General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Donald Trump just convinced me to vote for Hillary if the nominee [View all]TheKentuckian
(25,035 posts)However, hope of less destructive course correction fades and negative long term trends build so always dangerous desperation sets in.
This is also not an indictment on incrementalism (though no tool is usable for all applications in all situations) but rather a refusal to conflate kick the can (or perhaps more accurately punting backwards) with plugging along and chipping away, eating the elephant one bite at a time.
The elephant is being grown not diminished, that I will not tolerate no matter how nicely the deck chairs are arranged on the Titanic or how marvelous the drapes are in a burning house.
I'm not of the phony, excuse making, rationalizing, making things worse school of "pragmatic".
I'm more the kind that is about bailing water, plugging the hole, making to port or at least warmer waters or escape before the ship sinks/put out the fire or get out.
I don't seem to be aware of any other options. The same reasons are in play every single time to let the bad band play on with ever worsening tunes, the opposition is always dumpster juice and there is always the court.
I say the path forward is to impress upon our "allies" that are the most vocal on both accurate counts that if they wish to have a snowball's chance in hell of avoiding the fruits of those factors that they aren't going to be allowed to select a different flavor of conservative and/or corrupt to carry the day.
I suspect they will come around quicker than whatever mystical evolutionary change some like to dangle out as a distant carrot if we just stay the course and redouble our efforts in doing the same failed shit we've been doing for decades.
I say within twenty years we are climbing out of the hole rather than still digging for fifty as we are now. Which one makes long term self governance, broad prosperity, and maybe even species viability more likely with more tools and resources available than the other?
It won't be pleasant to say the least though, don't get me wrong. They will try to do the wrong things first in a few permutations before getting desperate enough to actually give something a whirl that isn't already demonstrably failed and counter productive.