Is that what you see? All I see is him entrenching the status quo by deregulating banks, promoting lower taxes for the rich at the expense of the middle class, trying to roll back Obama-era reforms in health care, police monitoring, environmental protections, and so on. He wants to move the country backward, not forward. Of course, if you think things were better in the Reagan/Bush era, you may think that this is a good thing. Maybe that is where our politics diverge.
I agree with that. Bernie was unable to make an end run around the Democratic Party machine the way Trump did with the Republican machine. But he came awfully close. That's why I believe that if the Democrats have a future, it's by going with the progressive agenda and rejecting the "big money" and "incremental progress" of the past.my personal belief is that by the end of 8 years of one party in power corruption will begin to creep in regardless of who is in power. We needed a change. Bernie was a nice guy, we supported him $$ but did not throw our votes his way. Unfortunately he was unable to fend off someone as simple as the head of his own party.
If you want to see what happens in the kind of socialism that is being promoted now in the progressive movement look no further than Venezuela (or Argentina under Peron in the 1940' and 50's.)
Apples and oranges. Chavez's Venezuela and Peron's Argentina are poster children for failed socialist states, I'll grant you that. In both cases, these countries degenerated into opposing factions that put their own quest for power over true social concerns such as medicine, education, and such. It doesn't have to be that way, as any number of European countries can demonstrate.
You bring up an interesting point. Yes, there's a lot of economic chaos and ethnic racism, which Trump's campaign used brilliantly. That's what got them elected, and --- here's my point --- that's why they don't want it to go away. The more people feel economically beleaguered, and the more they're encouraged to blame it on other races and religions, the likelier they are to vote for people like Trump. So if you're looking for Trump's people to turn that around, don't hold your breath.There is too much economic chaos and ethnic racism in this country for us to achieve the European model of socialism. That requires planning and people working together in a common culture. Americans lack that.
As for people working together in a common culture, there's a lot to be said for that. That's why I have come to believe that two years of national service should be obligatory for everybody ... young or old, male or female, healthy or less healthy (at least to the extent of their disability). It could be the military, or it could be the Peace Corps or VISTA-style programs, but it should be something that gives people a sense of investment in how the country runs and how it takes care of its citizens. We had that in World War II, both with the millions serving in the military and the organizations that worked to support them on the home front. And we should start teaching civics again, so that people have some idea of how government works and how laws are passed. There's a shocking ignorance of that in the American public and, it seems, in the President himself.
I'm sure you're right about that, but I'm not so sure how that fits into the discussion. (I assume you were referencing my comment on buying gas in California.) Does California gas foam up more than gas in the rest of the country? Is the lack of an adequate breather due to some sort of state or federal regulation, or is it just bad design, or good design for the time but not able to accommodate modern fuel delivery systems? As you pointed out, the ARB considers it a problem with older cars, and I guess they're right. But that's the kind of price we pay when we drive older cars, isn't it? Is it right to tell them, "I drive a forty-year old car, and I insist that all your gas pumps be designed in a way to make it possible for my old car to be fueled just like everybody else's modern cars"? That's kind of like asking every computer company to provide drives for 8" floppy disks, just because you have so much stuff stored on them. Progress marches on, you know.Last re the gas - late bays dump fuel. There are countless threads on it. The issue is the gas foams too much and the lack of an adequate breather in the fill tube cause it to back up. The only way to fill and not spill is to go painfully slow filling the bus.