It is small comfort to know that I am not alone in my distress.

in #aoc3 years ago

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/24/aoc-says-biden-administration-has-exceeded-progressive-expectations/7366881002/

It is an interesting phenomenon.

The asymmetry in the treatment of Trump versus Biden seems to be attributable to the immature child in many of our fellow adults.

Whereas Trump was noisy, obnoxious and overtly threatening and contemptuous of tradition and the rule of law, Biden adopts a façade of respectability but is equally contemptuous of those who disagree with him and who stand in his way to impose the new legislative agenda he has adopted (not, I believe, out of principle, but out of naked ambition - how else to explain the inconsistencies with his past positions?); and though he is less threatening in an immanent way to the rule of law, he he is equally threatening of it in a deeply subversive way of our fundamental constitutional principles of free speech, equality before the law, separation of powers, respect for property rights, fiscal responsibility, etc. His proposed agenda proclaims proudly an intended makeover of these fundamental American institutions. And if successful this will cause enormous long term damage to our freedoms and our standard of living.

The puzzle to which I refer is why, while many understand the objections against him, they do not see them as fundamentally threatening as Trump's more demonstrative barking. In short, they are not afraid of Biden even while he promises to ruin the country. This lack of awareness is an immaturity similar to that of an adolescent who focusses on the pleasure gained from the things he buys and ignores the pain that will come from an inability to pay for them. When kids behave like this, if they are lucky, they have their parents to control them. When the adults behave like this, who do they have?

It would not be so bad were it not the case that their irresponsible behavior will hurt not only or primarily them but will hurt us all deeply and permanently.

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There are several reasons for this behavior. First, Trump was a kind of abrasive and bossy guy, and most Americans just don't like being talked to like that. Remember though, his followers went along with his subversive agenda just as surely as Biden's followers are. Trump just didn't have as many mindless followers.

Another is their approach to media. Where Trump loved being in the news, constantly creating controversy to drive ratings, that attention in turn would draw scrutiny. People who wouldn't otherwise care were much more likely to see something that made them think 'This doesn't seem quite right...'. Biden's more traditional approach to media keeps things quiet, so people on the fence slip back in with the rest of the flock.

I'm of the opinion that an overall cultural shift is also driving some of it. We seem to be going down a very similar path to the European countries that seeded this country. As time progresses governments will start to resemble one another more and more, assimilation of neighboring ideas and cultural norms is inevitable. Just look at how much more alike eastern and western cultures have become in the last 3 decades.

I got the sense that you prefer the more open method to the subtle method, and I agree with you there. I think if people are made more uncomfortable by their subjugation, they'll be more likely to resist it. What I've seen though, is that it doesn't seem to matter. No matter who's in charge, a small percentage leads, the vast majority follow, and another small percentage follow the herd, yelling that herd mentality isn't the only the way to live. A statistically insignificant number let the herd move on without them.