604
by Peter C
Hillbilly,
I apologize for forgetting that you didn't like the Bushes. Was it because they were not far enough right? That is a serious question based in part on your adamant support for Trump now and your reference to Rinos.
But, you are every bit as wrong in calling me a far-lefty, and I made that clear in my recent posts. I am a moderate Democrat. I am opposed to most far-left stuff and agree with moderate views (Republican and Democrat) on many subjects. Also, I was not anti-Bush Sr. when he was elected. He was not my first choice, but he was reasonable. I liked Colin Powell too, until he made his weak-ass presentation to justify a war. The evidence he cited clearly did not warrant starting that war. I have no doubt that he is smart enough to have known he was playing a baseless, party-line position in claiming there was proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I was hugely disappointed in him for selling the country out in that presentation in favor of acting like a car salesman in his advocating of military action that Bush 2 was hell-bent on taking, regardless of the actual state of the evidence.
I agree that illegal immigration should be controlled, and I am not keen of sanctuary cities. But I think Trump's border wall is a bad idea and that his pandering about getting Mexico to pay for it was fraudulent and insulting to our neighboring countries and to American voters.
I am opposed to quick-trigger tax increases in which people are too ready to mindlessly impose new or higher taxes that are not really necessary and that will be paid only by people or entities other than themselves.
I agree that there should be vetting against terrorists entering the United States, but there is no real evidence that terrorists are sneaking into the US rather than being radicalized here, in part because many find themselves discriminated against once here. I think Trump is making that risk worse when he takes religion-based stances on immigration. I don't like lying (which = knowing telling of untruths and/or an unwillingness to admit honest error once it is pointed out) by any party.
I am opposed to over-regulation that creates substantial burdens on companies for no good and proportionate reason. But I also know that capitalism too often allows companies to impose costs on other people in the form of pollution, etc., that should be considered in weighing what regulation is needed. Certainly, I do not trust corporations or the rich (as a group) to truly consider fairness to average folks and workers. History consistently shows both that businesses do not self-regulate in the long-term best interests of people, the country, or world as a whole and that Government is needed to achieve those kinds of goals. It also shows that State-level regulation also is often not the best answer because States, like businesses, often think about their own constituents (and often only powerful constituents) too. So, national and international law is needed too, but also must work in mostly moderate ways.
From everything I have seen and heard first-hand (and I have been paying loads of attention), Trump is a total jerk of a person, a virtually non-stop liar, and dangerously compulsive and ill-informed. More than anyone else I have seen (even in politics), he is about himself and himself alone. And he always has his finger to the wind to test how he thinks he should behave to best serve himself alone in the moment. He thus is totally feckless and regularly changes positions in a shameless way. Whether he does what you like or not, it is not genuinely done for you or for any consistent and well-principled reason. It is because, in the moment, he thinks it helps him. And, generally -- even to that limited end -- it is seldom well considered.
So, when people support him staunchly I have to admit that I lose a lot of respect for them. That is because they either are being duped or they operate from a set of core values that are totally foreign to my own Christian-based and Constitutionally-informed values. By that, I mean that I try to treat others like I would want to be treated, and I inform how that value should be carried out by government by looking to give the Bill of Rights the meaning and reach that those constitutional amendments were meant to have (which is often not the politicized meanings the Supreme Court attaches to them) and figure out what powers properly belong to the federal government, the States, and the people (ALL of the people). But, I also do not believe that the founding fathers knew all or that they intended the Constitution to be applied in a mechanical and entirely static way. Rather, they were setting forth some specifics and related principles of governance that need to be applied in a changing world that they could not possibly have foreseen in all important respects.
I thus try to take a wholistic view of issues and look for approaches that consider and meet the genuine concerns of all reasonably held views and concerns. I think doctrinaire and narrow world views are terrible qualities in any candidate for elected federal office. Trump is an instinctive bully, with no apparent genuine empathy or care for others. He is a self-claimed know-it-all who is appallingly ignorant and uninterested in doing the work to learn and understand. He is dangerous. He is divisive. He is a bigot and a masogynist. And he regularly takes the worst possible policy position on everything he touches. That is why I do not like him.
Last edited by
Peter C on Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:36 pm, edited 3 times in total.
