Mitch McConnell - 'I have no fucking clue how much it costs to live.'

[Gospel]

We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

"Trained"?

Nobody "trained" me to understand police abolitionists as unhinged lunatics, every bit as crazy as their kindred spirit nutjobs the "sovereign citizen" or the libertarian anarchist. My functioning brain caused me to recognise the violence to common sense these "folx" inflict.

Do you believe those people are the dominant group in your country?

Fringe whackadoodles like police abolitionists are not 'dominant' in terms of raw numbers. Most people can see these narcissistic ideas for the dangerous and delusional and deadly indulgences of the chattering classes. But in terms of media lenience and indulgence, and certainly in terms of academia, they have outsized power given their actual public support.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Are they the most influential and powerful group in regard to the implementation of Australian policies?

The *most* influential and the *most* powerful? I would sure as hell hope not.

Would it surprise you if I said that the people that do have power and influence over Australian policies are substantially worse (in character and intentions) than those "whackadoodles" you've mentioned?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Actually, there is another option. We can pay our own lobbyists and bribe our government into action but we'd hit another issue. People are in love with their political party because they think if they let up the "other side" will win. Working together is key which I don't see happening because who believes we're in the same boat? We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

To be honest, the late 19th century saw the power of production and politics in many fewer hands than we see today. Today it is trending towards the 19th century again, but the monopolies we so huge back then.

Today, I think the trouble is, we have Zuckerbergs and Musks in charge, not Carnegies and Rockefellers.

 

[Gospel]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.
Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment. That sort of shit.

 

[Jarhyn]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.

One of the bigger issues though is that even if you can take money out of politics you still have the issue if people with "reach".

Several times famous people completely outside of politics have taken a swing and generally they're successful because of name recognition and personality cults.

I'm a little worried that if we did take money out of politics, we would instead see that money spent on developing political personalities, essentially frontloading the spend.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

That wasn't the point. The point was while they have a certain collection of skills, overall, they are harming our world, not making it better. Zuckerberg is a fucking fool. Musk is a trolling asshole. At least Bezos bought the Washington Post to buoy it into stability without getting involved.

 

[Metaphor]

We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

"Trained"?

Nobody "trained" me to understand police abolitionists as unhinged lunatics, every bit as crazy as their kindred spirit nutjobs the "sovereign citizen" or the libertarian anarchist. My functioning brain caused me to recognise the violence to common sense these "folx" inflict.

Do you believe those people are the dominant group in your country?

Fringe whackadoodles like police abolitionists are not 'dominant' in terms of raw numbers. Most people can see these narcissistic ideas for the dangerous and delusional and deadly indulgences of the chattering classes. But in terms of media lenience and indulgence, and certainly in terms of academia, they have outsized power given their actual public support.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Are they the most influential and powerful group in regard to the implementation of Australian policies?

The *most* influential and the *most* powerful? I would sure as hell hope not.

Would it surprise you if I said that the people that do have power and influence over Australian policies are substantially worse (in character and intentions) than those "whackadoodles" you've mentioned?

It may not surprise me for you to tell me it, but it would surprise me if it were actually true.

 

[Gospel]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.

One of the bigger issues though is that even if you can take money out of politics you still have the issue if people with "reach".

Several times famous people completely outside of politics have taken a swing and generally they're successful because of name recognition and personality cults.

I'm a little worried that if we did take money out of politics, we would instead see that money spent on developing political personalities, essentially frontloading the spend.

At least our votes would have more power than lobbyists unlike they do today. Big spenders may be able to get their political personalities to run but the people get to choose rather than currently skipping the voting process and directly paying for policies.

 

[Gospel]

We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

"Trained"?

Nobody "trained" me to understand police abolitionists as unhinged lunatics, every bit as crazy as their kindred spirit nutjobs the "sovereign citizen" or the libertarian anarchist. My functioning brain caused me to recognise the violence to common sense these "folx" inflict.

Do you believe those people are the dominant group in your country?

Fringe whackadoodles like police abolitionists are not 'dominant' in terms of raw numbers. Most people can see these narcissistic ideas for the dangerous and delusional and deadly indulgences of the chattering classes. But in terms of media lenience and indulgence, and certainly in terms of academia, they have outsized power given their actual public support.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Are they the most influential and powerful group in regard to the implementation of Australian policies?

The *most* influential and the *most* powerful? I would sure as hell hope not.

Would it surprise you if I said that the people that do have power and influence over Australian policies are substantially worse (in character and intentions) than those "whackadoodles" you've mentioned?

It may not surprise me for you to tell me it, but it would surprise me if it were actually true.

Well, I have no proof, so I support you keeping those wackadoodles on your high priority list.

 

[RVonse]

Except most of those that died were well past retirement age.

One problem is that instead of the PPP money covering costs of employment during the pandemic, companies bought out the older workers. So they are gone. Others near retirement figured, might as well retire now. That was a lot of experience quitting that can't easily be replaced (or at all).

Great point I had not even considered the buy outs which were no doubt a ton of money. All in the hands of the baby boomers and not anywhere else.

 

[Jarhyn]

Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment. That sort of shit.

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.

One of the bigger issues though is that even if you can take money out of politics you still have the issue if people with "reach".

Several times famous people completely outside of politics have taken a swing and generally they're successful because of name recognition and personality cults.

I'm a little worried that if we did take money out of politics, we would instead see that money spent on developing political personalities, essentially frontloading the spend.

At least our votes would have more power than lobbyists unlike they do today. Big spenders may be able to get their political personalities to run but the people get to choose rather than currently skipping the voting process and directly paying for policies.

So, in the past several times I have plugged for this. Essentially, I have argued that political office ought with it come with a steep price: periodic audits of assets and limitations of income to official stipend.

I would ideally like this to be based on the median income of the district.

 

[Metaphor]

We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

"Trained"?

Nobody "trained" me to understand police abolitionists as unhinged lunatics, every bit as crazy as their kindred spirit nutjobs the "sovereign citizen" or the libertarian anarchist. My functioning brain caused me to recognise the violence to common sense these "folx" inflict.

Do you believe those people are the dominant group in your country?

Fringe whackadoodles like police abolitionists are not 'dominant' in terms of raw numbers. Most people can see these narcissistic ideas for the dangerous and delusional and deadly indulgences of the chattering classes. But in terms of media lenience and indulgence, and certainly in terms of academia, they have outsized power given their actual public support.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Are they the most influential and powerful group in regard to the implementation of Australian policies?

The *most* influential and the *most* powerful? I would sure as hell hope not.

Would it surprise you if I said that the people that do have power and influence over Australian policies are substantially worse (in character and intentions) than those "whackadoodles" you've mentioned?

It may not surprise me for you to tell me it, but it would surprise me if it were actually true.

Well, I have no proof, so I support you keeping those wackadoodles on your high priority list.

They occupy a place in my 'whackadoodle crazy hierachy' list, but I'm not seriously worried about, for example, police (and prison) abolitionists, even in my left-wing city. I don't live in an American city like Portland that actually did defund the police, endangered her own citizens, and then blithely un-defunded them after the disastrous deformed fruits of their policies ripened.

 

[RVonse]

Look, if we don't learn to lobby the lobbyist we'll never stop getting people like Mitch in government. Whoever is paying this guy or promising people like him Jobs in exchange for policies Americans should boycott the hell out of them. But this not only won't happen because not enough Americans are smart enough to see what needs to be done, but it's also nearly impossible when the organizations lobbyists work for are many. Many of which have consolidated their power by owning multiple lines of business (AKA income). We have no choice as we can't vote the money out when lobbyists can pay to keep money in.

Actually, there is another option. We can pay our own lobbyists and bribe our government into action but we'd hit another issue. People are in love with their political party because they think if they let up the "other side" will win. Working together is key which I don't see happening because who believes we're in the same boat? We're trained to look at Black Lives Matter rioters, Fascists, Antifa, defund the police, Citizens of the Confederate States of America, illegal immigrants, and so on as the "other side" when our problem is that America has become incorporated.

IMO its the biggest problem we face by far. The self governing democracy set up over 200 years ago was very wise for its time but the one thing they forgot about was to make lobbying illegal. The only way to possible change that at this point would be an amendment to the constitution. .... It will never happen.

 

[Gospel]

Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment. That sort of shit.

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.

One of the bigger issues though is that even if you can take money out of politics you still have the issue if people with "reach".

Several times famous people completely outside of politics have taken a swing and generally they're successful because of name recognition and personality cults.

I'm a little worried that if we did take money out of politics, we would instead see that money spent on developing political personalities, essentially frontloading the spend.

At least our votes would have more power than lobbyists unlike they do today. Big spenders may be able to get their political personalities to run but the people get to choose rather than currently skipping the voting process and directly paying for policies.

So, in the past several times I have plugged for this. Essentially, I have argued that political office ought with it come with a steep price: periodic audits of assets and limitations of income to official stipend.

I would ideally like this to be based on the median income of the district.

Sounds reasonable. I believe Americans can afford to pay our politicians enough so that bribes are less effective (look at how much tax money we're spending on our military). We seem ok with folks earning millions to catch and throw balls so I can hardly see us appalled by protecting our government from financial influencers with our wallets. It also helps to vote for folks who value people more than money (not just in their words but actions).

 

[RVonse]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.
Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment face a heinous public tar and feathering. That sort of shit.

Fixed it for you.

 

[RVonse]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

At least Bezos bought the Washington Post to buoy it into stability without getting involved.

 

[Jarhyn]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.
Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment face a heinous public tar and feathering. That sort of shit.

Fixed it for you.

So that unscheduled unrecorded meeting in Russia...

We should be getting out the tar and feathers for that, ya?

 

[RVonse]

Zuckerberg and Musks to my knowledge lobby less than (for example) Lockhead and Keller Williams Realty. Mention Musk and Zuckerberg's political clout to them and they'd spit take in your face.

Edit: But I digress. all money other than the taxpayers in politics is bad.
Edit: By taxpayer I mean the government paying them and they can't accept money from anyone or anywhere else. all meetings with big (or small businesses) are completely accessible to the public to avoid bribes. And anyone having unscheduled or unrecorded meetings face impeachment face a heinous public tar and feathering. That sort of shit.

Fixed it for you.

So that unscheduled unrecorded meeting in Russia...

We should be getting out the tar and feathers for that, ya?

If it really happened, corruption can not be tolerated anywhere or by anyone.