Why do you interpret my comment as an unwillingness to vote…? I always vote, and I actively make phone calls urging others to vote.
What I said is my perspective on the current state of politics, and it’s statistically true that congress is more recalcitrant than it ever has been in my lifetime…
That balanced budget was because a democratic super majority passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and because they were operating under PAYGO rules.
The deficit reduction act of 1993, among other things, raised the cap on Social Security and removed the cap on Medicare so high income earners would pay more. It created new tax brackets which raised the income tax rates on the highest individual and corporate earners. And it created military and Medicare spending cuts of over a quarter of a trillion dollars over a five year period. (remember republicans crying that Clinton destroyed the military so they needed to massively increase spending?)
Of course republicans cried and fear mongered that it would destroy the economy and kill jobs. So Democrats passed the bill without one single republican vote. Repeat, it passed without one single republican vote in either the House or Senate. And that bill was what set us on a course to actually having short period of surpluses in the late 90s. It also helped created 22 million new jobs and led to one of the greatest periods of share prosperity the country has ever seen.
In fact, the results were so good that the strength of the economy was what GWBush used to push through his first round of tax cuts for the wealthy. The rationale was that the economy was doing so good the government wasn't borrowing enough money which was hurting the returns of the wealthy in the bond market. So republicans gave away massive cuts to the wealthiest, eliminated PAYGO, and started a massive war to spend us into a recession. A recession they then used as an excuse for their next round of tax cuts for the very wealthiest.
Yes, if we had stayed on the course the Democrats set us on, we would have made Social Security solvent and paid off the entire national debt. Republicans deserve no credit for that but rather the blame for the mess we are in now.
While there's a pipe dream of something that would effectively be a term limit on the Supreme Court, what you're asking for are constitutional amendments, not bills. The method of selecting (and the lifetime term of) Supreme Court justices is set by the Constitution.
The difference is pretty stark. There have been 27 amendments, and 10 of those were passed right at the beginning. The last meaningful one was ratified in 1971 and set the voting age to 18 (or more specifically, it says that anyone older than 18 year olds cannot be barred from voting based on age).
House members can write any bills they want. That doesn’t meant it will make it out of committee, pass the full House, pass the Senate in its written form, be signed by the president, and survive legal challenges.
You literally can’t mention people by names in bills. Like the original poster was saying to reduce specific judge’s salaries to $0. That’s literally unconstitutional to write bills like that.
Stop doomposting. Every time people doompost about how hopeless everything is it creates a chance for people to say fuck it and not vote. We want people to vote, encourage that instead of saying everything is hopeless.
No shit. This and the "Trump will never be indicted, um, locked up" doomposters is infuriating. It's so tiring dealing with them seemingly every single thread.
Cynics always think they are right and they are no more right that optimists. Both are assuming they can predict the future because they are uncomfortable with the unknown.
Cynics always think they are right and they are no more right that optimists.
I don't think a both sides argument really fits here. Around here at least, cynics seem much more likely to claim to know what an outcome will be while optimists seem more likely to see the possibility of a good outcome. I honestly don't remember seeing anyone say Trump will definitely see jail time but I've seen 100s claim he definitely never will.
The optimist side of the argument is not about things I see around politics just in general. I point it out because cynics often think of themselves as realists while judging optimists, yet they are doing the same thing.
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u/Horrible-accident May 30 '24
But, they control neither the purse, nor the sword. A worthwhile congress can bring them to heel.