The Politics Thread

[marceline]

 

The irony is that the only people who have what it takes to fight back against that are Gen-Xers and nobody gives a damn what we think.

[Khan]

 

I'm forty years old (ugh).  Does that make me a Gen-X'er as well?

 

I've seen a meme (with the cast of "The Breakfast Club") floating around FB that expresses a similar sentiment: Gen-X'ers are caught between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials, and they're unable to stand either group.  It's pretty dead-on accurate, I think.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Khan

[marceline]

 

Yes, it does. Research tells me that Gen-X was born between the mid 60's to the early 80s.

[Khan]

 

Thanks, @marceline.  I wasn't sure.  (I "came of age" in the '90's, yet I was alive and cognizant of much of the '80's as well.)

 

But seriously.  It does feel sometimes like the media ignores our particular demographic when it comes to political issues.  They're either focused on the far-left, who tend to be in their early and mid-20's from my perspective; or they're focused on the Trumpers, who tend to be our parents and grandparents.  Ours seems to be the only segment of the population who still remembers when politicians from both sides of the aisle were supposed to compromise, not polarize.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Khan

[Wendy]

This thread is making me feel old. But I agree with the Gen X sentiment, being a Gen-X'er, myself. (Born in 1972.) I recall the big deal when Bill Clinton was elected in '92 (the first presidential election I voted in) and MTV, before it was trash, had town halls and other such things with him, and Gen-X'ers were credited in helping to get a "younger" president elected.

 

If only we had such power now. How far this country has fallen.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Wendy

[Vee]

I am not Gen X, and I was born in the early '80s. I was never classed as Gen X, certainly not in the early '90s when they were all coming into adulthood and I was a tween. According to the cutoff I'm a millennial.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I was born on the end spectrum of GenX but GenX I am and I most certainly agree with this statement!  Also, studies have been done that concluded that GenX gave the most (charitable works, volunteer) yet got the least back (predatory loans and school debt, predatory school loans, etc., dot-com bubble bursting just as careers were getting off the ground, etc.).

 

 

These companies forging ahead with an agreement with California (that has the strictest regulations in the country) definitely is a rejection of the forthcoming Trump/E.P.A. rules (that are, of course trying to undo the Obama-era rules).

 

The new agreement would be slightly less strict than the Obama era rules (about .5 mpg less strict) but still much stricter than the lax Trump E.P.A. proposal.

The automakers say that the CA agreement would offer certainty across the board, while the Trump rule proposal would be chaotic and piecemeal, only offering uncertainty from state to state.  It will be interesting to see whether other auto companies join onto the CA agreement or not. 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by DramatistDreamer

[DramatistDreamer]

Edited July 26, 2019 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

This brilliant Susan Collins ad is doing damage:

 

 

[Khan]

 

Or you could be in that buffer zone between the Gen-X'ers and the Millennials.  (According to wikipedia).  Which is where I think Pete Buttigieg is, even though he bills himself as the Millennial Candidate.

 

I always have such a hard time following these labels: Baby Boomers, Gen-X'ers, Gen-Y'ers, Millennials, etc.  Does being forty (which, as @marceline says, makes me a Gen-X'er) mean that the '80's had no effect on my upbringing whatsoever?  Because, I would argue that the '80's indeed had an effect -- on me, and on everyone else who lived through them.

 

About the only label that makes sense to me is "Baby Boomer," because people who are part of that group chronologically were conceived and/or born after a definite event (the end of WWII, as the soldiers were returning home and moving to the suburbs).

 

 

You know, someone who was far more creative than I could pitch to the networks a sitcom about what it means to be in our particular generation these days, as we're caught between our right- and far-right-leaning elders, and our far-left-leaning offspring.  It'd be somewhat like a cross between "All in the Family" (especially with the loud debates that could occur between grandparents and grandchildren) and "The Connors."

 

 

Believe it or not, I'm pro-capital punishment, so this news probably doesn't phase me as much as it should.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Khan

[Khan]

 

I also remember a TIME cover story from long ago about how more and more Gen-X'ers were choosing to live at home with their parents for these very same reasons.  In a lot of ways, we got screwed.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Khan

[JaneAusten]

 

[Khan]

I'm disappointed as well, Susan.

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[JaneAusten]

Where are people like Josh Barro to tell everyone how popular Susan Collins is and that she will never be defeated.  She actually has a genuinely good opponent if Gideon wins the primary and Collins runs. Gideon has a solid record and is well liked in Maine, a solid recruit by the democrats.

 

The joke here is how Collins was continually labeled as a moderate in the mold of  Margaret Chase Smith and Olympia Snowe. I agree that Smith and Snowe were good senators. Collins showed her true colors when she was courted by the Obama admin on the ACA and chose to vote against it anyway. She was never close to either of those ladies

[marceline]

 

It should because it inches us closer to the Final Solution. We are a country with children in concentration camps and ICE picking up legal citizens just because of their race. Anything that gives the Federal government more leeway to abuse or kill "criminals" will soon become a way of dealing with "undesirables."

 

Also, Alabama passed a law where a woman could get the death penalty for abortion so I'm sure there are already people gleefully dreaming of making that Federal law.

Edited July 26, 2019 by marceline