1340
Good = Boring = No Corporate News Story
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
1340 points (97.5% liked)
United States | News & Politics
1631 readers
62 users here now
Welcome to !usa@midwest.social, where you can share and converse about the different things happening all over/about the United States.
If you’re interested in participating, please subscribe.
Rules
Be respectful and civil. No racism/bigotry/hateful speech.
Post anything related to the United States.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Biden has made significant progress for the average person during his presidency, which is disheartening given the potential for even greater impact. It seems he knows that simply meeting basic expectations will be enough to outdo previous leaders.
Significant progress is disheartening. Ok.
Tough room.
Lemmy is full of those childish people I met in college.
I suspect it's also full of foreign agents acting on bad motives. That and children for whom this is their first election, who are caught up on ideals instead of slow and steady progress.
Our climate is being destroyed irrevocably, wealth inequality is at record levels, and our corrupt government is completely up for sale and unwilling to represent the people. Corporate-run America is in a death spiral, and geriatric neoliberals are leading the charge. Foreign agents would tell Americans to slowly and steadily continue down this ruinous path as the rest of the world leaves us behind. But red blooded Americans understand how this isn’t sustainable for any length of time. Gradual incrementalism is a far cry from our salvation.
Agreed. Many appear to be attending foreign colleges which . . . well, makes sense, sort of.
I wawnt ever thang I wawnt. If it isint all I wawnt it isint gud enuff.
Now give me single payer healthcare/Medicare for All, and I'll be a happy camper.
We need more Democrats in Congress for that. A third of the Senate and all of the House are up for election in November. Attendance at the polls is crucial for down-ballot candidates just the same as presidential.
Vote in November, or be ready to accept what a Republican President, Congress, and SCOTUS decide for you.
He can't do that.
People keep saying the things Biden have been doing are weak, half measures, but they have no idea what he's actually capable of doing without Congress.
He literally tried to wipe away a significant amount of student debt. He tried to fulfill that promise without Congress. The Supreme Court stopped it.
Honestly I think the entirety of the last 10 years of complete government failure should be tied back to the almost totally non-functional legislature.
The president can't pass laws. The supreme court would matter far less, if we weren't trying to creatively reinterpret ancient laws and applying them to technology and culture that didn't even exist at the time they were written. Instead of updating and clarifying any of those laws, the supreme court has been allowed to effectively make policy by continually shifting interpretations of a static and obsolete set of laws that Congress should have updated 20 years ago. Several times courts have effectively changed policy by saying 'the law doesn't mean that, go write an actual law for that, don't just make shit up' and then Congress just doesn't react at all.
If you look back at history, constitutional amendments were relatively regular up until recently. Can anyone imagine our current government passing an amendment for anything at all? Even the most minor tweak would be impossible in this Congress. Several of our major 'wins' were mere court cases and like we found out with abortion, what the court gives, the court can take away. Anything about our current day to day life that exists solely based on a court ruling we should be fighting to codify into law, but we all seem to recognize how futile that task is.
The bullshit appointed Supreme Court.
What potential? Without Congress or the Supreme Court, what potential things could Biden be doing that would have "greater" impact that he isn't doing?
Something that doesn't require a new law, and won't be shot down by a hostile conservative court?
Please give me examples.
Pretty sure the potential lies in changing this.
Vote. Not just for president, but for every office you're able to. Because this shit isn't just "Trump did it!" or "Biden didn't do enough!" It's also the legislators, and a lot of the judiciary they approved (and probably pushed during the Trump administration). Not to mention all the state and local reps that initiate most of the policies that affect people.
It basically all starts with Congress. We could fix so much shit if we ever managed to get a real majority (not 48 Dems and two 'not technically Republicans')
They can't give you any examples and neither can the dorkuses downvoting you. Biden has accomplished a lot with the maggats playing the "I don't wanna" game whenever a dem is in office. He not only had to dig us out of the hole the orange menace left us in, he also has to cure cancer, be the first human to step on Mars, etc and even then people will find something to bitch about.
With any luck (and a lot of hard work) we will have Biden for a second term and then a dem to replace him in 2028 so at least 12 years of the adults running things. Then maybe we can get some shit done and stop trying to tread water at best.
He could get caught trying.
He could frame a big-picture vision of what he and Democrats value, expressed in terms that speak to Americans emotionally. He could push for policies that Republicans and the Supreme Kangaroo Court will shoot down, and then go to the American people and blame them for taking away good things that everybody wants.
The student-loan debt relief effort had about 1 1/2 of those things. The rest of the time he tends to talk about particular bills and policies. Republicans can stop those, and those things become dead letters, but dreams and hopes are evergreen.
It takes immense amounts of time and effort to bring new items like this forwards, so each item you choose to do means time and money that can't be used bringing a different policy forwards.
Based on that why should Biden waste his time developing and bringing forward policies that the Republicans are obviously going to immediately shoot down, it just prevents him from being able to work on things that might actually get passed
No, it really doesn't. I can think them up by the dozens. If they're not going to pass, there's no reason to lay all the groundwork. But they're still good for rhetorical purposes.
Sure you can think up the tag line line liner title for each item but what about all the details? How will they work the restrictions the requirements the funding. How much of that requires large amounts of work just to be shutdown and tossed by the Republicans
This is why Democrats struggle so badly, so I'll say it straight up: It's about sales. Reich is complaining that the public doesn't lose its shit over arcane policy details. Yeah, sit down for this truth bomb (/s): That's human nature. It's not fair. It's not right. It's not good. It's just the way it is. Complaining about it won't help, or change the content of headlines.
So somebody asks for examples of what can Biden do when he's blocked by Congress? I say: Sell, sell, sell. Get in the PR game. Put on a show that the people in the cheap seats can enjoy. (That is a metaphor for a rhetorical spectacle that even politically unengaged citizens will hear about.) Show everybody that the problem is in Congress.
What do the details matter? The headline is all that people will hear, and Republicans will block it, anyway. He needs to sell the perception that Democrats are trying. The details can come later, after they get the votes.
This is how you end up with poorly thought out legislation.
I'm doing 1000 calculations in my head and they're all wrong
Dozens? Off the top of your head? Name a dozen, for science.
Maybe we could start by not aiding a genocide? Just spitballing here...
But don't you think getting the 10 commandments in our classrooms will make things soo much better? 🙃