By Matt Underwood We knew their infrastructure was crap when Harvey happened. Now this. My dad is still talking about “add DC and we will secede” and “Texas will have its own refinery and oil and jobs and wealth” and I clapped back that he better call his state representatives to pull that hand back for federal aid. One thing Texans always brags about is how they have their own independent power grid. How’s that working out?
Well, the point was to avoid regulations that would force them to do things like winterize their system.
So, exactly like intended?
It’s like trump gutting Obama’s pandemic system. It worked as intended; less money was spent on something that might not be needed.
Then we had a pandemic.
Or like not having insurance on a brand new car because the premium would be too high. Sure, you will save money like you intended, but if anything happens you’re fucked.
Basic cause and effect, it shouldnt be surprising republicans are shitty at it.
They also can’t have their base looking past one degree of effect because a lot of their policies would start to look way less attractive then.
They’ve been doing a good job the last few years of getting down to only 1 layer. I remember in the GWB era where there were 3 or 4 layers and it was to difficult for the base to understand…
Wait, what am I saying, it’s 1 layer now and it’s still to difficult for them to understand.
I think they all understand they are wrong about just about everything. They just won’t ever admit it because that’s part of their culture. They are white christians, how could they do wrong.
You know, it’s funny. When you actually talk to conservatives and try to strip away labels and ideologies, what their main gripe is with is capitalism. They hate that massive conglomerates and wealthy coastal elites make all the decisions for the country and that working class people have no power. They hate that they have to pay high taxes for no benefits that they can see or directly benefit from (like most other countries that have a robust safety net).
Add to this that in America, we don’t really have politics based on ideology as much as we have numerous culture wars and political theater, which is meant to distract from the fact that the wealthy are using both parties to take as much as they can.
But when you try and point this out to them – “the problems you identify with society stem from capitalism” – they short-circuit and go out of control, instead blaming spooky, nondescript villains like liberals and socialism and cancel culture and “wokeness”.
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic.