What Will the GOP Do if It Wins?
Wait, are the midterms really about entitlement cuts?

This week on The Reason Roundtable, Matt Welch, Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, and Fiona Harrigan, filling in for Katherine Mangu-Ward, discuss the heated rhetoric surrounding the upcoming midterm elections, theorize what a GOP-controlled House would entail, and answer a listener's question about how libertarians can avoid being labeled "jihadists."
0:48: Discourse over the midterms
19:54: The GOP's anti-immigration ads
32:15: Weekly Listener Question:
"Please see the following comment from British Conservative Party MP Robert Halfon: 'The government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country as kind of laboratory mice on which to carry out ultra, ultra free-market experiments,' he told Sky News. How can we prevent libertarians from being slandered as such? If, as the U.K. markets suggested, freer economic policy requires short-term suffering to achieve longer-term gains, do Americans have the stomach required to approach such policies?"
48:21: What have we been consuming?
Mentioned in this podcast:
"Republican House Majority Will Try to Melt Down Global Economy," by Jonathan Chait
"Republicans Plan Debt Crisis to Force Cuts to Medicare and Social Security," by Jonathan Chait
"McCarthy Suggests a G.O.P.-Led House Would Question Aid to Ukraine," by Catie Edmondson
"Rishi Sunak to become Britain's next prime minister," by Jill Lawless
"'If you focus on the deficit, then tax increases are on the table.'" by Peter Suderman
"Why is everyone picking on the Bush 'tax cuts' rather than the Bush 'spending increases'?" by Nick Gillespie
"The 19 Percent Solution," by Nick Gillespie and Veronique De Rugy
"Is Libertarianism a 'Stealth Plan' To Destroy America?" by Nick Gillespie
"Grover Norquist: The GOP Tax Bill Is Good Enough For Now (He's Planning to 'Whine Later')" by Nick Gillespie
"The Grover Norquist of Spending Cuts: Jonathan Bydlak and the Coalition to Reduce Spending," by Nick Gillespie
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
Today's sponsors:
- We all want to make sure our family is protected in a medical emergency. What many of us don't realize is that health insurance won't always cover the full amount of an emergency medical flight. Even with comprehensive coverage, you could get hit with high deductibles and co-pays. That's why an AirMedCare Network membership is so important. As a member, if an emergency arises, you won't see a bill for air medical transport when flown by an AMCN provider. Best of all, a membership covers your entire household for as little as $65 a year for seniors. AMCN providers are called upon to transport more than 100,000 patients a year. This is coverage no family should be without. Now, as a listener of our show, you'll get up to a $75 Visa or Amazon gift card with a new membership. Simply visit AirMedCare Network.com/reason and use offer code REASON.
Audio production by Ian Keyser
Assistant production by Adam Czarnecki
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Hopefully issue Blanket pardons for assaulting Marxists.
Hey the antifa blm trash have defacto pardons in blue states and cities, let's level the playing field
Pretty sure they're actually going to continue bending over and letting the establishment left and the gentry class resize their poop chutes.
You damn well know what the GOP will do.
More ABORTION and Trannie laws.
They're going to ban babykilling and child castration? I sure fucking hope so, but I doubt it...
Oh, wait, you think that's a bad thing.
And why should he care anyway? Child pornography is already illegal but that doesn’t stop him.
Don’t kill my unicorn!! /s
[WE] mob Gov-GUNS Rule! /s
Well, he does fuck children. He might also be torturing them too, but I’m not certain of that. He certainly advocates for their mutilation and rape though. Assuming they make it through gestation.
I am making 80 US dollars per hr. to complete some internet services from home. I did not ever think it would even be achievable , however my confidant mate got $13k only in four weeks, easily doing this best assignment and also she convinced me to avail.
For more detail visit this article… http://www.Profit97.com
Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home. I have joined this action 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it what I do.....
For more detail visit the given link.......>>> Topcitypay
Ultra, ULTRA (!!!!) free market experiments—In Britain!! O-M-G!! ANARCHY In THE UK!!!
Fiona, was this one you? Whichever staff writer it was, I offer sincere thanks—it’s Monday and I need the laugh!
Change the curtains in the leadership's offices? Oh! and Keep the January 6th committee running for several more seasons.
It’s the grumpy ole GOP! Keep all the damn kids off the Mall lawn!!
Don’t tell me you approve of “parading.”
*Shudder*
Anyone thinking of parading best steer clear of my street! (Let’s just say, my SUV has a mind of its own.)
I stand with that guy on hating parades.
Wanna float that one by me again?
No.
I really learned to hate them when I was in the Army and got to march in them on holidays like Independence Day. Instead of getting the day off.
Something terrible I'm sure. I mean, what with them kicking the adults back OUT of the room, what do you expect they'll do?
Lisa Murkowski was kicked out of the Alaska Republican Party. McConnell dumped 9 million into the race to smear the Republican candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, in favor of no party Murkowski. Murkowski also declared she will vote for the Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) over Sarah Palin(R). Peltola also endorsed Murkowski who also pledged to continue working with democrats. So it will be a two year shit show indeed. One thing they will not do, impeach Biden.
Unless the Democrats want to vote to remove him from office, what is the point of impeaching Biden? And Murkowsky is behind in Alaska and a very good bet to lose. I doubt Tshibaka will exactly be very down with McConnell's leadership.
McCarthy made some announcement of not impeaching Biden for this basic reason, he wants to help corral the impeachment from becoming purely an act of showmanship.
I swear I read this, but eh, I can't find it so fuck me. If he did say it though, good for him. I do think we should impeach and remove Biden, but I doubt it would happen and more showmanship is not needed from Washington.
Even if your plan is to do it no matter what, you don't say that before the election. You wait and say how you don't have any intention of doing it. That way when you do, you can claim that it is for good reason and not because you planned to do it all along.
I read the article you are talking about. McCarthy is saying exactly the right thing.
wrong. more showmanship, less governing.
If Republicans get both houses there is a possibility that they could impeach Garland with very little political cost. It would be a lot of fun to see lame duck Biden getting his ass handed to him.
They need to impeach Garland. Let Biden dotter around and embarrass the Democrats. They don't want him out of office even if they could do it. Go after Garland. Make the Democrats in the Senate vote for declaring parents who show up at school board meetings terrorists.
"They need to impeach Garland."
Yup, forget Biden, Garland is the metastasizing cyst.
Not with ranked choice voting. Palin won the plurality of votes in the special election but Peltota won due to ranked choice voting and the voters for the other Republican and Libertarian candidates choosing her as their second or third choice (it required three rounds, Palin won the first two). Murkowski appears to be losing the first two ballots but winning as voters third choice according to the polls. We'll see if after what happened in August and how many voters were upset by the outcome if this will happen again (pollings been really slim and very few (one that I can find) actually addresses ranked choice voting like Alaska implemented). Also, surprise, surprise, Alaska, a fairly libertarian leaning red state, ranked choice voting didn't help out the libertarian candidate, his vote share in the special election was about the same as other LP candidates, but it did insure that someone who wasn't wanted by a vast majority of voters ended up winning.
"Palin won the plurality of votes in the special election"
This is not true, even though it keeps getting repeated.
https://fairvote.org/alaska_rcv_analysis/
During round one, Peltola won the plurality, 40% - 31% - 28%. When Begich was eliminated, enough of that 28% had Peltola as their second choice that it put her over the top.
So Republicans won the majority and the Democrat won what is the historic average but a number of Begich voters didn't choose a second choice (29%) and those who did chose Palin overwhelmingly but because a small minority crossed party lines, the candidate from the party that got the least number of votes won. Still not an overwhelming endorsement for ranked choice voting (especially as 15% didn't understand the process according to your link (100-85) which would be pretty close to the 29% who didn't list a second choice). And the polling I've seen, from the one source that's done polling based on rank choice currently shows the same thing happening, with the combined GOP leading through the first two rounds but losing the third. We'll see if it turns out that way, since that poll was in September, but it still isn't a major endorsement for ranked choice.
"the candidate from the party that got the least number of votes won."
In the first round, sure. But in the second round, the candidate from the party that got the MOST votes won.
Again she got second most(by a lot) second choice votes and a sizeable minority didn't pick a second choice. If Palin had gotten 50% of those like she did of those that did, Palin would have won. We don't know how many of that 29% who didn't choose, did so on purpose or because they didn't understand the ballot and also we don't know how many of that 29% that didn't give a second choice would have chose Palin if they realized by not picking a second choice they were in fact electing the Democrat.
As a result of all the things I've pointed out (top four primary, large minority who didn't understand how it works, and the large percentage of the ones who didn't choose a second choice) I don't see that rank choice actually made things worse, especially as in the first round the Democrat got almost exactly what the generic polls predicted, while the two Republicans outperformed combined the genetic polls.
And she didn't get a majority because of the large percentage that didn't pick a second choice. The Republicans got the majority, she got her base and then peeled off enough Republicans but less than a third and 20% not picking a second choice, but it's obvious they didn't want her. She benefitted from having two Republicans who spent the whole time attacking each other. That hardly seems like the majority wanted her. It seems like typical gamesmanship. Insure you don't have a competitor from your party, and that the other party has two, then let them destroy each other enough that you can win a small percentage of their voters plus your base, and viola, you win even if the majority of voters rejected you in both rounds.
Yes, after throwing thousands of votes away, she won. Great job, RCV!
And my problem with the outcome (and yes I was mistaken on the facts) is that the top four primary (to get listed for ranked choice on the general) basically insures two Republicans and on Democrat on the ticket, and as Democrats average 40-45%, it means all they need to do is let the Republicans destroy each other enough to pick up 20% or so of second choice. So, it seems barely different than California's and Washington's top two.
I'd also point out the article calls 40% strong support, but that's around average and what the generic polls said, so her support was not strong, but just average base support.
And the one poll I can find has Tshabika winning the plurality through the first two rounds, with Murkowski in second place, and Murkowski winning in the third round after the Democrat is eliminated.
Democrats will never do anything correct or decent. So even in a best case scenario there will not be enough votes in the senate to convict Biden. I think congressional democrats would even roll the dice on nuclear Armageddon rather than get rid of Biden. They’re pure evil.
My guess is kill everyone in a conflagration of flame. If I'm wrong, please call me on this by sending a complaint to:
1122 Boogie Woogie Ave,
Reasonville, North Dakota
Thanks, we’ve organized a parade route going right past that address!
Oh, man, are you going to see hearings being held! Reports being written! Recommendations being made! Analyses being cranked out! The GOP is going to be so busy you won't believe it! Well, maybe you'll believe it.
The last Republican congress that took over with a Democratic President shoved sequestration down Obama's throat. Unless they get a 2/3rds majority in the Senate, there isn't much they can do besides shut down the government and refuse to spend money.
That's enough for me.
Not for me, because Biden will take credit for the debt reduction, the media will play along and both will blame Republicans for the government shutdown, just like they did with Obama, and viola, second Biden term just like Obama.
Also, when the recession gets bad enough next year for the media to acknowledge it, they'll blame the Government shutdown for the recession. Helping Biden, just like Obama.
Sorry, I've seen this show before. Yeah, we'll get a minor deficit reduction but the next twenty years the media will say it was Biden's doing, but the recession was because of evil Republicans. Just like how they do with Clinton and Obama.
I'm pretty sure that's why McConnell put in a real effort to lose the Senate. He just couldn't lose hard enough to compensate for the Democrats sucking so visibly.
How about nothing? That sounds a hell of a lot better than what I know the Democrats will do should they somehow retain control of Congress.
My guess is they will investigate and issue a bunch of subpoenas that democrats will ignore, and Biden's DOJ will refuse to enforce because laws only apply to Republicans.
Nothing is the best case.
If only we could let the Democrats stay in charge. They have done such a bang-up job over the last two years. Such a shame they can't finish what they started.
They think they have done the best job ever.
As in the Book of Job? Yeah, they’re getting us there…
A GOP Congressional majority would be disastrous for the billionaire-funded #Resistance of which Reason.com is a key player. Here's the nightmare we'd face if Democrats lose control:
1. The probability of indefinite proxy war with Russia would drop from 100% to an unacceptably low 98% or 97%.
2. Republicans would hold hearings asking why Biden refuses to enforce a national border.
I'm literally shaking at the idea of living under such appalling conditions. Everyone needs to vote Democrat so the second half of Biden's first term is as wildly successful as the first half has been.
#VoteBlueForNeoconForeignPolicy
Plus, instead of having to make do with old black and white photos, it will be cool to see what a nuclear explosion looks like on a 4k color tv.
The best answer is develop a program to remove racists from schools and employment.
OR do the math and realize that race is a nothing
"Biological races do not exist―and never have. This view is shared by all scientists who study variation in human populations. Yet racial prejudice and intolerance based on the myth of race remain deeply ingrained in Western society. In his powerful examination of a persistent, false, and poisonous idea, Robert Sussman explores how race emerged as a social construct from early biblical justifications to the pseudoscientific studies of today."
Same thing they always do. Abandon the small government principles they claim to have, and run amok like the other half of the uniparty does.
Correct!
In their mild defense: They usually hew closer to fiscal sanity when they control Congress against a Dem president, ie: mid 90’s and early 10’s.
*/ Looks at early 10s budget...
Are you sure about that? I mean, they talked a good talk...but...
Didn’t sequestration get passed in 2013-2014?
ALWAYS vote for the divided government.
Uniparty gets you the ACA, or trillions in pork barrel programs to stimulate an inflationary economy, or... California.
Republicans are botards, but the DDD trifecta of house, senate, and executive, is horrific. I'd rather lock the warring parties in the room and let them fight than get things done.
Ding! Winner!
Sure, sure; Because Biden got elected with his De-Regulation committee... UR so full of sh*t.
Which has nothing to do with what I said.
Try not to take your stupid out in public. It's unbecoming.
Has everything to do with what you said.
You tried to pull a 'boaf sidez'...
"Same thing they always do. Abandon the small government principles they claim to have, and run amok like the other half of the uniparty does."
And how is that a both sides argument?
I can answer that. they will raise the debt ceiling yet again and spend more money.
They'll posture about the border but do nothing about it.
They'll continue to antagonize Russia via their ukr proxy.
They'll try to lower taxes by 2 or 3 percent and act like it's a huge difference between 33 and 31.
What are they supposed to do about the border only controlling Congress? Their biggest weapon is the power of the purse. But defunding CBP isn't exactly going to fix the border.
true but I'm just saying they'll make a lot of noise about the border because it's a valuable perpetual issue for them to excite the base.
The last thing the Dems or the GOP want to fix is the border. To fix the border means taking an issue off the table. Much better for it to stay on the table to use as a wedge.
yep. same for abortion.
Or any other number of culture war flashpoints.
You missed the biggest point of all, that it is the STATES that are hurting not the Feds. Are you a closet One World Government type
Biden hasn't seen a 'breakfast taco" except for the edible kind
No, they’ll fight for spending cuts/budget reduction, right up until they hold some real power (just 1 legislative branch isn’t enough). Then its just print money, baby!
Giant circle jerk?
If they started an only fans for the circle jerk, would anyone subscribe? Even of they made it free?
Not even if it had a negative fee, unless it was a year's pay.
I'd be willing to watch a single video if offered a $1000. I've developed a high tolerance to "holy shit what the fuck is that" over the years and years of using free services.
If they started an only fans for the circle jerk, would anyone subscribe?
Other than themselves? I doubt it.
Graham fighting McConnell for the soggy biscuit.
Would Nancy Mace be involved, or only men? Because I’d watch her masterbate.
This is a trick question since everyone knows the answer is 'squander any opportunities'.
Spend at least 3 trillion dollars.
Get us involved in at least 1 war.
I think you misunderstand. The Democrats are losing control of Congress not taking it. Either that or you are in some kind of a time warp posting from 2004.
Democrats would spend another 6 trillion and get us involved in at least 2 wars.
Big improvement, yes?
The Republicans ran things for four years from 2016 to 2020 and didn't get us into a single war. That is the first time that has happened since Carter.
Again, you must be confused and think it is 2004 or something.
True. The lack of war was good.
That was Trump. This is Biden. And the current war has bipartisan support. The anti war voices in the GOP are all of the MAGA, America First wing of the party. There are no anti war voices in the Democrat party.
She quit and is now endorsing Republicans just like Greenwald and several others former leftists. There may be a pattern but I can't put my finger on it.... ?
According to the Heritage Foundation, LBJ's legacy ( the Great Society, the war on poverty) cost us $22 trillion plus in current dollars. And this rises by $1 trillion each year
But the lazy and stupid Biden mis-estimated BBB by over a TRILLION dollars.
CBO Report Shows True Cost of Biden Administration's Build ...https://www.agweb.com › news › policy › politics › cb...
Dec 13, 2021 — CBO Report Shows True Cost of Biden Administration's Build Back Better Plan Closer to $5T.
Add international political perception to the list of many things the questioner doesn't understand.
How can we prevent libertarians from being slandered as such?
You don't. As an American libertarian, you exist as an extreme outlier (relative to global parties). Accept it and move on.
If, as the U.K. markets suggested, freer economic policy requires short-term suffering to achieve longer-term gains, do Americans have the stomach required to approach such policies?
Nope.
It is not that our policies fail, it is that they just require "short term suffering". Yeah, that is the ticket.
To make people now suffer based on some future common good is to logically deny common good because all that is needed to dow whatever government wants is to have a projected crisis requiring immediate curtailment of rights.
Hence it took real backbone for those Justices to shoot down Biden on Vaccines and lockdowns.
And in fact, the second answer is what the GOP winning 2022 (even if they achieved constitutional majority) would do.
Now they will be far more nationalist than before, but not more libertarian. But they aren't fully opposed to the liberty agenda, so my recommendation is to work with them.
Isn't nationalist just a pejorative way of saying "represents the interests of the people who vote for them"? Shouldn't every government be nationalist?
Nationalist, in the current context, tends to represent a certain anti-federalist belief. Basically that more implementation should take a federal level. It's that mixed with a certain social view that a national character and aspect is essential and it's a reasonable place of nations to legislate to continue said national character.
This is me spitballing based on my understanding of the term.
I wonder about that, since saying we shouldn't fund Ukraine's war and focus instead on rebuilding the munitions stockpile we've sent to Ukraine I saw today labeled as nationalism.
Also, I've seen even Reason label secure borders first (even if you support relaxed legal immigration second) as nationalism.
So, I'm going to say Briggs might have a point.
NO, a Constitution government is based on everyone accepting what is beyond Government control, the unalienable rights that even 99% cannot exercise against a 1% minority.
What exactly does it mean to work with them? What’s the bargaining or negotiating mechanism for libertarians? Aren’t they just going to follow their own agenda without any regard for what libertarians want?
A lot of what I see label as nationalism on the right is what used to be called patriotism, and also doing their job (governing America, using American tax dollars to benefit America and using foreign policy to benefit America). If that's nationalism, sign me up.
If nationalism is asking why we're sending troops and arms to a foreign country because of a war that doesn't really impact us, and while depleting our own munition supplies so much that we are now incapable of fighting a war if we're attacked, also, sign me up.
I've seen statements like "America is the best country" recently labeled as nationalism. But, like I said this morning, doing DNA genealogy recently has shown my German great grandma was a 1/4 Jewish and my Norwegian great Grandma was a 1/4 Saamish, and considering how those two groups were treated by their governments in the first half of the 20th century, I'm glad their parents immigrated to the US in the 19th century. So, I guess I'm a nationalist now.
And I'll note this makes me a whole 1/32nd Jewish and 1/32nd Saamish, but I won't use it to get any preference, start wearing a Yamaka or herding reindeer (although, I've always found reindeer farming interesting and once considered doing a PhD at UAF under the leading ruminant nutritionist expert on reindeer nutrition).
No, you aren't 1/32nd Jewish.
Take the case of an octaroon a person who is one-eighth black by descent.
That would mean that going back 3 generations 7 were pure -non-Black and one was pure Black ---- but that can't be the case for that would mean going back to Adam and Eve all 8 were pure lines.
Media: Fingers crossed!
The US government is considering a national security review of Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter acquisition, report says. If it happens, Biden could ultimately kill the deal.
That is called a CFIUS review. To be covered by CFIUS, you have to either be a company that makes something vital for the defense industry, a public utility or in possession of sensitive information of US citizens. If Twitter is covered by holding sensitive information, then pretty much every company that has a website and collects information from US citizens is covered. No court is going to buy that.
So, is Biden going to claim they are a public utility? I don't think the tech oligarchs would like that very much. That it is vital to the defense industry? Maybe. But doing that requires admitting that the whole circus is nothing but a front for US intelligence. I would sure like to hear an explanation for that if it is.
I don't think there is any way in hell they can stop that with CFIUS. They can delay it, but there is no way a court would uphold exercising CFIUS jurisdiction over that transaction without the Biden Administration admitting to some very embarassing things.
I don’t think there is any way in hell they can stop that with CFIUS. They can delay it...
Maybe that's the whole point? Delay it until well after mid-terms, and maybe keep it bogged down in red tap until at least after the 2024 election?
Or perhaps they just don't care if it's legal or not.
"Or perhaps they just don’t care if it’s legal or not."
The only realistic choice.
Biden was almost 600th in his undergrad class, bottom 10 in his law school, a stupid and lazy man.
Both.
The Biden administration doesn't give a shit if what they're doing is legal as they have admitted with vaccine mandates and student loan forgiveness. This is just more preaching to an ever shrinking choir.
You’re forgetting the new FUTW Amendment to the Constitution that was passed in 2016.
I said from the start that Twitter is far more valuable as information control than the piddly $44 billion Musk is throwing at it.
It is run by western intelligence agencies.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/
23% of Americans use Twitter. That doesn’t imply using it a lot or using it to follow politics or using it as a news source:
“Around one-in-five U.S. adults (23%) say they use Twitter. The share of Americans who use the platform has remained consistent over the past several years and is similar to the share who use Snapchat (25%) and WhatsApp (23%). But a much larger share of U.S. adults use YouTube (81%), Facebook (69%) and Instagram (40%).”
You’re thick as a brick.
We know 23% of Americans use twitter. I wonder what that 23% is made up of?
A cross section of America, with few people with far right views because they all decided to avoid Twitter.
Many were banned by the powers that be at Twitter and not given a reason.
Realistically, spend slightly less and probably try to cut off military aid to Ukraine
And of course, the major thing will happen is that the media will immediately declare a recession, since we are already technically in one, but they deny it because Democrats are in power. But once that changes, boom, recession.
In 2006 the Democrats took Congress, and the economy was booming. Yet, the 2008 crash was all George Bush's fault. This year the Republicans will take over with high inflation and a recession. But that will all be their fault and Biden will just be an innocent victim. The media is consistent and honest like that.
If your team is in power then it gets all the credit while the previous gets all the blame.
Likewise if the other team is in power then it gets all the blame while the previous gets all the credit.
Partisan rules.
It seems to be a little more lopsided, at least all of my adult life.
Yeah, I don’t recall the MSM ever being on the side of Republicans.
Both teams say that.
Not really. The Democrats are the only group in the country to have high trust in the media. 68% of Democrats, 31% of independents and 11% of Republicans trust media
https://news.gallup.com/poll/355526/americans-trust-media-dips-second-lowest-record.aspx
Name when, since 1988, the media ever gave the Republicans any credit for a good economy. Outside of FNC (and a few other obvious media sites like NRO and editorial page of the WSJ or NYP) and talk radio, I bet you won't find a single instance.
Fuck, for that sake, how much credit did the media give Reagan? Or Eisenhower?
Reagan? He's just reading a script.
Ike? He's just a doddering grandpa playing golf.
That's what the media thought of both.
Remember that Biden both said he had nothing he could do about inflation AND took credit several times for a downturn. Stupid and lazy man, why did anyone vote for him?
"In what universe could anything the British government done in the last... ever, be described as 'ultra free-market?' I don't think dipshit knows what those words mean."
That's how you should respond to such nonsense.
What is an ultra free-market experiment? Letting people buy and sell stuff without asking permission and obeying commands?
I think that’s how most reasonable people would define it, but I don’t think that’s what that MP is talking about. Like most politicians, I suspect he’s just spewing nonsense while hoping no one realizes what a moron he is.
Which is something the UK hasn't done since it was part of the EU.
And something it hasn't done now that its not part of the EU.
Lowering tax rates. Seriously. Also referred to as Thatcherism.
The problem in the UK is that conservatives have behaved like progressive leftists over the past dozen years: that has wrecked the economy and the country.
Truss’s proposed tax cuts didn’t even take effect before she was out.
"Wait, are the midterms really about entitlement cuts?" They are if people stop and think, as entitlement spending is over half of our budget but since it's non-discretionary it's not talked about much. Without reform and cuts it's becoming even more insolvent, and increasing our debt, which has helped contribute to our inflation (and yes Europe has inflation too, and also has massive mandatory entitlement spending contributing to large debts also). But let's pretend it isn't so we can have more throw grandma from the cliff ads.
And concurrently the strong dollar is probably going to double interest payments on the debt so the downward spiral is likely to accelerate. It won't be just grandma going over the cliff.
Probably nothing. The Republicans have been very spineless. I don’t see that changing. Go along to get along is their motto as the Democrats screw them repeatedly.
This is an epic thread about the cost in metal and carbon of the transition to "renewable" energy specifically copper because that is the authors area of expertise.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1584306032653717505.html
Samples:
The so-called energy “transition” (energiewende) is a copper monster. The resulting demand for copper far exceeds anything the world has ever seen before—even during the electrification heyday (1870 onward).
For instance, a 3-MW wind turbine contains up to 4.7 TONS of copper Onshore wind farms use approximately 7,766 lbs. (3.883 TONS) of copper per MW. Offshore wind farms use over 21k pounds per MW (10.5 tons). PER MW nameplate.
Solar power systems use abt 5.5 tons of copper per MW (heat exchangers of solar plus wiring and cabling that transmits the electricity in PV cells). 262 GW of new solar installations between 2018 and 2027 in North America alone = 1.9 billion lbs. of copper.
The GOP will continue to be the performative clowns they have been for years. Try to pass lots of bills that Biden will veto, stop any worthwhile bipartisan legislation that might give the Democrats credit, set up a committee to investigate investigative committees and then another committee to investigate that committee when it fails to produce results. and finally, subpoena Hillary Clinton for her role in the Teapot Dome scandal.
"...stop any worthwhile bipartisan legislation..."
See? Even lefty shits are positive regarding the posssibilities.
Have to say I didn’t see shrike pointing out the positive.
Stopping 'bi-partisan' legislation is always a positive.
I agree, the less the government accomplishes , the better off we are.
The less the government accomplishes should also keep the deficit down and taxes down. The government has no money to do anything, so has to tax or print money to do anything.
Quit giving me reasons to vote for them.
You sound frustrated shrike.
Given that you've captioned the article with a picture of Mitch McConnell wearing his best deer-in-the-headlights face, I think we have a pretty idea of what they'll do. Most likely, hide under their desks.
MacConnell will spend the next two years trying to make his Chinese in-laws even richer. He will sandbag any Trumpers that may get elected to the Senate and hunt through the Bush family to pick their next nominee.
Shut down Reason for Misinformation©.
I thought Reason is supposed to be an instrument of the Democratic Party.
Are you retarded?
They will impeach Joe Biden for his fraud and treason.
Dude, it's like you haven't even been watching news for the last 6 years.
"They will impeach Joe Biden for his fraud and treason."
I would doubt it and hope so; Biden's activities would not pass any serious investigation without charges.
My hope is they censure him for his cowardly stupid and traitorous evacuation of Afghanistan.
BOMBSHELL REPORT: Biden Admin Left 9K Americans in ...https://www.risch.senate.gov › public › index.cfm › bo...
Feb 3, 2022 — A new report released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee found that as many as 9,000 Americans were left in Afghanistan
This is why your Democrats are going to lose badly in the midterms. You don't even know what's going on.
You're focused on getting transgenders into teaching positions so they can talk to 9 year olds about anal sex and trying to close down police forces.
*Mainstream Democrats* don't even want that.
You're all still focused on Trump as if there's actually some cult of personality around him - while ignoring the one around Clinton/Obama/Biden. While you all have been focusing on expressing your disdain for Trump like he's Goldstein the conservative wing of the GOP has moved on and is about to cut the legs out of not only the DNC but the RINO's as well - Cheney was just an early victim of the red wave.
You had FOUR WHOLE YEARS for the Democrats to show what they could do for America - and boy-howdy did they show us.
But hey, at least there's no mean tweets.
I have to say the Democrats strategy for winning the midterms is frankly baffling. Biden just hosted a transgender TikTok influencer in the oval office. Because this will appeal to a wide swath of undecided voters? I know ENB and Scott will smile approvingly and blather on about populist culture wars but they are already hard core leftists. What ever happened to moving to the middle? The Democrats have doubled down on stupid on every front but we're supposed to fear a red wave? Never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up.
Biden got elected because the 'moderate Democrats' couldn't stand Sanders or the Progressives.
And then as soon as he took office his handlers zoooooooomed to the far left. They think no one will notice. They think that if anyone does, who are they going to vote for, a *REPUBLICAN*111!!
They're about to find out, I think, that the answer to that is 'Yes. A Republican'.
Biden just hosted a transgender TikTok influencer in the oval office.
Biden just thought he was talking to some young lady, he literally had no idea what was going on. This is the Zoomer interns that are running the country who organized this.
Don't know yet if he got a chance to sniff her/his/it's hair but that was probably his goal.
Yes, an adult man pretending to be a coming-of-age high school girl. The sickness is beyond belief and having that degenerate in the Whitehouse..puberty blockers keep one in a perpetual androgynous state, small with weak bones, thin...why would anyone...oh..pedos. Got it..
JC Biden's handlers are fing sick as f
At this point, with the President hosting men wearing womanface, I don't think I'd be shocked if Biden showed up in blackface.
NAMBLA is misunderstood according to Reason it seems. No Nick these folks (MAP now?) are sick as f and should be rejected and marginalized, and arrested if they act on their degeneracy. This isn't about a sexual preference by adults (straight, gay or bi), this is sick behavior targeting kids...why can't Reason get that.
“You’re all still focused on Trump as if there’s actually some cult of personality around him”
The dude is leading the polling for most popular GOP candidate in 2024. He’s holding rallies across the country. He is still relevant and does have a cult of personality around him.
Whoosh! (Again)
Well, there is a "cult of personality" around Trump in the sense that, unlike his opponents, his personality isn't that of an American hating, corrupt, senile psychopath and neo-Marxist.
Labor has been treating libertarians like laboratory mice ever since the wannabe Tony Blair had his Behavioral Scientists put eyelid clips on Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange .
Same shit they always do when in power.
- Investigate someone...Hunter Biden.
- Refuse to raise the debt ceiling, this time leading to a default
- Cut off aid to Ukraine
- Pass tax-cut bills
- Pass bills to cut Social Security and Medicare
- Pass bills to defund the IRS
- Pass a national abortion ban
- End the J6 investigation
WHat else? Oh, the authors of this article will find ways to justify every single one of those things and blame Biden or Obama.
Does Sevo wear a ball-gag when you plow his ass?
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. Turd is a TDS-addles lying pile of shit, a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Eat shit and die, asshole.
It would be great if they managed to do that. But they won't be able to with Brandon's handlers in the WH and progressive media.
However, the GOP will do whatever they can to obstruct Brandon's agenda, and hopefully they'll tie his administration in knots.
I do wish they would end the Fed, stop deficit spending, back the currency by gold to finally kill Keynesian astrology. Cut defense budget, make SS means tested after you pull out the money you put in with interest, get govt out of healthcare, end the pedo attack on our kids, shut down every govt agency created after 1960...hell 1932. And stop all foreign wars/interventions. They will do none of this.
Asshole is my asshole with lies matching turd.
Eat shit and die, slimy pile of lefty shit.
Hahahahahahaha, you’re even more delusional than Tony.
slower. boil.
“What Will the GOP Do if It Wins?”
Fuck things up, just like the democrats.
So 'both sides', asshole?
Hopefully, the GOP will do absolutely nothing. That's what the country needs: for the federal government to stop messing around.
We don't need entitlement reform. In fact, if the federal government did nothing, spending and the national debt would take care of themselves.
Realistically, doing nothing is all they can do, given that Brandon will veto any substantive legislation.
But any Democrat who is in it for a career will not act as you say.
Biden is just playing now. BUt a Rep or Senator that wants a career will bolt. Did you learn nothing from the disaster of Senator Joe Manchin? "but they promised !!! Aug 11, 2022 — Manchin Net Favorable Rating Drops 29 Points after Reconciliation Deal
What they should do: End the Fed, End all foreign interventions including the middle east and this obsession with the czar and eastern europe. Shut down every federal agency created after 1960. outlaw sexual mutilation of kids by the pedos, outlaw teacher unions..hell all federal govt unions, allow economic liberty and get govt out of all private economic transactions (revisit the private sphere parts of the CRA of 64 to allow for true liberty). Stop deficit spending and sell off federal land to pay off the debt. Have a gold backed currency. Control the borders. Legalize most drugs. And please cut off funding for NPR.
What they will do: cut the marginal rate a few %, continue massive deficits and crony capitalism. Keep the import/export bank. keep funding Ukraine and Israel (the czar thing again). and by all means keep funding NPR.
How are they going to do any of that with Biden as president?
Look around, many ordinary people hate Biden.
Even Commentary Magazine said
Biden’s Closing Message Is Incoherent
Well, if the Reagan administration is any indication, they will slightly delay the degeneration of the USA into a lefturd shithole.
-jcr
And if the Trump administration is a guide, they will actually reverse some of the most egregious examples of over-reach.
Recent administrations, including Obama, Trump, and Biden, show that Congress can’t do much.
John Boehner and Paul Ryan were both talented politicians and both failed at Speaker. The reason for this is they had an undisciplined party. If controlling the Democrats is like herding cats then the current Republican party is like herding ferrets. I don't think Kevin McCarthy had anything near the ability to do the job. A Speaker needs to be able to take names and kick ass. Look for chaos as the patients will be running the asylum.
If you view politics as purely a partisan game of power, that’sa correct analysis. Fortunately, some representatives still make decisions based on the issues, not brow beating and bribes.
The only thing that makes SS & Medicare popular is faith in some sort of late-term justice. A Gov-GUN toting robber showed up at one's first job STEALING over $1000 month and people want their money back!!!!
Ironically; they don't realize that ARMED-ROBBER has already spent their money (as this article points out). It doesn't matter how much they insist they get their money back; it's just not there anymore. And that doesn't even account for the Obumercare +robbery tacked on..
Instead of constantly trying to get 3rd party robbers to rob the money robbers have already robbed and spend isn't it about time to END the Nazi-Empire, restore the USA and have faith in Individual Liberty and Justice again?
Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home. I have joined this action 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it what I do.....
For more detail visit the given link.......>>> Topcitypay
Modern politics in a nutshell….
Two [WE] mobs playing a game of chess where every ‘cheat’ is legitimatized by popular vote and no-one cares about the ‘rules’ of the game.
Until the rules are given their proper recognition (i.e. The U.S. Constitution) chaos, injustice/cheating, anger and frustration will pursue. The USA was founded on a written Constitution for a reason.
The new nation of [WE] mob RULES!
Instead of the original nation of Individual Liberty and Justice for all rules.
Regardless of what Republicans do, the result will be better for America and Americans than it has been the past 2 years of Democrat Fascist rule.
YEs, that is the bottom line. IF someone cannot see that...
What will the GOP do if they win the House and Senate?
They will do what they always do when in charge. Nothing. They won't roll back anything the Dems did, although they will whine about what was done.
They will float plans to do things, and then not do them.
They will have all the evidence they need to impeach Biden and a host of other people, and then won't do it. But they will whine incessantly about Dem attempts to impeach Trump.
Geez, the Republicans are so predictable.
Your wrong conclusion comes from thinking that nobody votes Republican out of sheer disgust with the Administration, yet my personal experience in my town (which is having 1200 early voters a day !!) is that most people just hate Biden. It is that simple
They should cut Social Security. Specifically no more benefits for people who don't contribute. Why should someone get benefits that are often better than workers' benefits, just for being married for as little as 9 months to an employee? And why should multiple spouses and ex-spouses collect on one employee's record? People should earn their own benefit, or there should be a way for the employee to pay for the benefit for a spouse. I'm not talking about SSI, that's a different funding stream. We can grandfather the ones already receiving (no pun intended) but phase out these benefits going forward.
If the GOP wins it will be interpreted rightly as "we hate Biden" -- it won't be "we want more of tyrannically led lockstep ideology"
Parents will get more control of schools, Administrative State will be castrated, The state governors will recover their right to act in their own sphere, and we will value energy and present living over the Green BS championed by fools that warned us for a whole speech about the OMNIcron virus
Oneweb is engaged in the active deployment of constellations from small communication satellites, which form a common constellation around a large territorial region https://orbitaltoday.com/2022/10/02/oneweb-vs-starlink-comparison-top-internet-constellation-features/. The company Prakika in the coincanun.
My neighbors don't appear to be Republicans, they are anti-lazy-stupid-hateful President types. Biden tends to disgust people. Okay, he can't talk, but does he hear himself when he says he's visited 54 States? Does he? He comes off as a fool and people hate that the leader of the free world is a fool.