Posted on 02/12/2021 11:03:02 AM PST by Kaslin
It's sort of shocking that a series of left-wing riots around the nation followed by a right-wing riot at our Capitol building haven't caused much self-reflection among the policymakers in Washington. It's convenient to think this is just some tiny group of crazies or this is all going to blow over. We have been thinking that way for years now. It's not true. Our once-great country is on a huge slide. Too many fellow citizens are hurting. Too many communities around the country are shells of their former vibrant selves. All this is a screaming wake-up call for change, yet we don't have any serious efforts underway to reform our system.
The most telling data point on the Jan. 6 Capitol riots was published this week by The Washington Post. Nearly 60% of the people charged with crimes in the riots had a history of serious financial troubles, including bad debts, bankruptcies, unpaid taxes, evictions, and foreclosures. Many of these people were once responsible professionals, and few had violent criminal backgrounds. What happened? That seems like the question we should all be asking, but nobody is.
In the aftermath of the horrible events that day, the media has focused intently on the QAnon conspiracy theory and the role of groups such as the Proud Boys. Those are worthy pursuits, but they are not actually the central challenge we face as a country. We have always had extremists of various persuasions, and we always will. The real question is why so many normal Americans are buying in. That question likely comes down to economics. When people feel like they have lost out economically -- and especially when they feel like their future opportunities are limited -- they lose faith in our system. That's clearly what we are facing now. But it's a lot easier for the media and those in power to pin the whole thing on QAnon craziness, and that's what they are doing.
A New York Times investigation into court records found only 13 rioters with clear ties to QAnon. That means economic hardship was five times more prevalent than QAnon affiliation among those arrested at the Capitol. We are chasing for an easy answer because the real problem is too difficult to address.
What to do about the economic bifurcation of our country is a hard question. Our capitalist system has produced amazing growth and a standard of living that is still head and shoulders above most of the world. We have also enjoyed a multidecade period of relative peace and tranquility that is rare by historical standards. We should be really careful before making changes. Yet something is clearly off. Our system is no longer working for huge swaths of our country. Our corporate elite are thriving like never before, while a bunch of Americans is financially stagnant, or worse. It's just not sustainable.
Washington, contrary to many people's beliefs, is full of a lot of very decent and talented people who try to do the right thing (with some exceptions, of course). The problem is Washington has collectively and increasingly grown out of touch with much of America. On the Republican side, especially -- the side I know best -- the general presumption has been that policies that benefit business are policies that benefit America. These policies generally promote economic growth by creating jobs and wealth. It's a sound idea. But what happens when large businesses become less American and more global? What happens when business growth or profit is more dependent on a market like China's than on our own? Do the policies that help businesses thrive in China necessarily benefit everyday Americans? These are questions we have not adequately addressed.
These questions have become more urgent as Washington has become more defined by the needs of the financial and multinational companies that dominate it. With the majority of those leaving Congress, and the vast majority of highly influential senior congressional staff, now going into this booming influence industry, it's reasonable to ask whether public service is becoming, for many, just a tryout for a lucrative career in the influence business. We are well past the days when John Adams and George Washington returned home to their farms. Nobody leaves anymore. It's a real problem.
Solving these problems is not easy. Hasty solutions may do more harm than good. We still have a lot to lose. But if anyone doesn't see these past few years, and especially these past few months, as an urgent wake-up call, then it's not clear they ever will -- certainly not before it's too late.
For starters, we need to face the reality that Washington's policy is too tied to multinational corporate interests and too divorced from everyday American realities. The opioid crisis completely ravaged huge swaths of our country before anyone in power even took notice. That doesn't happen in a well-functioning political system. It's easy to make fun of the crazies -- and there were a lot of them at the Capitol on Jan. 6 -- but we should instead use this wake-up call to look inwardly at our government and how it can better serve the needs of regular Americans.
That ship has already sailed.
I wish you were incorrect.
It ain’t over. But the Leftists are brainwashing the masses; daily.
The media are trying to distract from these fundamental economic issues by blathering about the threat of “white supremacists.” If there is a growth in “white supremacists” or “white nationalists” (and I’m not convinced there is), it might have to do more with economic stress than “racism.”
Excellent list
Why didn’t they spell “Trump” correctly, though?
To keep it off a keyword search?
Why didn’t they spell “Trump” correctly, though?
To keep it off a keyword search?
That ship sailed on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009 when both parties abrogated the Constitution by directly violating it when they swore in the ineligible Kenyan from Indonesia.
The muslim marxist usurper corrupted our ENTIRE government.
Brainwashing and cowardice brought on by fear of the “masses” is a recipe for disaster of any society and its economy.
The last for years have been especially revealing of what the real America looks like. Leftists spewing their hate, lies and BS from day one. And citizens believing them.
Criminal sh-t going on within the DOJ, CIA and FBI (Peter Strzok, Jim Comey, Lisa Paige, Brennan, Clapper....) and despite all the evidence coming out there was no responsibility held for their criminal actions. The involvement of Email destroyer Hillary Clinton and the DNC in the whole phony Russian collusion pile of crap which started in the Obama White House prior to President Trump getting there.
30 million taxpayer dollars wasted on the Mueller investigation which found ZERO..... total Anti-American traitors who should have been indicted for treason.... and nothing from the DOJ despite all the evidence. America is SICK! Revealed info about the Clinton foundation dealings with Haiti and Russia? The Biden family involvement in getting billions of foreign money from the Ukraine, communist China and even the Mayor of Moscow!
Joe Biden starting a phony cancer aid foundation and nothing went to help any cancer victims…. All the money raised went to his pals on the management team. All of this under investigation and the honest patriotic American citizens watching and waiting, believing our legal system was going to do its duties and “soon” hold criminals responsible and NOTHING happens!
Um, no.
My view of it is that The America is totaled; but the Americans survived the wreck and will now do what Americans do: adapt, improvise and overcome. I hope it doesn’t go full-blown violence, but it might.
There will be an implosion of some sort. Each American needs to be prepared.
Yep, gop Senate and fake conservative supreme court, wussy VP, drove a stake through the heart of American justice!
All this is a screaming wake-up call for change, yet we don’t have any serious efforts underway to reform our system.
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The reform our system needs is for government at all levels to resolutely uphold the laws that are currently being broken with impunity. Unfortunately it seems clear that the government at all levels is itself now under the control of people who are major lawbreakers.
The only thing I would add is that they did notice the opioid crisis. But they were firmly in the grip of the pharmaceutical industry pushing the dope. And they were firmly in the grip of the globalists were protecting it in Afghanistan.
They noticed. But regular America is less important to them. In truth, they reveled in abusing and blaming small-town Americans as unsophisticated for being victims of the opioid crisis. A crisis which bloomed at the exact moment all their jobs were shipped to China.
The DC class smugly enjoyed every minute of it. It wasn’t that they didn’t notice
That ship sailed on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009 when both parties abrogated the Constitution by directly violating it when they swore in the ineligible Kenyan from Indonesia.
The muslim marxist usurper corrupted our ENTIRE government.
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Yep, I told my family and friends in the fall of ‘08 that if that character was elected it would mark the beginning of the end for the USA. It was perfectly obvious to me that his sole mission was going to be the corruption of the entire Federal government. RESULT? The Deep State has managed to successfully stage the first coup in American history and force into exile the President of the United States. Lady Liberty? STICK A FORK IN HER, SHE’S DONE!
Washington, contrary to many people’s beliefs, is full of a lot of very decent and talented people who try to do the right thing
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Of course there are, but the people you’re referring to are NOT the leaders and shakers that comprise the Deep State. They are the low-level employees who do what their jobs require but who have no say whatsoever in terms of rules, regulations, and policies that are controlled by the cabal we call the Deep State. Making reference to those very decent and talented people is obviously an attempt to deflect our attention away from the criminal activities of that cabal.
“It’s sort of shocking that a series of left-wing riots around the nation followed by a right-wing riot at our Capitol building...”
right-wing riot??
Another one with his head up his ass.
The view that "if it's good for business, it's good for Americans" has always been somewhat one-dimensional. The reality is far more nuanced. There is a reason we historically avoided monopolies--and the outcome, now that we have allowed so many mega-multinational corporations to exist, is not that good for ordinary citizens. Look at the tech giants, now using their monopolistic powers to silence citizens for speaking their minds (and not being part of the group-think). And banks and other businesses, working to exile citizens who won't adhere to the socialist group-think. The argument that moving manufacturing overseas ultimately helps Americans doesn't hold water, because the Americans who lose their manufacturing jobs can't afford to buy those overseas imports at any price. And so on. We do need domestic manufacturing, and we need to encourage the work ethic among young people. Otherwise, we are a train wreck in progress.
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