Republicans Have No Solutions

Government has no solutions, but it sure can come up with many new problems claiming in need of solutions. I think Reagan articulated that quite succinctly.

 

Reagan who actually increased government involvement in the US economy, using a form of Keynesian government spending to boost the economy and greatly increased government debt

Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem, my ass

Why is it that so many right wingers are all big, bold lions when it comes to shouting out a slogans but run away like frightened rabbits when asked to actually defend their ideas?

 

Perhaps Reagan should have said "Neither government nor asses are not the solution, they both are the problem."

 

I think everyone notices you don’t answer the criticism and that’s the problem with right wingers they have lots of fatuous comebacks but no answers.

The thing is that Reagan admin like the Thatcher government, had disastrous long term impacts on their respective counties and the majority of people in them.

 

Some problems have no rationally acceptable solutions and leaving it to those who have been elected to government office to provide us with solutions more often than not works for the benefit of their remaining in office while creating even worse problems that will ultimately arise for later generations to contend with.

 

Can you give us an example?

And the question is - rationally acceptable to whom, I mean a number of people have come here claiming their ideas are rational but when examined they are unable to defend them from criticism, which would indicate they are not that rationally based.

Someone with irrationally based ideas might not find rationally based ones acceptable.

As I said the Reagan admin like the Thatcher government, had disastrous long term impacts on their respective counties and the majority of people in them.

The thing is that the many pointed out the damage that they were doing and what the detrimental effects might be, but the neo-liberal/free market, conservative and in the US neo-con ideologies that were behind them had powerful backers. That linked with the effective end of the Fairness Doctrine in the US meant that honest and open debate of issues and policies seem to have been drowned out by right leaning propaganda.

It seems to me that many right wingers are driven by an ideology based on that propaganda and are just incapable of debate, making statements and shouting slogans that they can’t defend from criticism and then running away when they realise their ideas are being shown to be so flawed.

In this way bad ideas are perpetuated and politicians that promote those ideas are elected and make bad decisions that create the problems that will ultimately arise for later generations to contend with.

 

To me it’s not so much a matter of the right not having solutions, but of them having solutions that when examined are likely to make a bad situations far worse (and when implemented do) because they are basing their ideas on flawed ideologies that they can’t even defend from criticism.

 

Oh like the compromise that Obama tried to have with healthcare? Tax cuts? Oh wait he never tried to do that with them.

 

Well the US needed a better healthcare system, I don’t think Obama got it but at least he was trying I haven’t heard of any constructive ideas coming from the right.

Are tax cuts that end up favouring wealth really a solution – I mean since the 1970-80 tax cuts have just mean that the riches of the wealthiest have ballooned astronomically while in the same period the real term incomes of the middle and lower classes have stagnated or fallen.

 

Meagain

As I say they are unable to debate honestly – if in a debate a position is taken or idea given which can’t be defended from criticisms that seems to undermine it – then the most sensible thing to do is change the position, adapt the idea, to compromise or even drop the un-defendable all together.

Many on the right seem incapable of this sensible and rational approach continuing to hold onto ideas they know they can’t defend.

Their only option is to be dishonest or refuse to engage anyone that might question their views and only hang out this those as unquestioning as themselves.

They are stuck in a mental cul-de-sac.

 

Passing healthcare legislation that was the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation in 1989 (praised by Republicans at the time), which then was championed by Bob Dole (supported by Republicans at the time), then passed by Governor Romney in Massachusetts (praised by Republicans at the time) was the compromise. The fact the right tried to block Obama simply for the purpose of wanting a Democratic president to fail is not indicative of a fault of the left, who wanted a much more left leaving government run reform.

 

The Heritage Foundation reform was much different, but was still very flawed. But you are also talking about something 25 years ago, much has changed since then.

 

I think several Republicans came out with the idea of Tort Reform and open INS competition.

As for tax cuts if you give them to companies who will bring jobs back to America then yes that will help. For example, if you give Apple a cut to bring back a manufactuing plant back to America and keep unions out you will have many new jobs that means more $ into the tax system and more people off the welfare system.

 

Those numbers have no basis in anything - you just added numbers to misleadingly imply that you have some sort of facts or examples.

Arguing that we should race to the bottom to compete with chinese wages, as we have a free flow of products but not people, is absolutely asinine.

Further, a free flow of products is not a first step to an actually open border that should be argued for to get more later - it will never get us more, it will only hurt society immeasurably.

 

Actually, he did compromise....way too much. We should have had a single-payer system like the rest of the developed world and instead we got a load of shit that is more a hand-out to the insurance companies than anything else. And even though your Republican friends want to howl to the moon about it....they are perfectly fine with it and that is already being shown by them backing away from repealing the ACA long before they may even take the Senate. Instead, they are saying they may move to block parts of it. What they mean by that is they intend to block the parts that help the average person and allow the pro-business parts to stand. Republicans voted it in too but they have to keep the base happy and need issues to use divisively.

 

As for what appears to be a growing majority of voters today, we seem to accept as fact that elections provide us with the necessity of choosing between one of the two major party candidates, and rather than choosing the lesser of two evils more often than not the selection boils down to selecting the one which will reduce their individual responsibility of maintaining their existence.

This threads title seems to imply that Democrats have solutions as not only Republicans but any other political movement is constantly denigrated, while Democrats seldom are except in the sense that that are not moving Left far enough or quickly enough.

 

No they don't it is just a example. I am not saying we should race to the bottom because that is just stupid but do we need people making $25 an hr in a simple manufacturing plant with health care and pensions...no. Cut the wages some and drop pensions and you can compete.

 

No he did not compromise, he presented what he knew Dems would pass. There was too much opposition even from Dems for single payer system. He never had 1 Republican in on healthcare talks.

Obamacare was a straight party line vote. They tried to repeal it but now they know that they will only be able to repeal parts. And until someone can come up with a better system that is what they have to do.