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“Whatever the election brings, three things are true: Trump is broadly unpopular, he will soon be a lame duck, and, at some point, the Trump era will come to an end. So now is the time to contemplate in earnest what decisions Americans must face in that new era, and whose vision for confronting the existential problems these United States face will win out.” - The Dispatch

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Discussion

Wed, 09/09/26

...a two-party system cannot have a single sane political party: It will have two reasonably responsible and sober parties, or it will have two irresponsible and demagogic parties. At this moment, it may seem we are headed for the double-basketcase scenario rather than for a return to our senses.

The double-basketcase scenario seems most likely to me.

No one really cares about tackling the national debt. No one really cares about tackling social security insolvency. Many people want increasing government handouts. At some point, we're going to have to devalue our currency, raise taxes, defund the defense industrial complex, and/or curtail benefits. If/when the world gets tired of our inanity, the dollar will cease to be the benchmark currency. Our economy will take a big hit when that happens. Taxing the rich will probably be a thing when democrats regain control of the purse strings. I agree that we're not going to be able to grow our way out of this mess.

Voices that call us to tighten our collective belts and stop spending are rarely popular and most likely won't get elected let alone a majority in congress to support them. DSA are promising all kinds of social welfare programs that we can't afford. Most republicans want more defense spending to keep up with Russia and China. Europe has shown us that you can't have both. European countries since WW2 have been generous with their social welfare programs and high tax rates (40%-50%) because they had America to provide for their defense. Now that they are having to increase their defense spending, they are facing fiscal emergencies and painful choices.

No one likes to experience pain. DSA want the rich to experience the pain of crazy high taxes. Trump and his ilk want to pretend there is no pain (present or future). At some point, something will have to give.

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Wed, 09/09/26

There’s always hope, and I keep praying for mercy.

As a culture, it doesn’t look to me like we are in a place where we’re going to step up to more mature, big-picture thinking and stop nominating degenerates, brutes, and nut cases to run for high office.

So I’m also thinking the “two bad choices” scenario is likely to continue. There are rays of hope here and there sometimes. Romans 13, 1 Tim 2:1-2, etc. set up some necessary inferences. Proverbs, too. One of the necessary inferences is that governing is a job that is supposed to be handed to the sober-minded.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

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Wed, 09/09/26

...that we would get the government we need, not the one we deserve, and that well before 2016, to put it mildly, and people might debate to what extent my prayers have been answered, and how.

But that noted, a lot of this has to do with Pogo's principle "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Nobody put a gun to our heads and forced us to pull the lever for a guy who'd had three wives and four business bankruptcies, and now we're shocked that just like his casinos got started with a half-baked business plan, so did his assault on Iran. Oopsie.

(in the same way that voters who didn't care that Obama bought his house with Tony Rezko were shocked, SHOCKED to find out that the Obama DOJ wasn't about to prosecute his political pals....)

Perhaps the bright side of this is that some voters may remember that character counts.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

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