I’d switch 2 and 1 with addition of “and preen” to posture. Would change 3 to read “feather nest, reward friends, punish enemies, otherwise as little as possible”.
Actually, Democrats do useful things like extend Medicaid via Obamacare and provide vital care to millions of people. Democrats do useful things like creating the Consumer Financial Protection bureau to attempt some balance between consumers and predators in finance. Democrats try at least to hold honest investigations of treason.
Republicans do things like repeal Obamacare 60 times and then. . . not.
One party participates in government, the other lives to appear on Fox News. One party at least tries, however ineffectually, and the other party does nothing. This facile cynicism is not just factually wrong, it is bad for democracy.
It really depends. Hakeem Jeffries, my congressman, has been very involved in trying to deal with the total clusterfuck of the Sandy rebuild. He’s an actual politician–ambitious and glib but with real ties to his community and actual empathy and understanding. He’s always out there, and his office is always out there.
And as Michael says, and as common sense says, the Democrats on a national level actually try to do things aside from cutting taxes.
Actually American Democrats are not nearly as liberal/left as UK
leftists on the subject of treason.
The latter at least put Tony Bliar on “trial” a mock trial to be sure for war crimes and found him guilty. As a result he is at least regularly mocked by the UK public when he makes a public appearance.
American Dems might be good Elitist Russophobes, but they couldn’t even put Bush and Cheney’s gang on a mock trial by way of expressing any real anti-Elite politics.
@Modulo Myself
… the total clusterfuck of the Sandy rebuild. …
I feel for you and the people up there. Having a lot or all of everything you own piled up on the curb waiting for the garbage and other cleanup crews to take it away is something that is indescribable. I doubt that you, your neighbors, or the community will ever be the same.
I am not a government loving person, but just because the government is bad, free-market capitalism is not quite as wonderful as the free-market capitalism of the Right’s wet dreams.
For those who have never gone through something like this, you have no idea of what it is like. There is plenty of free-market capitalism to go around, but it ain’t like anything you have ever imagined.
Because there is an overwhelming amount of destruction, the pre-disaster resources are swamped. There are not enough roofers, other assorted craftspersons, and contractors to go around, and the free-market capitalists are mostly snakes, hyena, wolves just like any other predator.
You see, requiring licenses with reasonable criteria, requiring timely building permits, requiring building codes, etc. originally had a reason for being created. I would be interested in having a free-market capitalist explain to me how not to get f*cked over by every sh*thead within 500 miles.
I was lucky that I had some resources to wait for the people who were part of the community. I know of a lot of people who hired whomever they could get. A lot of construction companies that were owned by people with no building experience popped-up – used car salesmen, truckers, fast-food managers. Anybody who could get a construction looking truck, magnetic door signs, and some building tools was suddenly a building contractor.
Besides the fact that they had no idea of what they were doing, many of them would steal the on-site building supplies after dark. This is free-market capitalism at work. According to the theory, the disreputable builders are supposed to go out of business or improve because nobody will do business with them.
It is a really nice theory, but you should try it sometime. There is an assumption that the businesses have any intention of existing once the work is complete, and those that do might be several states away. There is a market full of unlicensed re-building companies, and they do not bother building to the code that they are clueless to the standards required.
They drive through the destroyed neighborhoods, and they offer to work for anybody who will hire them. You negotiate a price, and they just get to work. And, they do not bother with a building permit.
The government is just as worthless. In order to stop fraud, waste, and abuse, there are two tons of arcane rules, inane requirements, and roadblocks. For flood insurance, you are supposed to reuse the kitchen counter if there was no water damage, and there was no provisions for matching upper and lower cabinets. My favorite was when they told me not to bother them until after I had the work done, and at then, they would consider adjusting their original assessment.
The other alphabet soup of federal agencies (my favorites – FEMA and the SBA) are useless. The local government is worthless, also. One person’s disaster is another’s opportunity to transform the community, and their dream probably has no place for the undesirables (poor and minorities).
Like I said earlier, @Modulo Myself I feel for you and your community.
I don’t know if it’s sad or funny that some can convince themselves that all the angels line up to run for the Democrat party and the devils for the Republican Party. I thought people progressed past kindergarten notions at a younger age.
Tasty. Extreme conditions, or singularities, aren’t a good test of any economic system designed for relatively normal day to day activities. In fact, they are one of the cases for collective action.
BTW – I had commented on the Florida DMV a while back. Things only got worse with time. Paper systems. Rigid, check off the box, attitudes and procedures. FL can’t talk to IL. I had an English speaking employee in round two so I decided to chat her up as is my want. Nice person. I asked her if the incredible paper and diligence pile was illegal immigration driven. Nope. Just the way it is………….since the model T, I suspect.
I’d switch 2 and 1 with addition of “and preen” to posture. Would change 3 to read “feather nest, reward friends, punish enemies, otherwise as little as possible”.
Actually, Democrats do useful things like extend Medicaid via Obamacare and provide vital care to millions of people. Democrats do useful things like creating the Consumer Financial Protection bureau to attempt some balance between consumers and predators in finance. Democrats try at least to hold honest investigations of treason.
Republicans do things like repeal Obamacare 60 times and then. . . not.
One party participates in government, the other lives to appear on Fox News. One party at least tries, however ineffectually, and the other party does nothing. This facile cynicism is not just factually wrong, it is bad for democracy.
It really depends. Hakeem Jeffries, my congressman, has been very involved in trying to deal with the total clusterfuck of the Sandy rebuild. He’s an actual politician–ambitious and glib but with real ties to his community and actual empathy and understanding. He’s always out there, and his office is always out there.
And as Michael says, and as common sense says, the Democrats on a national level actually try to do things aside from cutting taxes.
Actually American Democrats are not nearly as liberal/left as UK
leftists on the subject of treason.
The latter at least put Tony Bliar on “trial” a mock trial to be sure for war crimes and found him guilty. As a result he is at least regularly mocked by the UK public when he makes a public appearance.
American Dems might be good Elitist Russophobes, but they couldn’t even put Bush and Cheney’s gang on a mock trial by way of expressing any real anti-Elite politics.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/03/24/russophobia-symptom-us-implosion.html
@Modulo Myself
… the total clusterfuck of the Sandy rebuild. …
I feel for you and the people up there. Having a lot or all of everything you own piled up on the curb waiting for the garbage and other cleanup crews to take it away is something that is indescribable. I doubt that you, your neighbors, or the community will ever be the same.
I am not a government loving person, but just because the government is bad, free-market capitalism is not quite as wonderful as the free-market capitalism of the Right’s wet dreams.
For those who have never gone through something like this, you have no idea of what it is like. There is plenty of free-market capitalism to go around, but it ain’t like anything you have ever imagined.
Because there is an overwhelming amount of destruction, the pre-disaster resources are swamped. There are not enough roofers, other assorted craftspersons, and contractors to go around, and the free-market capitalists are mostly snakes, hyena, wolves just like any other predator.
You see, requiring licenses with reasonable criteria, requiring timely building permits, requiring building codes, etc. originally had a reason for being created. I would be interested in having a free-market capitalist explain to me how not to get f*cked over by every sh*thead within 500 miles.
I was lucky that I had some resources to wait for the people who were part of the community. I know of a lot of people who hired whomever they could get. A lot of construction companies that were owned by people with no building experience popped-up – used car salesmen, truckers, fast-food managers. Anybody who could get a construction looking truck, magnetic door signs, and some building tools was suddenly a building contractor.
Besides the fact that they had no idea of what they were doing, many of them would steal the on-site building supplies after dark. This is free-market capitalism at work. According to the theory, the disreputable builders are supposed to go out of business or improve because nobody will do business with them.
It is a really nice theory, but you should try it sometime. There is an assumption that the businesses have any intention of existing once the work is complete, and those that do might be several states away. There is a market full of unlicensed re-building companies, and they do not bother building to the code that they are clueless to the standards required.
They drive through the destroyed neighborhoods, and they offer to work for anybody who will hire them. You negotiate a price, and they just get to work. And, they do not bother with a building permit.
The government is just as worthless. In order to stop fraud, waste, and abuse, there are two tons of arcane rules, inane requirements, and roadblocks. For flood insurance, you are supposed to reuse the kitchen counter if there was no water damage, and there was no provisions for matching upper and lower cabinets. My favorite was when they told me not to bother them until after I had the work done, and at then, they would consider adjusting their original assessment.
The other alphabet soup of federal agencies (my favorites – FEMA and the SBA) are useless. The local government is worthless, also. One person’s disaster is another’s opportunity to transform the community, and their dream probably has no place for the undesirables (poor and minorities).
Like I said earlier, @Modulo Myself I feel for you and your community.
I don’t know if it’s sad or funny that some can convince themselves that all the angels line up to run for the Democrat party and the devils for the Republican Party. I thought people progressed past kindergarten notions at a younger age.
Tasty. Extreme conditions, or singularities, aren’t a good test of any economic system designed for relatively normal day to day activities. In fact, they are one of the cases for collective action.
BTW – I had commented on the Florida DMV a while back. Things only got worse with time. Paper systems. Rigid, check off the box, attitudes and procedures. FL can’t talk to IL. I had an English speaking employee in round two so I decided to chat her up as is my want. Nice person. I asked her if the incredible paper and diligence pile was illegal immigration driven. Nope. Just the way it is………….since the model T, I suspect.