“If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebody’s got to be articulating an agenda that’s fighting for America, not just fighting Trump. The American dream has become unaffordable. It’s inaccessible. And that has to be unacceptable to us.” - Rahm Emanuel.
If the "American dream" is to have a 4 bedroom house on at least a quarter acre lot. with a car, a pickup truck, a boat or camper, and 3 kids in top notch schools preparing for college -- all by the time that you are 32 -- then that never has been affordable to more than a few. Many people obviously don't have the spending power of others (despite a willingness to work for it), but at least have access to education, healthcare, protection from discrimination, and other government benefits (including the earned income tax credit, financed mainly by progressive taxes) that others lacked in the "good old days" of the past. While there is always room for improvement, the "system" isn't nearly as "rigged" against the poor and middle class as is claimed by demagogues of the left and right. For me, change that is effective and fair starts with an acknowledgement of what is good about what we have now.
A third of people have no home of their own. A tiny old house with a dirt drive is more than many can ever hope for. I've seen people overjoyed to inherit an old single wide with 10ft of land on both sides.
Health care is a great way to lose your house, number one cause of bankruptcy.
Earned income tax credit is not the same as no increase in min wage in almost 2 decades.
The words middle class are a joke. Used by the uber wealthy for Tax credits for Teslas. The second and third quintiles aren't getting food stamps, section 8 housing, or medicaid, and they also aren't getting paid.
A better life for our kids is the American Dream. Job security and not having to work until we die. The social contract has been broken and there is hell to pay.
That explains why so many millions of people from all over the world would be happy to move to the U.S. If you think that things are so awful here, maybe you should trade places with one of them.
For me things are great, got the 4 bed, camper, canoe, three trucks all new, don't owe on anything, elk season starts in 3 months. We are extremely comfortable.
The deal is I don't think only of myself. I want everyone to get a little piece of the pie. I'm not self centered and selfish. I want my country to be a great place for everyone.
Unlike many MAGA types, so do I, and I recognize and support the many government programs that essentially transfer spending power from people like me who -- apparently like you -- are comfortably wealthy by current American standards and extremely wealthy compared to current world standards and historical American standards.
I would support certain higher levels of income transfer, based on sound economic policy. A particular example is earned income tax credit that subsidizes work as opposed to minimum wage mandates that place the financial burden on employers and thus discourage employment -- especially for low skilled people. There have been some problems with the earned income tax problem that should be addressed without killing the program.
I could name several "progressive" changes that I would support. But enough is enough.
I long for a large number of reasonable politicians who go to Washington, not to keep a lifetime job, but instead represent those who elected them. And strive for and actually do find middle ground across parties and ideologies to move this country forward. Sadly, these types of elected officials are in very short supply today.
They can't win elections. Voters want true believers in their political positions...progressives and Republicans don't want people who will find "middle ground." They believe that "Middle ground" is for weaklings. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
The men reported here don't sound like Progressives. They sound like Democrats. They weren't advocating open borders, policing language, DeFunding police, men playing in women's and girls' sports, making everybody buy a EV, DEI, and all of the other nonsense progressives stand for.
Do a deep dive into the political record of another Hoosier Democrat and I think you will agree his record for courageous and fierce independence shaped his intense popularity and long record of public service. I refer of course to Rep. Lee Hamilton.
Evans invested in education, particularly community college; expanded social services in deprived urban neighborhoods; established the nation’s first-ever Department of Ecology while also endorsing nuclear power; and made groundbreaking appointments for minorities and women.
Those don't seem like big government ideals to me. Of course it all depends on the laws passed to help make those things better. After 60 years, it appears the Dems are less interested in solving those issues but more about the power they can gain from them.
Another of Conte’s commendable stands that diverges from Trump’s GOP: he strongly supported funding the National Institutes of Health throughout the Reagan era
The NIH back then is nothing like the corrupt NIH today.
Republicans have gone through their change. For now, more this path than joe and Dems path. And there is a long way to go before a final verdict comes in on Trump. H is doing what he was elected to do. Where did organization and stepping lightly on bureaucrat's toes, ever get the number of this country's Federal bureaucrats down to a realistic level?
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
I particularly appreciate the comments about Dan Evans because I was living in Washington State in the early 1970s and was active in the moderate wing of the Republican Party there that he essentially led.
I subsequently moved to Missouri where another noteworthy moderate Republican, John Danforth (who I believe is still alive) was a U.S. Senator.
It is hard to imagine either of them being nominated for any office by the Republican Party of today ( or the Democratic Party).
But! Is there a democrat who can emulate any or all of these five you talk about or are the democrats of any note so invested in the progressive ideologies of the democrat base that they can not stand before democrat voters and tell them with conviction that change needs to happen and that change means dropping some of their pie-in-the-sky thinking to bring us independent thinking working class voters into the fold?
The message here is that policy is more important than partisanship. No one, Republican or Democrat, should be governed by obedience to TBTB. Hardke and Fred Harris are thus better icons than the others. Whatever you think of them Trump broke the hold of the Bushes and Sanders did the same to the Clintons.
“If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebody’s got to be articulating an agenda that’s fighting for America, not just fighting Trump. The American dream has become unaffordable. It’s inaccessible. And that has to be unacceptable to us.” - Rahm Emanuel.
If the "American dream" is to have a 4 bedroom house on at least a quarter acre lot. with a car, a pickup truck, a boat or camper, and 3 kids in top notch schools preparing for college -- all by the time that you are 32 -- then that never has been affordable to more than a few. Many people obviously don't have the spending power of others (despite a willingness to work for it), but at least have access to education, healthcare, protection from discrimination, and other government benefits (including the earned income tax credit, financed mainly by progressive taxes) that others lacked in the "good old days" of the past. While there is always room for improvement, the "system" isn't nearly as "rigged" against the poor and middle class as is claimed by demagogues of the left and right. For me, change that is effective and fair starts with an acknowledgement of what is good about what we have now.
A third of people have no home of their own. A tiny old house with a dirt drive is more than many can ever hope for. I've seen people overjoyed to inherit an old single wide with 10ft of land on both sides.
Health care is a great way to lose your house, number one cause of bankruptcy.
Earned income tax credit is not the same as no increase in min wage in almost 2 decades.
The words middle class are a joke. Used by the uber wealthy for Tax credits for Teslas. The second and third quintiles aren't getting food stamps, section 8 housing, or medicaid, and they also aren't getting paid.
A better life for our kids is the American Dream. Job security and not having to work until we die. The social contract has been broken and there is hell to pay.
That explains why so many millions of people from all over the world would be happy to move to the U.S. If you think that things are so awful here, maybe you should trade places with one of them.
For me things are great, got the 4 bed, camper, canoe, three trucks all new, don't owe on anything, elk season starts in 3 months. We are extremely comfortable.
The deal is I don't think only of myself. I want everyone to get a little piece of the pie. I'm not self centered and selfish. I want my country to be a great place for everyone.
Unlike many MAGA types, so do I, and I recognize and support the many government programs that essentially transfer spending power from people like me who -- apparently like you -- are comfortably wealthy by current American standards and extremely wealthy compared to current world standards and historical American standards.
I would support certain higher levels of income transfer, based on sound economic policy. A particular example is earned income tax credit that subsidizes work as opposed to minimum wage mandates that place the financial burden on employers and thus discourage employment -- especially for low skilled people. There have been some problems with the earned income tax problem that should be addressed without killing the program.
I could name several "progressive" changes that I would support. But enough is enough.
I long for a large number of reasonable politicians who go to Washington, not to keep a lifetime job, but instead represent those who elected them. And strive for and actually do find middle ground across parties and ideologies to move this country forward. Sadly, these types of elected officials are in very short supply today.
They can't win elections. Voters want true believers in their political positions...progressives and Republicans don't want people who will find "middle ground." They believe that "Middle ground" is for weaklings. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
I long for no politicians nor partisan bureaucrats in Washington DC.
Why is this 5 Models for Progressives?
The men reported here don't sound like Progressives. They sound like Democrats. They weren't advocating open borders, policing language, DeFunding police, men playing in women's and girls' sports, making everybody buy a EV, DEI, and all of the other nonsense progressives stand for.
Do a deep dive into the political record of another Hoosier Democrat and I think you will agree his record for courageous and fierce independence shaped his intense popularity and long record of public service. I refer of course to Rep. Lee Hamilton.
Evans invested in education, particularly community college; expanded social services in deprived urban neighborhoods; established the nation’s first-ever Department of Ecology while also endorsing nuclear power; and made groundbreaking appointments for minorities and women.
Those don't seem like big government ideals to me. Of course it all depends on the laws passed to help make those things better. After 60 years, it appears the Dems are less interested in solving those issues but more about the power they can gain from them.
Another of Conte’s commendable stands that diverges from Trump’s GOP: he strongly supported funding the National Institutes of Health throughout the Reagan era
The NIH back then is nothing like the corrupt NIH today.
Republicans have gone through their change. For now, more this path than joe and Dems path. And there is a long way to go before a final verdict comes in on Trump. H is doing what he was elected to do. Where did organization and stepping lightly on bureaucrat's toes, ever get the number of this country's Federal bureaucrats down to a realistic level?
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
Anything to keep them off centered and split.
I particularly appreciate the comments about Dan Evans because I was living in Washington State in the early 1970s and was active in the moderate wing of the Republican Party there that he essentially led.
I subsequently moved to Missouri where another noteworthy moderate Republican, John Danforth (who I believe is still alive) was a U.S. Senator.
It is hard to imagine either of them being nominated for any office by the Republican Party of today ( or the Democratic Party).
But! Is there a democrat who can emulate any or all of these five you talk about or are the democrats of any note so invested in the progressive ideologies of the democrat base that they can not stand before democrat voters and tell them with conviction that change needs to happen and that change means dropping some of their pie-in-the-sky thinking to bring us independent thinking working class voters into the fold?
The message here is that policy is more important than partisanship. No one, Republican or Democrat, should be governed by obedience to TBTB. Hardke and Fred Harris are thus better icons than the others. Whatever you think of them Trump broke the hold of the Bushes and Sanders did the same to the Clintons.