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2018 - Elections and Trends


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37 minutes ago, Chrispy said:

I Busted my ass to ensure very little reliance on anyone, especially the government. The smaller, the better. 

You rely plenty on the government. You probably wouldn't have been able to purchase your most valuable asset without the involvement of the federal government. Moreover, the government insures all of  your liquid assets, unless you keep money under your mattress.

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37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Fire protection.

Police protection.

Local road construction and maintenance.

Interstate highway construction and maintenance.

Airport operation, air traffic control, airline safety regulations.

Port construction, maintenance, and operations.

Public schools educating you and/or your fellow citizens (so that they are more likely to 1) contribute to the economy and 2) stay out of jail).

Courts to enforce your contracts and make you whole if someone injures you.

Criminal justice system ensuring that bad people who could harm you or your property are sent to prison.

Prisons.

Military to guard against foreign threats.

Treated, safe drinking water (see how we flip out when this fails -- Flint)

Sewage removal and treatment (seriously, sewage and water service are perhaps the greatest improvements to human health and increased life span in our entire history, and both are almost exclusively the product of government activity).

 

We could keep going.  But why, it won't matter to the stupid and narrowminded.  I am sitting at my kitchen table working.  Virtually everything around me has the  mark of government assistance/enabling  on it.  The wood and my table were shipped on the interstate highway system, helping to keep my costs low.  The varnish is not toxic -- thanks to both the tort system and safety regulations.  The light fixture traveled the same way, but it's foreign-made, so add a port in there.  The electricity is via a grid that was originally made possible by government subsidies and systems.  My computer is a Dell, and its supply chain used every element I mentioned -- land, sea, and air.  The network over which I am sending these thoughts was born in part due to government action.  My contracts with everyone involved in everything I have are enforceable via a public court system.  I am educated enough to type this because I was educated at a university that was at least partially publicly funded.  If the rain picks back up and I'm stranded by a flood, it's likely that government agents will help rescue me.  If after a month, we get no more rain, and the greenbelt next to my house goes up in flames, government firefighters, possibly including federal air assets, will work to put it out.  If this logic so enrages Chrispy that he shows up here and punches me in the face, the government police, courts, and prisons will ensure that he won't be free to do it again.  But then again, how could he even have gotten to my house without driving here on publicly built and maintained roads?  Using gas that was shipped via pipelines that were able to be built because the government gave them the right as common carriers to condemn private property on the planned route, of course.

 

The "GIT GUBMINT OUTTA MY LIFE!" cry is one of the stupidest battle calls in a nation that seems to be addicted to stupid battle calls these days.  How about this -- you get to keep ALL of your tax dollars. In return, you get to use/receive the benefit of ZERO public infrastructure, courts, education, protection, etc. etc.  No more produce from out of town.  No more cars shipped by boat or truck.  No more cops.  No more fire department.  No more water treatment.  No more sewer service.  Live on a fucking island, with no collective influence or control (that's called "government," by the way) over any of those things.  You'll be dead in a month, probably less.  The more I think about it, I INSIST that you take this deal.  I would hate for you to have to compromise your principles.  Also, I would hate for morons like you to live till election day.  Your principles are too important, right?  Live them.  It's what a man of integrity would do.

Cradle to grave, your path to constant invigilation is almost complete. You more government guys are always good for a hearty laugh, thank you. 

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42 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

You rely plenty on the government. You probably wouldn't have been able to purchase your most valuable asset without the involvement of the federal government. Moreover, the government insures all of  your liquid assets, unless you keep money under your mattress.

Of course, we all rely. Just some less than others thankfully. 

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Cradle to grave, your path to constant invigilation is almost complete. You more government guys are always good for a hearty laugh, thank you. 

Your lack of rebuttal to fact-based points is noted. I haven’t been negging you. Another deflection response like that, and I’ll start.

Give it another try.
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19 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Your lack of rebuttal to fact-based points is noted. I haven’t been negging you. Another deflection response like that, and I’ll start.

Give it another try.

Oh please, don’t neg me Brisket, my oh so fragile ego will most certainly wilt. The reality is that I enjoy many of those programs that you rattled off and my life is certainly better for having them, but many of them are luxuries. I would be fine with less. 

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Oh please, don’t neg me Brisket, my oh so fragile ego will most certainly wilt. The reality is that I enjoy many of those programs that you rattled off and my life is certainly better for having them, but many of them are luxuries. I would be fine with less. 

Really? Clean watsr and sewer and fire protection and having means of commerce providing you all food and goods that you did not grow/make on your own property - just for starters here - are “luxuries?”

Interedasting.

You’re not even fun to argue with. It’s like playing chess with someone with brain damage.

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9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Really? Clean watsr and sewer and fire protection and having means of commerce providing you all food and goods that you did not grow/make on your own property - just for starters here - are “luxuries?”

Interedasting.

You’re not even fun to argue with. It’s like playing chess with someone with brain damage.
 

I spend a good deal of time at my ranch outside of San Antonio. We hunt the local whitetail and grow our own vegetables, also have a reverse osmosis water system that draws from the creek. If I need to relocate out there permanently, so be it. 

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I spend a good deal of time at my ranch outside of San Antonio. We hunt the local whitetail and grow our own vegetables, also have a reverse osmosis water system that draws from the creek. If I need to relocate out there permanently, so be it. 

Good. Go there. Dump ALL the supplies that came through the stream of commerce. No nails or screws - sorry, your house just fell down. Maybe you used pegs? No insulation. No glass - those used materials that traveled on public roads and ports. No reverse osmosis system, either. But even if you had it, no electric power to run it, and hell, no coal or gas (delivered to plants by rail or pipe) to generate the power anyway. And no means for the generators to enforce the contracts for those commodities even if you could get them there.

Dump that ammo, too. Shipped from out of state. Using chemicals mined a thousand miles away.

And how you gonna get there? On what roads? In what car? Using what fuel? And if I decide to intercept you, kill you dead, and take your stuff, what’s to stop me?

You wanna keep doing this? You’re just embarrassing yourself.
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12 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Good. Go there. Dump ALL the supplies that came through the stream of commerce. No nails or screws - sorry, your house just fell down. Maybe you used pegs? No insulation. No glass - those used materials that traveled on public roads and ports. No reverse osmosis system, either. But even if you had it, no electric power to run it, and hell, no coal or gas (delivered to plants by rail or pipe) to generate the power anyway. And no means for the generators to enforce the contracts for those commodities even if you could get them there.

Dump that ammo, too. Shipped from out of state. Using chemicals mined a thousand miles away.

And how you gonna get there? On what roads? In what car? Using what fuel? And if I decide to intercept you, kill you dead, and take your stuff, what’s to stop me?

You wanna keep doing this? You’re just embarrassing yourself.

Why would I dump everything? I’m not arguing for zero government, just way less. I have a local guy that does a lot of my woodwork and artwork, I’m sure I could lean on him for other essential items to reduce my use of public roads. 

I usually fly in my Cessna, you’re welcome to attempt an intercept. 

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Why would I dump everything? I’m not arguing for zero government, just way less. I have a local guy that does a lot of my woodwork and artwork, I’m sure I could lean on him for other essential items to reduce my use of public roads. 
I usually fly in my Cessna, you’re welcome to attempt an intercept. 

Your Cessna. You mean the one built under US regs, and flown safely via FAA regs? Fueled with av gas shipped through pipelines? You’re the one who wants the utopia that is “less government,” but has no idea what the fuck that even looks like. No cessna for you, no government boy. Try again.

And your buddy. Where does he get his materials? Is he a logger, too? An iron and aluminum miner? Try those industries without any government or government commercial infrastructure.

Trumpkin “no gubmint!” types would most likely be the first to die without the safety, security, and reliability of commerce and daily life that functioning government provides.

I’ll buy your ticket to Somalia. It’s paradise.
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2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Your Cessna. You mean the one built under US regs, and flown safely via FAA regs? Fueled with av gas shipped through pipelines? You’re the one who wants the utopia that is “less government,” but has no idea what the fuck that even looks like. No cessna for you, no government boy. Try again.

And your buddy. Where does he get his materials? Is he a logger, too? An iron and aluminum miner? Try those industries without any government or government commercial infrastructure.

Trumpkin “no gubmint!” types would most likely be the first to die without the safety, security, and reliability of commerce and daily life that functioning government provides.

I’ll buy your ticket to Somalia. It’s paradise.

Less regulations, that sounds like a paradise. I spend most of my time mired in useless, red tape that serves no purpose other than to aggravate those who make money. 

I need to ask him where he gets his material, it has never crossed my mind until this moment. Does damn fine work, though. 

Oh, I would manage just fine, you don’t need to worry your little head about that Brisket. 

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Less regulations, that sounds like a paradise. I spend most of my time mired in useless, red tape that serves no purpose other than to aggravate those who make money. 
I need to ask him where he gets his material, it has never crossed my mind until this moment. Does damn fine work, though. 
Oh, I would manage just fine, you don’t need to worry your little head about that Brisket. 

Yep. A regular flint knapper you are, I’m sure of it.

Naaah, cluelessness like yours is typically fatal without the literally thousands of Gov’t safety nets keeping you alive.

No food. No medicine. No fuel. No chance. You’re toast.
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1 hour ago, Chrispy said:

I spend a good deal of time at my ranch outside of San Antonio. We hunt the local whitetail and grow our own vegetables, also have a reverse osmosis water system that draws from the creek. If I need to relocate out there permanently, so be it. 

Just remember, without the government, you don't own that land.

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1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

Just remember, without the government, you don't own that land.

Government prevents someone like Brisket from going to his land, shooting him in the head and declaring it Brisket’s land now. 

But government bad. 

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6 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Fire protection.

Police protection.

Local road construction and maintenance.

Interstate highway construction and maintenance.

Airport operation, air traffic control, airline safety regulations.

Port construction, maintenance, and operations.

Public schools educating you and/or your fellow citizens (so that they are more likely to 1) contribute to the economy and 2) stay out of jail).

Courts to enforce your contracts and make you whole if someone injures you.

Criminal justice system ensuring that bad people who could harm you or your property are sent to prison.

Prisons.

Military to guard against foreign threats.

Treated, safe drinking water (see how we flip out when this fails -- Flint)

Sewage removal and treatment (seriously, sewage and water service are perhaps the greatest improvements to human health and increased life span in our entire history, and both are almost exclusively the product of government activity).

Dude, you listed all the useless shit but gave no border wall or space force love.

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11 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Fire protection.

Police protection.

Local road construction and maintenance.

Interstate highway construction and maintenance.

Airport operation, air traffic control, airline safety regulations.

Port construction, maintenance, and operations.

Public schools educating you and/or your fellow citizens (so that they are more likely to 1) contribute to the economy and 2) stay out of jail).

Courts to enforce your contracts and make you whole if someone injures you.

Criminal justice system ensuring that bad people who could harm you or your property are sent to prison.

Prisons.

Military to guard against foreign threats.

Treated, safe drinking water (see how we flip out when this fails -- Flint)

Sewage removal and treatment (seriously, sewage and water service are perhaps the greatest improvements to human health and increased life span in our entire history, and both are almost exclusively the product of government activity).

 

We could keep going.  But why, it won't matter to the stupid and narrowminded.  I am sitting at my kitchen table working.  Virtually everything around me has the  mark of government assistance/enabling  on it.  The wood and my table were shipped on the interstate highway system, helping to keep my costs low.  The varnish is not toxic -- thanks to both the tort system and safety regulations.  The light fixture traveled the same way, but it's foreign-made, so add a port in there.  The electricity is via a grid that was originally made possible by government subsidies and systems.  My computer is a Dell, and its supply chain used every element I mentioned -- land, sea, and air.  The network over which I am sending these thoughts was born in part due to government action.  My contracts with everyone involved in everything I have are enforceable via a public court system.  I am educated enough to type this because I was educated at a university that was at least partially publicly funded.  If the rain picks back up and I'm stranded by a flood, it's likely that government agents will help rescue me.  If after a month, we get no more rain, and the greenbelt next to my house goes up in flames, government firefighters, possibly including federal air assets, will work to put it out.  If this logic so enrages Chrispy that he shows up here and punches me in the face, the government police, courts, and prisons will ensure that he won't be free to do it again.  But then again, how could he even have gotten to my house without driving here on publicly built and maintained roads?  Using gas that was shipped via pipelines that were able to be built because the government gave them the right as common carriers to condemn private property on the planned route, of course.

 

The "GIT GUBMINT OUTTA MY LIFE!" cry is one of the stupidest battle calls in a nation that seems to be addicted to stupid battle calls these days.  How about this -- you get to keep ALL of your tax dollars. In return, you get to use/receive the benefit of ZERO public infrastructure, courts, education, protection, etc. etc.  No more produce from out of town.  No more cars shipped by boat or truck.  No more cops.  No more fire department.  No more water treatment.  No more sewer service.  Live on a fucking island, with no collective influence or control (that's called "government," by the way) over any of those things.  You'll be dead in a month, probably less.  The more I think about it, I INSIST that you take this deal.  I would hate for you to have to compromise your principles.  Also, I would hate for morons like you to live till election day.  Your principles are too important, right?  Live them.  It's what a man of integrity would do.

You forgot to mention this internet thingy we all like to use. (Thanks, Al!)

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What a stupid dog pile this thread turned into.

The scale and scope of our federal government needs to be reeled in. The military needs to take a huge haircut, Medicare and SS need fundamental restructure, and we need to systematically assess every function of the federal government for ongoing necessity. But if we do those things your house will burn down, and there won't be any water to put it out, and when you try to sell the ashes nobody will be able to find the property deed records. So nevermind.  

 

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I agree there’s probably a lot of opportunity to reel in government spending.

What gets me is ‘I have access to everything I need and by gaw I worked hard to get there so if everyone followed my lead we wouldn’t need Medicare, food stamps, or any other government handout’.

That’s short sited and fails to take into account factors beyond your control...I’m very thankful to be born a middle class white guy who had the opportunity to get two college degrees and work for a large company. My starting position in life was such that I had a solid foundation to build on.

It feels like some people just see homeless people under 183 or poor people railing on the government for not supporting their six kids. Then they think ‘if only they’d do like I did and get a job, have land off the grid and stop being so lazy then my taxes would go down’.

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There are absolutely safety net needs. Whether those are best administered at the federal, state, or local level is maybe best approached as a case by case discussion.   My general bias would be towards local solutions, but acknowledge that certain things like mechanisms for health care financing for example benefit from scale.

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Part of the point here is the cognitive dissonance that an old white guy earns his but the poor black kid who gets SS benefits bc his dad died is lazy or some other shit like that. Just say no to socialism folks believe their Medicare, SS and government pensions are earned and they fail to see we all pay for their benefits - that’s a brand of socialism they despise.

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How about a nice juicy poll?

I need a fix. This shit I can find all over CR. 

Saw a Politico article about the GOP having "genuine concern" or somethingequivalent. 

Yeah you better have some real ginyouwine concerns. 

It is so slow and quiet for a moment Nate allowed himself to speculate on a what if Hillary had won. 

Ted tried dyed hair, silicon/silicone (is anyone really certain which one he meant), and tofu. DeSantis went to the racially charged meeting and...

What a dud of a weekend. 

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No polls, but CNN is talking about the money angle of Cruz/Beto.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-texas-senate/index.html

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That, in and of itself, would be noteworthy. But the competitiveness of Texas also means something very important and less obvious: There may be less Republican money to go around in other states if that cash has to be spent on saving Cruz.

Remember that when it comes to spending on the Senate majority, Newton's third law applies: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Let's say there is $2 billion-ish to be spent by candidates, party committees and super PACs on Senate races in 2018. (More than $4 billion was spent on House and Senate races in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.) Spending that pot of cash in one state means not spending it somewhere else. It's that simple.

Quote

Texas isn't North Dakota, however. While North Dakota has 0 of the 100 top media markets in the country, Texas has 6: Dallas (5th), Houston (8th), San Antonio (31st), Austin (39th), Waco (87th) and El Paso (92nd). Which means, in simple terms, a competitive Senate race in Texas is going to take tens of millions of dollars in spending for Republicans to move the needle for Cruz.

Think of it this way: In 2014, Cornyn was re-elected in a walk. He spent $14.7 million. Two years earlier, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp spent $5.5 million to win the North Dakota Senate seat with 50% -- one of the most competitive and close Senate races in the country that year. It's simply apples and oranges as it relates to what it takes to make a dent with voters in Texas versus North Dakota.

Which bring us to Cruz's current predicament. While he and O'Rourke had raised roughly the same amount as of June 30 ($23 million), Cruz had $9 million left in the bank as compared to $14 million for O'Rourke. So the incumbent was already $5 million in the hole in mid-summer. That difference will need to be made up by some combination of party committees and super PACs -- most especially the Senate Leadership Fund, which is closely aligned with the GOP's leadership in the chamber.

And make no mistake: The party committees -- especially the National Republican Senatorial Committee -- will spend heavily on Cruz. That committee is, at root, an incumbent-protection agency. Its first purpose is to help Republican incumbents get re-elected. And Cruz is one of the most high-profile incumbents -- of either party -- up this November.

The numbers there are worrisome for Republicans, too. As of the end of July, the NRSC had $22.75 million on hand as compared to $35 million for their Democratic counterpart. The Senate Leadership Fund ended the last filing period with $45 million in the bank, $20 million more than the largest Democratic Senate super PAC, but the latter already made $80 million in ad reservations in key states earlier this summer.

Add it all up and you get this: Texas becoming competitive is a major financial problem for Republicans who are trying to hang onto their Senate majority. If money -- and, per above, we are likely talking about spending north of $10 million -- has to be diverted to save Cruz, it means that same money has to be diverted from pickup opportunities. And that means the chances of Republicans capitalizing on those pickup opportunities shrinks -- perhaps marginally, perhaps in a more major way.

Cruz's inability to put O'Rourke away matters then not just in Texas but in West Virginia, Missouri and Indiana too.

 

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19 hours ago, Chrispy said:

I spend a good deal of time at my ranch outside of San Antonio. We hunt the local whitetail and grow our own vegetables, also have a reverse osmosis water system that draws from the creek. If I need to relocate out there permanently, so be it. 

Which would be overrun with squatters, most of them white, burning meth and shitting everywhere if it wasn't for the government.

 

Maybe you should just relocate to an island somewhere and sever all ties with the outside world.

Please?

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13 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Which would be overrun with squatters, most of them white, burning meth and shitting everywhere if it wasn't for the government.

 

Maybe you should just relocate to an island somewhere and sever all ties with the outside world.

Please?

Bandera is somewhat out of the way for most folks, homeless or otherwise. Maybe one day I’ll purchase an island, I’m not sure what the future holds. 

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GA-06: Democrat Lucy McBath is out with a poll from Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies that gives Republican Rep. Karen Handel a small 49-47 edge. Handel's team responded by labeling this "an internal PR effort," but she has not yet released her own numbers in response. This is the first survey of the general election survey we've seen for this suburban Atlanta seat, which hosted the most expensive House race in history during last year's special election. So far, no outside groups appear to have booked TV time.

huh. No outside dollars.

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18 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

We would all be better off if we just went back to subsistence agriculture like chrispy on his ranch. We can just live off the fatta the lan.

He grows his own vegetables at the ranch and kills deer for sustenance, at the ranch. Isn’t that what all good ranchers do? We should all emulate his noble example. 

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