General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo you say both sides are the same huh?
You can tell all you need to know about the true agenda and priorities of a political party by what they do in their first 100 days in power, when their political capital is the highest it will ever be.
On the same note, my fear and frustration at the moment is that while the media and everyone else is being distracted by Trump's daily insanity, it's the Republicans who control the houses who are quietly starting to pass all the horrific crap they've always dreamed of with little to no media attention.
For example, here are just 5 laws republicans have either already repealed in the last few days, or are about to, all of which the media has almost entirely ignored.
1) The law that prevented mining companies from dumping toxic wastes into streams.
2) The law that required the Social Security Administration to notify the national background check service of individuals so mentally ill and/or crazy that they legally can not handle their own affairs so that they can't buy gun.
3) The law that required oil companies and other resource extractors to disclose payments to foreign governments. This rule was personally lobbied against at the time by none other than Trumps new big oil insider Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
4) The law that forces energy companies to limit methane (one of the most potent gases that causes global warming) and other chemicals released during extraction.
5) The law mandating the federal government not grant contracts to companies who have a history of discrimination and harassment violations, and/or a history of providing unsafe work conditions.
And this is only the beginning, there WILL be much, much more in the next few months, everything from union busting to massive tax breaks for the wealthy to stripping away critical Wall Street and environmental regulations.
Of course this is not even getting into Trump's unchallenged executive orders, like the Muslim ban or my favorite, repealing the Obama Law which simply stated that financial advisors must act in the clients best interest, and not their own.
Now, let's compare that to the priorities of Obama and the democrats (who also controlled the houses). Here's what they did in their first 100 days in 2009;
- Passed the "largest" economic stimulus bill in history, saving us from another Great Depression by temporarily funding schools, giving vital payroll tax cuts to the poor/middle class and creating thousands of infrastructure jobs among other things.
- Passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, ensuring equal pay for women.
- Issued a $2,500 tax credit to help offset the cost of tuition (among other expenses) for those seeking a college education. Nearly five million families saved roughly $9 billion.
- Expanded the SCHIP program, which expanded the State Childrens Health Insurance Plan to cover an additional 4 million children of low income families.
- Issued a $275 billion housing program which rescued roughly 9 million homeowners from foreclosure.
- Reversed Bush order aimed at limiting union representation on federal contracts and moved to prevent federal contractors from being reimbursed for unionbusting propganda compaigns during collective bargaining.
- Signed an executive order overturning the Bush's ban on project labor agreements on Project labor agreements which set wages and establish work rules and methods of settling grievances on large multi-contractor construction projects (for more than 70 years before the Bush order, project labor agreements benefited communities, employers and workers by ensuring fair wages and benefits and on-time completion of projects).
- Diminished the role of lobbyists in the White House, including an executive order that banned gifts from lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.
- Lifted Bush's ban on federally funded embryonic stem cell research which scientist believes holds the key to everything from curing Parkinson's and diabetes to paralysis.
- Funded investments into solar, wind and other alternative energy, as well as issued $5 billion to weatherize low-income homes.
- Signed into law "The National Services" bill which provided federal funding for thousands of volunteers in fields ranging from clean energy to health care and education.
- Passed the Public Land Management Act of 2009, putting under federal protection more than two million acres of wilderness, thousands of miles of river and a host of national trails and parks.
Set a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq.
- Abolished Bush's torture policies
It's also important to note that Republicans unanimously opposed nearly every single one of these initiatives.
Keep this in mind the next time someone tells you "both parties are the same", or the next time you or someone you know think it's pointless to vote.
It's up to you share this information. Don't expect any help from the corporate media. All they want is bloody political warfare for ratings. Their entire programming is based on the premise that there are two equally "credible" political parties. Two equally credible, yet conflicting, sides to each issue, when rarely is that the case. Their only agenda is not to report news, but simply point the camera at the steel cage match between the two every day.
Source;
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/gop-congressional-review-act-stream-rule-2017-2
Response to thejoker123 (Original post)
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TeamPooka
(25,113 posts)Response to TeamPooka (Reply #2)
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Response to Hekate (Reply #5)
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Hekate
(93,986 posts)Enjoy your stay.
Response to Hekate (Reply #10)
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Cha
(303,801 posts)thejoker123
(279 posts)is constantly assuming that Americans are reasonable, informed people. That if they just lay out the facts, people will get it.
pablo_marmol
(2,375 posts)You would think that some soul-searching would follow a loss to the orange one in order to avoid more disaster, but no.
Cha
(303,801 posts)pablo_marmol
(2,375 posts).......but very little soul searching -- and I am, in fact, paying attention. Chuckie Schumer and others want to double down on our lies re. "assault weapons", "gun show loopholes" etc., and trial balloons re. a Chelsea Clinton/Michelle Obama run are being floated. I predict a very painful life until my heart will (thankfully) peter out.
Edited to add: And why the snark w/regard to "soul searching"?! As if introspection at a time like this is a bad thing?!
Cha
(303,801 posts)pablo_marmol
(2,375 posts)Cha
(303,801 posts)thejoker123
(279 posts)It's simple, democracy only works when educated people outnumber and outvote the stupid people.
That's getting harder and harder in America thanks to the intentional dumbing down of people by corporate America, the cancerous spread of right wing media, and our corporate "news" who's entire programming is dependent on maintaining the hilarious myth that the Republican Party is actually a sane, reasonable, credible political party so they can sell the two-party horse race and political warfare 24/7/365.
Response to thejoker123 (Reply #6)
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thejoker123
(279 posts)The alcohol in my system is both what caused the typo and no doubt allowed me bother to respond to an obvious troll.
MFM008
(19,973 posts)She won by 2.9 million votes. Unfortunately the distribution was wrong.
He got a lot of help from the russkies to.
God knows what else.
Response to MFM008 (Reply #17)
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Cha
(303,801 posts)better about his little inept self.
Why are you pushing that propaganda?
nikibatts
(2,198 posts)Most Trump voters preferred to believe the alter-reality of what Trump and others were promising. They do not want to hear the reality about trade, jobs, immigration, taxes and a myriad of other realities that are going to smack them upside their mostly empty heads.
Glamrock
(11,931 posts)Every network except FOX is dominated by both siderists.
Obviously, FOX is just propaganda...
joshcryer
(62,347 posts)...progressives eat their own over trivialities.
Anything good Democrats do there's always some bullshit that gets touted by "progressives" who can't accept the good.
We should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but we do it time and time again.
Look at Tom Perez vs Keith Ellison. If Ellison doesn't get the nod do you know how fucked the Democrats are going to be with the purist left? We're going to be fucked. There will be calls to create another party. And yet Perez is actually a really damn good candidate as are several other candidates. I actually think Pete Buttigieg is amazing and someone people don't recognize.
nikibatts
(2,198 posts)No doubt they will be ignored as always.
Rhiannon12866
(218,973 posts)It's the system that's the problem, not the Democratic platform. And Trump is extremely unpopular and becoming more detested by the day.
LisaL
(46,161 posts)If you can't win by the rules that are in place, you have a problem. Trump being unpopular isn't stopping him from being president.
Cha
(303,801 posts)trump fuckers think he's actually going to help them. They are going to be in for a Shock.
I think it's hit some of them already.
The m$m gave the fucked up orange monster Billion$$$$$ of bucks of free air time.. normalizing him.. and reported negatively on Hillary.
Don't you know it was all about the fucking EMAILS.. or so fuckng comey bet his ass on.
Then there's the lying self absorbed ass, jill stein..
Link to tweet
they damn well will.. sitting on their millions while the Planet goes to shite and people go hungry and Immigrants banned from the US by "the bumbler" according the ever present idiot, jill stein
Dangerous#1 Dangerous#2 Dangerous#3 stein on trump & Hillary
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
C Moon
(12,503 posts)Glamrock
(11,931 posts)Bookmarked for future use...
B. How surreal! I'm playing Batman Arkham City on the PlayStation network and bookmarking pages supplied by the Joker!
thejoker123
(279 posts)applegrove
(122,161 posts)clients best interests to their clients. Hello subprimemortgage fiasco.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)not to vote or voted 3rd party gave us real evil....job well done....