Do the mid-term elections matter on a national level (this year)?

Seattle

Seattle

Valued Senior Member
I haven't given it a lot of thought but just how much is it going to matter how the mid-term elections turn out this year on a national basis?

It looks like the House will end up with a Republican majority. The only question seems to be whether the Senate will have a Republican majority or not. If they do then they can pass bills but Biden can still veto them and they aren't likely to be able to override a veto.

If the Democrats keep the Senate they can keep most bills from passing but they can do that with a Biden veto anyway so just how much do these elections matter?

I get it that having the crazies in the Republican party as committee chairmen/women would be a freak show with constant talk of impeaching Biden and that sort of thing but it's just largely political showboating.

It doesn't look like anything is going to be passed from this point on no matter what is the outcome of the mid-terms. Am I missing someone on the national level?

I guess the bigger issues are at the state level with the governors and the elected officials who oversee the polling precincts and the various questions regarding abortion laws?

OK, back to your UFP thread...
 
It matters hugely. If the Repubs win both houses, you can kiss Democracy and the Constitution good-by.
 
My perception is that the USA is too big to be a democracy in anything but name

The digital revolution has revealed this more obviously and its top down mechanisms cannot dovetail with its constituent parts.

One politician esp is taking advantage of this and is riding the wave of hysteria coursing through the population

The whole thing is hanging by a thread and if a compliant "GOP" gets to set the agenda and follow the games set by the cultists then the wheels are coming off the wagon.

No harm in the long term ,perhaps but USA is so pivotal to the world order at this critical stage of development that any hiccup on the way spells global disaster

USA is probably as much a clear and present danger to the world as any power

God bless America and all who suffer under her.
 
foghorn said:
And on that digital point, does it matter which billionaire owns twitter?
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In the short term it might. If EM was a T cultist it would .

Reassuringly it appears that reduced moderation is scaring away the advertisers and so consumer power is being reflected in the success or otherwise of these platforms.

Regulation ,both external and internal is necessary but there has to be a balance as is obvious from what I hear about oppressive regimes such as ....well ,you name them.

A well functioning democracy is needed to enforce external regulation.

(imo moderators should be obligatory , remunerated and dead wood removed:biggrin: )​
 
Seattle said:
You want to be a bit more specific?
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Sure, why not? Curtailment of rights:
"With sorrow – for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection – we dissent," they wrote, warning that abortion opponents now could pursue a nationwide ban "from the moment of conception and without exceptions for rape or incest."
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The Republican assault on free and fair elections instigated by Donald Trump is gathering pace, with efforts to sabotage the normal workings of American democracy sweeping state legislatures across the US.
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Suppression of opposition:
Support for police militarization comes from older Americans, conservative Republicans, and those with high school educations or less.
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Control/restriction of information:
NPR and other outlets report that President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget would entirely eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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Then there is the assault on education:
Republicans this year have drastically broadened their legislative efforts to censor what’s taught in the classroom, according to an Education Week analysis of active state bills.
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Some would, of course, go further
The party opposes the teaching of “higher order thinking skills” because it believes the purpose is to challenge a student’s “fixed beliefs” and undermine “parental authority.”
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or even all the way:
Rather than throw money at a system that is rotten to its core, state legislators must defund the public schools.
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IOW, no more learning for the poor.... but, hey, there will be a lot more of them, the poor:
The GOP tax cut delivered huge benefits to rich investors and CEOs through a record-setting $1 trillion in stock buybacks in 2018 – while average workers struggle to pay for rising health care and living costs.
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And in case there is any America left, there's this:
In recent years, many Republicans, even those not usually of radical temperament, have amply demonstrated their eagerness to reject the norms of constitutional government for the sake of power.
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And in case you're wondering how dangerous they are:
From death threats against previously anonymous bureaucrats and public-health officials to a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor and the 6 January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, acts of political violence in the United States have skyrocketed in the last five years
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Jeeves said:
Sure, why not? Curtailment of rights:


Suppression of opposition:

Control/restriction of information:

Then there is the assault on education:
Some would, of course, go further or even all the way: IOW, no more learning for the poor.... but, hey, there will be a lot more of them, the poor:

And in case there is any America left, there's this:

And in case you're wondering how dangerous they are:
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Good points all, regarding Republicans but that wasn't the point. The point was that there are no unknowns regarding the outcome of the mid-terms. The House will be Republican and regardless of what happens in the Senate, nothing will change since Biden still has the veto.
 
Seattle said:
Good points all, regarding Republicans but that wasn't the point. The point was that there are no unknowns regarding the outcome of the mid-terms. The House will be Republican and regardless of what happens in the Senate, nothing will change since Biden still has the veto.
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Won't the Repubs refuse to pass anything that Biden proposes?

Nothing will get done and anything in favour of climate action on the federal level will most likely be ignored.

Will action and spending to support Ukraine just be honoured to as little an extent as possible with tut tutting as to how corrupt Ukrainian society is?
 
Seattle said:
The House will be Republican and regardless of what happens in the Senate, nothing will change since Biden still has the veto.
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With which he can do nothing except paralyze the government. He won't be able to pass any meaningful legislation. Meanwhile, the State level Repuglicans will keep on pursuing their nation-destroying agenda unopposed. Think how much damage they've done in the last four years, then add another 50%. See how that changes the odds of electing a sane government. That's the point.
 
geordief said:
Won't the Repubs refuse to pass anything that Biden proposes?

Nothing will get done and anything in favour of climate action on the federal level will most likely be ignored.

Will action and spending to support Ukraine just be honoured to as little an extent as possible with tut tutting as to how corrupt Ukrainian society is?
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Yes, nothing will get done but we know that now. Nothing surprising will come from the mid-terms was my point.
 
Seattle said:
Yes, nothing will get done but we know that now. Nothing surprising will come from the mid-terms was my point.
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Inaction on climate change or a platform for climate change denial is devastating.That is not just "no change"
Edit: And facilitating election deniers is equally devastating in it's own way (for the US and less directly to other supposedly democratic countries)
 
geordief said:
Inaction on climate change or a platform for climate change denial is devastating.That is not just "no change"
Edit: And facilitating election deniers is equally devastating in it's own way (for the US and less directly to other supposedly democratic countries)
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I didn't say there will be no change. I said there is nothing unknown about the upcoming mid-terms. People act like there is something interesting about the outcome of the mid-terms. There isn't. We know the outcome already.
 
Seattle said:
I didn't say there will be no change. I said there is nothing unknown about the upcoming mid-terms. People act like there is something interesting about the outcome of the mid-terms. There isn't. We know the outcome already.
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You are claiming that ,if the Rep take both Houses,the outcome is the same as if they just took Congress.

Quite obviously there will be a difference in outcome (as some have pointed out) but you seem to want to believe there will be no change (can't work out -or care about the semantics of your "nothing unknown")

American voters need to prevent a party riddled with Trump followers from taking over both ,or either)Houses.

It may be fairly obvious that they will not do that ,but bad consequences will stillfollow if that is what happens

If the GOP splits as one consequence that may be a good thing as an engrained 2 party system is good for man nor beast and proportional representation of some kind would be an improvement
 
foghorn said:
And on that digital point, does it matter which billionaire owns twitter?
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Not sure how this story pans out but it seems to address your question

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/30/business/musk-tweet-pelosi-conspiracy/index.html

01:46 - Source: CNN
CNN —
Elon Musk on Sunday gave credence to a fringe conspiracy theory about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi.

The new Twitter owner tweeted a link to an article full of baseless claims about Pelosi. The article was posted on a website that purports to be a news outlet.

Musk, who has 112 million followers on the platform he now owns, posted the baseless story about Pelosi in response to a tweet from Hilary Clinton at 8:15 am ET. He later deleted the tweet around 2 pm, but not before racking up more than 28,000 retweets and 100,000 likes.
 
geordief said:
You are claiming that ,if the Rep take both Houses,the outcome is the same as if they just took Congress.
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I think he's saying that they will inevitably take both houses; that the ensuing disaster is unpreventable; that the American voters won't save their country...
It's not a good planet to live on anymore.
 
Jeeves said:
I think he's saying that they will inevitably take both houses; that the ensuing disaster is unpreventable; that the American voters won't save their country...
It's not a good planet to live on anymore.
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Maybe he is saying that the Senate has no bearing on what happens in the 2 years following the mid terms?

Congress seems at this point to be lost to the Reps and that is all that counts....


Well Lula is good news anyway:biggrin:
 
Yes, if the House changes hands (which it will) then it doesn't matter all that much whether the Senate changes hands or not.

If the Senate doesn't change hands, there will still be no Democrat legislation coming out of the House. If it does change hands and there is Republican legislation, Biden will still veto it so it won't get passed in any event.

The Republicans can still do some damage at the state level but not at the Federal level. My point is that we already know this, before the elections have even taken place. Since there is virtually no chance that the House won't change hands, there is no real mystery as to what the end result will be.
 
Seattle said:
Yes, if the House changes hands (which it will) then it doesn't matter all that much whether the Senate changes hands or not.

If the Senate doesn't change hands, there will still be no Democrat legislation coming out of the House. If it does change hands and there is Republican legislation, Biden will still veto it so it won't get passed in any event.

The Republicans can still do some damage at the state level but not at the Federal level. My point is that we already know this, before the elections have even taken place. Since there is virtually no chance that the House won't change hands, there is no real mystery as to what the end result will be.
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Why does Biden have to veto any and all legislation from Congress? Just because "they would have"?

Is it not undemocratic and lacking of respect to systemataticaly gum up Congress in that way?

Doesn't bipartisanship have to raise its head at some point?

Wouldn't such an approach also play into Trump's hands if he runs again?

And what about electoral reform?Is he supposed to veto that too?
 
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