Tag: Political Process

The Creeping Third Party

Since Donny did what he did in the last election there have been a lot of grumbling on both sides of the aisle….now there is a story circulating about some secret meetings to counter the Donny agenda.

That will be news for another day if it is true…..but the loudest chest thumping for a third party comes from Elmo and seems for now many Americans think it is a good idea…..

It comes after the world’s richest man claimed he would launch “the America Party” in response to Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which he described as “insane.” A disagreement over the bill between the two men led to an explosive online fallout last month.

Lawmakers voted to pass the bill Thursday and it was signed by the president Friday.

“Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,” Musk wrote in a string of X posts Monday. “Great day for some … fireworks,” he wrote on Friday, adding two fire emojis.

Quantus Insights’ poll was conducted between June 30-July 2 among 1,000 registered voters, with a 3 percent margin of error.

The pollster highlighted that, though 40 percent of respondents were in favor of Musk’s hypothetical third party, the result was unsurprising. In 2023, a Gallup poll found that 63 percent of Americans supported an alternative third political party.

The survey also revealed clear divides across party lines and demographics, with male Republicans appearing to be the most interested in a party launched by Musk.

Some 23 percent of Republican men said they are “very likely” and 34 percent say “somewhat likely” to back the America Party, and over half (57 percent) expressed openness to Musk as a political brand.

Nearly half (47 percent) of independent men said they were likely to support the America Party.

(independent.co.uk)

Breaking news–while I was writing this the news broke that thye America Party is a done deal….

Because his people demanded it, Elon Musk posted Saturday on X, “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” On Friday, the billionaire had put the question to his followers on X, as he’s done with other issues, Reuters reports. His Saturday post announced the decision was a landslide. “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk wrote. He’d been bringing up the possibility since his bitter split with President Trump, per Politico, most recently early this week as he attacked the tax break and spending cut legislation.

 It was only two months ago that Musk announced he was going to cut his political spending, saying he had “done enough,” Politico points out. Musk provided no details about the launch, and the party does not seem to be registered with the Federal Election Commission, per CNBC.

But he suggested a strategy for it on Friday. “One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” Musk posted, per Axios. “Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.”

It appears that he has the brain child of trying to control Congress….

It is unclear what his potential new third party would stand for, and the country does notably boast several other third parties on both sides of the aisle.

However, none have been able to cut through the popularity of the two mainstream parties. That said, the success of Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist born to Muslim-Indian parents in Uganda and raised in Queens who beat longtime establishment politician Andrew Cuomo in last month’s mayoral primary election, has seemingly threatened both parties’ bases.

Panic across the aisle has followed his win as centrists fear the rise of a true progressive potentially running the nation’s largest city. The president has even threatened to deport the self-described socialist.

The former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader shared his thoughts on how to give his third party, which likely would lean center-right, staying power.

“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” the Tesla CEO wrote on X.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-reveals-devious-two-1245519

Will this yet another scam like the old ‘Unity’ deal a few years back?

Most my readers know that I do not care much for either of our two parties so would I support this endeavor?

Probably not….why?

It will most likely be a centrist party I do not think that is what the country needs to move forward.

Centrism is what got us to this point….we need bold new ideas and centrist have nothing but stale antiquated crap….this country needs progress and that will not be from a centrist candidate/party.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–13Aug21

I have been watching our politics and the whole silly process for decades…..and in that time I have noticed just how prevalent lies and silliness the whole process has become.

Today the silliness has gone from true concern for the nation to a dialogue on issues that do not exist….all in all a waste of time and a policy of obstruction…..leading the way in this stupidity is the GOP…..

How can this be?

Political misinformation — whether “fake news,” conspiracy theories or outright lying — has often been attributed to widespread ignorance, even though there are numerous examples of 20th-century propaganda aimed at those most attentive to politics. Books like Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” began to challenge that notion, as did the 1991 study of media coverage of the first Gulf War with the memorable bottom line, “the more you watch, the less you know.” In the age of social media, scholarly explanations have shifted to discussions of “motivated reasoning,” which could be defined by Paul Simon’s line from “The Boxer”: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”

But the ignorance perspective has a deep hold on us because it appeals to the Enlightenment notion that we are motivated to pursue truth. We are “the thinking animal,” right? The important part of that expression may be “animal.” Human beings have an evolutionary history, and deception is commonplace in the animal world because it confers evolutionary advantage. There’s good reason to believe we’re not so different, other than the fact that humans are ultra-social creatures. In ancestral and evolutionary terms, being part of a successful social group was every bit as essential as food and water. So deception among humans evolved from group conflicts. That’s the thesis of a recent paper called “The Evolutionary Psychology of Conflict and the Functions of Falsehood” by the Danish political scientists Michael Bang Petersen and Mathias Osmundsen and American anthropologist John Tooby.

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/08/a-terrifying-new-theory-fake-news-and-conspiracy-theories-as-an-evolutionary-strategy/

For some the “need for chaos” and the desire to watch the country “burn” are driving forces…..

Sadly NOTHING will change before I take a dirt nap…..and the country will be the victim of it’s own stupidity.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

agitator populus scriptor

30 Days And Counting

Actually 29 days….but who is caring?

November 3rd is so close you can almost smell the desperation of some candidates….and that got me to thinking…..in these days of uber divisiveness and the lack of knowledge about how Civics work especially how the elections work….I thought I would do what I do best…..EDUCATE!

How many know how the system works?

That would be the election system.

Please put your hands down…..I thought about a lengthy dissertation on our voting process but then I had to laugh…..no one would read it for most think they have all the answers…..so instead I decided to dumb it down to the level of a 5th grader…..teach with infographics.

https://th.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/electionsprocess-kids-1140x684-1.jpg

Then the vote and the Electoral College…..I personally would like to see this dinosaur scraped in favor of the popular vote…..but that is for another post.

Just how does the EC actually work?

Once again I will dumb it down to an inforgraph……

Click to access Electoral-College-Kids-Discover-1ttmyti.pdf

WE are hearing a lot about Red and Blue states….but how does that decide the election (via the EC)…..and again with the dumbing down of Civics……

The new Snake Chart from FiveThirtyEight

In recent years two presidents can thank their lucky stars for the EC….and both were from the GOP…..Bush and Trump…..so do not look for reform from the GOP it is about the only hope they have these days…..short of voter suppression…..and that is another post altogether.

This is how it works……any questions?

Learn Stuff!

Then VOTE!

I read, I write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dems Run To The Center

That is the lie from the MSM……that this country is a center left or center right country…..I disagree and I have written about this lie extensively….

https://lobotero.com/2011/06/27/centrist-vs-independent/

https://lobotero.com/2016/08/26/why-political-parties-are-unnecessary/

https://lobotero.com/2016/10/11/independents-the-lie-that-just-keeps-giving/

And then my favorite lie from the MSM….”electability”……

https://lobotero.com/2019/07/16/electability-the-lie-that-keeps-on-giving/

I bring all this up because we are in the throes of another election to pick a Dem nominee then the president and the media is doing all they can to elect Joe Biden….they give a whiff of not being biased by focusing on the front runners but with caveats…..

The media has its darling, Joe Biden, a ‘moderate’ that is in the same vane that lost twice and yet they are embracing and pushing a return to the past…..

Clinton lost in 2016 mainly because she ran a poor campaign. In retrospect, though, in view of all the nefarious things she stood for and all the political currents she embodied, it was bound to be tough going for her even with an opponent as preposterous as the one she had.

Democrats ought to take that lesson to heart. But Democrats will be Democrats and so many of them are hellbent instead on doing just the opposite.

Their moderation has become so extreme that Clinton, along with some of her unreconstructed supporters, have lately been floating feelers about her running again. Seriously!

Worse by far – not just because it is far more likely to happen — leading Democrats and their toadies on the cable news networks are still pushing the idea that only Joe Biden, the doddering dufus himself, can guarantee a Trump defeat.

First Lose All the Moderates

Personally I do not think that centrists/moderates/ whatever we want to call the spineless in the party will not win the White House in 2020……

I keep hearing that the Democratic primary is coming down to someone who’s “electable” versus someone who has “ideas.”

This is pure nonsense. Beating Donald Trump requires getting out the vote. And in order to get people to turn out and vote, a presidential candidate has to be inspiring. Which means big ideas, a vision of an America that could become a reality if we all got behind it, a sense of where we need to be heading.

Don’t be fooled. This primary is not a contest between someone who’s electable and someone who has big ideas. Big ideas are essential in order to be electable.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/09/please-note-2020-election-wont-be-won-democratic-centrists

The Mainstream media is picking the candidate for the public and so far they are winning the hearts and minds of the voter for Joe Biden…..

I refuse to let them do this to me….how about you?

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

We Will Survive!

With less than 30 days before the mid-terms the Dems are looking good for the House…..

There has been so much doom and gloom around the election of a president……and no this does not necessarily mean Dear Leader…..it could be a reference to all the trash and noise that was muttered and printed when the US elected its first black dude as president.

Now we are just days away from the Mid-Terms and the Dems are confident that there will be a Blue Wave…..and the president is saying there will be a Red Wave….and the voter is in the middle of these dueling entities totally confused.

My take is that there will be significant Dem gains….not because they have a better message…they do not…..it is that more and more voter no longer trusts the GOP to stick to traditional message.

I mean really?  Does this Dem message sound like a winner or maybe pizza ad?

“A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages.”

That’s right this is the new and improved Dem message for the elections to come.

I have heard of some crappy political slogans….but this one is by far the biggest pile of bovine fecal matter……I am sorry but this is a cop out of the old “New Deal” slogans from 75 years ago…..

The Dems have no clue what to do as far as approaching elections are concerned….this has been written by myself……https://lobotero.com/2018/03/07/dear-democrats/

Then there is the BS of eliminating ICE….really?  This is a NO starter for the election……I would like to see a good foreign policy (after all I am a Foreign policy wonk)….but so far I have nothing that would excite me to voting for a Dem……the best they can do in the more radical corners of the party is condemn Israel and the occupation of Gaza……

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has already slayed some dragons. On foreign policy, however, the Democratic candidate for New York’s 14th congressional district is wielding a dull sword. On a recent episode of PBS’ Firing Line, Ocasio-Cortez failed to explain comments she’d previously made about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Asked what she meant by “the occupation of Palestine,” she dodged the question, saying: “I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue.” As one of the most prominent self-identified democratic socialists in American politics, her stumble seems at odds with the political affiliation she’s publicly claimed. The website of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which she is a member, says it views “the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and its inhumane siege of Gaza as the major barrier” to peace in the region.

It’s reasonable to assume that Ocasio-Cortez would be able to defend this relatively common position. But it’s become common in recent years for left-wing politicians to either botch or dodge foreign policy issues. During 2016’s Democratic presidential primary, Senator Bernie Sanders initially failed to articulate much of a foreign policy platform—a strange oversight given that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, was a former secretary of state and a former senator who’d supported the invasion of Iraq. Sanders didn’t put forward a clearer foreign policy vision until 2017. “Foreign policy must take into account the outrageous income and wealth inequality that exists globally and in our own country,” he said during a 2017 speech at Westminster College.

https://newrepublic.com/article/150317/left-wings-foreign-policy

In conclusion….the Dems will win in the mid-terms but not because they have a superior message….to the contrary……their wins will be because of a divisive Dear Leader.

And then the Dems will revert back to their corporate roots and do nothing to improve the lives of the voters.

Regardless of the mid-term outcomes this country will survive….but the question should be ….in what form?

So I have written!

Turn The Page!

Crisis Of Our Own Making

Day 16–Tic Toc a/holes!

I have often written on the extent of the problems our government is now experiencing….I had written such notables as “the best government money can buy” and “The American people get the government they deserve”.  The American voter has NO one to blame but themselves….this dysfunction was brought on by several causes…..one, the lack of voting….second, allowing money to decide the election outcome and third, confusing slogans for truth.

In the past couple of years this dysfunction has picked up the pace….but what could be the major cause of this?

(Newser) – It’s easy enough to complain about Washington gridlock, but “every country has the government it deserves,” said philosopher Joseph de Maistre. We’re the ones who put the politicians in power, but when you look at the recent results of an international skills survey, it would seem we’re not quite qualified to do so, writes LZ Granderson at CNN. For instance, we’re 16th in literacy proficiency; lower scores there make people more likely to “believe that they have little impact on the political process,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s report said.

For a more anecdotal look, how about those late-night talk show street interviews: “Many of those people who said they could name the president—but not the commander in chief—will soon be standing in a voting booth, armed with a ballot,” writes Granderson. Yet a Gallup poll finds that education isn’t among Americans’ top five concerns for the country. How do we fix the problem? Early childhood education would be a start—but a survey last year (PDF) found us way behind on that, too. Click for Granderson’s full column.

This has caused a break down in the democratic process……for instance the Congress NO longer represents the majority and this is causing a problem that will not go away anytime soon.  And thanx to these games America may well look different in the near future……

The shutdown will not end soon, and when it does the resulting America will not be pretty if Republicans have their way. Republicans have dispensed with “defunding Obamacare” talk and boast that with the shutdown they are “strengthening their hand in the debt limit talks.” With the full faith and credit of the United States hanging in the balance, they will crash the economy if they do not get their way because their goal is eliminating the federal government and what better way than bankrupting the nation so there is no Social Security, no Medicare, no Obamacare, no domestic programs, and no chance of any American ever escaping poverty let alone have healthcare. Whether they crash the economy, or decimate government social programs for the people, Republicans intend on having the celebration they have lusted after for 80 years when killing New Deal provisions began the long journey to where America is today; being held hostage by a group of home-grown conservative terrorists.

It looks like America is a long way away from finding that saturation point for stupid!

We can reverse this direction but it will take work by the voter……sad to say….I do NOT think they have it in them!  LAZINESS!

Get The Money Out!

Since the beginning of the OWS movement and longer there have been those of us that have wanted to get all the cash out of the system….it has been slow going but now thanx to Dylan Ratigan the movement has taken on new life….if you agree with there should be NO private money in elections and government, then please go to the website and if you like what you read then consider joining the fight and sign the petition……

http://www.getmoneyout.com/

There has already been 140,000 signatures taken Congress and more is needed…..if you like the idea then pass it on to your friends and if you are a writer let people know about the movement…..and perhaps we can get something done to help return the government to the people….

Impacted Pluralism

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Political Theory/Political Process

Ever have an impacted wisdom tooth?  What is to be done with it?  You find a solution to the problem and most often that is to get rid of the irritating tooth, right?

Today’s class is on “impacted pluralism”…….let us begin with a short, simple definition….impacted means wedged together at the broken ends and pluralism– the view that politics and decision making are located mostly in the framework of government, but that many non-governmental groups use their resources to exert influence. The central question for classical pluralism is how power and influence is distributed in a political process. Groups of individuals try to maximize their interests. Lines of conflict are multiple and shifting as power is a continuous bargaining process between competing groups. There may be inequalities but they tend to be distributed and evened out by the various forms and distributions of resources throughout a population. Any change under this view will be slow and incremental, as groups have different interests and may act as “veto groups” to destroy legislation that they do not agree with.

Or more simply……bargaining between groups contributes as much to policy as does formal democracy.  And then the impacted part is that the extremes of either end of the political spectrum are fighting for control and disallowing any compromise that would facilitate the smooth operation of the government.

Now with that out of the way take a long look at the operation of the US Congress….I mean a long objective look…..what have you seen?  You have seen the issues that are championed by the extreme Right in direct conflict with the desires and issues of the extreme Left….and what has that given the US?  A simple question to answer….the US government is at a standstill…..they cannot pass any legislation that is anything but some lame little acts that do little to nothing in ways of helping the country deal with the problems, the massive problems, that it faces in this century.

How would pluralism work?   Policy takes place in a crowded arena, and no group or political party is powerful enough to dominate the others. Policy emerges as a compromise between the various interest groups. This brings along a specific rationale: each group adjusts its stance to take into consideration the others to promote stability, even if a group loses out from time to time.

So now…..”impacted pluralism” is politics characterized by the pursuit by groups of their various interests which used to give something to everyone and achieve negotiated compromises, but which has changed to a situation where competing interests are deadlocked, and neither the public interest nor that of groups is served.

As you can see something is wrong in our system……Thus we have an impacted pluralism….and the only way to change it is to get rid of it…just like that impacted wisdom tooth….we must find a way to make the government work again or we will lose the only thing that we should be proud of, our way of governance.

One Last (Trump) Post

Daily Agitator

I apologize to my conservative friends but the GOP is a clown show and the lead clown is……you guess it……Trump!

Trump is a buffoon!  And why is the media so afraid of this person that they fixate on his bullsh*t?  Where is the courage and the fortitude of the media in covering this consummate con man?

Like I said…this will be the last post I do on the subject of Donald Trump (unless he does something even more stupid than his presidential campaign)…..this guy is a egotistical, racist and sexist individual and he wants (joke in itself) to represent the United States on the world stage…….

Donald Trump is the 21st century’s answer to “Tailgunner” Joe McCarthy…he makes accusations without proof, his talking points are the vaguest on record, he attacks on a personal basis not on policy based argument and worse of all, he seldom answers a questions put to him directly…instead he is allowed to go off on a tangent without offering any answers…an there are Americans that like his style….and that would explain the success of the Tea Party, not the original TP but that corporate controlled one we have today……

In the beginning he started off with the debt, deficit and China….he reamed China on every level…..BTW, his clothing line is made in….you guessed it….CHINA!  He champions America…at least that is what he wants voters to believe….he then sank into the pit of the “birthers” all in search of the media exposure so that he could promote himself…… he is almost single-handedly making the US a laughing stock.  NO one, with half a brain, is taking this man seriously as a presidential hopeful…..most Americans see him for what he is….a self-involved con man!

He will return to his version of  “Why I am the man”, the Apprentice…..to continue his love fest with himself…..

GOP keep looking….surely there is someone in the Party that is NOT a complete joke surely someone has “real” ideas and not a bag full of slogans and lies…..keep looking!

What Are We Paying For?

My readers have heard me bitch and moan about the representatives in Washington how they work very little, accomplish even less and still draw a pay check…..a stupid system by any stretch of the imagination….but there is more to NOT understand……these people work about 6 hours a day (average) and work about 4 days a week and have every other week off and they are paid about $174,000 a year……may I see a show hands of the people that would like that deal in their job?

Personally, I feel we should go back to the “good old days”….From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year.  I like Ben Franklin’s idea…that is that these people would NOT be paid for the job, but that would NEVER happen because egos are more important that public service……

I like the idea of paying them per Diem….other words they get paid for the time they are actually working at their jobs and attending fundraisers is NOT part of their job…if you do not like that…then how about they get paid piece work….that is they get a paycheck for the bills they actually pass…….

Maybe then there will be some actual work done in Washington….as it is today….we people’s business is NOT being addressed….just some personal agenda by these thieves and yes I said thieves…why would I say that?  Well, these people are NOT doing their job and still taking money under false pretenses…..no matter how you cut that…it is STEALING!  I mean some people think welfare is theft….well if that is stealing what would call your representatives in Washington?