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They can't agree on anything because the national Republicans have been captured by the tea party, who has in turn now been captured by the Trumpists. Both even

They can't agree on anything because the national Republicans have been captured by the tea party, who has in turn now been captured by the Trumpists. Both events were based on newcomers to the political process claiming that the system is broken beyond repair, and that they were the needed "Wrecking Ball". The tea party managed to scuttle Obama's "Grand Bargain" with Boehner, which consisted of TEN TRILLION DOLLARS of spending cuts in return for one trillion in new revenue (taxes). In my mind, this is when the national republicans ceased to be a rational force, in others' minds it could be the blowup over our debt ceiling or the government shutdowns, but regardless most rational observers with an understanding of the political process would agree that the right has lost its mind because of capture by revolutionaries. A Trump administration would bring far worse (just this week he suggested that he'd be open to partial default on US government debt). It's basically a self-reinforcing cycle of crazy where bad outcomes from bad decisions cause irrational actors to make worse decisions in response. So the reason the two parties can't agree on anything is that there's really only one party, and that's the Democrats. This is problematic, because our political system is based on having two parties, either of which could be trusted to provide reasonably responsible governance. The United States is, despite the apocalyptic rhetoric, a strong nation with a relatively stable government and an economy that is literally the envy of the world. We certainly do have problems, and that is what "politics as usual" is designed to fix. So I urge you to play the game rather than try to kick over the table.

Aloha 10y ago
Americans need jobs. The democrats want to soak the rich (I agree that, we probably should pay more anyhow), create a comprehensive social safety net, broadly have a larger role for government in individuals lives. The republicans seem very concerned with collective security, 'judicial overreach' (any policy they don't like from a judge), and smaller government - this mostly seems to manifest itself as a firm 'no' to any proposed solution from the democrats. Neither of them (at least at a national level) is focusing on what I see as the elephants in the room: 1. Broad swaths of the country that were prosperous 20 years ago are now not - and enormous areas that were busy 40 years ago are now dead wastelands. If you go out to a rural area, you'll see this, go on a road trip, go thru small towns, the only new buildings (built after ~1974 or so) are usually government or at funded by outside capital, (like McDonalds, or a Wal*Mart) sure, the college towns and county seats are often somewhat prosperous, but not like they were even in the 80's. If you look in third and fourth tier cities, you see similar trends. 2. In either place, rural or urban, its also very very hard for the young to find a good job, with or without a college degree - this has a multitude of causes - from we're teaching our youth the wrong things, to companies expecting inexperienced workers to come magically all trained up for the job - this topic alone is a couple thousand words - just suffice it to say, something is wrong. Neither party is really speaking to this, they broadly don't see outside the beltway - I blame free trade, one size fits all regulation, and excessive defense spending (instead of say, infrastructure) for this malaise - I believe very strongly unless we fix these problems, they will come to breach the very foundations of our republic and we may end up with a much worse system than we have now.
- unchocked 10y ago
  Now you're talking politics! This is how it works: take a platform based on issues and policy like the one you just sketched out, get the politicians who support it elected, and then let them horse trade to actualize some portion of your platform. Gain credibility, rinse, wash, repeat.
  - Aloha 10y ago
    I know I have the makings of a political platform. I also have experience as a community organizer (event planning largely) - but I dont think I'm the man to lead a major political movement - its not impossible, but I dont know if its what I want.

Aloha 10y ago

Americans need jobs. The democrats want to soak the rich (I agree that, we probably should pay more anyhow), create a comprehensive social safety net, broadly have a larger role for government in individuals lives. The republicans seem very concerned with collective security, 'judicial overreach' (any policy they don't like from a judge), and smaller government - this mostly seems to manifest itself as a firm 'no' to any proposed solution from the democrats. Neither of them (at least at a national level) is focusing on what I see as the elephants in the room: 1. Broad swaths of the country that were prosperous 20 years ago are now not - and enormous areas that were busy 40 years ago are now dead wastelands. If you go out to a rural area, you'll see this, go on a road trip, go thru small towns, the only new buildings (built after ~1974 or so) are usually government or at funded by outside capital, (like McDonalds, or a Wal*Mart) sure, the college towns and county seats are often somewhat prosperous, but not like they were even in the 80's. If you look in third and fourth tier cities, you see similar trends. 2. In either place, rural or urban, its also very very hard for the young to find a good job, with or without a college degree - this has a multitude of causes - from we're teaching our youth the wrong things, to companies expecting inexperienced workers to come magically all trained up for the job - this topic alone is a couple thousand words - just suffice it to say, something is wrong. Neither party is really speaking to this, they broadly don't see outside the beltway - I blame free trade, one size fits all regulation, and excessive defense spending (instead of say, infrastructure) for this malaise - I believe very strongly unless we fix these problems, they will come to breach the very foundations of our republic and we may end up with a much worse system than we have now.

unchocked 10y ago
Now you're talking politics! This is how it works: take a platform based on issues and policy like the one you just sketched out, get the politicians who support it elected, and then let them horse trade to actualize some portion of your platform. Gain credibility, rinse, wash, repeat.
- Aloha 10y ago
  I know I have the makings of a political platform. I also have experience as a community organizer (event planning largely) - but I dont think I'm the man to lead a major political movement - its not impossible, but I dont know if its what I want.