24 Comments

Austin is unlikely to respond to the minority senator's letter. Doesn't need to, and not in his interests.

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Dick Cheney famously sneered and said "So," TIME describes this quote as: “Dick Cheney, when told that two-thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq.” Who is zooming who? Congress is castrated and the American populace busy doing something else. Even if vaccine mandates die, the over -reach cannot be dialed back to pre-Covid-19. Now I am not a Leninist. However is there not something obvious in what he says? With the important provisio that the revolution is spiritual, not political or economic. “Everyone agrees” that it is necessary to develop the political consciousness of the working class. The question is, how that is to be done and what is required to do it. The economic struggle merely “impels” the workers to realise the government’s attitude towards the working class. Consequently, however much we may try to “lend the economic, struggle itself a political character”, we shall never be able to develop the political consciousness of the workers (to the level of Social-Democratic political consciousness) by keeping within the framework of the economic struggle, for that framework is too narrow."

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Congress is not castrated, just the minority party. That's always the case. It should change in January. With a veto proof majority we'll find out their true character.

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David Watson. The history of the Congress demonstrates otherwise. Duopoly and disagreement over spoils. Look at the Republicans wetting themselves over the need to save the Ukraine as a forward base for wealth extraction from Russia. To be honest though as men are not angels and political people are not noted for common sense truly it would be remarkable if it were otherwise.

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More important, people are not uniform. Some support fighting in Ukraine, most don't. Duopoly exists in closely divided controls. If we do the job right, we'll have monopoly controls, which will bring a whole new set of problems.

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Indeed. Congress though is different than people. https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/tucker-carlson-appeasement-vladimir-putin-nato/2022/02/03/id/1055382/

I merely observe that no swamp drained, no wall built, and Pfizer at warp speed and Trump administration has no interest in even keeping up appearances when it comes to the revolving door and ethics. In Common Cause’s 2017 State of the Swamp Report, we highlighted the administration’s rejection of an ethics course for senior White House staff, Cabinet nominees and other political appointees.

The move was fitting, as the president’s Cabinet had more former corporate leaders than any other in U.S. history.

A study last year found more than 160 former lobbyists serving in the Trump administration—and those industry ties point to an administration that puts the priorities of large corporations over those of the American people.

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Sometimes it's unfortunate we have presidents with limited powers, not kings with unlimited power. Trump spent 4 years besieged and outnumbered. Those who preferred different outcomes could have lent a hand. Few did. As they say in the swamp, some days you drain the swamp, some days the swamp drains you. Maybe he'll do better next time. No one else will.

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Buck stops where exactly when you are not an "Apprentice?" I recognize we want a hero. The guy from Queens is not even an anti-hero. Pal of Epstein, Clinton, owned a building with Soros, fired the guy who got him in power, appointed big business lobbyists and in general only looks good because we like fake meat between the two slices of fake bread Obama and Biden. There is no one coming to our emotional rescue. We must govern ourselves or stay on our knees praying this time it's different. We are fooled again and again just like Charlie Brown.

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We shouldn't expect heroes. Heroes are just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. We shouldn't expect others to rescue us. If there is rescuing to be done, it's up to us. As always, we'll hire people to administer things for us. If we stay on our knees, we'll take whatever they give us. The best we can do is choose the best we can find, and support them the best we can. If we're fooled, that's our fault. If we demand perfection, we'll be disappointed. If we participate, we'll make things better.

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I concur. On the other hand participate is exactly what Soviet citizens did. In our type of one man one vote system machines and corrupt officials and corrupt courts determine outcomes, not the voter. And before the machine vote fraud was rather common. As were political machines like LBJ ran in Texas and Daly in Chicago. So it seems to me each electoral cycle is fraud and we go along because we want to be "Administered" or think it necessary. Perhaps participation politically is not useful in this fashion of choosing which crook is best for us. Maybe it lies in social participation. Voting might be the least important, or it might be much less important than fully engaged civic participation. We have voted for a couple hundred years and arrived right here in a very bad place.

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Everybody is relatively crooked. It's our nature. Ever drive 66 mph? Yeah, me neither. That would be crooked. The way to keep opportunists from becoming outright scofflaws is accountability. If we watch our rulers closely and speak out when they misbehave, they won't stray too far. Others haven't done it well enough. We have to do it better.

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I am not the State. If I break a law the consequences are slight. If Congress breaks the law the consequences are not. Elected representatives are not representing us. Which is why the droll idea arose: The idea of forcing Congresscritters to wear NASCAR-style coveralls with the logos of their financial backers has been bandied about before, but here it is in official White House petition form.

Since most politicians' campaigns are largely funded by wealthy companies and individuals, it would give voters a better sense of who the candidate they are voting for is actually representing if the company's logo, or individual's name, was prominently displayed upon the candidate's clothing at all public appearances and campaign events. Once elected, the candidate would be required to continue to wear those "sponsor's" names during all official duties and visits to constituents. The size of a logo or name would vary with the size of a donation. For example, a $1 million dollar contribution would warrant a patch of about 4" by 8" on the chest, while a free meal from a lobbyist would be represented by a quarter-sized button. Individual donations under $1000 are exempt.

As funny as this is, it would be easy-ish to turn this into a browser plugin that looked for politicians' names in the pages you looked at, and automatically surrounded them with a semi-opaque halo of corporate logos that you could click on to see more.

Require Congressmen & Senators to wear logos of their financial backers on their clothing, much like NASCAR drivers do.

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Nothing would change, both Dems and Reps are controlled and serving the same masters

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Neither is as good as we'd like, but one is always better than the other. Better is a good start. Those who want best need to get involved in their favorite party and encourage improvements. We can't ever have it our way, but we can sometimes make it better.

Things will change in January, probably a lot.

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Not really, both sides work on the destruction of current order ( or wahever is left of it) to usher in a new order of the ages. The entire political system is subverted and it did not happen yesterday. We are living in the movie, really evil movie

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Not really, both sides work on establishment of their own order. Doesn't matter what we think of them. One will prevail. Those who want a different order will have to work for it.

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No man can change what is coming, both sides worship the same masters and the same god, and they are not hiding it. The take over went on for centuries and now complete. Its too scary and impossible for many to comprehend, because population was conditioned for centuries to believe a LIE. .

USA is de facto the "Holy Roman" Fourteenth Amendment American Jesuit Empire created in 1868

We live in the Revived Roman Empire that reigns supreme just like it was foretold in the Bible:

Thus, he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. - Daniel 7:23

The Hidden History of the Revived Roman Empire

https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/the-hidden-history-of-the-revived

"No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. (David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations)

https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/the-occult-is-the-spiritual-foundation

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In Romans we're instructed "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment."

We're blessed with capabilities to help form the authorities that rule us. We should use that capability to the fullest.

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Vanguard and Blackrock rule us. From the tech we use, the goods we buy, the money we use, and even the foods we eat.

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They don't rule me. I don't mind using their money. But you're right that a lot of people go with the flow. Conformity is easier

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