RE: Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 12/26/18> Some really good news … and some not really good news.
So. I saw this yesterday when I was involved in something else and mentally put it in the respond to it sooner rather than later category. Obviously, I put another paver brick on the road to hell. Good intentions and all.
First off, that's some great news about your bil. I really like hearing about things like that.
In my view, historically, the US government has worked better when the two houses were split between the parties. Sadly, that is no longer the case. It could convievably be less dangerous to the average citizen but any hope of bi-partisan is mostly out the window.
Which circles around to the most dispicable bit of legislation of the 21st Century: The Patriot act which did have bipartisan support when it was originally passed by Bush the younger and reaffirmed under Obama's watch. That is the bit of legislation that reaffirmed the 'law of armed conflict'. It was so well crafted by the House and Senate in 1863 that neither Woodrow Wilson nor FDR felt the need to reaffirm it. Bush knew dammed well he was on shaky ground so it went through in his Patriot Act. Mission Accomplished indeed.
I did not watch the confirmation hearings at all. Not one moment because the process has gotten so disgusting to me in the last 30 years of so. "The President shall nominate and the Senate shall confirm..." is no longer in service. The most egrious violation was the Repubs not even considering Obama's nomination.
I don't look for a huge crash, at least not right now. I think we'll see some volatility and movement, but not the 'big one'. Not yet anyway, though your reasoning is valid.
I've got to tell you, I was impressed with Senator Graham's questioning. Way more articulate and direct than I would have thought. I can forgive him for saying 'constitutional rights' instead of 'constitutionally guaranteed rights'. It's not a very strong guarantee anymore anyway.
Well, we are almost upon 2019 which should prove to be an interesting year. Thanks for the really thoughtful and well crafted post.
I am very sure your road is short a bunch of paver bricks, so adding one isn't going to make a big difference.
" It's not a very strong guarantee anymore anyway." is a very true statement you made there. I would follow that up with the reason being that the folks in the congress and senate have systematically worked to make sure it isn't a very strong guarantee anymore is the whole problem.
The Patriot Act is a prime example of it, I surely don't like the idea of being able to be "detained" for untold amounts of time without being able to have access to legal representation or the courts. They don't even have to bring charges against a person and can hold them in custody for years.
It makes me cringe when people tell me, "well that really doesn't affect me." It may not today, but it may well come a day that they will wish they had paid attention and tried do something about it.
The whole problem in my estimation can be boiled down to the fact that the people who are being elected to government never have taken the time to actually study the true history of the country. The are going off of what they were told in grade school and middle school history class and those books would be best used for starting a trash fire.
I talked to one guy who was running for congress this last election cycle and asked him what his thoughts on bringing back lawful money were. He looked at me like I was some kind of alien from another planet.
I took ten minutes of his time and explained it to him about money and his response was "you are joking?" He had no clue about the Fed or lawful money. He never put a thought to the fact we carry Federal reserve "notes".
He didn't get elected but it just shows that even the folks who are running and being elected don't have a clue.