Nothing to lose? A Political Storm Churning

Discussion in 'Freedom and Liberty' started by Yard Dart, Jun 26, 2016.


  1. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    [​IMG]

    The words just don’t make any sense. Kind of like our politics these days.

    “Incense and peppermints. The color of time.”

    But they don’t have to. These are the lyrics to the 1967, number-one hit “Incense and Peppermints” by the band Strawberry Alarm Clock. The song is so psychedelically potent that it doubles as a stereophonic bong. You can almost achieve a cannabis-induced buzz just by listening.

    After all, it was the 1960s.

    But while the song is littered with nonsensical words, some lines resonate with astonishing truth.

    “Who cares what games we choose? Little to win. But nothing to lose.”

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    That is where we are now in politics. Not just in Congress or the United States – but also in the United Kingdom as voters resoundingly declared they want to abandon the E.U.

    It’s as though the public matriculated beyond the political status quo – dictated by perceived elites, insiders, analysts, power-brokers or whomever they think is in charge in Brussels, London, Washington or down at the local school board. Ironically, globalization and technology helped spawn everything from social movements on Facebook to Periscoping a live sit-in on firearms on the House floor.

    Examine the power of the Tea Party in 2010. Or for that matter, the rise of President Obama in 2008. The proletariat now has more power than it ever did. Average people and workers can deploy those tools – to say nothing of their own feet and ballots – to intone an end to business as usual and hold those in power to account.

    To many, a decision by the United Kingdom to abdicate membership in the European Union made no sense. But like the lyric in the song, the “leave” side didn’t care what games they were playing. They viewed it as “little to win. But nothing to lose.”

    Consider for a moment how tortured some logic may be.

    The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) now controls Scotland. After the Brexit vote, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said a second referendum for Scotland to secede is “highly likely.” Never mind that most of Scotland voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the E.U. Even so, those for Scottish independence think Scotland would fare better in the E.U. But that could prove to be a fool’s errand if the rest of the E.U. collapses because of the Brexit precedent.

    Watch where this heads next. A similar restlessness has crept through the American experience for the better part of a decade now.

    Aside from Obama and the Tea Party, observe how Donald Trump and even Sen. Bernie Sanders mustered a disaffected slate of the electorate this time around.

    The paradox is that many of Trump’s supporters see eye-to-eye with some of Sanders’ backers when it comes to trade and certain economic issues.

    Astute political observers note the same commotion that rocked the U.K. is coming to the U.S. Similar, agitated seeds started germinating here a long time ago. In fact, proof of this turbulence is best illustrated in the U.S. House. With two-year election cycles and near constant primaries, no other legislative assembly on the planet so accurately emulates the attitudes of the public at any given moment.

    Start with the unprecedented primary defeat of then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014. Cantor’s ouster by Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., reflects the rapid rise of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Freedom Caucus members have since either exerted significant influence over certain pieces of legislation in the House or made it virtually impossible for the body to advance other initiatives. It hasn’t even been a year since Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and other caucus members sowed the ground that led to the demise of then-House Speaker John Boehner.

    The fight over succeeding Boehner was a wild one – first bouncing House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from contention before members finally settled on current House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. The leadership phenomenon also reveals how divided the House and by extension, parts of the country, really are. It also demonstrates the delicate path Ryan must walk to hold power.

    To be clear, there is no movement now to remove Ryan. Many Republicans have enthusiastically commended Ryan’s approach to the speakership in contrast to that of his predecessor. However, one of the best things Ryan has going for him is that there’s no obvious challenger waiting in the wings to succeed him. Moreover, no one really pines for the job right now.

    But Ryan knows he can’t be at rest during this period of instability. On Friday, the speaker finished rolling out the sixth and final policy initiative that House Republicans hope to tackle next year. There’s regulatory reform. Addressing poverty. Tax reform. Repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

    Yet there is danger in this, too.

    Some might quibble why the GOP wouldn’t try to move some of those measures now. The official reason is that Obama may veto them. Another reason is that while the plans sound good and are great campaign promises (after all, it is an election year), House Republicans may struggle to pass these proposals because they lack the votes.

    “We are not putting a deadline nor a timeline on the committees to produce a certain result,” said a senior House Republican leadership aide about the pace of the GOP’s health care approach.

    This is where the jeopardy comes in for Ryan and other Republicans.

    Such promises may have worked a long time ago. But one of the reasons the GOP earned control of the House in 2010 was a call to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Granted, such a proposal isn’t going to get past Obama. However, this is the “politics as usual” that drives American voters nuts. There’s a reason they’ve flocked to Trump and Sanders. There’s a reason why voters in the United Kingdom are trashing the country’s institutions and why people there want the E.U. to take a hike.

    Social media and technology now fully empower average, working-class people. They are exhausted by hollow promises. There’s a sense of betrayal here in the U.S. and overseas. This is why Thomas Jefferson argued to James Madison that people should periodically shake things up: “It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

    A storm churns in the political realm now. People are done with the doubletalk. “Incense and peppermints. The color of time.” Stuff that just doesn’t make any sense. And that’s why voters don’t mind upsetting the applecart now.

    They have “little to win. But nothing to lose.”

    'Nothing to lose'? Political storm churning on both sides of Atlantic | Fox News
     
  2. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    The people have a nagging sense that something is wrong in this country. They can not put their finger on just what it is, however the feeling is there.. The fact that the politician’s ignore the constitution and have been furthering measures that erode our perceived rights, IE; NS , calls for Gun control.. Would seem that some of the sheep are waking up. What will it be like after they except the full facts of our status with the .gov and just what "they" have pulled off...
     
    Yard Dart, Tully Mars and AD1 like this.
  3. Tempstar

    Tempstar Monkey+++

    I think our problems simply boil down to this: The percentage of those willing to let government run wild so they can "gets what dey deserves" has outnumbered those who are willing to work and to make this a better country. The touchy-feely please don't let me offend anyone crap either stops, the handouts stop, and people get some common sense and I mean now, or it's down the tubes for us. Sadly, as I see the soccer moms in suvs and wait in line as food stamps are counted, and see all the able bodied standing around knocking back 40's, I realize that my America is probably already gone. Glad I ain't a youngster anymore, and suddenly my decision to not have kids makes me happy.
     
    Mountainman, Taku and Yard Dart like this.
  4. marlas1too

    marlas1too Monkey+++

    watch this then
     
    Gator 45/70 and Bandit99 like this.
  5. AD1

    AD1 Monkey+++

    Dont

    IMHO, Its not that they feel a nagging sense, many KNOW what is wrong and have known for quite a while.

    Add to this, Its just that those who usually pay no attention to to the festering morass, are finally realizing that after years of decreasing prosperity and no proper voice in the process, are trying to reclaim what is rightly theirs.
     
  6. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    @AD1 , We all are a hundred years or more behind the socialist.. When ever the progressive socialist effect changes in our lives and we push back seeking to affect a reversal, we come up short.. Change is a good thing, socially and personally. Change keeps us improving ourselves and our relation with others around us. However, polical change that ignores the constitutional constraints results in a negative change. The PEOPLE lose! The people lose rights that they had enjoyed for generations. They lose any respect they may have had for the government and politicians.
     
  7. AD1

    AD1 Monkey+++

    Agree 100%
     
    Dont likes this.
  8. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Seems like we are having some slight problems with this equality sh##. When you expect the single parent, with 5 children and never married to have the same standard of living as the two parent, 1 child family, with both working and the student that graduates with a degree in gender studies is to have the same job chances and pay as one with a degree in chemical engineering, or a high school graduate that no longer has to learn how to read or write and has had 12 years of education in a class that now "mainstreams" the less fortunate and where 25 sit around and wait while 1 has a total breakdown and no one is allowed to do anything. As a 78 year old white male, I love hearing the stories of "white privilege" on the radio as I drive to work and hear all the stories from my working friends of the problems they have finding qualified workers. Break dancing, rapping, trash talking etc, do not seem to be great training to be a machinist, and you don't really expect them to show up on time, sober, work 8 - 10 hours a day 5 days a week at a boring job do you, and you only pay 12 an hour training, "No sh##### way"!
    The mass media all state that the brexit was caused by right wing, immigrant hating, bigots, and the Islamist Pakistani or french banker working in England all agree. Some how the middle class common man who has to pay for the immigrants, whose children have to compete for the jobs, and who has seen the 45 years of no borders lead to a complete transformation of parts of "his" country into "their" country, has a different take on things than the American news woman who is of Iranian descent and is shocked at the sense of hate she feels. Many in Great Britain and the US feel like they have nothing left to lose, both on the left and the right, and I just hope we don't end up with the likes of Hitler as that is what the German's ended up under nearly the same conditions in 1933 or the Russians in 1917 . As our best poet, lousy singer, puts it " for the times they are a-changing".
     
  9. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    @duane
    "...Many in Great Britain and the US feel like they have nothing left to lose, both on the left and the right, and I just hope we don't end up with the likes of Hitler as that is what the German's ended up under nearly the same conditions in 1933 or the Russians in 1917 . As our best poet, lousy singer, puts it " for the times they are a-changing"."
    YES! Being a History nut, I have had this thought also as many of the same conditions are in play and if it gets worse, which it will, then I would say that it will probably happen. This is one of the reasons I think and feel this election is so important. Whether Trump is the best we could do is not even a question anymore for me. "How to stop Hillary' is the question and a critical one with only one answer - Trump. But, that aside, I think he will do well as President and hopefully will go in with a wrecking bar...

    @marlas1too I watch the entire video which is very unusual for me as it was long. I normally get bored but found it interesting and informative. Thanks!
     
  10. 10brokenpromises

    10brokenpromises Monkey++

    Negative sir, there are other ways but we as a country and a people either do not feel it is yet time, or lack the will, for whatever reason.

    One of the motivational posters shows what "3 million Americans will look like" if Hillary is elected. Maybe so, maybe no, but that option is still open to us for now. It remains to be seen how long we choose to keep that option on the table.
     
  11. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    I agree that Trump is NOT the only answer. HOWEVER, until an alternate rises above the sludge, Trump IS it, and the legal options close when the convention closes.
     
    Gator 45/70, Dont, 3M-TA3 and 3 others like this.
  12. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    I have never seen nor heard of this poster... There is no way to stop her being elected by Civil disturbance or Civil unrest and don't even think about 'by force of arms' because that would not succeed and would in fact strengthen the opposition. So, I have no idea what you are referring to... She has the right to run for election and we cannot deny her that right...unless they throw her in jail for compromising the nation's classified networks or accepting money from foreign powers which I wish they would. Oh yes, I wish they would...but I'm dreaming for it won't happen.
     
  13. chimo

    chimo the few, the proud, the jarhead monkey crowd

    Hold your enemies (Hillary et al) close, and your friends (Trump et al) closer. ;)
     
    ghrit likes this.
  14. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Well put. We have a generation of children grown in to adults as part of the new electronic age. They have little knowledge of the past, no confidence in the future, and are totally used to living in a world of make believe. There is no way that the violence and moral acts found in most of todays prime time television or video games would have been tolerated by society 30 or so years ago. A section of the society that rejects common goals, moral concepts , etc and makes hero's out of pop singers who die of drug overdoses and "rap" singers who call women ho's and demonize the police and anyone else's way of life and is rapidly increasing does not bode well for our future.
     
    Mountainman and Yard Dart like this.
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  15. ghrit
    [IMG] Note the date.
    Thread by: ghrit, Jun 14, 2016, 2 replies, in forum: Politics
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