I sense I was born with a different genetic makeup then you that may explain what values I am drawn to that differ from yours. I am fond of the question of nature and nurture and really like the updated terminology of genes and memes. It seems to fit.
So Trump has accomplished a lot. I just don’t agree with his agenda. I am pro earth, would rather error on it’s side. So Trump has accomplished a great deal of things I believe are mistakes. If he vows to build a wall and succeeds you’re like look at his integrity. He came though on a campaign promise. What if it’s a promise I wish he didn’t make in the first place? That I don’t recognize them as successes is more about what I perceive his values are that informs his morality. I’m really stuck on a fence here. If I’m brain washed at all it comes from a distinction between individual success at the cost of all else, which is something I just can’t agree is a success. The alternative is we are better capable working together to augment each others weakness as a definition of success. The cosmic debate seems to rage on.
If you wish to characterize thought of other species, our ecosystem, and our viability on the planet as left wing propaganda that is of course up to you. Trump has accomplished a great deal but I will still argue that I don’t think of them as accomplishments. I recognize that perhaps you do, so let us discuss his accomplishments and see what has been accomplished from your perspective.
If you think that makes me brainwashed, certainly I would entertain the potential of a debriefing.
Just as a primer of the sort of metric I value.
Suicide rates in the nation, up or down? The integrity of family values up or down. Collectively are we happier in our day to day experiences of life as a result of Trumps contributions. Do we feel any more secure. Are more or less individuals able to reach their potential? These are the things I value. They are the frame work of what I question is morality. The ideology that affects practical application and is adapted to legislature and our judicial system?
My wife and I are debt free, (I mention that because I live is a mutual property state, where both husband and wife are considered a share.) Have been way before Trump took office. We owe money to no one, save for our governance, which is consistently doing less for more. Income is sufficient to cover cost. Has been, way before Trump took office. We plan ahead, my wife and I, have never taken on a financial burden we were not prepared to cover because of economic fluctuations. I have never had to negotiate with banks for favor. In our sixty years we have weathered a lot from both parties.
You have mentioned, in several posts that what Trump is doing with his rhetoric is playing a political game.
How does morality factor into politically playing a game in real life when a game isn’t actually being played. (Is it really a game, and what does that say) Unless of course you believe the lives and experiences of children is just a game. I hope not.
Even though we live frugally and have managed to save up something for retirement, It will likely not be enough, given the outrageous cost of health care, particularly, medicine, assisted living and nursing homes. Any sort of early retirement don’t look like a viable option. Right now our cost for prescription medicine is over $470 a month, out of pocket. So no, Trump hasn’t improved the outlook.
He holds his tongue for the N. Korean dictator, who is still launching missiles, and attempting to build nuclear bombs. Yeah, he has held his tongue, and hasn’t accomplished anything but getting a “beautiful” letter. Good show.
Brainwashed by the left? I am the left, you say that like it’s a bad thing. I do not find the right very forward thinkers. But I need a right hand. It would be utopian if the middle was the head that kept either hand in check and working together. We don’t have a strong middle, and I don’t see Trump striving towards any sort of center.
I have to be realistic and understand the above is an ideal but nevertheless all people should strive and improve toward the ideal.
I am not forcing the above on others recognizing that different people at present have their own vision and mission. However I would recommend each individual should attempt to align their vision, mission and objectives toward perpetual peace optimally.
I agree the manifesto Trump has established is not perfect, there are blemishes but the expected results are net-positive towards perpetual peace and a reasonable well being for the USA and humanity. A good contrast of Trump has to be done with Hitler, Stalin and the present dictators at present around the world.
There are a million and one thing that one has to achieve to meet the average standard of perpetual peace. Given the limited time and resources, a government will have to prioritize and balance all the relevant critical constraints to achieve what is optimal to the circumstances.
I believe Trump achievement is net-positive and optimal till the present. Note Trump has only been president for 2+ years and is facing irrational and insane opposition who are willing to hinder his progress at all costs. Given what Trump had achieved despite the terrible opposition, that itself is a great achievement.
Suicide rates must be reduced but that cannot be a priority at present given the current circumstances.
One thing that is positive is Trump has generated the ‘Can Do’ spirit for the citizen of the USA [which is existing in China at present] which can be translated to ‘Can Do’ for anything of good intents.
Obama [Economically stupid and ineffective] resigned and surrendered to the impossibility of USA increasing manufacturing but Trump reversed that with effective and productive strategies to bring back manufacturing to the USA.
To critique Trump you need to be objective and consider what is the most optimal given the constraints he is facing in the present circumstances.
There are many perspectives to success which is a very loose term and is very relative.
Trump in general is a successful person given his net worth of 2-3 billion where along the way he has brought employment and financial success to many other people.
Whether he is happy or not, we don’t know about him as much as we know about everyone else, but at least he is not clinically depress.
‘Debt free’ is not a measurement of success.
One can do nothing so as to be debt free.
To succeed in business [I am a reasonable expert on this] one cannot be totally debt free. Various types of debts are necessary to optimize against various financial constraints.
What is critical is to ensure one or the organization is in a net-asset position many times over while at the same time is being productive in a net-positive manner.
In politics in the present circumstances, it is necessary for a politician to play the ‘political game’ but that must be within the rules of morality and ethics.
The reality of politics is the politician cannot be expected to meet every individual’s needs and expectations but rather to meet the majority or the average.
As I had stated, politics in not morality & ethics proper. Politics is merely guided by morality and ethics in a parallel situation with is legislature and judiciary.
Morality and ethics cannot be governed but they manifest from the individual’s mental conditions spontaneously. Thus moral and ethical improvements must happened within the individual’s brain by the individual itself with the facilitation of various organizations. This is equivalent to improving a skill within a person culminating in the improvement of one’s conscience of what is good that activates spontaneously.
The path to the above is via Philosophy-proper [theory and practical] not via politics.
At present there are great limitations to natural morality and ethics but there is an increasing trend within humanity toward the growth of spontaneous moral and ethics.
Thus given the current constraints and circumstances, Trump has done well relatively within 2+ years with an overall net-positive results.
A centrist isn’t likely to describe either the left or the right as brainwashed. But a right leaner may describe it’s opposite in that manner. I gather you are right of center.
Historically speaking, the right tends toward the philosophy of it’s my way or the highway, if the right gives that grace. So which is more likely to string a black man up by a rope until dead. A right winger or a left? Which was more likely to engage in slave trade? Do you believe Epstein leaned left or right?
No. Again. Trump has inherited an economic and military bubble that even if he were the most evil genius or bumbling idiot ever, would be impossible to destroy in 4 years.
As I had stated, there is a million and one thing for the individual, group, country and humanity to deal with while facing great constraints.
If you have complains, just compare yourself to those in the second or third-world countries.
Universal medical healthcare for all [as proposed by Bernie and others] is not effective in the long run. What is critical is there must be at least primary health care for all.
Most important is for a government to instill, in very aggressively in a sustained effort, to motivate every one to be healthy and take care of their own health, i.e. prevention is better than cure. Unfortunately this is not done by most countries’ government. The govts do make noise about such points but they are not consistent at all.
Look around you, every 7 out of 10 Americans are obese!
Trump like any other nation’s leader cannot meet the specific needs of all individuals but he has to prioritize within the present constraints. Given the current circumstances and constraints, Trump has done very well relative to leaders of many other countries.
As reported the North Korea has only shot short range missiles. In was in the past but at present there is no statements from N. Korea on any intention to further their nuclear programs. If N. Korea changes their moves significantly, Trump will definitely follow and counter with his own change in stance in that political game.
On the left, there are the centrists, the progressive left, the regressive left and the extreme left. It would appear you are brainwashed and bewitched by the regressive left. If you are a centrist left, you would have at least a balanced view and acknowledge Trump’s achievements while criticizing his weaknesses.
I am from the East and I am not used to the concept of rigidly either right or left as in Western politics.
In such terms of Western politics [I don’t prefer], my views can vary from middle-right to center to middle-left depending on the circumstance with the objective to optimize the results suited to my overall objectives toward perpetual peace and well being.
I believe Americans if they can, should abandon being in a pigeon-hole of either politically right or left. Rather they should focus on what is to be a good human being for the sake of the whole of humanity. This can be achieved via philosophy-proper that encompass the full range of positive knowledge and wisdom.
How can you expect any one to change things overnight for the better.
Given whatever the existing negative situation and that prior to becoming president, I believe [based on assessing the pros and cons] Trump has been successful so far relative to his employment contract.
There are still a few cultures left that are succeeding without capitalism’s heavy hand. Subsistence cultures. The are existing which is a success, and they don’t have debt either. If you are still around to bitch, you have already achieve some measure of success. It seems degree’s of hardship is the more appropriate question.
But my wife and I have done something. We have saved for a future, if we get to experience it. We have cared a great deal for our environment. We are extremely concerned about our waste driven economy.
Perpetual peace? That’s a spiritual thing. Me and mine or it and me are at peace, a few shakes along the way but their is an understanding between us. In the face of extreme circumstance a single man can find that peace.
If your notion of perpetual peace comes at the cost of killing everyone who doesn’t agree with you, I’m not in.
What has Trump accomplished for any second or third world county? He over exaggerates what the federal government contributed to Pueto Rico as assistance in the after math of hurricane Maria.
As I had stated ‘success’ is very relative to loads of perspective.
It is good you are successful in your own ways.
However, a President must achieved success that are transferable to the whole of the USA in a net-positive way. Trump’s success qualify to meet that objective in an optimal way.
I am sure Trump would have concerns for the environment but he had to optimize within the present constraints. When the critical things are stabilize his government will focus on the environment.
IF??
It is only your ignorance and imagination that perpetual peace has to be achieved via killings or enforcement which would be a contradiction to the term ‘peace’.
If any peace were to be established by force, killing and enforcement, that would at most temporary.
Note I mentioned the spontaneity of morality and ethics;
Morality and ethics cannot be governed but they manifest from the individual’s mental conditions spontaneously. Thus moral and ethical improvements must happened within the individual’s brain by the individual itself with the facilitation of various organizations. This is equivalent to improving a skill within a person culminating in the improvement of one’s conscience of what is good that activates spontaneously.
The path to the above is via Philosophy-proper [theory and practical] not via politics.
This is off topic.
If he had done for one or two such countries then he would be blamed for being bias and not helping the rest of other such countries in the world.
At least he had not done anything that is significantly negative to any other second or third world country like what Obama did in enabling IS to execute their atrocities in Iraq, Syria, Libya or what Nixon did to Vietnam in the 60s.
The topic is Trump is not ‘nuts’ but has performed well objectively in accordance his terms of employment so far in 2+ years into his presidential terms.
But not originally, and I agree with your newly stated sentiment, I argued it in prior posts. And the law lags behind. Also argued in previous posts.
Thanks for sharing long enough and deeply enough for eyes to see it. We humans do glance.
You really don’t know me, and I would like to know more of you. So just quit it with the idea you have to place me along a spectrum as brainwashed, I’ve already told you where I lie and will die, I am on the left of center. An artist and a dreamer. We can change memes but genes are better left to the cosmos. I still have a few punches left in me if you still want to fight. I’m “game”.
We have both already disagreed with the premise of the topic. So technically we have been off topic with much of what we’ve discussed. Trumps voter approval hits a high at 45%, still more Americans disapprove of his job performance. His term average is 40% approval.
