One would prefer a Commander-in-Chief who doesn't broadcast stuff like this over Twitter in the gosh-darn AM while his
Secretary of State is "over there" saying military force is on the table. (Although
Tillerson may have just been tired at the time.) It's just a bit disconcerting. Not just for US folks--South Korea, Japan. Lots of people might be just a bit, you know. Concerned.
2 comments:
Hi Vixen, occasionally I have idly reflected that liberals might be happier in a parliamentary system. Perhaps one of the Commonwealth countries. I think this on the basis that Mrs. Clinton, for example, would have won seats in Parliament commensurate with the amount of her vote. And then there are other reasons.
Older activists in both parties make me think of a line from The Great Gatsby. Something like “He lived too long with a single dream.”
My view is that the most important thing a citizen should learn about politics is to be adaptable. As we've talked about once or twice, in the US elections are won alternately by the left and the right. There is no getting out of this dilemma. It's very yin-yang. The more forcefully one party pushes for its agenda, the more they are set up for a loss to the other party. It seems to me that if one is going to be a citizen in the US it's very important to be grounded in this fundamental truth about our politics. There is no permanent capture of the flag. Our politics is one big Macy's showcase window – as soon as the Christmas decorations have done their job, it's time to clear it out and get ready for St. Patrick's Day. The displays change with predictability through the year. There is simply no permanent victory.
I'm adaptable. I'm a native-born white girl with a solid middle-class junker rock-ribbed exoskeleton. I'm practically SM Stirling's Draka levels of adaptable. The fun thing is, my software was programmed by everybody else. For me, the SJW stuff I've blogged about for nearly ten years now isn't currently about being peeved at Team Snowflake losing the latest round of "capture the flag". It's about not allowing a thousand year reich to ever be thinking about it. The diminution of democratic institutions I'm seeing attempted isn't conducive to a nice friendly pendulum of middle-of-the road liberal vs conservative swings. These ain't Rockefeller Republicans or even Mitt Romney Republicans, these are starve the weak and infirm and reward the "winners" folks and eliminate the "others" folks that have gestated in the authoritarian-welcoming cynical anti-Christian White Christian Dominionist win at all costs nihilist set.
Don't explain my side to me or what we do or don't understand--explain why the GOP is always hugging up on white supremacy. Explain why my side is supposed to understand why discriminating against LGBT folks and figuring out clever ways to deny the vote and paths to citizenship for POCs is cool--especially when it's used to gull the WWC into thinking this regime is "on their side". Explain why an incompetent thug who describes NATO in terms of a protection racket should be ever be respected.
While you're reflecting on things idly--no electoral college would have been great and having a plurality of parliamentary seats would have suited me fine. Democrats will have to adapt, however, to how Trump treats or mistreats the counties that gave him large returns. And if we're sleeping on state legislatures and 2018, we are damn fools.
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