volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
No. Republicans were the ones who voted to authorize borrowing, while Biden's the one who's been threatening default all this time.
The cartoon is out of line with facts on the ground.
And it is majority rule as throughout the country officials are elected based on majorities, and in both chambers of the US Congress processes proceed based on majority votes.
Uh huh
And yet, even with all of the things that you listed there, that remains a democratic process. It remains actual humans, actual constituents, voting through democratic processes for these results.
I know you might not like it. But that's the thing about democracy: It really stinks that other people don't agree with you, but in democracy, other people get a say.
If you want to say that elections are stolen and all of that stuff, you can go down that road, but I don't think that's a particularly fruitful direction to go. You just end up sounding like Trump. It's not a good look.
That take is clearly wrong because, if nothing else, it overlooks that in the design of the federal government the Treasury is in the executive branch, not the legislative branch.
I don't know who these professors might be, but we can quickly debunk the claim they're making on that point alone.
So the GOP has already voted in the House to authorize the president to borrow more money. It is really ridiculous for these professors to try to pick this hill that both confuses the legislative branch activity and also the executive branch functioning.
They already voted to raise the debt ceiling. They've already offered their solution.
I mean he has something going for him. Both Gaetz and Yellen are extremely politicized figures these days, with jobs that involve spinning the narrative.
A lot of people are frustrated with Yellen these days, not appreciating that she is now a political appointee and not the academic she once was
The official technical Treasury reports don't quite match what either of them say, but again, we all need to keep in mind that they are both politicians, so they have their own interests.
Well right, they raised the debt ceiling to fund the budget for that. The problem is, the last Congress appropriated money, and Biden signed off on it, but they did not raise the debt ceiling to pay for it.
Biden and the last Congress had every option to do so, but they didn't.
We are in this position now because of the choices of the president and the last Congress to actively put us here. The GOP voted against those appropriation bills, so they voted against us getting to this position.
I really think we need to hold those politicians accountable for having actively voted to put us here.
We re-elected almost all of them, so I guess we are good with this, but we need to be clear, the last Congress and the president signed the appropriations bills without debt ceiling legislation to put us in this place.
So it's not a conspiracy theory because this conspiracy theory has been going on for a long long time!
Yeah this is the sort of thing where we know very clearly that what you are saying is nutso seeing as the Republicans have passed things in the public record even as you are saying stuff about don't pass anything.
I'm sorry your conspiracy theory is just not even passing the lowest level of fact checking.
Why do you subscribe to these things? Why do you except these things as true when they are not only pretty far out but also so easily debunkable?
The Republican party is literally voted for by people, it is literally a democratic result whether for better or worse.
It's really funny to say that the way people vote is not democratic.
It would be nice if the post was at least coherent...
I mean you are laying out quite the conspiracy theory but you aren't really giving any real support to show that the theory is solid.
It's not about me choosing to see that or not. You're not even showing me something worth seeing.
What in the world?
No. We elect the people that we want to elect, and we keep reelecting people, so really it relies on us, the voters, we approve of these people.
It's not about good faith or bad faith. It's about the people that we actively show up to the polls to elect and reelect and we approve of the actions of officials when we cast our votes to say they should remain in office.
There's nothing about good faith or bad faith there. It is just us deciding that we like the way these people exercise their offices.
This is so silly.
Negotiating with terrorists? No. This is the checks and balances that the federal government was designed around. Yes, if the president wants to borrow more money then he has to negotiate with the democratic process to obtain that permission.
To call this terrorism is pretty much the same as calling, I don't know, McDonald's negotiating with terrorists because I don't want to pay $5 for a Big Mac.
Yeah. That description is just that out there.
I'm sorry, if the president wants to borrow a ton of money on the credit of the United States then he does need to go to our representatives and negotiates to get that authority.
I'm sorry that might be hard for him. Welcome to democracy though.
Republicans already voted to extend the borrowing powers. It is foolish to talk about this as them holding anything hostage since they have already given that up and voted not to hold hostage.
Democrats voted to make us face this situation when they pass their appropriation legislation. They really need to be held accountable for that. It's next level foolish to blame Republicans for number one the thing the Democrats did and number two the things that Republicans have already voted to fix.
Week case? Democrats literally voted for this over and above Republican dissension. Republicans literally voted against this and yet we have outlets like this trying to blame them for it?
Republicans suck, but we really need to hold democrats accountable for their votes that put us in this position.
No that's just not right.
Republicans created this crisis? No Republicans voted against it! This crisis was created by Democrats in the last Congress and they really need to be held accountable for that.
Republicans voted against the appropriations that we are now dealing with. This was 100% positioned by Democrats, for better or worse, but either way we need to hold them accountable for the position they have made us face now.
Well that's simply not true.
Democrats voted to put us in this situation in the last Congress against Republican descent. Republicans voted against the appropriations pledges that got us here. Meanwhile, Republicans voted to get us out of it by cleaning up the mess by voting to extend borrowing powers.
The political spin that you are promoting here is just not factually accurate.
GOP candidates are already taking on Trump.
Anyone interested can tune into conservative media any day of the week to see it.
Headlines like this come across as gaslighting, though really I guess they're just clickbait.
What specifically are you referring to?
Because in general Thomas seems to be on the other side of the ledger.
Well keep in mind that the Treasury is an executive branch department.
It's all up to the president to default, which I would say would be an impeachable offense since the Constitution is very clear that he has to pay obligations as they come due.
That has nothing to do with Congress, that is purely the other branch of government, the executive branch.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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