by jonathanehrlich on 7/4/22, 2:40 PM with 75 comments
by GRBLDeveloped on 7/4/22, 2:58 PM
Great quote.
I was surprised to see this was written by Mitt Romney, completely missed the page title and only realised at the end
by notacoward on 7/4/22, 5:49 PM
by randcraw on 7/4/22, 3:55 PM
I think our lifeblood is not tribalism — we aren't that alike to divide into only two tribes — I think the real problem is fear. We've allowed ourselves (and the past 30 years of childrearing) to be overwhelmed by it and now can't function without assurance: being in a crowd of others — the most basic form of security known to animalkind — safety in numbers. The result of that now, intellectually, is we simply refuse to entertain ideas or arguments not already endorsed by others. So we cleave to whatever 'gang' is handy, never mind how dysfunctional their agenda or ideas or rationales are.
The hallmark of our times is the death of the individual.
by rob74 on 7/4/22, 3:10 PM
At least in the case of global warming, the US are in good company: the whole world is failing (some more, some less, but nevertheless all failing) to confront the challenge.
by Overtonwindow on 7/4/22, 3:05 PM
by willio58 on 7/4/22, 3:12 PM
by morninglight on 7/4/22, 8:08 PM
He is a consummate politician who is afraid to offer any concrete suggestions to deal with the problems he mentions.
It might have been interesting to hear his ideas about gun control, abortion rights, etc. - If he has any.
But, the 4th of July is just another day in America, "Home of the Brave":
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/shooting-reported-july-4th-...
.
by kory on 7/4/22, 2:59 PM
Residential water use has plummeted in the west. Some areas, like vegas, use less water than the 70s, not accounting for population changes. Arizona is the second best residential water manager in the world behind Israel. Agriculture uses the lion's share of water and can be cut off when things get really tight.
> As inflation mounts and the national debt balloons, progressive politicians vote for ever more spending.
The US must continue printing debt (expanding money supply) to continue the dollar's status as the reserve currency. And not all spending as bad, much of it can be an investment expecting positive long term returns.
If you want to find bloat, look at our government-subsidized suburban lifestyle and the sheer cost of the massive amount of infrastructure required to maintain it.
> As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.
Yet again blaming individuals' choices when large corporations are by far the largest global polluters. As well, this applies to a thin slice of the global population. most people, even in the US, can't afford to think about climate change. For example, higher gas prices translate to questions on whether there will be enough food on the table, or whether it's even worth the time to go to work anymore.
> When TV news outlets broadcast video after video of people illegally crossing the nation’s southern border, many of us change the channel.
Illegal border crossings have been declining and were at the lowest point in the last 10 years before Biden. There has been a huge amount of discussion about this politically, a large amount of Americans do consider this a big problem.
by noobermin on 7/4/22, 3:27 PM
One of the under appreciated outgrowths of the Trump years is the rise of a crop of "centrist"-leaning conservatives who really agreed with Trump on almost all of his actually achieved policy goals but really just disagreed with his supposed incompetence or brashness or with the attempted insurrection, but had Trump had a different demeanor, they'd be along for the ride.
by texaslonghorn5 on 7/4/22, 3:05 PM
by andsoitis on 7/4/22, 2:50 PM
by antifa on 7/4/22, 3:21 PM
That was Bernie Sanders. Every debate, every mud sling, every derail, Sanders was a guy who would put the conversation back on track on doing what's right for the American people.
by throwaway787544 on 7/4/22, 3:35 PM
by motohagiography on 7/4/22, 4:31 PM
We have a completely bifurcated ontology. Just as one minority sees their other group as being left behind, another sees their other-group as having a now-completely false consciousness. Imo, we are alien tribes to one another, and I look at western democracies and see the same separation that precedes litigating a divorce. I can score points on people I disagree with all day, but I don't bother because those points are worthless and not redeemable for anything good in the world.
To expand that analogy, most divorces try to start as reasonable, but once you are actually free of one another in the separation, it becomes a war for the previously shared resources and custody, enabled and inflamed by people who get paid out of the shared pot either way, and any courtesy or civility is leveraged back as weakness. These differences become so irreconcilable that we have evolved a completely parallel court system to handle it. The whole process of litigating a divorce is debasing and shameful for everyone involved, and almost nobody gets out with their basic human dignity intact. It's a useful analogy because everywhere I have seen it, it's a microcosm of war.
What does a good outcome look like? In time the hostilities cool to where it's no longer an animal fight for survival. Typically in a divorce, women get the home and the kids, and men get some freedom to start another family, and some limited opportunity via visitation to guide their kids and help them become fully actualized people. Generally, the women go on to find new supportive companions, and the men move on and rebuild as best they can. This analogy I think is very close to the culture war divide, where, if we take it any deeper, it becomes just as much of a quagmire as who's right and wrong in a family dissolution as it is for red/blue, but it's useful to abstract it out with an analogy so we can look seriously at what I foresee we are very likely to be confronted with.
To me, Romney is like the sensitive ponytailed new friend who starts hanging around under the pretext of helping, but he's just another vulture circling a struggling relationship looking to make vulnerable people dependent on him. The cultural divide in America has always existed, but it has only really become dangerous because of carpet bagging opportunists who don't believe in truth whispering in the ears of the primary parties. People presenting themselves as centerists are usually just fluid and unprincipled, and by inserting themselves between mostly stable complementary sides, and by dissolving edges and boundaries, they create new distance that puts themselves in the middle. It makes them manipulative and dishonest brokers.
I am not a centerist, because I think our political differences are complimentary and mutually moderating forces that truly build one other and benefit us all. The proposal I would make would be that we agree to recognize that America has made good lives and a society together, and this attracts interlopers who would like a piece of what you have built together, and they use some very appealing and seductive techniques to try to lever themselves between you. They appeal to our feelings of outrage, pride, envy, aggrievement, and shame, among others. It's a very old trick, and it works in the microcosm as well as in the macro.
I live in a country where politicians preach togetherness and unity but always with themselves in the middle, and mainly spend their efforts trying shame anyone who isn't interested in their meddling as illiberal, oppressive and revanchist. If only we were as intolerant of their sleaze as we have become of each other, there might be a way to hold this thing together. If not, it will be sad, but I think we all know how this goes.