"Trump should have lost in a landslide. The fact that he didn’t speaks volumes."

@divegeester said
I’ve been tell you lefties for months that the DNC is spent force with little or no cohesive messaging other than idealistic rants against injustice and Trump. But you just hurl abuse at me.

Biden is the political equivalent of a lockdown, he will simply delay the inevitable Red onslaught as the Republicans regroup behind a more moderate less loony less thick-as-s*** ...[text shortened]... , mocking, streaming tears of outrage, don’t win elections; clear believable economic strategy does.

Even as an incoherent mess with a zombie as leader they’re getting more votes than trump.

@divegeester said
I’ve been tell you lefties for months that the DNC is spent force with little or no cohesive messaging other than idealistic rants against injustice and Trump. But you just hurl abuse at me.

Biden is the political equivalent of a lockdown, he will simply delay the inevitable Red onslaught as the Republicans regroup behind a more moderate less loony less thick-as-s*** ...[text shortened]... , mocking, streaming tears of outrage, don’t win elections; clear believable economic strategy does.

I suspect that is why the Republicans are losing the election to that guy you claimed was a no hoper running on a void of policies. The right never has anything to say other ‘BOO look out there’s a socialist’ whilst they attempt to grind the peoples faces into the dirt.
The republicans are finished in their present form. They pulled out all the usual scare stories about socialist joe but once again the MAJORITY of Americans realised that the right wing republicans were actually the scariest cabal in town.

@suzianne said
If the people on this forum are anything to go by, I'm constantly amused that everyone, and I do mean everyone, seems to believe that their own vision of 'proper' government is what everyone else should want as well, even if they don't know it yet, and they just need to be shown the error of their ways. Those on the right come up with the most outrageous BS, and they think ...[text shortened]... ion, in that no one is going to be bringing anyone else onboard their particular vision of Paradise.

The problem is not just practical - it's philosophical. What do we really believe about how we should live? As a small-government Libertarian, I often feel like I'm standing in a deserted middle ground.

Government should protect all our rights equally. That means no tax breaks. No high-paid lawyers endlessly getting you out of crimes you committed. Our justice system is far too slow and clogged.

There has to be public space. We have to be able to move around and associate, and that space has to be owned and managed. When public space is unmanaged, people chop down all the trees, kill all the bison, dredge all the oysters, fish out all the cod, and pollute the air, land and water. This we know - so we can't let it happen anymore. This idea of 'public space' extends to roads, parks, utility lines, internet, bandwidth frequencies, etc. Government can own the space but doesn't have to provide the service. It's much better when contracts are used to ensure that a number of separate businesses are competing on cost and quality. The "no bid" government contract needs to disappear.

Also, private property is not an absolute concept. In particular, no one in the society can ever be dying of hunger or exposure because if they are, then they have a right to "shelter and forage" wherever they need to - including in your home/garden! You don't have a right to sit under a canopy sipping mint juleps while starving people stare through the rain at you just beyond your fence. This is the social pact: Everyone has food and a place to sleep; and beyond that, your private property is yours to do with as you please.

But there it ends. Apart from these basics, government does not need to be subsidizing your housing or healthcare or food or energy sources. Or your education. Government doesn't need to be telling you not to smoke or not get an abortion. Government does not need to be telling you 'no, don't own a gun'. You can decide all those things on your own.

Do as you please, as long as you don't harm, impose on, or place others at risk without their consent.

There IS a middle ground between rules and freedom. There is an optimum - if not a utopia, then a point where "this is as good as it gets." But we need to agree on the fundamental principles. And I guarantee few are shouting that message.

@shavixmir said
Even as an incoherent mess with a zombie as leader they’re getting more votes than trump.

I think it is very positive for America that even with the Prozac-vanilla Biden delivering an “Trump bad, me much less bad” message, it looks like it might be a decent win for him.

@spruce112358 said
The problem is not just practical - it's philosophical. What do we really believe about how we should live? As a small-government Libertarian, I often feel like I'm standing in a deserted middle ground.

Government should protect all our rights equally. That means no tax breaks. No high-paid lawyers endlessly getting you out of crimes you committed. Our justice system ...[text shortened]... " But we need to agree on the fundamental principles. And I guarantee few are shouting that message.

Don’t forget the unicorns.

@divegeester said
Don’t forget the unicorns.

Dammit! I forgot the unicorns...

@spruce112358 said
Dammit! I forgot the unicorns...

🤩

@divegeester said
Completely agree with you.

It’s about managing the compromise. But no one wants to compromise.

Then get ready for Biden.

He's worked the crowd in the Senate to get Obamacare passed under a Republican Senate. We'll see how he does now after the twisting of that same Republican Senate under Trump.