A Century Of Continued Strife, Conflict, Lack Of Collegiality, Fratricide By Republicans And Lunacy By Democrats Continues And Produces An Outcome
Over some four decades or more traveling and living around the world it never occurred to me that anyone in their right mind would truly believe that the grass was greener on the other side of the proverbial fence. That Europeans–for instance—have a better lifestyle in any measurable category one imagines in comparison to the freedoms and lifestyles one can choose in America.
That was being brought home to anyone that was paying attention during the month long or so World Cup as visitors from around the world attended games and availed themselves of our culture and hospitality. Those experiences contrasted sharply with the outlook and prevailing view that many elements on both sides of the proverbial and actual “pond” conspire to inflict on their followers and believers about America.
There is no aspirational equivalent to the US middle class nor the entrepreneurial spirit, opportunistic potential for those who strive to improve their standard of living through hard work.
Subsistence and taxpayer funded lifestyles are important and should be—and are—necessary based on circumstances that need to be litmus tested but should never be confused with or contorted by the notion of a “livable wage:” In spite of recent politician snarky comments about folks who pulled themselves “up by their own bootstraps.”
The above does not in large measure include Social Security, Medicare and government retirements. Each of which is earned through service or life circumstances. In the majority of cases (which should be above like 95% or higher if congress is not asleep at the proverbial switch and the states aren’t diddling around and gaming the system) workers contribute time and money throughout their working lives to SS, healthcare of one sort or another, and retirement plans.
Which most often consists of the three/four bedrocks of SS, Medicare, some form of contributory retirement on the one hand, and in the modern era a Thrift Savings Plan or variation of a 401K which in the private sector often replaces an earned retirement percentage of—for instance—top 3 salary years.
Living well in retirement was never intended to be predicated on SS alone. For that matter, people were never envisioned to be living so long either, although that has been a fact for most of our adult lives and is not now nor ever has been an acceptable scapegoat for fiscal sanity. To extend that thought, nobody in their right mind should ever have thought, believed, or trusted our government to do due diligence on the contributions from taxpayers for SS or Medicare to ensure those funds were invested in something like US treasury bills/bonds—at the very least—and not used as a congressional slush fund for their Ponzi scheme that will result in the insolvency in our lifetimes of both SS and taxpayer funded health care.
Which is why “entitlements” is the correct taxpayer funded, congress allocated appropriation term for those benefits. Which also covers why immigrants in general but particularly illegal immigrants are not “entitled” to those benefits.
Should those benefits be extended to any category of immigrants the math and the system breaks down and becomes unsustainable (a story for another article.)
For those of us who traveled or lived overseas, you can never forget the stark contrast of reality in the former Soviet Bloc countries and the Soviet Union in particular, but much of Europe in general, where goods and services–particularly food in markets or goods in stores–was simply not available. Or if available was not in your size or taste.
The sheer abundance in America is simply remarkable to those who have never experienced such a thing. As is the open, friendly, helpful—in general—nature of the American people. Who go out of their way to help just about anybody in need.
Which is why it is an indictment of our education system or maybe parenting in general that we have disturbing trends emerging in polls in recent years that so many of our younger adults believe that there are superior systems of government around the world. Which can only be a product of upbringing or education, simply because nobody who has experienced it firsthand would or could possibly come to such a conclusion.
Which I don’t want to belabor to the point of being boring, but I’m reminded that at my last high school reunion—my second in, gulp, fifty years—only a handful of about a hundred and fifty of us had been overseas and for most of those it represented travel with their parents to see relatives in Italy, Germany or England.
I lived in Germany for four years, Korea for one, and spent time on temporary duty or travel in more than 30 other countries including South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and about every country in between. The biggest question from my classmates wasn’t “how was it” but “why?”
In the post-Vietnam era, you simply did not have very many people joining the military when the all-voluntary force concept replaced the draft in the early 1970s. Most went onto college and what I considered (at the time) the thirteenth grade at a local junior college. Which I believed (at that time) was a total waste of time. Proving how little the education system did for me, as I would later work my tail off getting my education in my “spare time” while in the Army and doing degree completion for a year to complete a four-year degree.
Which is neither here nor there, but my former classmates have very different views about a lot of things that they have no personal experience to speak of, most certainly foreign affairs, the military in general and the world at large.
One of the things I was not surprised to hear about and learn is that many take a very dim view of anything even remotely related to the idea of foreign wars and US entanglement. Our generation took the brunt of the anti-war propaganda narrative being played out on television as we grew up, with the horror and violence carried by the daily news as if it was the gospel truth being handed down from the mount in-your-face style.
Which is a good topic for another day but provides a good thought to keep in mind for the explanation of terrible mid-term election results. We know from that tried and true, now old adage that it is the economy, stupid, but should never forget that overseas conflicts that end decisively and actually—well—end—can be good for politicians.
But the converse or opposite—that of the never-ending quagmire effort–has sunk many a political boat when it comes to elections. It has been a very long time, but LBJ was done in by Vietnam during a time when he should have waltzed to reelection.
The party viewed as–or that is defacto-in-charge almost never escapes backlash. In terms of these two factors alone—the economy and the attitude toward an ongoing conflict—operation—action short of war—attitudes have not really changed but have actually sharpened markedly over the years.
When you consider these two items—the results are not surprising at all. When coupled with the exhaustion factor—the never ending back and forth, drama, political headlines hammering away at myriad issues that never resolve and remind people that despite a lot of good things ongoing in many important areas—the Bush effect is in play across America—and nobody should be surprised by the mid-term results.
The fact that they weren’t the worst ever is really the surprise. Look at the below to see the truly historic stinkers.
Ford was frankly a Three Stooges tale (a victim of circumstance.) Carter is not on here which is frankly astounding. LBJ is on here because of Vietnam.
The disasters of Obama and Clinton happened when they tried to govern to please the liberals in their party and pretty much ignored focusing on the change they ran on, with Clinton in particular being spanked by losing congress and giving rise to Newt Gingrich. Clinton did–in fact—talk grandly about cutting back government waste and abuse, but most of that was directed at cutting the military for the Russian Peace Dividend and curtailing the democrat hated Strategic Defense Initiative to redirect money to social-welfare programs.
Many of us accepted “voluntary early retirement” from the military under Clinton which in hindsight with 32 years and counting of retirement pay looks even sillier as an indictment of government policy (but I digress.) And of course there was the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment and his reelection and post term favorable ratings.
While most notably Obama’s “hope and change” and the democrat drive to universal healthcare represented by the Unaffordable Care Act and the three big lies associated with it, “keep your healthcare, keep your doctor, save $2500,” were seen through by voters quickly.
Both were very lucky to be reelected given the political climate and circumstances for each of them, with Obama’s win somewhat suspicious (Florida) and likely a product of a fawning press and the LSMBTGANF that sugar coated the disaster in Libya and the Middle East with the Arab Spring, hid the kissy-faced engagement and lies about negotiations with Iran, and other “ahem” lies and malfeasance.
In terms of these results Trump’s mid-terms make him a bit of a piker and are not a surprise or really even very notable. In his first term he had been falsely accused and tarred by Obama, Clinton, and the entirety of the Obama administration (US government) weaponized against him, with the majority of the LSMBTGANF being in the tank for Russia, Russia, Russia.
And—OBTW–the republicans did themselves no favors as they spent two years squandering majorities in both houses of congress, with the senate in particular embracing the Russia collusion hoax in seemingly mindless pursuit of that delusion.
Folks still bring up debunked October surprises and political operative campaigns as if they are facts against Trump, which remain very popular and on the forefront of Trump Derangement Syndrome inflicted cranial housing groups.
Trump delivered congressional majorities in both elections and the republicans managed to squander leadership opportunities both times. In fact counting the mid-terms in ~2010 with the Tea Party, republicans have done nothing significant but proving they will not take yes for an answer.
How else do we explain the government being shut down under Trump in order for democrats to provide their constituents–illegal aliens–medical coverage subsidies under the Unaffordable Care act? Which republicans dedicated themselves to overturning and replacing but when the opportunity was teed up the electorate discovered they were “all hat and ho healthcare.”
Try running for reelection under that headline.
Is there anyone out there who does not understand that these policies are the cause of both SS and Medicaid going broke???
A very big surprise is that W Bush is not on here, which speaks more to timing and happenstance represented by the lingering effect of 9-11 more than anything else. Particularly when you consider that leading democrat politicians from Hillary Clinton on down, still maintain that the election was stolen from Al Gore.
Notwithstanding that he never led despite all the shenanigans that took place—including the premature calling of the race for him by the LSMBTGANF before voting and counting was complete in particularly the Florida Panhandle, and he later conceded—although he tried to renege on it–as the right thing to do when it became clear that democrat operatives were willing to fracture the US government to get the outcome they wanted.
There was also later the “Katrina” human and political disaster in New Orleans, as well as the start and continuation of the Afghanistan and Iraq operations which provided a non-stop drumbeat political weapon for democrats when it became clear there was no administration plan for winning the peace.
Which culminated in a situation not unlike the Watergate era and President Ford where it was inevitability itself that a democrat would succeed Bush and we elected perhaps the second worst president in history, Jimmy Carter (who was very glad to live to see Biden elected.)
How else can you explain a backlash (predictable) against the Neocons and Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and crew post 9-11 when it became clear they “mired” America against all common sense in Afghanistan and Iraq, losing the peace in Iraq and failing to have an exit strategy in either theater of war that resulted in the expenditure of trillions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives that produced no end on the horizon, except in terms of their political careers and that of their party?
The neocons broke it and owned it (Colin Powell.) Which resulted in a novice, thin resume candidate like Barrack Hussein Obama necking out of the pack. An outcome that was so bad it begat the Tea Party and eventually another novice politician in reaction–Donald J. Trump—which resulted in another knee jerk reaction and election manipulation that gave us the disaster of a politician described by his peers as somebody who had been wrong about every foreign policy issue for four decades.
A perennial career candidate who botched several previous runs for president due to exaggerating and lying about his resume–Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. Which resulted in another reverse of fields/knee jerk reaction by the electorate who voted for a second term for Donald J. Trump (again.)
If there is one thing you can count on with the modern-day republican party it is Charlie Brown syndrome football.
Facing a Nazi tattoo guy in Maine? Phfft, there is a way to lose that race. Hamas sympathizing, Oct 7 and 9-11 apologizers in multiple races? No problem. Socialist and communist candidates who proudly tout their idjiotcy and belief in systems that have never come close to expectations? Can do eajee. Facing a candidate who touts bizarre religious views, gender identity nonsense, with pronouncements that are about as consistent as diarrhea: that is doable also.
At one point over the last two republican administrations there have been as many as ~55 senators out of step with the president, including >10% of his own party and 100% lock and goose-stepping from the opposition. There has been little to no collegiality or compromise on the hill this century, with near 24×7, 365 rancor. A republican majority could not pass a basic bill safeguarding elections in the face of significant evidence of anomalies in past elections that have been proven to change outcomes, most certainly the presidential 2020 election and many state level races across the country since 2018.
Nobody has been held accountable for any of it.
What has the republican party learned from the Tea Party experience, where political momentum was handed to republican leadership on a platter and they fought it tooth and nail in both chambers of congress, often courting and counting on democrats to pass legislation? Seemingly nothing.
In an election year where history indicated the party in power was going to struggle, republicans undertook a fractious and devastating self-inflicted path in places like Texas where the Charlie Brown wing of the republican party committed fratricide against their own, all but ensuring outcomes that democrats have dreamed about for decades but have been unable to achieve: until republicans helped put them over the top.
Great job Brownie…
Here is a trivia question for you: What is the name of the RNC (or DNC) party chair???
Happy Veterans Day!
Max Dribbler
12 Nov 2026
LSMBTGANF: Lamestream media echo chamber (LMEC-L) Social media (SM) Big Tech tyrants (BT,) Government (G,) Academia (A,) Non-government officials (N) and Foreign operatives (F)
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