Surfing Waves

I feel the Bern..I really do.

That said, as a practical matter, how can he get his programs through Congress? Until campaign finances are reformed and years of gerrymandering undone, progressive programs will be blocked. At the national level, it will take years for population demographics to change this, but it will happen!

Until that day, I will vote progressively but focus on local issues where progress can be made NOW - reducing pollution in the Napa river, requiring affordable housing with new developments, growing job training programs at Napa Valley College...

and learning how to noseride.

BoMan wrote:I feel the Bern..I really do.

That said, as a practical matter, how can he get his programs through Congress? Until campaign finances are reformed and years of gerrymandering undone, progressive programs will be blocked. At the national level, it will take years for population demographics to change this, but it will happen!

Until that day, I will vote progressively but focus on local issues where progress can be made NOW - reducing pollution in the Napa river, requiring affordable housing with new developments, growing job training programs at Napa Valley College...

and learning how to noseride.

I hear you. As far as getting laws passed is concerned, I gave up on that a long time ago. No liberal President, progressive or incrementalist, can do that. What they can do, however, is veto corporate welfare and public treasure giveaways. Passing decent legislation is something we can hope future generations will see. The best we can hope for now is simply stopping the corruption by the power of the veto and the bully pulpit. Liberals need a President to mount a persuasion campaign, not K Street politics. The very existence of Trump should make it clear that the central problem in American politics is the state of mind of the electorate itself. That needs to be addressed. We need ideas to be articulated first and foremost. Americans need to re-evalute their political system and the progressive politician who works toward convincingly explaining the how and why of the failures in the system is, in my opinion, the one to get behind. Politicans who do everything behind closed doors and keep their speeches and ideas secret are simply contributing to the problem of an ignorant electorate.

My President "surfs" better than your Prime Minister/President.

Our ex prime minister like to promote himself as a surfer, at that he failed as did his leadership.
Obama whupped him each way coming!
Lousy ex prime minister almost gone I hope doesn't survive the up coming election.

RinkyDink wrote:The very existence of Trump should make it clear that the central problem in American politics is the state of mind of the electorate itself. That needs to be addressed.

You are right. Part of this is due customized news feeds which reinforce the user's point of view. Liberals follow The New Republic and The Nation while conservatives track Fox News and The National Review. The truth lies somewhere in between and requires skill and effort to find.

I miss the days of Walter Cronkite when the news was factual and clearly separate from opinion. Voters had to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions. What's more, board leashes hadn't been invented so surfers worked to get the most out of every wave.

The woman politician who surfs is Tulsi Gabbard who is an Amercian Samoan citizen of Hawaii also Congresswoman also Hindu and surfs and fairly pretty in my eyes. I voted for her but I am not so sure about Sanders however it is likely I will vote for him out of no other reasonable option.

BoMan wrote:The truth lies somewhere in between and requires skill and effort to find.

I miss the days of Walter Cronkite when the news was factual and clearly separate from opinion. Voters had to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions. What's more, board leashes hadn't been invented so surfers worked to get the most out of every wave.

Well, I'm going to have to disagree with the notion that truth is somewhere in between because I think that sets up a false equivalency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence where both sides of an argument have legitimacy and truth is some sort of compromise. In my opinion that idea is kind of a myth that makes us comfortable with the status quo. There is no truth between the notion that global warming is a real and serious problem and the notion that global warming can't be real because the Book Of Revelation tells us how everything will end. I don't believe truth is one part national socialism, one part communism, one part capitalism, etc... That's what I consider holding onto a myth instead of reality. Myth: George Washington never told a lie. Reality: He lied like everybody else. Myth: America is a democracy. Reality: America is an oligarchy largely controlled by a small group of ridiculously wealthy elites. Still, you gotta love the guy who invented the surfboard leash; I can't imagine I'd continue surfing long without one.

oldmansurfer wrote:The woman politician who surfs is Tulsi Gabbard who is an Amercian Samoan citizen of Hawaii also Congresswoman also Hindu and surfs and fairly pretty in my eyes. I voted for her but I am not so sure about Sanders however it is likely I will vote for him out of no other reasonable option.

Are you kidding? Tulsi Gabbard is a knockout.

I'm not sure if Bernie and Hillary would be much different in handling interventions. I think Hillary will continue Obama's policy which has kept us out of conflicts in the Middle East thus far , though of course whether his actions were good or bad is debatable in the context of the Soviet Union, I mean Russia, showing off in Syria.
Save for pulling back all our troops overseas, I dunno what Bernie would do that Hillary wouldn't.

pmcaero wrote:I'm not sure if Bernie and Hillary would be much different in handling interventions. I think Hillary will continue Obama's policy which has kept us out of conflicts in the Middle East thus far ,

I think you're right that Clinton will continue Obama's foreign policy. I'd go even further and say that it's a pretty safe bet that she'll be even more hawkish. As far as Sanders is concerned, I'd suggest you look at his voting record in Congress to get an idea of his foreign policy perspective. As far as staying out of conflict in the Middle East goes, I think American involvement there is greater than you think. It's often just ignored in the media.
https://theintercept.com/2016/03/25/hig ... -violence/

RinkyDink wrote:

oldmansurfer wrote:The woman politician who surfs is Tulsi Gabbard who is an Amercian Samoan citizen of Hawaii also Congresswoman also Hindu and surfs and fairly pretty in my eyes. I voted for her but I am not so sure about Sanders however it is likely I will vote for him out of no other reasonable option.

Are you kidding? Tulsi Gabbard is a knockout.

She is also one of the few politicians who didn't make a run for president this year