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Pro-democracy
Defending the U.S. Constitution
Liberty and Justice For All

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

@jhkjghdjkhjg @Bubblebathgirl 😎

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

When you say "Marxists," maybe you mean "working class Americans advocating for change in their material conditions and compensation for their labor"? I doubt they would self identify as "Marxists", as that term is mostly used to describe an academic framework for analysis rather than a concrete political platform. But folks who know that their paychecks don't provide them with their basic needs? Yeah. Those folks are speaking up and amassing momentum.
I don't know that the Democratic party is "afraid" of those voices, though. I think the Democratic party is courting their support, since the majority of folks matching that description actually voted for Trump in the last election, and it isn't working out for them.
Instead of lower prices and higher wages, they are getting higher prices, and shrinking wages. Jobs are disappearing. They are losing access to health care and food assistance. Do you have a message for those folks, Mike? Or are you too afraid to even talk to them?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

The GOP is making no sincere effort to resolve anything. The "furious" Speaker sent the House on vacation to avoid having prioritization conversations. He wants the government to remain shut down. If he wanted it to reopen, he'd call his team back and start working on solutions instead of performing outrage and hand wringing.
He is irrelevant at this point. He has no power. He is just carrying water for an executive branch that is marching the country over a cliff. Rising inflation, rising grocery prices, rising housing costs, rising insurance costs, disappearing jobs, devastated global markets, and extra-judicial executions that are being condemned by the world.
Don't believe his lies -- believe what you see with your own eyes.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Shrug. The landscape has changed. Now the Democratic Party is aligned with a whole lot of other folks who believe in democracy and the U.S. constitution, and who object to a president deciding he can just kill people on fishing boats because someone whispers "narco-terrorist" in his ear. A whole lot of folks who don't agree that American cities are "training grounds" for military operations. A whole lot of folks who are invested in a stable economy without erratic policy shifts that damage market shares and discourage investors. The Democratic party is getting subsumed by "We the People".

Americans are resilient. We may not like each other, we may not always agree, but we know that where this Trump administration is heading is not a place we want to be. We'll adapt to form strategic coalitions to ensure our common concerns are addressed, and then happily go back to spitting at each other over policy at a later date. Unruly bunch. But an unruly bunch that isn't going to bow to anyone claiming king-like powers. Not in this country. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Actually, while Trump refuses to allow a prioritization conversation about health care and tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, the United States of America is murdering people on fishing boats without any kind of due process. This does not make America safer. It makes America guilty of war crimes.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Prices are up, inflation is rising, jobs are disappearing, tariffs are devastating American farmers, importing beef from Argentina is devastating American ranchers.

But yeah, let's focus on a party venue for Trump and his billionaire buddies. Because THAT is going to put food on the table and pay your rent.

Spoiler alert -- the people losing their health care are NEVER going to be invited to the $300M ballroom. And they aren't even getting cake.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

The purpose is to have a prioritization conversation.

Do we prioritize health care for America's working families over tax cuts for the ultra wealthy?

Do we prioritize American farmers and ranchers over giving away 20 or 40 BILLION dollars to Argentina?

Do we prioritize food assistance to those below the poverty line over Kristi Noem's private jets for photo ops?

Do we prioritize affordable housing and child care tax credits over a 300M party venue for Trump and his billionaire friends?

This is OUR government and OUR tax dollars. The administration is not letting a prioritization conversation happen. They aren't governing. "My way or no way" is not a democratic process, it is a dictate.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

If you asked the same question 12 times and got the same answer 12 times, you are not having a conversation. A conversation is where you respond to the information being provided.

But you aren't interested in a conversation. You are repeating trite talking points that have been addressed several iterations ago.

Your power is derived from the consent of the governed. We are not consenting to tax cuts for billionaires while millions of American families lose health care.

So you can ask the same question again, and we stay stuck. Or you can move the conversation forward by having a prioritization conversation.

I'm guessing you will choose to stay stuck, blame others, and continue to be callously indifferent to your constituents.

Prove me wrong.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Gunther seems to be clueless here. Our elected leaders are supposed to be having a priority conversation -- implying that there is something "criminal" about that conversation is a way of de-legitimizing the democratic process. There's money to be budgeted -- how does it get allocated?

Do we prioritize health care for America's working families over tax cuts for the ultra wealthy?

Do we prioritize American farmers and ranchers over giving away 20 or 40 BILLION dollars to Argentina?

Do we prioritize food assistance to those below the poverty line over Kristi Noem's private jets for photo ops?

Do we prioritize affordable housing and child care tax credits over a 300M party venue for Trump and his billionaire friends?

This is OUR government and OUR tax dollars. The administration is not letting a prioritization conversation happen. They aren't governing. "My way or no way" is not a democratic process, it is a dictate.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

@SecScottBessent Grok disagrees:

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Um. "Playing politics" is kind of what their job is?
Laura seems to be clueless here. Our elected leaders are supposed to be having a priority conversation. There's money to be budgeted -- how does it get allocated?

Do we prioritize health care for America's working families over tax cuts for the very very wealthy?

Do we prioritize American farmers and ranchers over giving away 20 or 40 BILLION dollars to Argentina?

Do we prioritize food assistance to those below the poverty line over Kristi Noem's private jets for photo ops?

Do we prioritize affordable housing and child care tax credits over a 300M party venue for Trump and his billionaire friends?

This is OUR government and OUR tax dollars. The administration is not letting a prioritization conversation happen. They aren't governing. "My way or no way" is not a democratic process, it is a dictate.

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

@EricLDaugh Yeah, Grok doesn't think so.
Grok, are grocery prices trending up or down in the US?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

And when the free market decides it is less expensive to insure people without pre-existing conditions? Diabetics can't get a policy? Kids with asthma? Childhood cancer survivors can't get insurance as adults? What if there is no profit in treating people with chronic illnesses or disabilities?
I am pro-business and free market. But health care is not a business. It is immoral to let someone die because you can't make a profit from providing their treatment. What's your solution to a free market that chooses who gets care and who doesn't?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Hmmm. What could be different....

The fact that these "observers" are armed? Dressed like soldiers? Wearing masks? Disregarding established civil rights? Arresting people based on ethnicity without any reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts? Attacking peaceful protesters?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

Calling peaceful protesters "antifa", implying that they are somehow criminal and radical, ignores the fact that the US has a long history of being anti-fascist (remember when Mussolini and Hitler were the bad guys?) and engaging in the constitutionally protected act of expressing dissent. Portland "allows" it because the U.S. Constitution protects it, and Portland is pro-democracy.

Are you?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

The American public is capable of assessing the behavior and rhetoric of public figures and sorting out the which people are encouraging bigotry, using demagoguery to manipulate voters, and implementing policies that privilege some skin tones over others.

Platner denounces white supremacy. When Trump was given a very public opportunity to do so, he declined.

Is MAGA going to "OWN IT"? Or just keep waving those confederate flags?

[[email protected] @carr_townsend]

@FoxNews Do we really think that a trade policy based on Trump's temper tantrums is going to improve our economy?