Which single issue hands the midterms to the GOP?

[LeftofLeft]

And that's the thing.

The Republicans have the advantage of being the out of power party, gerrymandering and of course, voter suppression, which they will interpret as "love" by the voters.

When they get control of the house, they will do what they always do... promote policies popular with their base and no one else. It will probably create sympathy for Biden the way they created sympathy for Clinton and Obama.

Gerrymandering should be eliminated…. I’ve seen it abused by Republicans and Democrats alike. When Pelosi and the Democrats gained control of the House in 2007 and 2019, what policies did they pursue that were popular with their base and then those outside their base?

 

[Oldestyle]

1 tax reduction and 4 increases does NOT make him a tax reducer. No matter what kind of screwy math you using. Remember VP's campaign speech, "No new taxes?" Because of all the spending that went on during Reagan, they had to create a new tax. And raise others.
Well, actually they could've just cut spending. But republicans don't EVER just cut spending.
Reagan was THE first president to ever spend $1 Trillion in one administration.

Reagan was all talk an no show.

One MASSIVE tax cut and 4 small tax increases actually DO make him a tax reducer! Of course if you're one of those people that uses statistics to obscure the truth in things then 4 is greater than 1. It's amusing watching you on the left try to make Dutch Reagan out as a tax and spend leftist.

 

[YoursTruly]

One MASSIVE tax cut and 4 small tax increases actually DO make him a tax reducer! Of course if you're one of those people that uses statistics to obscure the truth in things then 4 is greater than 1. It's amusing watching you on the left try to make Dutch Reagan out as a tax and spend leftist.

Did you ever even look at the tax increases? Did you ever count up the debt ceiling increases? Reagan spent us even farther down the drain than Carter did.
And when the tax increases started,

See for yourself. Here.

Total Tax revenue for the following years:
1980 .......$517 Billion
1981........$599 Billion
1982........$618 Billion
1983........$601 Billion
And it keeps on rising throughout Reagans last term
1988.......$909 Billion

Those are not statistics. They're not estimates. They're actual dollar amounts, which proves Reagan didn't actually cut much of anything. He didn't pay down the debt one friggin dime. He spent like a drunken democrat.
Deficit under Reagan:

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

When adults get a decent track record of picking the right people to run the country, then we might be smart enough to decide on an age bracket that's mature enough.
Fact is, none of them sumbiches up there have a clue about running this country. Every god dayum law that's passed, goes through a committee, where the god dayum lobbyist decide whether to allow it or not.
Even that bitch Pelosi won't allow amendments to be introduced on the house floor without committee (lobbyist) approval first. Republican Ryan was the same way.

Trump was one of THE biggest liars I've ever seen, during the campaigns. Hillary was one of the cruelest people on the friggin planet. And they were our nominees? Biden talked about kids rubbing his leg hairs, and he became the president. WTF is wrong with the voters in this country?

Stop voting for the same damn people that's been destroying this country for 170 friggin years.
We suck as bad at voting as any 12 yr old would.

No because allowing children to vote would give us a single-party government forever. You don't think these kids are being indoctrinated as early as high school?

Our two party system is chosen by the people. We have third party candidates all the time, but they barely get 1% of the vote. You are not going to change that and neither am I. Yes, you can throw your vote away by using that option, but in the end you might as well just stay home instead of wasting your time.

The only possible way to change the system is to have in person voting with the mandate of taking a short but extremely simple test before being allowed to vote. That would assure us that only informed voters vote and not the Obama Money people choosing our leaders. How did Biden win? That's how. Mail-in voting drew in more of those people and they voted on personality instead of accomplishments. Trump has so many accomplishments they are too long to list. Biden on the other hand spent nearly a half-decade in our federal government and accomplished nothing.

Lies? Can you name me the last presidential candidate or President that didn't lie? It's not lying that's killing us, it's what they lie about. Telling us we have the best economy of all time is much different because it hurts nobody over changing our entire healthcare system with lies that never came true.

 

[toobfreak]

We didn’t have a vaccine then. This was also world wide.

If it was worldwide, then how was Trump solely responsible? And if we have a vaccine now, then why are we still restricted in all the same ways and more people getting Covid now than ever?

 

[monkrules]

Getting a GOP majority is fine and dandy. Except for the fact that the GOP rarely does anything except blame their failures on the democrats.
Oh sure, they do a few minor things, like allow the Keystone pipeline to go through. But for the past what, 4 GOP majorities, they've not touched the budget deficit. They've done nothing to reign in the fed. They've done nothing to balance the USD value.
I get why republicans want the GOP to be in the majority.
1. Because they're party loyalist.
2. The democrats suck also.

But replacing one party that sucks a lot, with a party that sucks just a little less, is a waste of friggin time.
Obviously, there's a ton of reasons to replace the democrats. I agree with almost everything on that long list. And could probably add a few.
But the last 4 Republican presidents sucked to high heaven. And when they had their GOP majorities, They didn't any important accomplished.

I get it though, there is no easy solution. The mountain of BS the R & D's have created would take a decade to wash off this country. Especially when it comes to the elections. The R's rig their primaries, the D's rig their primaries, so that the majority of people just settle with who ever the leadership of their party wants..

Honestly it's sickening to watch the GOP throw actual conservatives under the bus every 4 years. And the democrats throw people like Tulsi Gabbard under their bus.

Fact: Regardless of who a party loyalist supports during the primaries, he/she will still vote for their party's nominee. Even if they despise that nominee. That's just stupid.

I wish the midterm election were to be held tomorrow. The single biggest thing I want is to see Santa Biden's insane spending spree stopped.

He's spending money like a fucking maniac. And many of his giveaways will end up becoming permanent.

Sending a monthly check of several hundred dollars for every child, for instance, will only encourage people who cannot afford to support their own children to go ahead and have more kids they can't feed. No one should EXPECT his neighbors to feed and support his family.

People have to be made to support themselves, not become permanent government dependents. There are plenty of good reasons to hate Biden and the democrats.

 

[Oldestyle]

Did you ever even look at the tax increases? Did you ever count up the debt ceiling increases? Reagan spent us even farther down the drain than Carter did.
And when the tax increases started,

See for yourself. Here.

Total Tax revenue for the following years:
1980 .......$517 Billion
1981........$599 Billion
1982........$618 Billion
1983........$601 Billion
And it keeps on rising throughout Reagans last term
1988.......$909 Billion

Those are not statistics. They're not estimates. They're actual dollar amounts, which proves Reagan didn't actually cut much of anything. He didn't pay down the debt one friggin dime. He spent like a drunken democrat.
Deficit under Reagan:
View attachment 581265

Reagan increased tax revenues by cutting taxes actually. Look it up.
As for the increased spending? Spending is controlled by Congress. Congress was controlled by Tip O'Neil.

 

[MinTrut]

It’s not COVID - the issue the Dems used to win last time.

It‘s inflation - both it’s actual impact on working and middle class people as well as the WH’s sometimes cavalier altitude toward it. (“Big deal. So your turkey will cost an extra $1.”)

Everyone agree with me that the issue is inflation?

No - it's everything, especially the fact that Democrats have been behaving like deranged fascists since 2016.

 

[JoeB131]

I think we've all seen the video of white liberal college students and their idea on blacks. Many of them said that voter id laws were racist because blacks don't have access to the DMV or the internet. And when the interviewer went to black neighborhoods, turns out the white liberal college students didn't know what TF they were talking about.

You do realize that going to the DMV is a pain in the ass and not everyone can go there every time they move.

I moved back in November, I am STILL waiting for my updated driver's license.

 

[JoeB131]

Sorry, but 16-year-olds are children and do not have the life experience to appreciate the consequences of their vote. They are only a couple of years removed from middle school, where their vote for student body president was for the one who promised them free ice cream at lunch, or a policy to reduce homework requirements, etc., not realizing that just voting for what sounds good comes at a price.

Here's the thing, people made the same kinds of arguments before the 26th Amendment was passed. We were drafting thousands of 18 year olds to go fight in a war in Vietnam and didn't allow them to vote.

Frankly, if we limited the vote to only those who can make sound decisions, we wouldn't have a Republican Party.

 

[JoeB131]

Gerrymandering should be eliminated…. I’ve seen it abused by Republicans and Democrats alike. When Pelosi and the Democrats gained control of the House in 2007 and 2019, what policies did they pursue that were popular with their base and then those outside their base?

I think you have this mixed up... If you take a poll on nearly any major issue, the Democrat position is usually the popular one. Most people want easy access to health care. Most people want gun control. Most Americans want entitlements, at least for themselves. It's why we spend give times as much on Middle Class Entitlements than we do on poverty relief.

 

[JoeB131]

The only possible way to change the system is to have in person voting with the mandate of taking a short but extremely simple test before being allowed to vote. That would assure us that only informed voters vote and not the Obama Money people choosing our leaders. How did Biden win? That's how. Mail-in voting drew in more of those people and they voted on personality instead of accomplishments. Trump has so many accomplishments they are too long to list. Biden on the other hand spent nearly a half-decade in our federal government and accomplished nothing.

For those playing along at home, Ray collects disability from the government even though he is perfectly capable of getting on a computer and working around the house. But the Obama-phone lady is bad because she takes advantage of a program started by Reagan to get access to a phone.

Again, they did that... they were called literacy tests and they were used to disenfranchise blacks. The real problem isn't that people aren't informed. The real problem is that most Americans really have no business voting Republican. You don't make enough money to vote Republican, and neither do I. they look at your disability payment (which only exists because Democrats fought for it) and think, "Some Poor rich person is being denied a Dressage Horse because we are paying for these malingerers."

Biden did just as well in states that allowed mail in voting as he did in states that didn't allow it. The problem wasn't that people liked Biden, it was that Trump fucked up everything so badly, he had to go.

In terms of raw percentages, Trump got the same percentage that he got in 2016, and Biden only did slightly better than Hillary because the people who voted third party last time didn't this time. (It helped that the Libertarian and Green parties ran non-entities this time to not get accused of giving us Trump).

Our two party system is chosen by the people. We have third party candidates all the time, but they barely get 1% of the vote. You are not going to change that and neither am I. Yes, you can throw your vote away by using that option, but in the end you might as well just stay home instead of wasting your time.

Except the people didn't choose the two-party system, it evolved as a result of the Electoral College. If you go back to the 19th century, there were a dozen or so third parties, but most of them never got much traction beyond one election because the EC makes it impossible for them to win the presidency.

No because allowing children to vote would give us a single-party government forever. You don't think these kids are being indoctrinated as early as high school?

You probably have a point there, just not the one you think. If the GOP didn't have racism and homophobia to run on, they wouldn't get any votes at all. These young kids don't grow up with that. It's not just the schools telling them these things are wrong, it's the culture at large. And while you won't openly say the N-word or the other F-word aloud, right wingers of your generation still think them.

Trump was the last desperate gasp of White Grievance Politics... future generations will look back and wonder what we were thinking.

Lies? Can you name me the last presidential candidate or President that didn't lie? It's not lying that's killing us, it's what they lie about. Telling us we have the best economy of all time is much different because it hurts nobody over changing our entire healthcare system with lies that never came true.

The changes in the Health Care system never happened because we didn't change it that much. The problems with ACA could have been solved with a Public Option and a Medicare Buy in for people over 55. Your side blocked those things.

Of course, millions DID benefit from ACA, but Ray doesn't want to talk about them.

 

[Cecilie1200]

I agree with you, but the response would be that if you’re old enough to fight for your country, you’re old enough to vote. Still, kids that age - either their first job out of high school or in freshman year in college - just go along with what is popular.

The reason Democrats want the age lowered to 16 is because even in high school, the liberal indoctrination is strong, and most kids would submit to peer pressure to vote Left.

I never said that 18-year-olds shouldn't vote. They're adults, with the ability to make their own decisions in life and the responsibility to live with the consequences. I would never suggest that someone shouldn't have their freedom to make decisions simply because I don't agree with the decisions they make. But there's a learning curve to maturity, just like everything else, and 18-year-olds are right at the beginning of that curve. Adults-in-training, if you will. 16-year-olds aren't on that spectrum yet.

 

[Cecilie1200]

But do we want kids deciding the fate of this country when usually there is so much at risk? As an adult politics has a much larger impact on your life than when you are a kid. It really barely or doesn't affect your life at all.

I don't particularly want anyone who doesn't have any skin in the game voting, now that you mention it.

 

[JoeB131]

I never said that 18-year-olds shouldn't vote. They're adults, with the ability to make their own decisions in life and the responsibility to live with the consequences. I would never suggest that someone shouldn't have their freedom to make decisions simply because I don't agree with the decisions they make. But there's a learning curve to maturity, just like everything else, and 18-year-olds are right at the beginning of that curve. Adults-in-training, if you will. 16-year-olds aren't on that spectrum yet.

Yet we let 16 year olds enter into contract and be held accountable for adult crimes.

I don't have a firm opinion on 16 year olds voting, given what an increasingly meaningless activity voting is. If you don't live in a swing district or a purple state, what's the point?

In 2020, I stood in line for an hour to vote early because I didn't want to stand in line on election day.

But I live in Illinois, which was so clearly going to go for Biden that neither side committed any resources to the state.
My Senate race was Dick Durbin running for his FIFTH term against a non-entity.
My Congressional Race was the Democrat being so popular the Republicans didn't even field a candidate. The Libertarian got 20% of the vote.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I never said that 18-year-olds shouldn't vote. They're adults, with the ability to make their own decisions in life and the responsibility to live with the consequences. I would never suggest that someone shouldn't have their freedom to make decisions simply because I don't agree with the decisions they make. But there's a learning curve to maturity, just like everything else, and 18-year-olds are right at the beginning of that curve. Adults-in-training, if you will. 16-year-olds aren't on that spectrum yet.

Most are not even driving yet. Outside of studies in school, kids could care less on what's happening in the political world.

 

[JoeB131]

Most are not even driving yet. Outside of studies in school, kids could care less on what's happening in the political world.

As opposed to adults, 40% of whom don't vote in national elections and 60% don't vote in midterms.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Yet we let 16 year olds enter into contract and be held accountable for adult crimes.

We don't "let" them do anything. They are simply held responsible for their criminal actions. None of those kids ever get the death penalty no matter how hideous the crime.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

As opposed to adults, 40% of whom don't vote in national elections and 60% don't vote in midterms.

So what does that have to do with it? As I stated earlier nobody politically ignorant should be voting in the first place. That's why I said if it were up to me, you'd have to pass a test first before being allowed to vote, and you'd have to vote in person.

 

[LeftofLeft]

I think you have this mixed up... If you take a poll on nearly any major issue, the Democrat position is usually the popular one. Most people want easy access to health care. Most people want gun control. Most Americans want entitlements, at least for themselves. It's why we spend give times as much on Middle Class Entitlements than we do on poverty relief.

Access to health care, gun control, and entitlements are already in place.