Quote (thundercock @ 5 Sep 2021 20:38)

Biden hasn't really touched culture war issues which is a pretty good start. There's plenty of things he could do to cozy up to the far left but he's largely refrained from doing that. His primary focus has been COVID and the economy which is what he should be doing. Whether or not he is successful is another story. I know that your version of unity is to govern like a competent version of Trump's policies but I hope you understand that it's unrealistic.

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Biden's political capital is less event based and more time based. There'd have to be a catastrophe that requires an immediate pivot (i.e. Bush's 9/11) for things to be derailed. Once campaign season starts, his agenda is over. The results of 2022 will dictate the rest of his presidency.

Quote (thundercock @ 5 Sep 2021 20:41)

You're intentionally looking at just one half of the picture AND you're excluding the gains of the first world. You're not taking into consideration that the cost of goods and technology continues to fall. FFS, homeless people can afford smart phones!!

Quote (thundercock @ Sep 5 2021 01:41pm)

You're intentionally looking at just one half of the picture AND you're excluding the gains of the first world. You're not taking into consideration that the cost of goods and technology continues to fall. FFS, homeless people can afford smart phones!!

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 5 2021 11:51am)

The gains of the first world have disproportionately been soaked up by the top 0.1%.
Consumer electronics are just about the only thing that has gotten a lot cheaper, relative to average wages.
More people are struggling nowadays than during the 80s or 90s to keep up with rising rents and house prices, to build wealth, save for retirement or land a secure job. Globalization is one of the major factors behind this development.

Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ Sep 5 2021 11:55am)

That might work if a smartphone wasn't basically a necessity now. Like, who has a landline anymore? Virtually nobody. And during that healthcare has gotten way more expensive, as has education, and housing, and a whole host of other things that are absolutely uncontroversially necessitities.

The gains from our massive increase in producitivity has gone almost exclusively to the upper class in first world nations. Even the top 90% of world world nations have lost footing.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 5 2021 11:45am)

Sure, I understand that, but again: even setting policies aside, his rhetoric hasn't actually addressed any of the issues or grievances brought up by conservatives. If anything, he's doubled down on rhetoric about systemic racism and so on.


Well, with his approval ratings underwater, moderate House members from swing district will reevaluate if they really want to tie their electoral fate to the popularity of Biden and his agenda by voting for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Likewise, someone like Sinema will really think twice about bowing to the pressure to abolish the filibuster, pack the courts, pass sweeping voting rights legislation etc.

Quote (thundercock @ Sep 5 2021 02:32pm)

Don't get me wrong. Those are problems. I just don't think you can blame getting rid of obsolete jobs.

Quote (thundercock @ Sep 5 2021 02:41pm)

You're intentionally looking at just one half of the picture AND you're excluding the gains of the first world. You're not taking into consideration that the cost of goods and technology continues to fall. FFS, homeless people can afford smart phones!!

Quote (thundercock @ Sep 5 2021 09:31am)

If the lazy whites were willing to retrain, it wouldn't be a problem. We have so many high-quality jobs available that are being filled by immigrants because there just aren't enough natives who can do them. Unfortunately, they reject being educated, retrained, etc. They expect the rest of the world to cater to every whim of theirs and are hindering technological and economic progress. Let me ask you this, would you be willing to take these people off of our hands into your country?They won't learn German but you seem to care about them a lot.




germany is to busy taking in the high talents of islam

Quote (thundercock @ 5 Sep 2021 21:32)

But those are the things that are being shipped overseas...the mindless, menial jobs. Suppose we kept clothing manufacturing in America. Has a coal miner ever been considered anything better than lower middle class? Do you really think that having those shit jobs here would assist with rent? Give me a fucking break. People need to ADAPT.

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-What did Trump and Bush do to address the grievances of the left? What did Obama do to address the grievances of the right? A unification platform doesn't mean that you get everything you want. Sometimes it means that the opposition doesn't shove their agenda down your throat. Be happy with that because it can always be worse. As a Californian, I know when to keep my mouth shut and take my wins.

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-Were you honestly scared that the courts would be packed and the filibuster would be removed? How many times does Manchin need to say that he's pro-filibuster before you believe him? Keep in mind that Sinema and Manchin are taking the brunt of the heat so that people like Feinstein aren't pressured by the left.

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-Moderate House members are ALREADY doomed due to redistricting. They have nothing to lose. Pelosi knows this given her experience with Obamacare and it'll get done IF Sinema and Manchin are on board with the reconciliation package. Pelosi is like the most effective Speaker since Henry Clay and knows when she needs to sacrifice pawns.

Quote (thundercock @ Sep 5 2021 03:32pm)

But those are the things that are being shipped overseas...the mindless, menial jobs. Suppose we kept clothing manufacturing in America. Has a coal miner ever been considered anything better than lower middle class? Do you really think that having those shit jobs here would assist with rent? Give me a fucking break. People need to ADAPT.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 6 2021 12:19am)

Coal miners and other people with low qualification jobs don't need to be anything higher than lower middle class. It's not even a problem when they are working-class. What is a problem is when they slide down into trailer park trash status and have no more options to make ends meet. In earlier times, even folks who are not very smart or educated could make ends meet and live a modest life with dignity and some modicum of economic security as long as they were working hard. It really shouldn't be difficult to see that it's social dynamite when that's no longer the case.




Trump surely didn't promise to unite the country, he ran on the promise of owning the libs and finally delivering his side the "wins" they'd been craving for so long. Him and his party were punished at the ballot box. (Not necessarily for being uncompromising partisans though.)

Obama ran on a platform of unity and a fresh start, then didn't deliver on it and got punished by the voters. Yes, he won reelection in 2012, but he needed to run a perfect campaign to achieve that, also, he was just a strong candidate while his opponent was not. Other than that, his tenure was a complete electoral disaster for his party.

Do you want to make a fg bet that the fillibuster won't be removed? I'll give you 10 to 1 odds. It's an extremist fantasy to rile people up on both sides. The GOP would be done for without the filibuster and McConnell is going to do everything he can to keep the conservative Democrats happy. That's why he voted FOR the infrastructure bill. I think the Democrats would need at least 55 seats for there to be serious talk about it.

I imagine that the 3.5 trillion dollar spending plan is pretty popular in light-blue districts. Are you against old people getting dental, hearing, and vision premiums paid for by the government? Are you against free community college and preschool? Like, these are things YOUR country has, right? These things are polling at 60+%...

This scenario is still not off the table entirely. It has become much less likely than it was some 3 months ago imho, but I wouldn't completely rule it out yet. Also, I think it's foolish to have ruled it out since the very beginning.


If the House members from swing districts are already doomed due to redistricting, then the next batch of Dem congresscritters will be on the fence; the ones from light-blue instead of purple districts. The point is that there will inevitably be a group of Dems in the House whose reelection hangs in the balance and who thus have an incentive to mold their voting record strategically.