantation should not be included in LNG ECP product labeling.”[24][25] In November 2013, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved a change to the label saying it cannot prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.[26]

    Other studies still find the evidence to be unclear.[27] While it is unlikely that emergency contraception affects implantation it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility of post-fertilization effect.[28]

     

    So, if it’s correct that Plan B DOESN’T prevent implantation of a fertilized egg/ovum, which means it’s essentially useless unless ovulation HASN’T already occurred – which is a pretty narrow timeframe – then it’s essentially useless as a “day after pill” probably in most situation. Unless it DOES also prevent implantation, and/or cause an implantation to “fail.” i.e., unless it’s an abortifacient. But they just don’t want to say so publicly.

    It’s not necessarily a fail. Sperm can live up to three days inside a woman’s body and ovulation is at most a 24 hr period. Sex 2 days before ovulation would be helped with plan B. You are right that it wouldn’t help much in that 24 hour period, but the window is small enough that plan B would prevent a decent number of pregnancies without resorting to the abortifacient mechanism.

    I don’t know anything about Plan B other than what is being discussed. Just a bit about NFP.

    What’s NFP?

    I’ll guess natural family planning.

    Thanks.  I sorta guessed it, but I wanted to be sure.

    • #182
  3. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Brute.

    • #183
  4. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Brute.

    Meh. I didn’t mind. And the kid has total control of my heart.

    • #184
  5. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Stina (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Brute.

    Meh. I didn’t mind. And the kid has total control of my heart.

    Did I ever mention this young woman’s unplanned childbirth?  She had half a uterus, and only one ovary and fallopian tube — and that one was cut and tied.  And her husband was using a condom.

    And nine months later she had a little baby boy.  She was radiant when she spoke abut him and called him her “miracle baby”.  Yeah, she didn’t mind, either.

    • #185
  6. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Brute.

    Meh. I didn’t mind. And the kid has total control of my heart.

    Did I ever mention this young woman’s unplanned childbirth? She had half a uterus, and only one ovary and fallopian tube — and that one was cut and tied. And her husband was using a condom.

    And nine months later she had a little baby boy. She was radiant when she spoke abut him and called him her “miracle baby”. Yeah, she didn’t mind, either.

    That is so beautiful.

    • #186
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    NFP is natural family planning. It uses knowledge of sperm longevity and female cycles to strategically abstain from sex in order to avoid pregnancy. We were quite successful with it until my husband ignored my warning and decided he wanted sex anyway :p

    Brute.

    Meh. I didn’t mind. And the kid has total control of my heart.

    Did I ever mention this young woman’s unplanned childbirth? She had half a uterus, and only one ovary and fallopian tube — and that one was cut and tied. And her husband was using a condom.

    And nine months later she had a little baby boy. She was radiant when she spoke abut him and called him her “miracle baby”. Yeah, she didn’t mind, either.

    Difficult to think of someone more deserving of that joy, except perhaps Amy Schley.

    • #187
  8. RansomReed Inactive
    RansomReed
    @RansomeReed

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I have argued for years that (1) America is a conservative country and (2) normal Americans will eventually be awakened to the accelerating radicalism of the modern left.

    I think it’s happening. I am increasingly optimistic.

    No offense but I imagine globalists are having a giggle at your optimism. 

    • #188
  9. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    RansomReed (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I have argued for years that (1) America is a conservative country and (2) normal Americans will eventually be awakened to the accelerating radicalism of the modern left.

    I think it’s happening. I am increasingly optimistic.

    No offense but I imagine globalists are having a giggle at your optimism.

    I really want to side with Hank here.

    But I suspect that Reed is probably right…

    • #189
  10. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    RansomReed (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I have argued for years that (1) America is a conservative country and (2) normal Americans will eventually be awakened to the accelerating radicalism of the modern left.

    I think it’s happening. I am increasingly optimistic.

    No offense but I imagine globalists are having a giggle at your optimism.

    I really want to side with Hank here.

    But I suspect that Reed is probably right…

    As Jordan Peterson is known to say, “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

    • #190
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.