What is happening to America today?

[Boatswain2PA]

he problem as I see it is that Americans tend to overpoliticize everything, be it abortion or virus vaccines or healthcare or you name it. It only helps to win elections, not much more

This is what happens when elections have such big consequences.

How do we fix this? Make elections less consequential by reducing the power of the federal government.

Before Woodrow Wilson’s time, the biggest daily impact the Federal government had one the average American’s life was the town post office. Today the Federal government has a daily impact on virtually all of us through taxation, paying for our healthcare, roads, and schools. We cry about what the President did or didn’t do about a virus DAILY. The federal government tells us we cannot outlaw abortions, what safety features and average MPG we must have on our cars, who I can hire, who I can’t fire, etc ad naseum.

Example: 3 years ago we found our dream land. Before we bought it we were exploring it and making plans for what we could do to improve it, and I saw that there was a small part that may occasionally hold water. Well, if we bought that land I would want to dig that portion out another foot or so to make it into a “real” wetland wildlife area. If Trump had not just been elected, I would have been hesitant to buy the land because of the Obama-era push to expand the clean waters act to virtually everywhere. Fast forward to this year, I am rushing to complete this project while still under the Trump administration because, under the guidance of my state biologist, we agree that if Biden is elected we may not be able to improve this wetland without undergoing the significantly expensive hoops of getting federal approval for this little 1 acre project.

 

[Horton]

I had not in fact considered the abortion angle. If Trump is pro-life, I suppose that is one respect in which he is not nihilistic. Of course, his conversion to the pro-life cause did come rather late in life and coincided rather conveniently with his bid for the presidency…

But yet you wish for a Catholic candidate who supports almost all the Church teaches against to be president because liberal leftist news media told you to hate Trump.

 

[PaulinVA]

I think a lot of our problems can be traced to gerrymandering.

Creating “safe” districts for either the Republicans or the Democrats gives rise to the election of people more of the left or the right, as opposed to more centrists that need to appeal to both sides.

As this has gone further along, the elected congressman and women are more stridently left or right, not even leaning but firmly left or right.

That is leading to legislative gridlock, lack of bipartisanship, and gives voice to the more radical ideologies.

When that happens, the populace, likewise, feels empowered to voice more radical ideologies.

That all makes it very hard to view America as “all of us”.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

The problem is that all democratic systems are based on the fallacy that all are equally fit to rule.

And that the will of the people should be enshrined in law - as the guiding principle of life.

 

[tomarin]

What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

 

[Annie]

I think a lot of our problems can be traced to gerrymandering.

I don’t know how many of our problems can be traced to gerrymandering–maybe the broader issue of maintain my power at all costs?-- but it seems to me that in the computer age we could set up our voting districts by more mathematical means.

 

[ProVobis]

Previous posts pointed out the politicization of things that need not be political, and your post dove right in and did that. Why?

I would suggest non-Americans be given some slack here. Having lived both in London and in and out of Chicago, I can attest to the fact that our politics are different and should be held to different standards.

 

[PaulinVA]

I don’t know how many of our problems can be traced to gerrymandering–maybe the broader issue of maintain my power at all costs?-- but it seems to me that in the computer age we could set up our voting districts by more mathematical means.

One would think that there should be a formula that starts with squares or something, and then adjusts for population. BUT, who controls the software? Does it have a bias? What happens if Black voters are diluted? What happens if there are no Democrat-majority districts in one state?

I agree on that solution, as long as the biases can be controlled for.

 

[EmilyAlexandra]

@YADA I’m not sure why you are making this all about abortion. When I choose who to vote for, the candidate’s position on abortion does not enter into my decision making process. In the last election in which I voted, I voted for a Liberal Democrat. My reasons for this were:

• I wanted to vote for a pro-European party, and the Liberal Democrats are the main pro-European party where I live.
• I felt unable to vote for the Labour Party, which I have voted for previously, because of the party’s shift to the far left and tolerance of antisemitism among the membership.
• I also felt unable to vote for a party led by Jeremy Corbyn, due to his incompetence, pro-Russian/anti-NATO position, and weak stance on defence (specifically, seemingly committing to retaining Trident, while also undertaking never to deploy it).
• Overall, I would tend to vote for a party that commits to investment in public services such as health and social care, education, transport, and policing.
• I also look for a party leader who has dignity and personal integrity, such as Jo Swinson.

So, I appreciate that Catholics are strongly anti-abortion, but I would not consider that this would be a factor in deciding who to vote for, let alone the most important or only factor.

It actually was copied from the Roman Empire

Well, I would say it was inspired to some extent by the constitution of the Roman Republic. There was no real separation of powers during the principate and the dominate.

Your entire post is predicated on the problem being a Trump presidency. Therein lies the problem. The issues in America are not the result of this President, or the last one, and will not simply get better with the next one. Previous posts pointed out the politicization of things that need not be political, and your post dove right in and did that. Why?

I was responding to a post that talked about Nietzsche’s idea of the Last Man. I assumed that that was a reference to Donald Trump. My apologies if @StudentMI did not intend that comment to refer to the POTUS.

But yet you wish for a Catholic candidate who supports almost all the Church teaches against to be president because liberal leftist news media told you to hate Trump.

I am not a Catholic and I am not judging Biden’s fitness to be president against Catholic doctrine. Please do not insult me be saying that my opinions about Trump are based on what the “liberal leftist news media” has told me to believe. My views on Trump are based on everything that I have observed over the past four years and longer.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

I am not a Catholic and I am not judging Biden’s fitness to be president against Catholic doctrine.

I didn’t realize that.
In the old CAF forum each user name had a place where we could put our religion. I wish we had that now.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

We also had signature blocks with room for spiritual quotes, clever witticisms, and flowery bar icons indicating how many kids we had. Ah, the good old days.

 

[EssentialBeing]

It only helps to win elections, not much more. Certainly doesn’t make the world a better place.

So true, as once elected, they only work towards re-election.

The issues in America are not the result of this President, or the last one, and will not simply get better with the next one.

Very true, I suspect the bigger problem is our systems of commerce. Then again, do we blame ourselves for not demanding better or being more active in how we shape those we vote for?

 

[CradleRC58]

The fruits of infiltration and indoctrination in our schools for decades is what we are seeing.

 

[AlNg]

What is happening to America today?

There are some interesting statistics

Here are some other statistics : In Chicago this weekend July 10 - July 12, - 56 people have been shot, 10 fatally, so far.

64 shot, 13 fatally, in Chicago this weekend

Fifteen-year-old Terrance Malden, who was gunned down about 4:50 p.m. Friday in Jeffery Manor on the South Side, was the weekend’s first victim.

chicago.suntimes.com

Some Americans are calling for defunding the police. I don’t see things improving much by defunding and abolishing the police. American demonstrators have booed the Minneapolis mayor off stage for refusing to abolish the police department.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-aoc-nypd-de-blasio-george-floyd-protest-defund-police-a9553606.html

In view of the number of people in the USA being shot dead and so many more shot and wounded, why do Americans now want to defund and in some cities actually abolish the police department?

 

[JonNC]

The United States has survived worse; it will survive this.

It will need to survive worse if Biden wins.

 

[EmilyAlexandra]

Compared with Donald Trump, Biden seems like an eminently sensible candidate. I now understand that for many people on this site, abortion is the main/only issue in the upcoming election. Apart from that, however, I cannot see any possible advantages to a Trump presidency. Anyway, Trump has had almost four years in which to make abortion illegal, and he has failed to do so.

 

[RhodesianSon]

Compared with Donald Trump, Biden seems like an eminently sensible candidate.

Not even brining abortion into it, this sentence strikes me as crazy. Biden can barely talk, I truly don’t understand how people think he has the ability to hold the office. Most likely he’ll resign weeks into his term if elected.

 

[EmilyAlexandra]

Biden can barely talk

Sorry, but that is just a story that has been created by right-wing media of dubious reliability. If you watch Biden speaking in debates and making speeches, you will quite clearly see that he is capable of speaking cogently.

 

[JonNC]

Compared with Donald Trump, Biden seems like an eminently sensible candidate. I now understand that for many people on this site, abortion is the main/only issue in the upcoming election.

That’s a very important issue. Just as important is the issue of individual rights, including but not limited to
Speech and religious free exercise.
The right to keep and bear arms.
Due process
Limited government.

These are all under attack by the left to one degree or another.

Apart from that, however, I cannot see any possible advantages to a Trump presidency.

I was thinking about the economy pre-Covid under Trump as a very positive advantage.

 

[JonNC]

Biden can barely talk, I truly don’t understand how people think he has the ability to hold the office.

It is what he says that is concerning