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Deepspace's avatar

Correlation doesn’t mean causation, but Scott, Gingrich, Romney, McConnell, Murdoch, Hannity — and (most of) the other usual suspects too many to mention who perpetrate horrible fascist policies while enjoying life’s most favorable circumstances — share key traits: rich, white, male, old, cynical, powerful, far-right, antidemocratic, militaristic, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, religiously bigoted, self-centered, greedy, a godly sense of privilege, and an utter disdain for the unwashed masses. But first, they are all congenital liars with no conscience. So then, is shameless dishonesty the causation, the glue that binds their shared delusions and malice to their power and position?

Notice how the homegrown template of U.S. oligarchy exactly fits the profile of war criminals running the opposing Russian crime syndicate, which also incessantly lies to and fleeces their hapless citizens, who now must pay the steep price for the sins of their masters — and for being dumb enough to believe state-sanctioned conspiracy theories when they should know better. Americans should sit up and take notice: the Russians are just a little further down the spectrum of an Orwellian dystopia that's in our near future if we don’t change our ways. (Think DeSantis and thought police.)

In a recent poll, a whopping 69% of ruskies, albeit waning, are still true-blue Putin believers, even after two weeks of Ukrainian atrocities: https://theconversation.com/putins-public-approval-is-soaring-during-the-russia-ukraine-crisis-but-its-unlikely-to-last-177302

Also, notice how both “baskets of deplorables” on both continents are mostly of a certain age: either they were just beginning or were in the middle of their careers in business-slash-politics during the heydays of the “Reagan Revolution.” The generation who engineered the inevitable demise of the American middle-class is the same one who now stands to benefit at the expense of future generations. Or, in the words of their inner voice: Hog everything for yourself and screw the kids and their kid’s kids!

The Chosen One said it best when confronted with the prospect of a dismal future: “Yeah, but I won’t be here.” - Saint Donald. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-on-coming-debt-crisis-i-wont-be-here-when-it-blows-up

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Teach1's avatar

From a family and education perspective the ability to raise children in the USA has suffered since it became impossible for one family wage earner to support his/her family. Schools increasingly have been forced to act in loco parentis for a growing percentage of school children from single family house holds, poverty families as well as from 'busy' middle class families. The percentage of 'homeless' children has reached alarming proportions (https://policyadvice dot net/insurance/insights/homelessness-statistics/). Regardless of gender politics we need a national, secure and reliably funded system that enables all parents to be able to afford to have one care-giver at home when our children leave for school, and one present when they return home and need to be listened to, plus urged to do their homework.

Romney's and Senator Scott's claim that "Romney pointed out, though, about 47 percent of Americans in 2012 made so little money that, after applying the standard deduction, they paid no income tax. " should not be mentioned without listing the effective, net income tax rate of all our mega-corporations. Shame on both.

However, our tax system is neither fair, nor effective, and global welfare states do not appear to be leaving a 'happy' permanent 2nd class cohort. Many of us would simply like a no-CPA tax system where all income is taxed at a flat rate. No more generational Rockerfeller or Bill & Melinda Gates perpetual trust funds that are bigger than some countries annual budget. It's neither conservative nor liberal-just a bit of common sense.

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