Robert Ariail for February 12, 2017

This could be a good thing - politics becoming local again - as the Democrats notice the people and start worrying about we the people instead of their party. It could also have the positive side effect of making the Republicans more supportive of the middle class as well. The top down, elitist strategy, was focused on the president and caused loses in house, senate and state politics to the other party because their focus - shown by the large number of primary candidates - was not on the presidency. If politicians of both parties paid more attention to we the people and less to the corporations, I think the rancor would greatly diminish. What do you think?

The multinational corporate sponsors of the American political parties are delighted with the current rancor that keeps the public distracted from the deals being made behind closed doors especially the current lack of support for whistle-blowers. The idea of passing the signs surely amuses them, knowing that no major effort will be needed to prevent the two sides from working together for the benefit of the public.

The two sides are not going to work together any time soon. But I will venture to say that some progress was made during the Obama years, and it won’t all be in vain. For instance, amidst all the talk of repealing and replacing the ACA I notice that many people now agree that there should be something like universal coverage, that there should be a guarantee of coverage even for those with preexisting conditions, and that children should be able to stay on their parents’ plans until they are twenty-six. Before the ACA neither of these would have been taken for granted. The trouble the Republican party has is that these provisions won’t really work without a large or perhaps universal pool. So the ACA will probably be replaced by something close to the ACA. But the Republicans will claim they repealed and replaced in order to save face.

I think our conservatives here are starting to realize that they have mistaken forbearance for weakness. Poor little snowflakes…

What’s truly amazing is that a number of even pretty far right “Republicans” are seeing how crazy Trump is, and changing their toon to “buyers remorse”.

Funny how many have changed their tunes, wanting the Republican Congress to say no to the Democrat President. Now they weep an moan over Democrats doing the same. Block everything this maniac wants.