We have worshipped at the altar of the unholy trinity of Aprodite (Pleasure), Mammon (Wealth) and Mars (Power and Domination) and are experiencing the consequences of what Ghandi called the Seven Deadly Social Sins...
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality
When you have an unregulated market that has been embraced by the democrats and republicans, when you betray the working class and welcome private money in to politics. (and declare they are people), when you have the tech abilities growing and social media doing the damage we know it does..., when you have the quick changes that globalism has made here and how it has changed our traditions, ethnic makeup, religion or lack of and impacting people's sense of belonging and worth, when the dems are pushing the woke agenda to the point that many are being stung and they fear their children will be taught that gender is fluid, and when economic policies create extreme inequality, and allows for the concentration of wealth to create billionaires and oligarchy.. and a ton of corruption such that most of us are watching how we are getting the raw end, well... ugliness will rear up. I get it. I am furious too. All that being said, I understand why people would not want to vote democrat, but I don't understand why anyone would really vote for someone so transparent about how destructive he will be. Lies documented, cheating documented, personal bad behavior documented.. Project 2025 was out there. We saw Jan 6th happen. I guess Fox New is convincing. I truly don't understand how a person of faith can support this, although I do get why religious nationalists want to destroy democracy and want a fascist that will allow their religious views to become integrated into society. They don't believe in plurality. The Bible has over 5000 verses about helping the poor, oppressed... Humans... I don't know.... Maybe Jesus' plan to show us how to bring the Kingdom here on earth was the most utopian idea.
The thing that really highlights the corruption to me, that stands out above all the other outrageous stuff, is that guy they admit they mistakenly deported but refuse to even try to get back. He's in a horrific El Salvadorian prison, likely being tortured. His US family is desperate, and the Trump administration won't lift a finger to reverse their mistake. And then the Supreme Court piles on and says, let's not rush this. He can stay in prison a little longer while we sort this out. Governments routinely get people back who are imprisoned in other countries, and the US is paying El Salvador to imprison the deportees, so you know the Trump administration could easily get the guy back. All I can think of is that they want to send a message: we can deport whomever we want irrespective of any laws, so be good and docile or you might be next. And the corruption of that makes my head spin.
Your commitment to this both-sides bit is morally compromising; you should not feel the need observe on one hand a group of people gleefully kidnapping undesirables and placing them in concentration camps, and immediately pivot to taking shots at the "other side" based on some ginned up moral panic. The real, material harms of one side are in evidence. The other is not.
This doesn't make you look reasonable or above the fray, it makes you look craven.
All I can say is, amen. We have been ‘Slouching Towards Gommorah’ and a totalitarian state for decades. Seemingly, about half of us do not like things to be out in the light so they can be seen, and then dealt with. Do we like the darkness better? Maybe in our depravity we don’t like admitting that we do. Oh, and you forgot, “Shut down the churches”, and, Cover the all the children’s faces with paper and cloth masks for two years.
As a Republican and a Trump voter, I pray to God that we would have better sense than to let anyone serve three terms. We need to get back to the middle and stay there. Extremes will be the end of us in either direction.
Rather than diving into the filthy swimming pool of culture war polemics where Right and Left ideologies attempt to drown one another with inane insults, I want to reference back to my earlier post under “The Revivalism of Social Change”. As I mentioned, close to 90 million Americans did not even vote in the 2024 Presidential Election. Here’s one explanation -
“This figure is based on the voting-eligible population – not registered voters – in the United States, which the Election Lab defines as “the voting-age population (those 18 years or older in the U.S.) minus ineligible noncitizens and felons.” It is considered a “more consistent” measure of voter turnout, according to the lab. And while votes are still being counted, preliminary election data shows about 155 million ballots were cast. This would mean an estimated 89 million Americans, or about 36% of the country’s voting-eligible population, did not vote in the 2024 general election.”
It can be said, that in a “Democracy” you “Have a right of non-participation” – If you don’t want to vote, then no one is going to force you to! But this is not true of all democracies; take Australia for example. But....‘compulsory voting’ comes with a host of its own problems and seems in one sense somewhat oxymoronic if you’re attempting to reach a consensus in a free-thinking society where individual liberty is valued and written into The Constitution. But there are obvious logically coherent benefits – A greater and balanced representation, it also fosters civic responsibility and improves candidate choices, etc…
"In a compulsory election, it does not pay to energize your base to the exclusion of all other voters. Since elections cannot be determined by turnout, they are decided by swing voters and won in the center... That is one reason Australia's version of the far-Right lacks anything like the power of its European or American counterparts. Australia has had some bad governments, but it hasn't had any truly extreme ones and it isn't nearly as vulnerable to demagogues."
– Waleed Aly
There’s something called “Downs' Paradox” where individual voters may come to believe that their individual vote doesn’t count for much, but the costs of non-participation potentially outweigh their civic responsibility to cast a ballot. It can get much more complex, but basically my point here, is that a kind of ‘LAV’ (Lackadaisical Apathy Virus) has taken over the electorate and not even showing up and checking a box, has led to the current supposedly ‘Divided Nation’ that we have. Rome went through myriads of political oscillations & civil war during its various phases of Empire – America may be no different (?)
“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”
We have worshipped at the altar of the unholy trinity of Aprodite (Pleasure), Mammon (Wealth) and Mars (Power and Domination) and are experiencing the consequences of what Ghandi called the Seven Deadly Social Sins...
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Religion without sacrifice
Politics without principle
When you have an unregulated market that has been embraced by the democrats and republicans, when you betray the working class and welcome private money in to politics. (and declare they are people), when you have the tech abilities growing and social media doing the damage we know it does..., when you have the quick changes that globalism has made here and how it has changed our traditions, ethnic makeup, religion or lack of and impacting people's sense of belonging and worth, when the dems are pushing the woke agenda to the point that many are being stung and they fear their children will be taught that gender is fluid, and when economic policies create extreme inequality, and allows for the concentration of wealth to create billionaires and oligarchy.. and a ton of corruption such that most of us are watching how we are getting the raw end, well... ugliness will rear up. I get it. I am furious too. All that being said, I understand why people would not want to vote democrat, but I don't understand why anyone would really vote for someone so transparent about how destructive he will be. Lies documented, cheating documented, personal bad behavior documented.. Project 2025 was out there. We saw Jan 6th happen. I guess Fox New is convincing. I truly don't understand how a person of faith can support this, although I do get why religious nationalists want to destroy democracy and want a fascist that will allow their religious views to become integrated into society. They don't believe in plurality. The Bible has over 5000 verses about helping the poor, oppressed... Humans... I don't know.... Maybe Jesus' plan to show us how to bring the Kingdom here on earth was the most utopian idea.
The thing that really highlights the corruption to me, that stands out above all the other outrageous stuff, is that guy they admit they mistakenly deported but refuse to even try to get back. He's in a horrific El Salvadorian prison, likely being tortured. His US family is desperate, and the Trump administration won't lift a finger to reverse their mistake. And then the Supreme Court piles on and says, let's not rush this. He can stay in prison a little longer while we sort this out. Governments routinely get people back who are imprisoned in other countries, and the US is paying El Salvador to imprison the deportees, so you know the Trump administration could easily get the guy back. All I can think of is that they want to send a message: we can deport whomever we want irrespective of any laws, so be good and docile or you might be next. And the corruption of that makes my head spin.
Your commitment to this both-sides bit is morally compromising; you should not feel the need observe on one hand a group of people gleefully kidnapping undesirables and placing them in concentration camps, and immediately pivot to taking shots at the "other side" based on some ginned up moral panic. The real, material harms of one side are in evidence. The other is not.
This doesn't make you look reasonable or above the fray, it makes you look craven.
Which of these psyops did you fall for, and from which side of the aisle did they come:
- Trump is a convicted felon
- Russian collusion
- 2020 Election most secure in history
- Trump called neo-nazis "fine people"
- If you get vaccinated you won't catch COVID
- Jussie Smollett
- Bubba Wallace garage pull
- Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation
- Covington kids
- Governor Whitmer kidnapping plot
- Chinese weather balloon
- Kavanaugh rape
- Trump said drinking bleach would fight COVID
- Russia bombed their own pipeline
- Trump pee tape
- COVID lab leak was a conspiracy theory
- Border agents whipped migrants
- Trump saved nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago
- Steele Dossier
- Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan
- Muslim travel ban
- Andrew Cuomo showed the best COVID leadership
- Ghost of Kyiv
- Trump built cages for migrant kids
- al-Baghdadi was an "austere religious scholar"
- Trump overfed Koi fish in Japan
- Trump tax cuts benefited only the rich
- Cloth masks prevent COVID
- An SUV killed parade marchers
- Trump used teargas to clear a crowd for a bible photo
- Don't Say Gay was in a bill
- Putin price hike
- Ivermectin is a horse dewormer and not for humans
- Mostly peaceful protests
- Trump overpowered secret service for wheel of "The Beast"
- Officer Sicknick was murdered by protesters
- January 6th was an insurrection
- Trump mocked a reporter's disability
All I can say is, amen. We have been ‘Slouching Towards Gommorah’ and a totalitarian state for decades. Seemingly, about half of us do not like things to be out in the light so they can be seen, and then dealt with. Do we like the darkness better? Maybe in our depravity we don’t like admitting that we do. Oh, and you forgot, “Shut down the churches”, and, Cover the all the children’s faces with paper and cloth masks for two years.
You forgot all the censorship of the scientists who signed the Great Barrington Declaration. Also the lies Biden was capable of a second term.
Another right on the money post.
As a Republican and a Trump voter, I pray to God that we would have better sense than to let anyone serve three terms. We need to get back to the middle and stay there. Extremes will be the end of us in either direction.
Rather than diving into the filthy swimming pool of culture war polemics where Right and Left ideologies attempt to drown one another with inane insults, I want to reference back to my earlier post under “The Revivalism of Social Change”. As I mentioned, close to 90 million Americans did not even vote in the 2024 Presidential Election. Here’s one explanation -
“This figure is based on the voting-eligible population – not registered voters – in the United States, which the Election Lab defines as “the voting-age population (those 18 years or older in the U.S.) minus ineligible noncitizens and felons.” It is considered a “more consistent” measure of voter turnout, according to the lab. And while votes are still being counted, preliminary election data shows about 155 million ballots were cast. This would mean an estimated 89 million Americans, or about 36% of the country’s voting-eligible population, did not vote in the 2024 general election.”
It can be said, that in a “Democracy” you “Have a right of non-participation” – If you don’t want to vote, then no one is going to force you to! But this is not true of all democracies; take Australia for example. But....‘compulsory voting’ comes with a host of its own problems and seems in one sense somewhat oxymoronic if you’re attempting to reach a consensus in a free-thinking society where individual liberty is valued and written into The Constitution. But there are obvious logically coherent benefits – A greater and balanced representation, it also fosters civic responsibility and improves candidate choices, etc…
"In a compulsory election, it does not pay to energize your base to the exclusion of all other voters. Since elections cannot be determined by turnout, they are decided by swing voters and won in the center... That is one reason Australia's version of the far-Right lacks anything like the power of its European or American counterparts. Australia has had some bad governments, but it hasn't had any truly extreme ones and it isn't nearly as vulnerable to demagogues."
– Waleed Aly
There’s something called “Downs' Paradox” where individual voters may come to believe that their individual vote doesn’t count for much, but the costs of non-participation potentially outweigh their civic responsibility to cast a ballot. It can get much more complex, but basically my point here, is that a kind of ‘LAV’ (Lackadaisical Apathy Virus) has taken over the electorate and not even showing up and checking a box, has led to the current supposedly ‘Divided Nation’ that we have. Rome went through myriads of political oscillations & civil war during its various phases of Empire – America may be no different (?)
“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero