22 Comments
May 8, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

The first thing we need to do is recognize

what Trump & republicans are trying to accomplish. To do that we must first acknowledge that Trump was elected with help from Putin and that Trump is a Russian asset. Former CIA Director John Brennan has publicly referred to Trump as a Russian asset multiple times.

What we just witnessed during Trump’s presidency was a never before seen destruction of our nation aided and abetted by republicans in Congress. We know Russian operatives infiltrated the NRA. My guess is they’ve also infiltrated evangelical groups and African American organizations in order to encourage division, anger & violence. In addition, these operatives are on all social media platforms attempting to con ordinary people into believing things about our government that are not true. That’s the kind of activity that can destabilize nations and Putin’s fondest wish is to destabilize America & NATO.

Another way to destabilize nations is to economically deprive large socio-economic sectors within a country. By defunding social safety net programs like medicaid, medicare, healthcare, social security and creating a trade war that makes goods more expensive and markets disappear, it creates unnecessary economic hardship.

When the middle class, America’s largest socio-economic sector, finds their discretionary spending seriously diminished, wages still sluggish and the wage gap between the haves and the have-nots widening there will very likely be civil unrest and that is what we have right now. Through his willing accomplices, Trump & Congressional republicans, Putin is destabilizing the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world.

But that’s not all. At the same time we also have one of our two political parties, the GOP, working to create civil unrest for its own purposes. Decades ago a few wealthy republicans came up with a long-term plan to fundamentally change America in every way. They first aligned the GOP more solidly with corporate interests, the 1% and Russia. That was for the money they needed to implement their plan. Then they began engaging in activities with what were then considered outlier & extremist groups and helped them get political traction they never had before. They did that to get their votes. These were mainly evangelicals, the NRA & white supremacists. They brought them together as a political party. (See the book ‘Democracy In Chains’ by Nancy MacLean)

Those alliances are driving the GOP’s refusal to pass gun control laws, push to make abortion illegal & to end same sex marriage. Those issues also have the extra added attraction of providing emotional flashpoints that further their objective of pitting Americans against each other to destabilize us as a nation. The point of destabilizing us dovetails with their plan to write a new Constitution. (See the WaPo article ‘The biggest Threat to Democracy that Nobody is talking About’ by Jonathan Capeheart, Sept. 4, 2018.)

At the heart of the republican plan to destroy America as we know it is the libertarian philosophy that if you can’t afford something, you can’t have it. For example the wealthy libertarians behind it (Kochs, Mercers, DeVos, Bannon, etc.) believe all education should be private. In other words they don’t want to pay taxes to support public education. Hence we had Betsy DeVos as Sec. of Education systematically and slowly defunding public education. Nor do they want their tax dollars to be used to subsidize healthcare, medicare, medicaid, welfare, SNAP (early childhood meal supplements) or any other social endeavor.

Libertarianism at the heart of attempts to discontinue or privatize social security and all of the other social safety net programs. It’s why funding for Head Start programs dried up and it was behind the Trump administration’s efforts to deregulate and disregard EPA standards, allow drilling offshore and in National Parks. The people behind this government takeover want 100% un-fettered capitalism, freedom to pollute at will and as far as I can tell a two-tier society composed of the haves and the have-nots. The flaw in their scheme is that if republicans are successful at severely reducing the buying power of the middle class, and that’s the trajectory we were on under Trump, we won’t be able to afford what corporations are selling. A prosperous middle class is what made us the wealthiest nation in the world. Corporations are just beginning to understand this and put the breaks on the GOP’s single-minded attempts to impoverish us.

All of these manipulations and machinations by republicans are being funded by wealthy libertarians as well as the Russian mob. If you look at the money being spent to fund republicans’ campaigns you see that it sharply escalated just prior to Trump’s alleged victory in 2015-16. Mitch McConnell’s campaign donations escalated into the millions from Russians alone.

(See “How Putin's oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns” Dallas Morning News, by Ruth May, 5/8/18.) Putin’s game plan is as old as the hills. It’s called divide and conquer. It’s the same game libertarians are playing, they just aren’t as obvious. Or maybe they are. At any rate, if Trump is re-elected he will create more massive instability to further Putin’s and the Libertarians’ causes.

At the heart of all of these activities, both domestic and foreign is money, enormous amounts of money. Money that has been flooding individual republican coffers. We all know there are people who will do anything for money. When the Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for money is when we started losing control of our country.

So, the single most important thing to do is

stop the flow of money corrupting our government. I think we should make all private campaign donations illegal and allow only public money to be used for campaigning. Public money is used to pay the salaries of all government employees, why not use it for campaigns? Every candidate should receive the same amount of money. The FEC should collect receipts for campaign expenditures to make sure they match the amounts spent. When the public money has been spent, there’s no more. I realize it’s more complicated than that, but I’m certain it can all be worked out. The problem is having enough elected people to vote for a campaign funding scheme using only public money.

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May 8, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

The one thing that I have done is, not engage with trolls on social media. I used to, but, I quickly found out it was pointless. These people have been severely brainwashed, and no amount of reasoning is going to get through to them. They like how they are and they are totally invested in their misguided beliefs. I also will never retweet or repost anything written or said by the former guy. I will not be a part of giving him any oxygen. Same goes for the traitors in the House and Senate who have hitched their collective wagon to him, no matter the cost. I just wish the media would do the same. I only want to hear about his indictment or his death. Other than that, the faster he fades into obscurity the better. Now, if we could just get the people in Congress who were involved with the insurrection held accountable, that would be a dandy start to healing.

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Until the now growing 40% of this country are convinced that President Biden is not legitimate, or ignore the need for vaccines, the road to make changes is going to be a long road to travel. However, the more I read about what the Biden Administration wants to do with creating jobs in alternative energy (can be the Race to the Moon in the 21st Century), reforming PreK-College education, and make taxes more fair (I am in the group that is covering the bill for the 1%) I am all in on where he wants to take the country.

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I can only change me & my own actions but can commit to being Civic / Community Minded in my ways. We could all do likewise and make America better overnight

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May 9, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

As a Canadian, I am hoping enough Americans will realize how important democracy is in their country, and as an example to the rest of the world. Please America, do some research, some reading, come to your senses and choose country over politics.

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May 8, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Those elected and appointed should accept and execute their responsibility to be informed, justly vote, and govern. To respect all citizens, the truth, our laws, and the constitution.

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May 8, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

(1) Re-introduce investment tax credit, (2) change accounting treatment of buybacks to remove artificial increase in earnings per share, (3) annual resports have to compare CEO's total pay with Free Cash Flow level to aid in comparisons, (4) post acquisition independenr audits of mergers, which destroy value for the acquirers 2/3 or more of the time, proven.

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May 10, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Wow, great comments here. I feel it will take an entire generation to rid America of the current stain of where the GOP has taken themselves.

I would prefer a DOJ investigation of Jan 6th in conjunction with an independent commission from Congress. While that is taking place, educate those who are stuck at traditional infrastructure plan should look like; this is 2021 not 1951. Biden's plan would create jobs and change how we live in this nation.

Biden can ask for bipartisanship, but McConnell has ruled that out. So the heck with the GOP and get rid of the filibuster, but first have that talk with Manchin.

Then, America can truly move forward

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May 10, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

It's only people not knowing one another! Different lifestyles, different experiences ahh this makes me so sad I just ...

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May 9, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

It looks like all elections in the USA are rigged. Ask Jenny Cohn about it. ES&S voting machines have the desired outcome preprogrammed into them the votes are shifted from Dems to Reps at an alarming rate. Save democracy get rid of the voting machines. Or make them auditable.

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May 8, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Start by causing people to have open minds. We cannot judge the motivation of others, but we can accept rational choices.

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We need to introduce young kids from rural towns to kids from big cities and somehow show people.....in my experience moving from Seattle to a small town in Kettle Falls, WA, I was a bit shocked at how racist people are around here and stuck in their ways. Most of these people have lived here their whole lives and "hate" dems because of a law that says u can't use hunting dogs to chase a cougar up a tree. ? Or because they can't shoot wolves because "Seattle " passed a law. It's extremely petty and spoiled entitled...but I do feel somehow we can work on it, especially with younger kids. What to do though? I will think about this....

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Studying History is the best way to insure that evil does not have the opportunity to repeat itself. A lesson so excruciating that Germany took steps to protect itself from the tendencies of human nature toward depravity when morality breaks down.

Volksverhetzung , in English "incitement to hatred"Volksverhetzung, in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code),[1][2] "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that refers to incitement to hatred against segments of the population and refers to calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them, including assaults against the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population.[1][2][3]

It is often applied to, though not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany. The criminal code (Strafgesetzbuch) Chapter 7 (Offences against public order), Paragraph 130 (Incitement to hatred) of the Federal Republic of Germany defines when a person is guilty of Volksverhetzung.[1][2][3]

And more recently, legislation to regulate the "Wild West" of social media.

The Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG; German: Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Rechtsdurchsetzung in sozialen Netzwerken), also known as the Facebook Act (Facebook-Gesetz), is a German law aimed at combating agitation and fake news in social networks.

This is or needs to be a global effort. It's a small boat we all must share. There have to be rules.

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deletedMay 9, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss
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