President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[frank ryan]

In a way it is because our constitution over represents the rural areas and smaller states which tend to be more conservative and Republican.

This is not directed at Eddie. But, It's strange how some folks have more shock and outrage at a restaurant not serving Sara HS than they did at a presidential candidate encouraging violence at his campaign events, even after violence occurred at his events.

It's a sad commentary on the state of things that a member of the administration is refused service, and its unhelpful, but it isn't a new low (that happened with Trump, and continues to get reinforced) nor is it a both sides are equally as bad type situation.

Trump won with incivility and immaturity. His voters and his party rewarded and reinforced that behavior. It would be nice if the restaurant owner let Sanders and her family eat in peace. It would have been the right thing to do. It would be even more prudent if the man she worked for were criticized and constrained by his own party, leadership and rank and file alike, for his boorish and bullying tactics. In the meantime spare me the situational outrage.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is not directed at Eddie. But, It's strange how some folks have more shock and outrage at a restaurant not serving Sara HS than they did at a presidential candidate encouraging violence at his campaign events, even after violence occurred at his events.

It's a sad commentary on the state of things that a member of the administration is refused service, and its unhelpful, but it isn't a new low (that happened with Trump, and continues to get reinforced) nor is it a both sides are equally as bad type situation.

Trump won with incivility and immaturity. His voters and his party rewarded and reinforced that behavior. It would be nice if the restaurant owner let Sanders and her family eat in peace. It would have been the right thing to do. It would be even more prudent if the man she worked for were criticized and constrained by his own party, leadership and rank and file alike, for his boorish and bullying tactics. In the meantime spare me the situational outrage.

Come on, frank. That's whataboutism.

[old_gregg]

[BlueK]

In a way it is because our constitution over represents the rural areas and smaller states which tend to be more conservative and Republican.

To finish my thought, the democrats and moderates and liberals tend to live in larger metro areas and therefore have much more power in the marketplace.

But to illustrate the disparity in political representation, you can take something like the 11 least populous states and all together they still have less total population than California. In the Senate that gives the less populated, generally more conservative states a 10x advantage. In the House they still an advantage, although less so.

[Crockett]

To finish my thought, the democrats and moderates and liberals tend to live in larger metro areas and therefore have much more power in the marketplace.

But to illustrate the disparity in political representation, you can take something like the 11 least populous states and all together they still have less total population than California. In the Senate that gives the less populated, generally more conservative states a 10x advantage. In the House they still an advantage, although less so.

The bicameral Congress was by design, as you know. One part represents the people, one the states.

[BlueK]

The bicameral Congress was by design, as you know. One part represents the people, one the states.

Correct. My concern is not with the general concept, but that it's gotten way out of balance over the years, which I don't know if that's healthy for democracy/our freedom in the long run. It's even out of balance in the House. In general the idea was that populous states and smaller states would be equals in the Senate, not that the populous ones should be outnumbered in representation by ten times.

[Crockett]

Correct. My concern is not with the general concept, but that it's gotten way out of balance over the years, which I don't know if that's healthy for democracy/our freedom in the long run. It's even out of balance in the House.

How is it out of balance? It's working basically as designed.

[BlueK]

How is it out of balance? It's working basically as designed.

Let me put it this way -- if the original intent was to give rural areas a disproportionate level of political strength in the legislative branch compared to the large population centers then it is working way better than designed. This is because of the movement of the population over the years toward large cities.

[Crockett]

lol yeah it's the democrats who make a great comparison to nazis, not Trump's authoritarian renaissance...

This is called projection. Or TDS. Or both.

Trump says dumb stuff sometimes and isn't an expert in the Constitution, but he's not some budding dictator. That is such as crock of $#!&. Trump favors more freedom, is reducing the size of govt and taxes, and eliminating lots of regulations. That's not what a dictator does. Dictators would want more. He's enforcing existing law, but that's somehow a dictatorship! Dictators like gun control, but not Trump. Obama muses on how it's easier to govern China and weaponizes the IRS, the DOJ, FBI, and more but Trump is the dictator!

Also, isn't this a good time to reflect on the fact that the federal govt has too much power?

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is called projection. Or TDS. Or both.

Trump says dumb stuff sometimes and isn't an expert in the Constitution, but he's not some budding dictator. That is such as crock of $#!&. Trump favors more freedom, is reducing the size of govt and taxes, and eliminating lots of regulations. That's not what a dictator does. Dictators would want more. He's enforcing existing law, but that's somehow a dictatorship! Dictators like gun control, but not Trump. Obama muses on how it's easier to govern China and weaponizes the IRS, the DOJ, FBI, and more but Trump is the dictator!

Also, isn't this a good time to reflect on the fact that the federal govt has too much power?

Good points, but in fairness, applying tariffs, fighting against a free press, taking steps to curtail civil liberties, etc. are kinda dictator-ish.

[Flystripper]

Good points, but in fairness, applying tariffs, fighting against a free press, taking steps to curtail civil liberties, etc. are kinda dictator-ish.

throw in lamenting the concept of due process.

[old_gregg]

Good points, but in fairness, applying tariffs, fighting against a free press, taking steps to curtail civil liberties, etc. are kinda dictator-ish.

also gun control. lol.

[BlueK]

Or singling out a specific company for harsh criticism/threats of higher taxes based on not liking the company's owner because he also owns a newspaper the president doesn't like.

[Crockett]

Good points, but in fairness, applying tariffs, fighting against a free press, taking steps to curtail civil liberties, etc. are kinda dictator-ish.

Tariffs aren't unique to dictators. Plenty of our trading partners use them against us already.

Trump says some over the top towards the press, but honestly sometimes they deserved it. They have very often been far from objective. They hate Trump so much it clouds their judgment. There are so many instances of biased reporting and genuinely fake news. Also, this isn't whataboutism to say Obama had a worse record versus the press. He put a bunch of journalist sources / whistleblowers in jail using the espionage act. The Obama Justice Department accessed the personal email of a Fox News reporter and surveilled the reporter’s parents and colleagues. They seized the home, work and mobile phone records of AP journalists. Has Trump done anything like this? If Obama wasn't a dictator press-wise then Trump certainly isn't.

Which civil liberties are being curtailed? Non-citizens that aren't entitled to the same constitutional protections as citizens, even if we should handle the situation better?

What floors me is the stuff that Obama got away with that was far more dictator-ish than what Trump has done, but because most of the mainstream media are democrats and Obama was their guy they rarely called it out / let it slide.

[Crockett]

Or singling out a specific company for harsh criticism/threats of higher taxes based on not liking the company's owner because he also owns a newspaper the president doesn't like.

This is a fair criticism of Trump.