JD Vance Catch-all | “we have to destroy the universities in this country”

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This is not at all to excuse the press, who I agree has just capitulated on this without a fight, but I think this whole issue has been profoundly impacted by SCOTUS's lurch to the right. There's just no possible chance this SCOTUS would come anywhere close to finding the obvious tax-law violations are actionable under the First Amendment.
I’d still make them put ink to paper and sign their names to it.
 
Even if the US survives the Trump era as an economic/military superpower and a thriving model of democracy in the short term, there will be lingering damage to our norms for integrity and rule of law for decades. It’s likely this period is the beginning of our decline.
America’s decline started long before Trump.
 
America’s decline started long before Trump.
Not quite sure what this decline is. Would you explain? Yes, there are remnants of old hatreds that threaten what we have achieved but, in fact, we're healthier, better fed, better off financially, more peaceful at home and abroad and generally better off by most metrics.

It's true that the Republican Party, who long touted themselves as the party of integrity, personal responsibility and patriotism has forsaken every one of those. At least, I can't think of a single leader in that party who encapsulates any of those virtues. They, like many of their supporters, put power and privilege over party.

That's neither America or democracy.
 
America’s decline started long before Trump.
This should definitely be a separate thread and I suggest we defer it until after the election, but I could not disagree more. Or, to be more precise, we at least have to be much more specific what is meant by "decline." We have some profound challenges, no doubt. But I can say with no hesitation I'd rather be an American right now than at any other time in the history of the country. And I'm a straight, white, college-educated male, so my relative privilege would have been significantly greater in prior eras.
 
Yeah don’t want to derail the thread. I’m talking about the decline of American global hegemony militarily and economically.

I think that started in the 1970s.
 
This is not at all to excuse the press, who I agree has just capitulated on this without a fight, but I think this whole issue has been profoundly impacted by SCOTUS's lurch to the right. There's just no possible chance this SCOTUS would come anywhere close to finding the obvious tax-law violations are actionable under the First Amendment.
I have seen a couple Catholic churches in Charlotte with big signs out front that say “Vote Pro-Life.” While they don’t directly endorse any particular candidate, they indirectly endorse certain candidates and seem to run afoul of 501(c)(3).
 
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I'm sure that has nothing to do with being complacent with our industrial technology while Germany and Japan are forced into rebuilding theirs with a much more efficient one . Nor does losing sole proprietorship of nuclear power, chasing ghosts in Iran, Indochina and countless other places for the former colonial powers and blundering around in South and Central America help in maintaining a somewhat fictional military hegemony.
 
I'm sure that has nothing to do with being complacent with our industrial technology while Germany and Japan are forced into rebuilding theirs with a much more efficient one . Nor does losing sole proprietorship of nuclear power, chasing ghosts in Iran, Indochina and countless other places for the former colonial powers and blundering around in South and Central America help in maintaining a somewhat fictional military hegemony.
100%. That’s what I’m saying. Those were choices made by America. We weren’t forced into free market dogma while Japan and Germany were doing industrial planning.
 
Oh. That, like so many other thing started when Truman and Eisenhower, finally recognized that if blacks could fight and die for the country, then the government needed to swing behind the Civil Rights movement. The Ivy Leaguers who ran the CIA still maintained a huge influence on foreign policy but hat's when everything stopped being all about the white power elite. That movement grew to include women and gays and, despite your earlier contention, does not represent a decline but a much needed refocus.

I would gladly continue this discussion but am quite willing to take it elsewhere.
 
100%. That’s what I’m saying. Those were choices made by America. We weren’t forced into free market dogma while Japan and Germany were doing industrial planning.
I really do want to discuss this, but my views on it will be impacted by what happens on 11/5, and it definitely doesn't have anything to do with this thread. So how about we all put a marker on our calendars to start a new thread on this topic around the middle of November. I think it would be a really interesting discussion.
 
If Trump wins, perhaps. But if Trump loses, I don’t see it. When is the last time, if ever, a VP candidate on a losing ticket has been a real threat politically?

In my lifetime, there was Dole, Mondale, Bentsen, Quayle, Lieberman, Edwards, Palin, Ryan, Kaine, and Pence. Of those, only two were able to go on to become their party’s nominee for President, but each time they were essentially sacrificial lambs, nominated to run when everyone knew that had no real chance. And Vance will have that Trump taint on him.
I did not know that Dole was Ford's running mate in '76. Learn something new every day.
 
Yeah don’t want to derail the thread. I’m talking about the decline of American global hegemony militarily and economically.

I think that started in the 1970s.
No offense but that’s about as ahistorical take as I’ve ever heard on this forum. Americas global “hegemony” such as it ever was peaked in the 90s with the end of the Cold War.
 
No offense but that’s about as ahistorical take as I’ve ever heard on this forum. Americas global “hegemony” such as it ever was peaked in the 90s with the end of the Cold War.
I’m not talking about when it ended formally or informally. I’m talking about when the decline began, which I think is up for debate. I think what’s in contention in the posts directed at me so far is disagreements about what the decline is. Would be more than happy to discuss my thoughts via DM or another thread.

I am a bit offended, because I have a history degree from UNC and don’t think my point is even in the top 10 of ahistorical points on this forum. Just venture over to the Israel-Palestine thread.
 
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Oh. That, like so many other thing started when Truman and Eisenhower, finally recognized that if blacks could fight and die for the country, then the government needed to swing behind the Civil Rights movement. The Ivy Leaguers who ran the CIA still maintained a huge influence on foreign policy but hat's when everything stopped being all about the white power elite. That movement grew to include women and gays and, despite your earlier contention, does not represent a decline but a much needed refocus.

I would gladly continue this discussion but am quite willing to take it elsewhere.
I think we’re in agreement, so I would be eager to take the discussion elsewhere as well.
 
I’m not talking about when it ended formally or informally. I’m talking about when the decline began, which I think is up for debate.
I’m talking about when it peaked, after which comes decline. Everything’s up for debate I suppose but you’re arguing against facts.
 
I’m talking about when it peaked, after which comes decline. Everything’s up for debate I suppose but you’re arguing against facts.
Again, more than happy to discuss in the DMs what I mean by decline. Doesn’t help anyone to assume you know exactly what point I’m trying to make.
 
Again, more than happy to discuss in the DMs what I mean by decline. Doesn’t help anyone to assume you know exactly what point I’m trying to make.
I suppose that’s a credit to how well you’ve articulated your point. DM away if you feel it. Apologies to all for the derail.
 
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