I don't do politics here (but am today) and I don't comment on political posts that other bloggers publish as I don't know enough about their countries politics, but I would like to know what your opinion is on this question please.
Q: why is it that Biden is seemingly so unpopular and splitting the
country, at least according to the UK media over the holiday period,
even to the point of some saying civil war could become a reality (loony
talk surely) and, sorry, why doesn't his running mate Kamala Harris
ever speak up, is she being held back so as not to overshadow Biden or
is she just biding her time?
So whats your option, in as few words as possible (please no ranting or swearing) as I can't figure it out? I thought our politics were a mess:)
Stay safe.
Have a fun weekend.
Ronnie
xx
18 comments:
Civil war? Surely (hopefully) not? Good questions Ronnie. I think I'll leave it to our American friends to comment.
Hugs
Roz
In as few words as possible????? Well, this is a pretty complex issue but I'll give it a try: people are stupid. ;-)
In slightly more words though, there are several issues: politics in the US right now is extremely polarized and tribal. If a Democrat solved every problem Republicans would still revile him. If a Republican solved everything the Democrats would still denounce him. The other issue is that people have become lazy and naive thinking that just because they voted someone in, everything should then be perfect instantly, without any understanding of what is necessary to make that happen in reality. In Biden's case, HE was voted in, but his working majority is tenuous, so without any support from Republicans....which he was counting on as a moderate but didn't get, it is hard to pass anything. And lastly, see my point above. It can't be underestimated.
As for Harris? I did a post on her back when she was announced as Biden's VP. She has issues and I think she would do more harm than good if she was made more visible. I believe Biden's people understand that. It's not nearly the first or only time a VP was kept in the shadows so it's actually not as unusual as it seems.
I think any democrat in office would get the same treatment as Biden. It is not about Biden, it is Trump supporters believe Trump that the election was rigged. The truth is not what they want to hear, they are listening to Trump. I have traveled overseas and expecially in the past five or six years, give yourself credit, you know more about our politics than those who live in the U.S. I was asked how did Trump get elected, why don't you have more women in higher positions, all very good questions. I answered the best I could. Overseas knows more about our government than people living here do. Jack
When Donald Trump was in office, I watched in horror as he alienated most of our WWII and Cold War allies in favor of placating the Russian hardliners, who seem to want a a return to the Soviet Union with the United States as its western annex.
I think it will take more than Mr. Biden to undo the damage that his predecessor did... if it can be undone at all.
The Republicans are hastily passing new voting laws, seemingly based on soviet models... and I don't know if we will even have a free country after the next election.
I won't comment on other responses. Biden has tremendous baggage as does K. Harris. It really comes down to character. He has issues with honesty; as an elected politician he has sold his office to the highest bidder. Most, if not all of the baggage has to do with corruption and lies. Biden has lied all of his years as an elected member of our congress. Made up stories which cannot be verified. At one point he claimed his wealth to be $30,000 dollars before he was elected Vice President. When he left that office he was a multi-million dollar millionaire!
Biden has a lot of problems dragging his popularity down.
- The economy has stagnated and he has an inflation problem on his hands, the worst since the 1970s. Gas and food prices have gone up considerably in his first year. Supply chain issues have emerged, and participation in the labor force has also dropped.
- The Afghanistan withdrawal ended his honeymoon with the public. Regardless of whether it was or was not prudent to leave, he was viewed as handling it very poorly and over a dozen American Marines lost their lives, in addition to hundreds of Afghan civilians. Images of Afghans falling off planes leaving Kabul made the rounds, and Biden received blame. There were reports that the British and French did more to ensure American civilians escaped the country than our own State Department. They recently admitted in testimony to Congress that they still don't know how many Americans remain in Afghanistan.
- His legislative agenda remains stalled in Congress. He has been unable to even keep his own caucus in line, much less overcome the Republican opposition. It is viewed by some as a failure of leadership, and he is is mortal danger of becoming a lame duck legislatively following the November 2022 midterm election, as it is highly likely his party will lose control of at least one chamber in Congress, possibly both.
- The mass migration crisis on the southern border continues to go largely unaddressed.
- He ran vowing to shut down the coronavirus. We now sit in the largest spike recorded. Rightly or not, he is getting at least some of the blame and his COVID policies are viewed by a growing segment of the population as authoritarian AND ineffective.
- The federalist system gives the individual states a degree of internal semi-automomy, so the states that oppose him will naturally be more and more brazen in defying his attempts to impose nationwide policies on them. The same happens under any President. So instead of the Opposition to the Government being largely confined to the Legislature like under the Westminster System, it is more spread out and harder to overlook. Think if there were 50 Scotlands and Wales in the UK and you'd have a closer idea as to how much of a mess it can become if a President offends what the Opposition-controlled states view as their rights and prerogatives.
With regards to Harris, I think you overestimate the authority of the Vice Presidency. There was a reason John Adams called it "the most irrelevant office ever devised by man." The Vice President has no enumerated powers or duties beyond replacing the President if he is unable to perform the functions of his office (via incapacity, resignation, or death) and to break ties in the Senate. Any other executive authority she exercises is solely at the President's discretion and can be revoked immediately. A defiant Vice President will swiftly be sidelined.
The US is in a mess right now, and as a Canadian, I can only look on in horror. Jack is right, the Trumpists would hate any Democratic president. Trump has made the worst character flaws in people totally unacceptable, and there is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. The Republican party is in shambles, shamelessly kissing Trump's "ring". Poor Joe never had a chance, even though he is a decent man.
I think a civil war is inevitable.
Hugs,
Hermione
Biden is unfortunately swimming upstream without a lot of the support he deserves.The Trumpians are just an unhinged bunch of haters. It'll take decades to undo what they've done to a once proud country.
And as to the VP.....like most of them, it's a 'he also serves who sits and waits' position.
Hi Ronnie, I'm a long time reader and you seem to be asking sincerely so here goes! I am a conservative, a position which has been widely demonized here and (sadly) even among your readership. The political situation in the US has become terribly polarized. No longer are we allowed to politely disagree with one another, we must be insulted and defamed. I originally was a Democrat, in fact I voted for McGovern in the first election I was eligible to vote. I grew up in Washington DC and spent my teenage years demonstrating against the war in Vietnam. However, in my late 20's and having two children at that time, I realized I was Pro-Life. At that point I realized I was no longer welcome in the Democratic party and I voted Republican for the first time. During the 2016 Primary season, I did not like Trump, I was for Marco Rubio. Trump's personality was a turn-off for me. But as he became the nominee I voted for him. During his Presidency I came to appreciate him more and more. Again, not his personality. How he managed to stand against the onslaught the mainstream media together with the Democratic party threw at him, I will never know! In 2020 I voted for Trump enthusiastically. I am not for bigger and bigger government, swallowing more and more of our freedoms and God given rights! I am sick of being called a racist if I don't accept "Progressive" ideology! Having spent years in a multicultural church and being a very proud grandmother to my beautiful brown grandchildren, it's annoying! Half the country has had it up to here with the Democrats and we vote!
As for Biden, I have no respect for him at all. He has been caught lying his whole political career. He is in obvious cognitive decline and is like a puppet for the forces seeking to destroy (they call it "transform") America. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was shameful. Government is corrupt. Shall I go on?
So perhaps I have given you a glimpse of how half of America is feeling.
I think it is unfortunate how much politics has damaged even this blogging community, when we share so much in common. For instance, PK, whose blog I read regularly, calls me a hater and a bigot who should crawl under a rock! Lovely.
I had a migraine before I read this post. It's worse now.
*waits for Erica Scott to show up*
:)
Did someone mention me?
(sigh) For you, Ronnie, I will keep it brief and I will refrain from swearing. I happen to believe that Biden could have hung the moon and the stars and shot rainbows out his... ears... and it wouldn't have mattered. He is but one man, he can only do so much, and he was left with a disastrous mess by The Former Guy. Is he perfect? No. But he cares and his heart and ideas are in the right place. Also, every single thing he's tried to do has been sabotaged and stymied, both by the GOP and a couple of rogue members of his own party. In spite of all that, he's gotten a lot done in a year. And I think the endless criticism is a disgrace.
Any conversation regarding the most recent administration past and the current administration that speaks of lies, character and unfounded stories is pretty dumfounding. Are we headed towards a civil/racial war? It's been lining up that way, however that started with Trump and his grinding on the birtherism pole. Biden has been strapped by the highest level of obstructionism any President has faced in the last 20 years. We are living Voltaire's quote..."Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Jan6th 2021 was the foretelling of this reality.
Having been the first to weigh in, I find the subsequent array of comments to be very telling. I'm sure just looking at them answers your question. What I would like to call your attention to though is, if you look and count, you'll find around 6 or 7 of the comments from Americans are split relatively evenly on which side to blame, which party to blame, which president to blame. It is important to realize that as bad as things are and as bad as they can get, we are still functioning as a democratic republic.....meaning anyone currently in office, or previously in office, were put there by people. Not one took over with an army by force.
What I'm getting at is that whatever we have going on is going on because people want it to. They supported it, voted for it, defend it. Even the media which is getting its share of criticism operates as a business that would change with the desires of the people tuning in or out. And yet? Let's blame the one guy (whoever you wish him to be) as the culprit. Sorry, but it's not that easy.
Any American looking for someone to blame for this mess needs only to look in the mirror.
Hi Ronny,
The comments above are not wrong but they failed to identify the real dynamic driving the unrest –and in so doing miss much of the bigger picture. First Biden’s popularity is strongly corrected with the tribal divisions fracturing American society. It is not a personal popularity per se as much as a proxy for relative support for Democrat versus Republican parties. Second we are not heading for a civil war despite the hyperbole. It is a tense, contentions and nasty time in American politics but we have been through other divisive moments short of the Civil War itself . Another civil war is simply not logistical possible although scattered militias could operate in a worst case scenario (as they have before). And indeed a coup is possible and some believe we came close to that last January. (I am not one of them)
What is really happening and actually driving the political angst is the pace of cultural, economic and social change the nation is experiencing. It is unprecedented and is leaving many folks felling left being, alienated and angry. Thais is not uniquely an American problem but its impact in America may be unique because the country has lagged behind much of Europe (and Canada) especially in transformation of cultural norms and social values.
Trump who gets much of the blame for the militancy and much as much of the credit for it is really a catalyst for the eruption of conflict that has ensued. If not Trump, someone else would have played his role.
How long it will last is the province of crystal balls but it’s likely to go on for a while. Demographics are influencing which side of the change divide one is on with younger generations (say 45 and younger) leading the cultural and social change movements and older folks (say 55 and older) resisting it. If the trends hold it is likely that some of the resistance to change will age out but not disappear
In the meantime, politicians will come and go, movements will rise and decline and ultimately change which seems an Iron law of life will prevail in one form or another, Eventually the US will become once again the staid, somewhat boring, conservative tilting country, it has always been and we always used to love
Alan
Thanks everyone who responded to my ask for a help-out with understanding US politics.
Some great insights and points of view and some anecdotal stuff which always helps although I have to admit if I had an American vote right now I don't think I'd know which way to go. The thought of us here having so many states each with individual leadership made me smile it's bad enough with just three. And yes thinking about it, 'deputies' are an ornament, our own Dominic Raab a perfect example. But there's a lot of vitriol and bile which is too hard for me to understand, it was pretty divisive here when we had the Brexit nonsense but I think it's worse over there.
To me the saddest thing is when people, family, friends can't at least exchange points of view civilly without getting plain nasty when intelligent reasoning has gone.
Love,
Ronnie
xx
It isn't only about America!!!
People from most of the economically developed world are scared because the new economy requires more and more skilled workers, and that evolution is developing faster and faster. Those coming from lesser educated backgrounds are no longer able to work at the factory like their parents, because factories require less and less unskilled workforce. They now require workers able to operate robots, and that's impossible for those who don't have a minimum of education.
A few examples; Fully automated supermarkets opening 7/7 and 24h which will kill the smaller supermarkets. Fully automated public transports, tramways and subways. Fully automated pizza kiosks. Farms with a thousand cows and fully automated milking. Around the corner, driver-less trucks, taxis.
Increased immigration from the south with people who will have a better living with only minimum wages from non-skilled tasks. Those migrant workers competing with national unskilled workers means lower and lower wages because less and less unskilled jobs and more an more unskilled workers.
The impossible demographic equation of the aging population of the economically developed world means the need of migrants to keep their economy going so has to be able to pay for their retirement and healthcare.
Not to forget: climate change means cleaner energy therefore pricier. China, India and Indonesia will soon be the dominating economies.
Therefore you have plenty of people ready to listen to whatever reassures them such as stop all those robots, stop immigration, forget the climate change. The makes them feel good. They don't have the skills to understand that it is utter stupidity or worse they vaguely understand that there's no hope for them.
And you have plenty of politicians ready to feed them what they want so has to be in power...
B
America is in very real danger of a civil war. The Republican party has fully embraced an alternative reality; over 2/3 of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen by Biden (despite these claims being rejected by every judge they were brought to, including judges appointed by Trump). Republicans get their news (if you can call it that) from Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, or by even more pro-Trump outlets. If you read back on the Republicans' comments here about how corrupt Biden is, you can see they have fully drunk the Kool Ade. Biden is one of the least corrupt politicians we have had as President (certainly less corrupt than Trump and his administration, which was one of the most corrupt ever).
The fundamental problem is that the Republican Party's policies are generally unpopular. Most people like the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"--essentially government guaranteed health insurance), most people support higher taxes on the wealthy, most people are against banning all abortions, etc. So the Republicans can't get people to vote for them by trumpeting their policies, so all that is left is demonizing the Democrats.
And fixing elections. In response to Republican officials certifying that Biden won various close races in their states (notably Arizona and Georgia), Republicans in state legislatures have passed laws giving themselves the authority in future elections to be the final arbiter in election disputes. This means that the Republicans in those states can potentially overturn the results of their State's voters and cast their State's electoral votes for the Republican.
And the military is largely Republican. As are almost all the gun nuts in this country.
So what happens in 2024 if Trump (or another Republican) loses the election, but Republicans in enough state legislatures vote to give their states' electoral votes to the Republican anyways to give him a majority? Will Congress (which may well be in Republican hands in 2024) accept that? Probably. Will Biden? Tough call. Will the Supreme Court intervene? The Republicans hold a 6-3 majority there; in 2000 they intervened with a 5-4 majority to give George W Bush (the Republican) the Presidency; it's hard to see them not seizing the opportunity again, given the chance.
I think it's very unlikely that the Democrat-majority states will just quietly acquiesce to this putsch, though I'm not sure we will be able to put up much of a fight.
It really all comes down to what the military will do, and I honestly don't know what that is.
We are very close to civil war.
As to why Biden is unpopular; several things. First and foremost, tribalism. Republican's now support Republicans the way people support their sports teams. They will no more approve of a Democratic president than they would the star player of a rival sports team. It doesn't matter whether he's doing a good job or not, you just don't speak well of the rival team.
Also, there are several things going wrong right now because of the pandemic, and the party in power always gets blamed for such things. Supply chain issues, gasoline prices going up, food prices going up, and inflation in general. And the Republicans have taken a strong stance against anything that can mitigate the pandemic--they hate mask and vaccine mandates. They want in-person schooling. (Most of them believe that the risk of covid is wildly overstated--that it's just the common cold. Really)
I'll be surprised if America is still a united democracy in 2030. I think we're either going to end up splitting into two or three separate countries, or we'll be a fascist state under a Republican administration.
B, Dioneo - Thank you both for commenting and giving your view. B - you make some very good points. Dioneo - Personally I don't think Trump will run again and I really hope there is no cival war.
Love,
Ronnie
xx
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