4 ms·

> All that is required to beat this, honestly, is a few people serving as positive role models with transparency and not abusing their authority. I can manage m

> All that is required to beat this, honestly, is a few people serving as positive role models with transparency and not abusing their authority. I can manage my little corner of the universe but I’m not holding my breath on the rest of the country. Totally lost me in the last paragraph. Can't everyone agree that these role models already exist? They're just hard to name because they don't do anything outrageous to steal our attention. The problem isn't that we don't know how to act properly -- the problem isn't that we need role models. The problem is that there's no reason to follow their lead. The solution is nothing short of punishment of these people and enforcement of the law. The problem is the bad people.

Pxtl 5y ago
Yeah, transparency and honesty doesn't win elections. It's hilarious that this is a conservative posting this, since Trump spend 4 years wiping his ass with norms and revealing how broken the system is, and how all the "rules" were just suggestions he could abuse freely and half the USA still approved of him.
- JackFr 5y ago
  Why is that hilarious? As a conservative, it’s worth noting there’s truly nothing substantially conservative about Trump. He singlehandedly did more damage to the Republican Party than anyone since Nixon, and I would say more. Purge is an ugly word, but absent wholesale house cleaning of Trumpist grifters from the party I don’t see a useful future for it. However, it seems your point us that you fundamentally agree with OPs central thesis, but that you can’t believe someone politically aligned differently than you can have possibly made that argument.
- nickysielicki 5y ago
  I take issue with you calling me conservative, I’m a libertarian.
  - renewiltord 5y ago
    P(this comment | conservative) = 0.999…
  - Pxtl 5y ago
    At this point it's very difficult to take that kind of comment seriously. The actions of the mainstream libertarian movement has fallen in line with conservatives and been co-opted so consistently by the worst reactionaries in the conservative movement that, regardless of philosophical underpinnings, it's a distinction without a difference.
    - nickysielicki 5y ago
      Well I guess I just have to become a Democrat then. I mean what do you expect me to do as a Ron Paul libertarian? Does Trumps pushing of executive privilege and his profits on his hotels touch the type of corruption that Clinton represents in this email? https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12659 https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12659 My vote in 2016 was a single-issue vote against involvement in a war in Syria. I feel totally vindicated 5 years later. If being antiwar is bad, I don’t want to be right.
      - human_person 5y ago
        As a libertarian what’s your stance on bodily autonomy?
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        Me? I expect you to stay home. The Pauls have fallen meekly in line behind Trump, like all their, er, colleagues.
emodendroket 5y ago
A striking phrase I remember from the 2008 fallout was that one malfeasant was "not the type of person you send to jail."
- spoonjim 5y ago
  I think you're looking for "malfeasor"
  - emodendroket 5y ago
    Looks OK: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malfeasant https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malfeasant > one that is guilty of malfeasance “Malfeasor” is not listed.
wayoutthere 5y ago
> The solution is nothing short of punishment of these people and enforcement of the law. The problem is the bad people. I have yet to meet a completely good or completely bad person. Most people I’ve ever met are both at different times and in different situations. Is a single mother stealing baby formula to feed her child a bad person? An addict breaking into cars to feed an addiction? People in desperate situations do desperate things, and I think we can all agree that the legal system is applied rather unevenly to those without the resources to appear sympathetic in court (who also tend to be more desperate than the average person). We effectively criminalize being poor, so I’m not sure more criminal laws or more police will help that problem.
- kinjba11 5y ago
  The examples from the article are almost all rich people getting away with greedy behavior, not at all comparable to desperate crimes of the poor. Absolutely we need more enforcement of good behavior and punishment of bad behavior at the top (role models), not the bottom.

Pxtl 5y ago

Yeah, transparency and honesty doesn't win elections. It's hilarious that this is a conservative posting this, since Trump spend 4 years wiping his ass with norms and revealing how broken the system is, and how all the "rules" were just suggestions he could abuse freely and half the USA still approved of him.

JackFr 5y ago
Why is that hilarious? As a conservative, it’s worth noting there’s truly nothing substantially conservative about Trump. He singlehandedly did more damage to the Republican Party than anyone since Nixon, and I would say more. Purge is an ugly word, but absent wholesale house cleaning of Trumpist grifters from the party I don’t see a useful future for it. However, it seems your point us that you fundamentally agree with OPs central thesis, but that you can’t believe someone politically aligned differently than you can have possibly made that argument.
nickysielicki 5y ago
I take issue with you calling me conservative, I’m a libertarian.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  P(this comment | conservative) = 0.999…
- Pxtl 5y ago
  At this point it's very difficult to take that kind of comment seriously. The actions of the mainstream libertarian movement has fallen in line with conservatives and been co-opted so consistently by the worst reactionaries in the conservative movement that, regardless of philosophical underpinnings, it's a distinction without a difference.
  - nickysielicki 5y ago
    Well I guess I just have to become a Democrat then. I mean what do you expect me to do as a Ron Paul libertarian? Does Trumps pushing of executive privilege and his profits on his hotels touch the type of corruption that Clinton represents in this email? https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12659 https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12659 My vote in 2016 was a single-issue vote against involvement in a war in Syria. I feel totally vindicated 5 years later. If being antiwar is bad, I don’t want to be right.
    - human_person 5y ago
      As a libertarian what’s your stance on bodily autonomy?
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      Me? I expect you to stay home. The Pauls have fallen meekly in line behind Trump, like all their, er, colleagues.

emodendroket 5y ago

A striking phrase I remember from the 2008 fallout was that one malfeasant was "not the type of person you send to jail."

spoonjim 5y ago
I think you're looking for "malfeasor"
- emodendroket 5y ago
  Looks OK: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malfeasant https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malfeasant > one that is guilty of malfeasance “Malfeasor” is not listed.

wayoutthere 5y ago

> The solution is nothing short of punishment of these people and enforcement of the law. The problem is the bad people. I have yet to meet a completely good or completely bad person. Most people I’ve ever met are both at different times and in different situations. Is a single mother stealing baby formula to feed her child a bad person? An addict breaking into cars to feed an addiction? People in desperate situations do desperate things, and I think we can all agree that the legal system is applied rather unevenly to those without the resources to appear sympathetic in court (who also tend to be more desperate than the average person). We effectively criminalize being poor, so I’m not sure more criminal laws or more police will help that problem.

kinjba11 5y ago
The examples from the article are almost all rich people getting away with greedy behavior, not at all comparable to desperate crimes of the poor. Absolutely we need more enforcement of good behavior and punishment of bad behavior at the top (role models), not the bottom.