Dictator for a year and other thoughts

Dictator for a year and other thoughts

Liz Chaney, who openly and vehemently hates Trump, is now campaigning with Kamala Harris. I don’t know what this accomplishes. Cheney, who is thoroughly disliked by republicans, is not going to convince other republicans to vote for Harris because a vote for Harris is a vote for four more years of Biden’s disastrous policies. Of course, most democrats think that those policies were wonderful and not a disaster. So what if we had record inflation, high energy bills, foreign failures, record low enlistments in the military. That’s a small price to pay for increased gender awareness, equity and the Green New Deal.

I encourage all the so-called republicans who will vote for Harris to leave the party and become democrats. 

I am not a Trump republican. Trump’s economics run counter to my beliefs and empirical findings. Yet as much as I dislike Trump, I dislike the leftist democrats even more. While it is true that If Trump were elected and his policies implemented, that the economy would likely go downward, a Harris election would mean that and more. The democrats would move to eliminate the electoral college, to pack the Supreme Court, to take control of elections from the states and to threaten the foundations of the country.

Again I think that the democrats should split into two parties: the leftists versus the moderates. Sometimes I wonder if there are any moderate democrats left. But then I have several close friends who are old time democrats like JFK, Bill Proxmire and Scoop Jackson. I also think that the republicans should split as well. Trump by picking JD Vance has cemented in that wing of the republican party – call it the isolationist wing. There are others, like me, who are free trade (no subsidies or tariffs), laissez faire, government with a small g. I’ll never be a Trump republican and will only vote for that ilk if and only if the democrats keep nominating socialists.

In a conversation I had with a prominent economist who has had nice things to say about both Trump and Harris, he contended that Trump was using the threat of tariffs as a bargaining tool. Personally, I don’t believe that but this economist actually talks to Trump. He pointed out that at a conference of G-7 countries, Trump offered to remove all tariffs if the others did the same. He had no takers.

China is a mess. Its real estate market has collapsed. There are 90 million unoccupied apartment units in the country. 90 million! Its economy is slowing. Their response is to add more stimulus to the economy even though government spending is what has caused the mess in the first place. Xi’s policies are making things worse. He is a died in the wool Marxist (or is it Maoist?) and hates capitalism. He is committed to his mercantilist ways in subsidizing exports and discouraging imports while limiting capitalistic ventures. With its population collapsing and the economy slowing, China is in serious trouble. Don’t forget that it is still a third world country with a GDP per capital less than Mexico’s.

That FEMA doesn’t have enough funds for hurricane season while paying millions to care for illegals is scandalous. Not only should Mayokas be impeached (again) the Senate should convict him. If something similar would have happened under Trump, he would be fired. Has Biden fired anyone?

Speaking of the Senate, all those democrats who want to get rid of the Electoral College should also want to reconstruct the House of Representatives and get rid of the Senate. Recall that the Electoral College’s membership is determined by adding a state’s representatives with its senators. Therefore, if the Electoral College is a threat to democracy then so are the House and the Senate.

One of my progressive socialist friends who hates Trump to the point of irrationality and wishing him dead insists that despite his denials Trump is in favor of everything in Project 2025. She says that Trump is lying and wants to abolish NOAA. She says that he actually would stop forecasting hurricanes and their tracking of storms. If she read that section of Project 2025 she would see that the writer does not want to abolish the hurricane center but does favor getting rid of those parts of NOAA that are shills for climate change. I asked her if Harris was lying when she claims her positions have changed on the Wall and fracking. Then is Harris contradicting herself when she says that she can’t think of a thing that she would do differently than what Biden has done? She said that it doesn’t matter so long as she gets elected.

I asked three of my progressive friends that if they could, how would they change the country. I told them I would not critique their answers. One had responded that she would impose a single payer health system and put the pharmaceuticals under government control but she still favored private ownership of private property. One said she had to give it some thought. The other has not responded. But I am genuinely curious. I know that if I were dictator for a year what I would do. What would you do?