US Mid-Term Elections

[Apech]

Anyone care to explain to a concerned Brit. why there was such a big Republican vote? I assume we now have a lame duck president and just wait a couple of years for a republican president????

 

 

[soaring crane]

My prediction re Republican president: they'll field a bunch of unelectable screwballs who will then proceed to tear each other apart in the primaries. The Democrat wins by default again. That'll presumably be Hillary.

 

The Republican Senate win this time was not quite as dramatic as it's been played up in the press. It will probably go back to the Democrats in two years.

 

However, in a one-party system, none of this makes much difference to the ordinary citizens. The most significant thing of all are the Supreme Court appointments. There should be a couple vacancies soon.

[dust]

As a fellow Brit, I haven't much idea, but it seems fairly...mathematical.

 

 

For the Senate, of 33 seats up this year, Republicans gained 7 from Democrats.

 

4 incumbent Democrats retired, 1 withdrew, and in 4 of these cases Republicans gained the seat.

I don't know, but it seems plausible that an existing Republican opposition had a fair following in each case (enough to beat a lesser-known Democrat?). People really seem to like Joni Ernst in Iowa. Possibly because of pig penises.

 

In 3 states (Arkansas, Colorado, North Carolina), incumbent Democrats lost re-election.

And.. none of these states are particularly surprising red votes.. are they?

 

In Arkansas, the losing Democrat this year ran unopposed (by a Republican) in 2008 and still only got 80% of the vote. And the Republican winner this year is a young Harvard-educated Protestant Iraq & Afghanistan war vet, so... not entirely a shock that he did well?

 

In all, as SC says, it doesn't seem such a huge "coup" as the news is making it out to be.

 

P.S.

John Oliver has also pointed out on his show that 25% of State Legislature seats are unopposed this year. Democracy at work!

Just look at 2012: http://ballotpedia.org/Candidates_with_no_general_election_opposition_in_2012_state_legislative_elections

[zerostao]

west virginia elected a republican senator for the first time in over 50 years,

washington state re-elected a democrat, but he is actually dead. well he is/was? merely a state legislature so maybe no one will notice.

52% voted in alaska to legalize weed

54% in oregon voted to legalize weed

57% in florida voted to allow medical marijuana but no it is not going to happen

a tidbit for marblehead , there are zero atheists in the us congress

 

the real winner of this election is "dark money" that mysteriously shapes election outcomes and has no known origin

 

edit>>hillary could be up against jeb in '16, its true the gene pool is just so small here in usa we either have to have a clinton or a bush running things..

we should just clone mccain and cheney so even more perpetual wars can be started

most likely it is the corporatists and the banksters who won

the economy is the issue? jobs? well if you are a gun for hire, your in luck these days, lots of work available

Edited November 6, 2014 by zerostao

[Marblehead]

a tidbit for marblehead , there are zero atheists in the us congress

Well, I'm not going to run just to change the ratio.

[Marblehead]

Anyone care to explain to a concerned Brit. why there was such a big Republican vote? I assume we now have a lame duck president and just wait a couple of years for a republican president????

It just shows that a majority of Americans are unhappy with what our government has been doing for the past 6 years. They want change. So we change politicians. Doesn't mean anything though because nothing will really change.

 

Yes, Obama is now a lame duck. But he has always been flightless anyhow.

[Brian]

It just shows that a majority of Americans are unhappy with what our government has been doing for the past 6 years. They want change. So we change politicians. Doesn't mean anything though because nothing will really change.

 

Yes, Obama is now a lame duck. But he has always been flightless anyhow.

With no more elections on his horizon, this also means he is unfettered. Expect many more strokes of his pen and uses of his phone in the next two years...

[Apech]

Obama seemed to start out being for some kind of progressive agenda, ending wars, getting some kind of vision for the future that supported people ... but now he is just Mr. Dronestrikes ... I think he got scared by the far right and tried to shift in their direction completely losing his way. He's clearly an intelligent man ... especially compared to George W. (who wouldn't be) ... but somehow this is a disadvantage ... people like certainty ... they don't like to see someone uncertain or 'visibly' thinking about what to do. There's too much focus group/ spin going on. Anyway that's what it looks like from my distant viewpoint.

[Chang]

My own view is that it really matters not who comes to power in America or for that matter the U.K.

 

The one thing that you may be sure of is that they will have their own agenda and that will probably be very different from the hopes of the people they represent.

[Marblehead]

The one thing that you may be sure of is that they will have their own agenda ...

Yes, their own personal benefit. Sad that most do not represent the people any more but rather represent their own personal greed. (Yes, I am biased. I am, afterall, an Anarchist.)

[Brian]

I see it completely differently, Apech.

 

As I see it, Obama is the most radical ideologue to ever occupy the White House. He came in with the stated objective of fundamentally transforming the Union and was very clear that his transformation largely hinged on replacing the US Constitution with the Communist Manifesto. He has taken every opportunity to sink poisoned barbs into as many aspects of society as possible. He is openly contemptuous of Congress, of the Supreme Court, of rule of law and of the Constitution. He continually says, in effect, that he doesn't care what authority he is supposed to wield -- he is going to do whatever he wants to do and just try to stop him. He has been ordered by the Court to reverse course and he has ignored that order. He has demanded Congress pass certain laws and, when they refuse, he just does it anyhow. He has unconstitutionally inserted military force in more nations than W even dreamed of doing. He has taken every opportunity to attempt to divide the nation on racial grounds. He blithely rewrites laws at his pleasure in direct violation of his oath of office. He is intentionally crashing the healthcare system in order to force a nationalized single-payer replacement. He openly stated that his energy plan will cause prices "to necessarily skyrocket" and his actions reveal his intent was sincere. He rules with royal prerogative and uses the power of the Federal government to intimidate those who challenge him. He has magnified the offenses for which Nixon was impeached.

 

Personally, I believe his secret desire is to be recorded in the history books as the one who ended this republican union of sovereign states.

 

The fact that the political establishment wrings its collective hands and laments being powerless to stop him while actively abetting him is even more disturbing than that one Alinskyite's actions. It is like watching professional wrestling...

[Chang]

Does this mean he did not get your vote?

[Brian]

Does this mean he did not get your vote?

 

Actually, I donated to his campaign in 2007 -- the only political candidate to whom I have EVER given money. Then I did my own research...

 

Anyone who wishes to understand his political perspective should read Saul Alinsky's two seminal works, Reveille for Radicals, published in 1946 (by the University of Chicago), and Rules for Radicals, published in 1971 (which he wanted to call Rules for Revolutionaries but Random House wouldn't publish it with that title). Obama lives by Alinsky's guidance, taught Alinsky's philosophies and tactics in Chicago during his early days as a "Community Organizer" (a term Alinsky coined in his book as a euphemism for "Communist Party Leader"), and said that his training at Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation was more important in shaping who he is than was his time at Harvard Law School.

[zerostao]

corporatism not communism is what has poisoned america.

"He is openly contemptuous of Congress, of the Supreme Court" they all sell out to the corporatists and the banksters.

what is the difference between these congressmen or judges than mercenaries? playing for the highest bidder?

corporations and money have the rights that people used to have under the constitution and the constitution was replaced as the rule of law way before obama took office. i am no fan of obama, but its easy to use him as a scapegoat and blame him for things that were going on previous to his administration. its funny what marblehead said about the citizens wanting "change"

we were all promised change (and transparency! too funny) in 2008, were we not?

bottom line all these guys are POLITICIANS who are in it for their own personal gain, its a game.

none is better than another when they all bow down to corporatists and banksters

[Brian]

Read those two books I mention above, zerostao, if you haven't. Bear in mind as you are reading them that Obama has acknowledged this is his life philosophy and life's work. Most of our current crop of politicians are opportunistic slimeballs seeking personal gain and self-aggrandizement but Obama (and the handful of other dyed-in-the-wool Alinskyites in positions of power) view themselves is a very different light. To view him as just another bungling corporatist sell-out is to miss the wolf in sheep's clothing (which is precisely what the Kabuki theater is all about...)

[Apech]

I see it completely differently, Apech.

 

As I see it, Obama is the most radical ideologue to ever occupy the White House. He came in with the stated objective of fundamentally transforming the Union and was very clear that his transformation largely hinged on replacing the US Constitution with the Communist Manifesto.

...snip...

 

Here are the demands of the Communist Manifesto:

 

Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Abolition of all right of inheritance.

Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.

Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.

Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form and combination of education with industrial production.

 

... which of these did he introduce or try to introduce?

[Marblehead]

I would like to remind Y'all that I think my country is headed toward Fascism, not Communism. And Obama has supported this movement in nearly everything he has done.

[Chang]

Pity Clinton can't come back for a third term. He could beat all the others "pants down."

[ralis]

I would like to remind Y'all that I think my country is headed toward Fascism, not Communism. And Obama has supported this movement in nearly everything he has done.

 

Fascism is clearly a right wing movement and history supports my statement. I have thoroughly studied the historical documents.

[Brian]

Every single one of them, actually. Baby-steps in some and many had already begun under his predecessors (tracing back to Woodrow Wilson, actually, but with roots in Teddy Roosevelt's administration) but he has pushed the envelope on each of the ten pillars. Every one of them is core to his rhetoric and his action. When asked how his politics differed from Marxism, his response was that he thought Marxism had gotten a bad reputation.

 

What we are seeing in the US is an increased stratification in which the populace is divided into three groups -- the ruling elite, the masses, and the enemies. This is straight Alinskyism -- Alinsky taught that only the communist revolutionary is capable of rational thought, that their political opposition should be ruthlessly destroyed by any means necessary and without the baggage of ethics or morality, and that the masses are to be viewed quite literally as cannon fodder.

[Apech]

We always seem to come to this point, that when discussing American politics the words communist and fascist get used without any clear justification. I think this is because in America the word 'communist' is just an insult or is used for anyone of the political 'left'.

 

For instance I found this definition of communism:

 

"a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs."

 

I'm not saying it is complete ... but for instance to say Obama is a communist you would have to show that he believes in collective ownership of the means of production and so on.

 

I don't think he does, does he?

[ralis]

corporatism not communism is what has poisoned america.

"He is openly contemptuous of Congress, of the Supreme Court" they all sell out to the corporatists and the banksters.

what is the difference between these congressmen or judges than mercenaries? playing for the highest bidder?

corporations and money have the rights that people used to have under the constitution and the constitution was replaced as the rule of law way before obama took office. i am no fan of obama, but its easy to use him as a scapegoat and blame him for things that were going on previous to his administration. its funny what marblehead said about the citizens wanting "change"

we were all promised change (and transparency! too funny) in 2008, were we not?

bottom line all these guys are POLITICIANS who are in it for their own personal gain, its a game.

none is better than another when they all bow down to corporatists and banksters

 

You just described fascism which is the fusion of corporate and government. The corporate elite have bought and paid for this entire government. 'Citizens United' ruling by SCOTUS allowed massive amounts of 'dark money' to flow into the recent elections at the very last minute.

[Brian]

 

Fascism is clearly a right wing movement and history supports my statement. I have thoroughly studied the historical documents.

That's a late 20th century reinterpretation of the terms, a reinterpretation perpetrated by those who seek to obscure the common roots and characteristics. The origin of the reinterpretation was a left-wing effort to distance themselves from their earlier support of Hitler and Mussolini AFTER the horrors became apparent. It is Orwellian newspeak, propagated today by Alinskyites.

[ralis]

We always seem to come to this point, that when discussing American politics the words communist and fascist get used without any clear justification. I think this is because in America the word 'communist' is just an insult or is used for anyone of the political 'left'.

 

For instance I found this definition of communism:

 

"a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs."

 

I'm not saying it is complete ... but for instance to say Obama is a communist you would have to show that he believes in collective ownership of the means of production and so on.

 

I don't think he does, does he?

 

There has been much pseudo academic nonsense written by certain right wing writers. Such writings have stated that fascism is actually communism/socialism which is clearly a lie. Furthermore, there is a very dangerous meme among right wing groups that Obama is a dictator who has exceeded his authority. That is a bald faced lie which is nothing more than a fear tactic.

[Marblehead]

"a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs."

And this is fairy tale land. Property is owned by those in power and that has proven itself many times over.

 

Fascism, on the other hand, property is owned by corporations which are owned by the politically powerful.