Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Is it possible this election result is exactly what we need to get past some of the divisiveness in our politics?
Work with me here. As things stand right now, it appears we’ll have a President Biden/Harris, with a Republican Senate and a narrower margin in the Democratic House (and a hopefully reliable Supreme Court).
It’s a very different situation than if Biden had swept in with coattails in the House and Senate, or if Trump had expanded on his Electoral College vote from 2016. Neither party can claim a mandate for, well, anything really. With Congress divided, neither party will be able to push through anything too stupid. The situation will almost demand compromise and working with the opposite party.
Maybe if we can get a year or two of the Congress actually working as a legislative body to do the dirty political work of compromise instead of just demonizing each other and screaming “racist” and “extremist” at the other side, we can drain some of the poison from the system.
Yes, I know, I’m a naïve Pollyanna.
But maybe this is really one last golden chance to save the American Experiment from flushing itself down the drain.
Published in General
Naïve Pollyannaishness (is that a word?) is looking attractive today. Let’s hope you’re right.
Well one thing both parties agree on is massive increases in gov’t spending and debt. This past year we’ve added more than $3 trillion in debt and still counting. So Trump or no Trump, the debt train was in high gear either way.
The argument will be where the funny money goes. The Biden/Harris Administration is going to want to use the Fed’s printing press to bail out Democratic cities and states. The Republicans will probably favor more “stimulus” checks instead, or maybe infrastructure programs. Remember when Obama’s measly $1 trillion dollar “shovel ready” stimulus was a big deal? That will now be the “conservative” alternative.
I don’t think this will do it. Look, they hate us. That really needs to sink in…they hate us. It’s not even their fault. The people who take advantage of them, they’ve told them we’re evil, morally repugnant. There is nothing satisfying as long as we exist politically.
That’s why it is a very short leap to legalizing ballot harvesting, etc., because it’s just to keep the bad people out of office. And that’s good, right? To them it is. It’s not suppression or fraud, it’s helping people.
Or…..and I mean this as a perk not a bug…….there will be unsolvable gridlock as Congress continues to NOT work together and the Senate manages to block whatever hairbrained policies the Harris, um Biden administration tries to push. This is also a good result in my opinion.
Counterpoint – despite four years of screaming “Racist” and “Nazi” at Trump and Republicans, it appears that Trump gained voteshare with every ethnic group *except* Whites. It’s going to be tough to keep selling that “Republicans are evil” story, especially with Trump not dominating the news every day.
Holding the Senate (fingers crossed) has cheered me immensely. My rationale is that AOC can spend the next two years smashing her lunatic ideas against the rocks while Cocaine Mitch smiles and says “yes yes, send me that bill and we’ll have a look.” This means no committee chair changes, no rule changes, no packing of the Supreme Court. The American people will have a nice fresh view of the idiocy and we have a semi-decent chance of retaking the house in 2022 (who here thought yesterday we’d pick up 4 seats?) and then in 2024, we are able to get a Nikki Haley, Greg Abbot, etc etc. Should the ballot stuffing in various states get the attention it deserves, we could see a severely wounded Democratic party no matter the outcome. And without their Trump Northstar to direct their hatred- what is the point of the Dems?
Sorry, Polly. If Biden wins, the Democrats will be ready on Day One to push through that fundamental transformation. Unlike Republicans in 2016, who were completely unprepared for a Trump presidency, and wasted two years muttering about how they just couldn’t work with the bad orange man.
The Dems had four years to prepare for this. (Which is how they are able to steal the election today.)
Yes. They hate us. They hate anyone who votes for Republicans. They hate us because the media has been doing a mind control project on the citizen class for a very long time. Mad Maxine said she will never forgive any black man who voted for President Trump. We are far beyond deplorable to them. We are spawn of Satan. (Which, once again, is projection on their part.)
For the moment I’m just thankful it looks as if we don’t have the runaway that would have enabled the progressive Left to bully Biden into packing the court and creating new states. I think we got some really sound court appointments from President Trump and if the Left will calm down a little for a couple of years I think they should be able to live with a court deciding cases following constitutional principles.
You know, when Obama was elected after 8 years of “Bush is Hitler!” (and a really nasty campaign in which it was not unusual to see Sarah Palin burned in effigy), I thought, well at least now that Obama is elected, the left will stop being so crazy-angry all the time.
But they just got angrier. And crazier.
Even if Biden wins, the left will not stop trying to destroy us. As Jon once wrote: “the left won the culture war and are now wandering the countryside, shooting the wounded.”
They will continue until we are dead. Actual politicians speak of us as needing to be rounded up and put in concentration camps. Completely irresponsible rhetoric. And yet they do it. How can I share a nation with those people?
Oh how quickly we forget “Bush/Hitler”. @chriso is right. It doesn’t matter who has the R behind their name. They will call you racist, etc., etc. You don’t even have to be white, as Joy Reid proved with her “Uncle Clarence” comment about Thomas, a freaking Supreme Court Judge.
Sorry. Ain’t gonna happen. We’ve got to keep our fightin’ gloves on.
and the idiocy the American people will see is:
because that is what the press will direct them to see. Republicans have this bizarre notion that holding actions are a good thing. It’s not.
fingers down throat and hacking.
Surely, that is what the press will show.
Oh, I don’t know. Money. Power. Maybe? They’re good at both and Republicans haven’t a clue.
I don’t think your point runs counter to mine. Donald Trump managed to cut into that narrative. Now, it is up to you and me to continue the work.
The poison has (likely) just been elected with a “mandate” from the people. I don’t see how rewarding poison with power is going to make anything better.
And why is that? We have to remember that left wing policies don’t actually work. They are based on a false view of human nature and economics. But they are held with religious faith. So when they don’t work, the only conclusion can be that counter-revolutionaries must have thwarted the well-meaning efforts of progressives. They must be rooted out. So, to borrow from Marx, there is a dialectic here: Leftists gain power, fail, seize more power to repress the alleged reactionaries, fail some more, seize more power, etc.
Eric Hoffer wrote that progressive movements can get along without a God, but not without a devil. You are the devil.
Is your name HangOn meant ironically? Because the point by point refutation of my post sure makes it seems like you’ve given up. I didn’t say a holding action is good. I’m saying it’s better than be enveloped by a blue wave.
HA! @drewinwisconsin, I see we were having the same thoughts at the same time.
Oh, I haven’t given up. I simply think you’re handing out bad advice.
I don’t agree that “mandate” is the word to describe an election this close. Trump had more of an electoral mandate for his term but was thwarted by the ‘swamp’. If Republicans hold the Senate with the Supreme Court we now have, the poison does’t have much power.
What mandate? Biden was supposed to carry the popular vote by 8 points, and the EC by about 100. Runnign against arguable the least popular President in modern history, he’ll barely squeak in and he lost seats in the House. He can’t get anything through the Senate that Cocaine Mitch doesn’t like (and I hope we’re at least tripling McConnel’s security detail). Nobody on either side can plausibly claim a mandate.
Eh, you’ll be fine.
Get to know some leftists and you’ll be far less worried. My neighbors, for example, nicest people in the world. Huge lefties – planned parenthood supporters, blm signs, the works. We avoid political discussions and get along great – help each other with all kinds of things all the time. They’re always getting things for the kids. We look after their pets when they leave town. In the summer, they show movies projected on their garage wall and invite a bunch of neighbors to come watch.
It’s very easy to share a nation with these people. Easy to share a block with them.
Plus, if the Senate holds, it will be very difficult for them to shove through any kind of agenda.
I know plenty, and they make no secret of the fact that they hate all conservatives.
My best friend is liberal. He knows my politics. We’ve known each other since Little League. We’ve worked together, coached together, shared our whole lives. I have his back, he has mine, just not in this particular arena, and that’s fine.
But…I have friends that do the same as you describe. They’re probably not aware of my politics, or at least weren’t until we put two Trump-Pence signs in our yard. Still, those didn’t show up on Facebook (to my knowledge), so most remain unaware and clearly feel no hesitation in expressing their view of Republicans in vile terms.
That’s their problem, not mine.
Right. I’ve been shocked to see what some of my lifelong friends have posted about conservatives and/or Trump supporters on Facebook. Since the internet connects directly to the id, I assume this is how they really feel.
My rule is to never post anything political to Facebook, tempting as it is. Because my friendships are important. They have no such scruples. I have been tempted, however, to respond to one of their screeds with “So, this is how you really feel about me?” just to see how they’d respond.
I know, right? Oh, that temptation…but the momentary satisfaction of that, as you indicate, could bring a halt to an important friendship. That’s why I say it’s their problem. In general, it just seems like they haven’t given any depth to their political thought and taken the emotionally-gratifying pill of soma that D’s offer.
I have friends that do know my politics (and used to share them), who have gone pretty much full commie over the past couple years.
I haven’t been on facebook in three days because I just don’t want to engage.
But will they help defend you and your family and your house from BLM/Antifa? I wouldn’t count on it.
I use the “30-day mute” feature on several friends.
I’ve been using that for about the last 90 to 120 days on a couple former co-workers. Just renewed it on them last week.
I get the post as a ‘lay of the land’ type of thing but are you stating that Trump should just concede because of those factors (Senate, the Supreme Court & addition of a couple House seats)?
No way we should concede a damn thing. If Supreme Court decides it in our favor and they riot, tough.
If Trump loses, I hope he appoints. a Special Investigator on the Bidens on his way out.