What has Washington done to stop the flow of fentanyl from Mexico and China into the USA? - Blinken went to china last month and got an agreement with the CCP that they would curb exports to ingredients to mexico. Will they actually stop it? who knows but its on the governments radar What has Washington done to address the large number of homeless and functional homeless in the USA - and the intersection between homelessness and the cheap availability of fentanyl on the streets?- Bidens 2024 budget included 10.2 billion dollars in extra funding and remove red tape to help expedite housing for homeless. the pilot project is currently happening in LA https://www.usich.gov/news/how-president-bidens-fy-2024-budget-would-prevent-homelessness/#:~:text=The budget would dedicate approximately,, 64% more for HHS' What has Washington done to address the large cost of healthcare in the USA? - We've already had this discussion once before and i know youre disingenious but health care insurance plans have never been more affordable than right now in history of this country. All health insurance plans are capped at 8.5% of income and if you earn less than 60k as a family you qualify for free low income health insurance Theres literally more people on health insurance today than ever before in the history of this country. Medicare for the first in history has the right to negotiate drug prices directly with the major companies. This is such a ground breaking thing the insurance companies are sueing the feds from being able to bring down prices. What has Washington done to address the lack of equity in the USA? Championed increasing the minimum wage, when the cost has just been passed onto the middle class and not the top 2 percent? - The solution is high paying jobs and onshoring manufacuring jobs which is what the biden folks are doing. Over 500b of new manufacturing investment has been announced and the biden folks have tied most of the funding to union jobs and high paying jobs. Majority of the 200k new jobs created will all pay over 60k and more is coming. The simple answer is the end of globalization will help bring back the middle class. We need to make more **** in america versus enriching corporations who export jobs What has the US done for the cost of consumer prescription drugs? - Medicare has the authority for the first in history to negotiate prices for all drugs. The biden admin also will soon issue a rule that allows you to import drugs from overseas where you can drugs cheaper regardless of the cost as long as you have a prescription. https://www.politico.com/states/flo...with-florida-on-canadian-drug-imports-1384579 What has biden done for student - Biden literally just transformed higher education with his new idr plan. he has tied tution to inflation for major colleges and issued a rule that any adult making less than 32k will not pay money in student loans as long as they sign up for the new idr plan. If the student ever does make more than 32k than their loans are tied to 5% of disposable income. The biggest plus is as long as you make payments you will never have negative interest build up on your loan. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/the-new-idr-plan You literally did not make one valid talking point. Not one
For some people it's impossible to hold two ideas in their head at the same time. Example: Democrats are under-performing while still being a better option than Republicans. or Our system is badly disincentivizing optimal governance while no party is more to blame for it than any other.
Again how are democrats underperforming? Biden tried to pass a eviction moratorium and the supreme court struck it down? the biden folks tried to forgive 400billion dollars of student loans and the supreme court struck it down? Biden folks tried to expand medicare but a republican district court struck it down. Biden folks tried to give reparations to black farmers but a white republican judge struck it down. The republican party just needs to obstruct all progress and they know everyone will blame both sides. I hated the democratic party pre biden but to claim the current party isnt trying is just lies.
Please elaborate what they can do right now to help. Not some wishy washy objections but go ahead and lay out what they can do right now to help. What executive actions or policy choices can they implement?
I find that, at least on paper, I end up agreeing with somewhere between 60-80% of the platform of the Democratic candidates available to me in most elections. Granted it's better than the 20-40% of agreement I have with the Republican candidates, but my expectations are higher than a C average. In a better engineered. healthier democracy I would have a party to support that more closely aligns with me. Of course I'm far from alone in feeling this way.
Yes, this is how the minority party has operated for all of my adult life. With great effect. Democrats included. Most folks don't have time to parse the ins and outs of what is going on in DC, so it's easy to exploit this. You are highlighting a major flaw in our system
Once again I asked you to name a single exective order biden can issue today that would help realign your view but you cant tell me. What exactly do you want the democratic party to do? The issue is that we have a filibuster in the senate that stops all progress from happening. The normie voter has no ****ing idea how the senate works and when they see a lack of progress they just blame the system or both parties. Its the same bs playbook thats been happening for years. All of these issues that you and @Nook talk about from housing to meds can be solved if we actually had a system where parties could pass the agenda they want without obstruction. All the issues that you are passionate have a policy proposal to address but with the current system its hard to pass them.
Things get really complicated really fast whenever you start considering legislative and procedural hurdles, so, for purposes of this discussion, all I'm asking for is more agreement on paper, which doesn't require counterparty participation and has no mechanical/practical considerations. Lubricating the wheels of the system is only part of the puzzle. If the incentives are all still messed up you may end up just accelerating into larger problems. I'm not so sure that merely removing roadblocks is adequate. That goalpost can be moved by those whom wish to continue dragging their feet.
Again. I kindly asked you for no wishy washy statements. You said the democratic party is not what you want it to be. I asked you what exactly do you want the democratic party to do today within the constraints of the current system. You cant say lets not consider the legislative hurdles when they exist in real life. Every single person like yourself or Nook who are doomers who i discuss this with are never able to lay out a concrete plan that biden can do today by himself or the party. Its always wishy washy things. The issue is you need to go through an appropriation process to pass a budget which means you need votes from the opposing party. This is why biden as great as his budget was he could never pass it even when democrats controlled both chambers. He couldnt get 10 republican votes in the senate. What happens when you cant pass a budget? People start blaming the both parties and claim everyone is useless and how the leaders in dc are useless and blah blah blah bullshit. Its exactly what republicans want and it works like a charm. Biden tried to nix the filibuster but he was 2 votes shy from being able to do so. Again I ask you what exactly can the party do today to address your needs that they havnt tried to do?
Why do you object to me asking that just the platform align better with me? Isn't that the lowest hanging fruit imaginable? Yet you want us to put together some kind of armchair QB plan-of-action, and if we can't, our desires don't matter? Wtf kind of attitude is that? Edit: I find this attitude to be another symptom of the broken system. Do you disagree with the R or D party? Then the problem is with you and not with the party. In a healthy marketplace, the customer does not cater to the seller. Worse yet when people are so helpless they start to defend this warped expectation.
Sorry I misunderstood you. I thought you were upset that the party wasnt getting more done. Obviously your desires matter and i was more talking to Nook who falsely states in every thread time after time that the democrats arent addressing the concerns of working class which isnt true. The issue is that the budget needs republican votes which destroys the entire process. All im saying is that 99% of peoples frustrations occurs because they dont understand the legislative roadblocks that are in place from decades of neoliberalism. To get rid of the filibuster you need the votes.
Well, don't get too excited. Like I said, this is merely on paper. It's easy to check a box that says "I support X". But drilling down into practice and strategy, things get ugly fast. Otherwise, it's not healthy to have such low expectations.
No party represents me 100% and if a major party did then would be president. believing that you can only support a party if it supports you 100% is a recipe for frustration.
I think one party is most certainly more to blame for the gridlock, let's just say they want to "conserve things".
Politics is irrational. The vast majority of Americans compromise on many things on a daily basis, but certain types of folks are real good at convincing people otherwise.
This is true in a sense. Conservatives are more averse to change and novelty. Liberals are more open minded and willing to experiment. Neither is a virtue unto itself, and who is more active legislatively largely depends on what moment in history we're sitting in. But largely yes, I say that conservatives have "home field advantage" or "presumption of innocence", while liberals always have the burden of proof to overcome.
Change is the natural order of things. Sometimes abrupt and sometimes gradual. I'd say adaptability is a necessity. I certainly agree with the bolded, "home field advantage" is a good way of describing the advantage of the "status quo".
