Remember
If the Republican tax bill passes, it will be a dark moment in our nation’s history. Truly, the fact it is even close to passing makes today a dark moment in our nation’s history. There’s not a way to describe what’s going on that doesn’t sound sappy or melodramatic.
Days like this can be very depressing and very demotivating. So let’s remember the day that Obamacare passed. Pelosi’s not perfect, Obamacare’s not perfect, but that was a great day.
Like every good liberal blogger, I’m obsessed with “The Wire”. So I will close with some approximate Jimmy McNulty: “Trumps’s an asshole. He does not get to win. WE get to win!”
Just so I’m clear, we now do NOT like heightening the contradictions, correct?
If this plan passes, every left leaning organization should make it thier cause to destroy elected Republicans, and the party itself. Perhaps that means having a distasteful centrist here and there. But if this is the contours of the battlefield, then it should be recognized as such.
Time is up on trying to liberalize the Democratic party before the fight. We will just have to wing it as we go.
@Baud:
We fucking hate them. But if they get heightened, we sure as fuck need to take advantage.
When God gives you Trump, you make Trumpade.
I wish there was more I could do. My heart is shattering.
Days like this can be very depressing and very demotivating.
No kidding.
@Baud: hey, Doug’s changed a lot since the other day when he was telling us electing a pedophile to the senate would be good news for democrats.
@Doug!:
I was told we weren’t intending to commit suicide here.
@Doug!: I like this attitude.
@Major Major Major Major: Republicans electing a pedophile. Phrasing!
@Major Major Major Major:
That’s not what I said, I said that even if that’s true, we should work our asses off for Doug Jones. And then I did posts about the race constantly.
@Major Major Major Major: I’m still hoping that was bad phrasing on his part. I want to ask how you’re doing, but this is probably not a good day to expect to hear that you are feeling less down.
Take heart Comrade! They merely hasten the day that the economy crash a’la 1929 and we get the next bite at the apple.
Can we please get a thread where all can share good news. I don’t have any myself, but I know Helen in Eire has a job offer and efgoldman is home from hospital. Hearing people I “know” are still experiencing positive things would surely cheer me up, and a clean thread for it may be helpful when all else seems to be a shit tsunami.
The cliffhanger again.
@Doug!: You have been great with the fundraising posts for Doug Jones. I am still hoping that he wins, and I am hoping that somehow this piece of shit so-called tax bill crashes and burns. I had no idea I could be this much an optimist and feel discouraged at the same time.
Maybe it’s denial and not optimism?
@TenguPhule: we didn’t say we were the ones drinking it.
Think of squeezing the juice out of Trump.
Or using a blender.
Heh.
Now let’s write imaginary adds explaining things to morons…
@Doug!: and I agree with you. We should always be thinking of how to recover and counter-attack from a loss.
If Alabama Republicans just have to have Roy Moore as thier Senator, then make the entire Republican party complicit. Make them all out to be just like those yahoos in ‘Bama until they prove otherwise.
@WaterGirl:
Look, I was pre-empting an argument in the middle of a post about how we should support Doug Jones.
Our nation’s history is made up primarily of much darker moments. Do what can be done, and if there is nothing to be done, enjoy every sandwich.
If it passes, they really do win. Which is why it probably will pass. They’ve got the voter suppression in place, and they’re in the act of putting the judges in place to uphold it.
Even if we can win big in 2018, we’re not going to win 2/3 of the House and Senate. (Which is why impeachment won’t work either). So we can’t get rid of it. As someone pointed out in an earlier thread, the real economic devastation won’t hit for 3-5 years, so the Democrats will be blamed.
I’ve always been opposed to ideas like CalExit because I believe that we have an obligation to try to protect vulnerable people in red states, which only can be done at the federal level. But if this thing passes I do really think we’re going to lose it all, thus making the Exit idea a bit more palatable.
Yeah, flowers and rainbows to everybody today! Enjoy!
@BlueDWarrior:
Thanks. I don’t think it’s crazy to say that what Republicans are doing will destroy them but we should still oppose it because it’s bad for us too.
@BlueDWarrior:
So, we will have to “left wing it” as we go?
@Emerald: the battle lines in the new revolution would be so insanely fractured that if we started redrawing the borders, it’d look more like a map of old Greek city-states than a 19th-20th century nation-state.
@Humdog:
Knowing this place folks would just trash it anyway.
@Brachiator: yeah, pretty much.
@Doug!: It’s all good. As I posted right before I saw your reply to M4, I was hoping it was just a phrasing issue. Glad to hear that’s the case.
Question: Is it too late in the game for donations to Doug Jones to help with the win? Have they already got their plan in place based on the $ they already have? Asking because I get paid tomorrow.
@Emerald:
Anyone who cares about the Democrats being blamed should be slapped with a stupid stick. What the fuck difference does it make? How does it possibly change what needs to be done?
Wait. I will answer that one for you. It changes nothing.You still have to fight. You still have to win.
And there ain’t gonna be no CalExit.
@BlueDWarrior: Yeah, you’re probably right. Even if large blocks stayed together, we’d be split down the middle like Pakistan after the partition. Still, it’s a nice dream, isn’t it! We could be Denmark in about a decade!
@Emerald:
Be of good cheer. They can’t win. They’ll just make sure we all lose.
If history has taught us anything it is that people will inevitably go to where all the money is and take it from the cold dead fingers of the prior owners.
It’s not in me to ever give up the fight, but I’m not gonna lie…
When Trump was elected, I got an overwhelming feeling that the United States’ best days were behind, not ahead.
It hasn’t gone away.
@WaterGirl: Being an optimist is a better way to go through life than wallowing in despair. Example of the latter: Emerald at 19.
@Brachiator:
I thought you wanted us to win the most votes?
The general public is stupid and helped by a crappy media, not very good at assigning blame for their problems correctly. Republicans are going to be working to kill our vote count with this. They have a good record at it so far.
@WaterGirl:
I think they still help.
@TenguPhule: Yep. I was certain after the 2008 crash that the American public wouldn’t vote for Republicans for another generation.
Ha.
The Senate Parliamentarian has objected to the “trigger”.
@Emerald: As I noted yesterday, if the Democrats take the house they can pass middle class tax cuts for the Republicans/Trump to block over and over and over again.
I am a married tax accountant with no kids and a house paid for in a lowish tax state. My spouse and I will make out like bandits. However my stepdaughter who is low income because she is watching the autistic kid instead of earning a second income will be clobbered. My wealthy demented father who is staying at home instead of a nursing home will be clobbered. My sister who has multiple households with mortgages because she and her husband can’t get a job in the same state will be clobbered. My rich brother e is unmarried and living in California as a mutual fund treasurer won’t be clobbered. But why does he need a break?, His house and education are paid for, and he’s not taking care of anyone. He gets a break because he’s rich. That’s their thought process.
It’s not polite to chew nails in public. I HATE these people, including my brother.
BlueDWarrior: The entire Republican Party is already complicit in electing a man who bragged on tape about sexually assaulting women. The value of tying Republicans to morally bankrupt candidates is, shall we say, overstated.
@Origuy: Oh nice. They have to vote for an actual black and white tax INCREASE starting at the back end in order to pass it.
This…sound promising.
@Origuy: oh, boy, that’s huge news.
@Emerald:
No, this tax bill passing would not make CalExit any more “palatable,” nor will any other bill. Talk of secession is stupid and counterproductive to a degree that makes Nader/Stein seem like reasoned pragmatists.
@Origuy: so they’re gonna nuke the filibuster then? ugh, I’ve always wanted to get rid of the filibuster, but not like this.
Sorry, positive energy. If they don’t nuke the filibuster, this bodes well.
@Cheryl Rofer:
They must have heard about this.
ETA: Isn’t that 0.8% grow far below Trump’s promise?
@Cacti:
I have that feeling too. But lots of people have fought more hopeless fights than the one we are fighting.
@Spider-Dan: True, and plus, it’s precisely what Putin wants.
I don’t want that slimy bastard to win.
@Origuy:
Just posted on this (only seeing your comment now).
@Sab:
Thanks for this.
@Sab:
Wouldn’t your brother get hit be the elimination of SALT?
This tax bill represents one of the huge victories that the right-wingers have been working toward since before Reagan. It means that Gingrich, Delay, Trump, etc., were and are correct about America and American politics while Clinton, Obama, and all of us were wrong.
I’m all for giving Doug Jones money and help and whatever else he needs. I wish I had the money, help, whatever, etc. to give him. But winning this senate seat or even winning the senate isn’t what we need to do. We need to work on developing the next wave, whatever form it might take. I hate to use the term because it’s been shoved into so many places it’s lost its form, but we need a political paradigm shift. A major change in every aspect of our political culture.
The ruling class and the white supremacists formed a defensive coalition in response to the civil rights acts and the Great Society programs. They’ve been on offense since the early 90s and despite a couple presidential victories they have kicked our asses and we re on the outside in all but a few blue oases of despair.
I know I sound very stupid, but I really thought the emergence of the internet and blogs would improve progressive political activism – defining progressive loosely. I thought it would change things in a big way. I could not have been more wrong.
@James E. Powell:
I agree. And I want to work on the next wave
@Doug!:
Yes. And most of them ended up losing them.
Perhaps not the best analogy for our current struggle.
@B.B.A.: I think even the depraved Republicans who envision parachuting into a cushy lobbyist job realize that if they have to blow up the filibuster to get this bill through, Democrats will be fully enabled the next time they get 219/50/1, and this bill has no chance of making it even to the 10-year sunset they are desperately trying to avoid with these shenanigans.
Furthermore, the one real, persistent advantage the left has over the right is that it will always be easier for us to pass expansion of government services than it is for them to pass restriction of them.
@TenguPhule:
Everything you write here is wrong.
Also, I tire of broad statements about the stupidity of the general public. Even if you are especially politically astute, it’s not like you’re getting an extra vote.
Your only option is to work to change things. Or get out of the way.
@Brachiator:
It wasn’t that long ago. 2010 was eye opening for just how stupid the average general voter is. I don’t want a repeat of that in 2020 or 2022 or 2024. We can’t keep repeating old mistakes, we need to recognize and address what the Republicans and the media are doing against us.
@TenguPhule:
2010. What, you thought that Obama’s re-election in 2012 was a mistake, or that generally stupid people voted for him? Or what, super crafty Republicans engineered his election?
OK. People are dumb. Help make them smarter.
@debbie: That $1T addition to the ~$20T debt is 5% growth. It’s huge!
@Spider-Dan: They’re betting on there not being a next time. Or on McConnell somehow convincing Democrats to agree to restore the filibuster as soon as we regain power, because Sanctity of Senatorial Tradition, World’s Most Deliberative Body, etc.
Trump lost already. No matter what happens next, he lost a long time ago.
Re: The Wire:
“You come at Nancy-Smash, you best not miss.”