Ted Rall for May 31, 2021

And the alternative is so much better, right?

It has nothing to do with the current GQP that intends to block everything that will make the Democrats look good./s

The issue is that with only two parties, you ALMOST ALWAYS end up with a candidate who’s not good and a candidate who’s pretty bad. Then you grit your teeth and vote for the least awful. That’s NOT a good situation. But it’s real.

THERE ARE some ways to improve on this, but they cost you, personally, time AND money. YOU have to get involved at the grassroots level. YOU have to either run for local office or find someone who you think will do a good job and support them with time AND money. Then you have to keep doing that, for the rest of your life. Because it’s only at the bottom level where good people can get started with name recognition, a record of public service, sound bites. Because if YOU don’t get involved, spending YOUR time and YOUR money, then guess who DOES get to choose who your eventual candidates for higher office. Hint: Not you.

It really is as simple as that. Though I admit that when you pile up the 10s of thousands of races around the country, the size of it all does make it more complex.

PS: When you get involved in actual shoe-leather on the porch step politics, you find out something that Ted Rall seems to not really understand: People have DIFFERENT priorities from each other, and from you. When you’re out talking to neighbors and not so nigh-bors, you will discover that “your” winning candidate will have to espouse some ideas that you don’t really like best, or they’ll just be an also ran.

PPS: But Rall does have it right that the “Democrats” as a party are pretty much indistinguishable from every political party ever: They’re in it to maintain their power no matter what it takes. Just like union leaders, CEOs, Bishops, police chiefs…

One plus one will equal two but only if one will cooperate with the other!!

Imagine that!!

Ted, have you noticed that Republicans still control so many state legislatures and governorships?

’Ja think that might affect what Biden and Democrats are able to accomplish?

The US political system, the worst advertisement for the two party system ever.

Fifteen states have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional convention. If 19 more do so congress has to hold the convention and then each state gets one vote. California, Illinois and New York’s population advantages are moot. Rhode Island has the same one vote California has. They can impose term limits on senators and house members, restrict the taxing power of the federal government, mandate balanced budgets, etc. Then if 3/4 of states vote yea, it’s a done deal. Pelosi or Trump or Biden, none of them can stop it. There is no appeal to the Supreme Court. When 3/4 of the states vote yea, it’s all over but the whining.

I’ll vote for the one that isn’t a traitor. Republicans, traitors since 1968. Conservatives, traitors since 1776. Conservatives, on the wrong side of history, since, forever.

So the Republicans are not to blame for obstructions…not!

The points Rall makes are valid, i.e., we NEED to remedy the problems Rall underscores; however, rather than assign blame to the GOP Leadershit knee-jerk sycophants for our inability to remedy those problems, Rall PRETENDS that the cure is as straightforward and simple as flipping a light switch. Rall simply does not give a damn one way or another. Instead, he THRIVES on consternation, chaos, and confusion. Rall COULD denounce the GOP Leadershit knee-jerk sycophants, including, but not limited to, Miserly Moscow Mitch, SFB McCarthy, pervert Gaetz, wackos Greene & Boebert, et al., but, for some reason, Rall holds back. He prefers to attack Biden by implying hypocrisy where he knows there is no hypocrisy and to ignore YEARS, DECADES, of GOP Leadershit double-dealing. Only those close to Rall know whether or not he’s actually a fifth-columnist quisling bent on undermining the Democratic/Progressive Resistance rather than arousing people to reject the GOP Leadershit, but, if we were privy to Rall’s innermost thoughts and motives, I would not be surprised to learn that his heart & mind were as one with Trump et al.

Let’s be clear. Every safety net, every piece of legislation helping regular folks has always come from the Democrats. Think Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, GI Bill. When these things take a hit, who do you suppose does that?

And your character is correct, Ted: There will be a binary choice in 2024. It’s pure fantasy to think there could be a viable progressive third party in the United States at the national level. It would be better to support the center left than continually mock and even despise it.

Don’t count on being able to vote in several states such as TX, GA, and AZ, if the GOP has its way.

Hmmm…AOC thinks Biden’s doing well. I guess you think she’s too centered on the political spectrum? We do not have a monarchy. We have Congress and roughly half of it is Trumpian.

Biden has not reneged on anything at all. With a little more than 130 days in office the priorities have been the pandemic, the recession and tRump’s mess which includes an insurrection. Add in ‘Moscow’ Mitch McConnell who refuses to just roll over as minority leader and vowed again to obstruct the sitting president, we should be reasonably and pleasantly surprised at Biden’s success so far. Polls show over 60% approval rating, so not everyone is throwing a tantrum.

The ‘fault’ lies with WE, the People who voted for Republican/conservatives locally and nationally, and those who didn’t vote for Biden casting ballots instead for Sanders or none at all because of Sanders. Bernie knows better than anyone that he could not deliver anything close to what Biden has. The Sanders ‘coalition’ consists of 2 or 3. McConnell would have led the Nation in ignoring him. tRump garnered over 70,000 votes and some who must be mentally challenged try to divide tRump’s opposition. Whining, with the impatience of a petulant child, won’t get big boy problems solved.

What’s your point Ted? That if you can’t get, despite Republican scorched earth opposition, everything you want in the first six months of Biden’s presidency you might as well elect the former guy or someone even worse? The Republican party can surely supply the latter if that’s what you prefer.

Richest country in the world does nothing for its citizens, more like the greediest country in the world.

Has there ever been a politician who didn’t make promises he/she couldn’t keep? Some might have sincerely thought they could follow through with those promises, while others just out and out lied. So, if anyone thought that all of Biden’s promises would become reality, they were very naive.

No different than when the GOP touts their candidate as “it’s either us or a Democrat”…

The giant douche over the turd sandwich!

Love it! Person #2 told it as it is. What’s sad is when the Democratic voters flee the high tax states like California, New York, and Illinois and go to Red states they never change their voting habits, and then they whine about the taxes rising or other crap that has changed in their new home. Can you say Oregon?

Person #1 is so typical. Why is she only making $12/hour and why isn’t she insured? It must be the government’s fault! It sure can’t be that she never applied herself and got training for a good job that offers health insurance, can it?

They already are accountable – to the ruling class which they serve. Only revolution will answer.

All of these should have the words “The Republicans blocked…” or “The Republicans voted against…” in front of.

Sounds like Ted, like general Flynn, is in favor of a Myanmar-style military coup to override the inconvenience of elected officials deciding the countries policies.

Maybe there’s something wrong with my cognition process, but it utterly baffles me how anyone can look at Trump’s 4 years and what the GOP has become and say, “yup, just politics as usual. Democrats, Republicans, Trump, Biden, just peas in a pod.”

When do people see that the problem is a two party system instead of some other form? We need rank-order voting (like Australia) or non-partisan primaries (like California) to resolve this problem.

Holding the D’s “accountable” means ceding the future to the GQP. Not an option. We will keep winning elections if we maintain our momentum. The GQP only understands losing, repeatedly.

I wish I could get away with criticizing without providing any solutions to problems at my job. Of course, in the real world outside political commentary there is a word for people who do that…unemployed.

And who is responsible for this? Basically, the Senate has become anti-democratic (the political philosophy, not the party) where you need 60 votes to do anything substantive, because the filibuster’s use has risen sharply. Because each state gets two Senators, and Republicans increasingly control elections in smaller states, the Republicans’ current 50% of seats only represents 43.6% of the population. Republican Senators haven’t represented a majority of the population since 1996, but they controlled the chamber 57% of the time until now.McConnell on Wednesday told reporters that while he could spend his time helping to end the pandemic, or aiding the economic recovery, or stopping mass shootings, he’s actually got something else in mind: blocking Joe Biden’s entire agenda. “One hundred percent of my focus is standing up to this administration,” the Kentucky Republican said at a press conference in his state in response to questions about fighting among House Republicans. “What we have in the United States Senate is total unity from Susan Collins to Ted Cruz in opposition to what the new Biden administration is trying to do to this country,” he said, referring to his colleagues from Maine and Texas. What sort of things has Biden proposed that McConnell is dead set on opposing? In a word, everything. Vanity Fair May 6 2021.

Don’t forget he’s still got moscow mitch to deal with.

He’s tried on both those things and failed. If Democrats pick up a bunch of seats in the Senate, both will be revisited. Biden is not the problem on these issues, however.

Elect more Progressives and you will.