People are still going to bitch about this administration not doing enough for student debt relief, and that’s understandable considering how long it’s been a problem and how little effort has gone into fixing it up until now. But just remember which party is trying to do something about it now and which party built the current SCOTUS that has blocked those efforts so far. Democrats’ track record is far from admirable, but the GOP is flat out telling you to your face that you will get nothing you want or need and you will like it when they are in power.
Besides that, consider that Republican policy in general is about obstruction, regressive judicial interpretation, and brazen inaction on social issues. As such it is possible for Republicans to achieve a lot of their agenda by just holding one branch of Congress or having just the Presidency and courts without Congress. Because they achieve most of what they want via state legislatures suing to get their activist judges to rewrite the law through legal precedent. Contrastingly Democratic policy is often about taking action to address things which requires both Houses of Congress and the Presidency to have a chance at success, particularly with the current courts making litigation as remedy a non-starter for them.
Knowing that, look at the makeup of our federal government over the last 30 or so years. You will see that Democrats had about 3 months of true supermajority under Obama (72 working days to be exact) and the rest of that term with a strong majority, and then two years of a split Senate for Biden’s first term with DINO Manchin and turncoat Sinema being part of that Democratic split. So we, the voters, have given Democrats two years out of the last 30 to actually have a chance to install an agenda. Just two. And those two years ended over 12 years ago.
If you want student loan forgiveness along with other things like abortion protections, voting rights protections, climate change action, and so on, you’re not going to get it overnight with Democrats. It’s going to be an uphill battle, it’s going to take participation in primaries to get DINOsaurs replaced with younger progressives who actually have a stake in these things, and it’s probably going to take a few consecutive cycles of sustained federal control. You will not get easy and satisfying victories with just one or two votes. But I can absolutely 100% guarantee you that for every second you let Republicans control even a single branch of government, even just one chamber of Congress, you will get NOTHING on any of those topics and in fact, those situations will be made actively and maliciously worse out of pure spite. And the following Democratic administration will be that much more behind the curve and it will require that much more time and effort just to get back to zero and to even begin addressing those issues in a meaningful way.
I normally hold my nose and vote for them, and most recently it has cost me my favorite cigars and pipe tobacco, being able to order vape stuff online, and my 3D printed gun hobby. I’ve been signed up for multiple financial services without my consent (might have to do with being a government worker idk), taking money from my paychecks until I can cancel them since most of the benefits of I’m not even eligible for and already have my own preferred versions of them set up.
I’m forced into a corrupted bottle recycling scam that forces me to store cans and then drive them to a recycling facility and stand in line for hours, instead of just putting them into the recycling can right outside my front door. The system is set up with a perverse incentive to make recycling as hard as they can get away with. I’m gonna get angry if I keep trying to think of more ways they fucked me over, but I’m sure there is more.
Edit: Oh yeah, the requirement for paper bags and having to pay for them even though paper bags are worse for the environment. I have my own reusable bag but when I forget it the paper bags tend to break on me. A rent control law with an absurdly high limit on the raises that both guarentees landlords will raise the price every year AND people will still be priced out of their homes anyway.
At this point you might be able to guess where I live. For all of that I got nothing of meaningful benefit. I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it next time.
I wouldn’t blame you for voting for a liberal Republican for state elections if you live in a very blue state. I don’t know if those exist. But if they do, so be it. I’m all for holding individuals accountable. And hard blue/red states can get very lazy about accountability.
But any candidate that doesn’t respect basic human rights can fuck right off. And I don’t know of a single Republican on the national stage that passes the smell test.
Yeah, “But Ray Epps!” is a right-wing conspiracy theory talking point to claim that Jan 6 Was An Inside Job . It could easily get this guy killed, the way those people operate.
This hits close to home. My dad grew up in a house about a half-mile from the creek mentioned in the article; my grandparents lived in that house for almost thirty years. That said, I think they were “uphill” in the watershed from the creek, and the only unusual cancer in my family is from my own generation, which was never exposed. Grandma and Grandpa both had cancer in their senior years (brain and colon, respectively) but neither died as a result of it – Grandma’s was so slow moving that they just left it be for fifteen years until she passed from other causes! – and the health problems my dad and his siblings have are mostly hereditary in nature.
Transit is basically free in my city. Just look down on your luck and the drivers will wave you through. If they are running behind they will yell at you to “just get on” instead of paying because they care more about being on time than collecting $2.50 (minus credit card fees, minus admin fees, minus grift, minus whatever else).
It seems to work okay. They crazy folks and (extremely) smelly folks would get refused service even if they had $2.50 so I don’t think that is a valid concern.
I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is president elect of ALA. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity. And my mom is so proud. I love you mom.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Though since most of the picks are from governor Gianforte, I can’t say I’m surprised.
That guy isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. I’m just sad the Montana I knew and loved was usurped by some out of towner who is totally altering the fabric and culture of that state from a “live and let live” to more of a Idaho-like place. He’s desecrating our state.
Of course it’s just more performative MAGA nonsense, cutting off the nose to spite the face and calling it “owning the libs.”
These people wouldn’t know Marxist ideology if it slapped them across the face, it’s just another buzzword in the same vein as “socialist” and “leftist” and “communist” (read: “anything I don’t like”).
The constant aggressive anti-intellectualism is exhausting.
I think “owning the libs” is a desirable side-effect and not their main goal.
Their main goal is to keep the lower class voters ignorant and uneducated so that history can be denied and they can be more easily manipulated into voting for right wingers using appeals to emotion (e.g. hatred, racism, patriotism, way of life). This is of course to keep power where it is.
As a former Texan; this really doesn’t surprise me. It’s why I got out of Texas.
It does also confirm something I have long feared has settled into conservative viewpoints…a hysteria so vast that it would engender and encourage the unchecked growth of facism.
I implore anyone reading this who is of voting age in the USA right now and is able to vote legally…to vote Democrat.
I’m not saying the Dems are without problems; but they at least don’t seem to be focused on becoming facist.
Seriously, what the hell went wrong? I’m from the states and my wife is from a third would country. We are both just living here. Living in America seems like a nightmare now.
I’ve been here for like 5-6 years now. My sister decided to homeschool her children due to shootings. Luckily, she used to be an elementary teacher and her oldest son is easily completing the material he would be learning at his current age.
But still, why would people go there at this point?
I cannot be bothered to care about this when her colleagues are violating these principles at exponentially higher levels and the last Presidential administration practically uses the office for nothing but self enrichment. Strengthen ethics rules across the board so none of it happens again. If not this goes to the bottom of the list of ethics problems.
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