"I’m not naïve here: U.S. politicians have never been above lying when they think it suits their interests and when they can get away with it. But, I’m sorry: I thought this was America. Don’t our politicians feel like our voting public has a gag reflex against parroting foreign despots? Isn’t there still a sense that indulging open, Orw…
"I’m not naïve here: U.S. politicians have never been above lying when they think it suits their interests and when they can get away with it. But, I’m sorry: I thought this was America. Don’t our politicians feel like our voting public has a gag reflex against parroting foreign despots? Isn’t there still a sense that indulging open, Orwellian lies hurts the case they’re trying to make?"
The problem with this attempt to inject reason and morality into the discussion is that we have allowed a system to emerge in which there are no consequences for the extreme political biases and bad behaviors that we see taking place with our politicians and political officeholders. It's quite easy to violate cultural norms and longstanding societal expectations when you know that the voters will not demand better from you, and your boss, in the White House or otherwise, has your back because you are a loyalist who has essentially one person who needs to be pleased. As he/she goes, so go you, the rest of us be damned. It is a license to behave badly, with no clear expiration date, and the temptation is too great for those who put personal ambition over public service and the example that they set for others to follow.
We are learning in real time that the honor system, though it served us well for quite a long time, doesn't work when there is no power of enforcement and bad people seek to milk the situation not just by doing what was deemed wrong before, but actually reveling in it and rubbing it in people's faces that they can get away with it. The surprise is not that they are doing it, with a permission structure that encourages it. Rather it is that it took us so long for gravity to work in this case, driving downward both our demands and our expectations when we've become accustomed to a climate in which owning the libs, and showing them that you enjoy it, is more important than anything else. I ask myself often how a Hegseth can get away with what he has done while the rest of us would be fired and/or prosecuted for the same offenses, and how we are held to a much higher threshold of what constitutes punishable offenses. Then I realize that, as they see it, rules are for suckers and losers and political opponents -- the buddy system has defeated the honor system, and we all are worse off for it. And it will not change anytime soon, as long as voters and constituents lack the courage, and a stronger ambition, to set things right.
The entire situation is further toxified by the belief of those in the MAGAsphere that EVERYTHING Trump says is factual and to question that makes one a quisling.
Exactly this. The honor system contracted a terminal illness on 11/03/2020 and officially died on 01/06/2021. The appalling display of lawlessness on that day not only did NOT damage Trump, it actually became a springboard for his return to power in 2024.
good point about rules are for sissies in trump world. it is encouraging that majorities of voters still respect the constitution, our ultimate set of rules, so an appeal to them to set things right can fall on open ears.
An appeal to them is crucial. And it must be of equal volume and insistence to the sh*t being spewed by MAGA world. Otherwise, that encouraging number will change for the worse. We must oppose. Constantly.
"I’m not naïve here: U.S. politicians have never been above lying when they think it suits their interests and when they can get away with it. But, I’m sorry: I thought this was America. Don’t our politicians feel like our voting public has a gag reflex against parroting foreign despots? Isn’t there still a sense that indulging open, Orwellian lies hurts the case they’re trying to make?"
The problem with this attempt to inject reason and morality into the discussion is that we have allowed a system to emerge in which there are no consequences for the extreme political biases and bad behaviors that we see taking place with our politicians and political officeholders. It's quite easy to violate cultural norms and longstanding societal expectations when you know that the voters will not demand better from you, and your boss, in the White House or otherwise, has your back because you are a loyalist who has essentially one person who needs to be pleased. As he/she goes, so go you, the rest of us be damned. It is a license to behave badly, with no clear expiration date, and the temptation is too great for those who put personal ambition over public service and the example that they set for others to follow.
We are learning in real time that the honor system, though it served us well for quite a long time, doesn't work when there is no power of enforcement and bad people seek to milk the situation not just by doing what was deemed wrong before, but actually reveling in it and rubbing it in people's faces that they can get away with it. The surprise is not that they are doing it, with a permission structure that encourages it. Rather it is that it took us so long for gravity to work in this case, driving downward both our demands and our expectations when we've become accustomed to a climate in which owning the libs, and showing them that you enjoy it, is more important than anything else. I ask myself often how a Hegseth can get away with what he has done while the rest of us would be fired and/or prosecuted for the same offenses, and how we are held to a much higher threshold of what constitutes punishable offenses. Then I realize that, as they see it, rules are for suckers and losers and political opponents -- the buddy system has defeated the honor system, and we all are worse off for it. And it will not change anytime soon, as long as voters and constituents lack the courage, and a stronger ambition, to set things right.
The entire situation is further toxified by the belief of those in the MAGAsphere that EVERYTHING Trump says is factual and to question that makes one a quisling.
That drives me nuts. They repeat his lies constantly.
Exactly this. The honor system contracted a terminal illness on 11/03/2020 and officially died on 01/06/2021. The appalling display of lawlessness on that day not only did NOT damage Trump, it actually became a springboard for his return to power in 2024.
good point about rules are for sissies in trump world. it is encouraging that majorities of voters still respect the constitution, our ultimate set of rules, so an appeal to them to set things right can fall on open ears.
An appeal to them is crucial. And it must be of equal volume and insistence to the sh*t being spewed by MAGA world. Otherwise, that encouraging number will change for the worse. We must oppose. Constantly.