119th Congress or Red Wave In Adult Land
- Thread starter 57Brave
- Start date
I’m likely being a bit obtuse regarding some of the possible positive results and I’ll read further on the lands being discussed and the provisions on how the lands can be sold and utilized. But Senator Lee has not earned a level of trust in the honesty of his statements or intentions for me to not be a bit skeptical of the outcome here.
I have a hard time squaring the reaction McBride gets from the right with the way that she goes about politics and governance. She is consistently one of the best Democrats in Congress already and does a phenomenal job of discussing her identity and its place in the public discourse.
I’m not asking anybody to change their mind on the science of gender identity or how we should handle trans rights, but I do dare anybody to listen to this conversation (particularly from about the 9 minute mark to the 16 minute mark or from 23 minutes to 30 minutes for the illiberalism of the left) and come away with the conclusion that McBride is just some radical trying to push an extreme ideology.
“We shouldn’t treat the public like they’re a Republican politician” is exactly the message the mainstream Democratic Party is missing at every level today, and it’s why I think McBride is a rising star within the party, not because of her identity, but because of her philosophy. Yes, her identity is an integral part of her political profile and her personal perspective, but it’s the way she talks about everyday Americans and the role of elected officials that makes her a leader.
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It’s kind of wild that John Fetterman just basically became Mitt Romney in a pair of shorts one day and never stopped. There’s nothing wrong with being Mitt Romney and I’d take an entire senate of Mitt Romneys over the extremes on the left or the right, but I’ve never been more surprised by a politician’s path.
One additional thought to tie my last two posts together and clarify my general point. It’s difficult to listen to McBride’s interview with Klein and Fetterman’s own criticisms of the left and not see the difference in approach. McBride’s overall thesis is her statement that voters will see Republicans be assholes to others and might not like it, but will see Democrats be assholes to them and it makes the choice obvious between the two for someone just living their lives.
Fetterman’s brand of moderation skips all that by being an asshole to the left instead. McBride is every bit as critical of the orthodoxy of the left as Fetterman, but is offering a more constructive framing and some solutions for how she’d change the messaging and policy priorities of the Democratic Party to align with American voters. I know I’ve always erred supportive of McBride, but for those of you that are open to hearing someone you disagree with talk substantively about the ills of the left, I’d recommend watching the interview as it’s genuinely one of the more encouraging approaches to national politics I’ve seen from any elected official on the left since Obama.
Fetterman’s brand of moderation skips all that by being an asshole to the left instead. McBride is every bit as critical of the orthodoxy of the left as Fetterman, but is offering a more constructive framing and some solutions for how she’d change the messaging and policy priorities of the Democratic Party to align with American voters. I know I’ve always erred supportive of McBride, but for those of you that are open to hearing someone you disagree with talk substantively about the ills of the left, I’d recommend watching the interview as it’s genuinely one of the more encouraging approaches to national politics I’ve seen from any elected official on the left since Obama.
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
I'll believe it when I see it. More likely it will lead to more second homes/air bnbs
I could fix the housing costs, raise the taxes on AirBNBs. Make sure their insurance compnaies know they're using it as an Airbnb too.
chop2chip
Well-known member
The supply for “second homes” is the same bucket as “first homes”. If you make more housing the price will go down.
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
I could go into some of the financial aspects of it. But we're already a pretty damned heavily developed country. I get that a lot of people here don't know it because they didn't grow up in the Northeast. But we have one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world.
I don't see republicans talking about buying up golf coarses to build houses, you have good viable flat building land that's just unused most of the year. Why not build on those?
chop2chip
Well-known member
Okay. But the northeast has nothing to do with Lee’s bill.
70% of the West is empty federal land.
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
For a reason.
AMerica's best resourse is it's natural resources. Why do you think people like the Canadian side of Niagara falls? Because the American side is fucking beautiful and the Canadian side is overdeveloped shit. Get rid of national parks, federal protected lands, etc. just opens it up to the richest to do what they want.
The point of the north east is that we have a fuck ton fo people living in a smaller area. NYC has almost 4 times the Population of Houston in less than half the space. YOu can redevelop the areas we already have. Phoenix has basically the same population as Philly but in almost 4 times the amount of area.
Also the aspect of is the land being sold actually developable. How much of the land they own is desert and mountain?
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
WHere is the land coming from? And who's to say what it will be used for. Hell we don't know exactly what land is going to be sold, just 200M acres.
chop2chip
Well-known member
Tell me Zeets
Did you even try reading even a little bit about the bill before you base dived off the top rope?
Intended Use: The land must be sold for “housing development or associated community needs,” though the bill allows broad discretion to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to define these terms.
- Nomination Process: States, local governments, and tribes have the right of first refusal, and governors, local officials, and tribes must be consulted before sales.
- Revenue Allocation: Proceeds go to the U.S. Treasury, with 5% allocated to local governments for housing-related infrastructure and 5% to BLM and USFS for maintenance.
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
Sorry I should have been clear, we don't know how viable said lands are. That's my bad.
They can say what it's for, but if they sell it, what's to stop someone from sitting on it? Feds seizing it? Then after sitting on it what if they decide to develop something else there? What if housing development is just a rich person gated community? What's to stop someone from carving it out to be their own resort?
Again for me I think that if you want to give it to trust to the states or native tribes, whatever, but to sell the land to solve a non-existent housing crisis is stupid. The crisis is that affordable housing is gone because rent's too expensive and boomers were told buying land and houses were great investments and hold excess properties. I need to find the article I read where they talked about the issue boomers will have with investment properties of the market dropping out. But even then, when it does, it will be bought up by older people. We're living longer and to combat that we need better Urban development, not selling off remote land so the rich can build out there.
I do honestly think this shit is really weird and that members of Congress (or Elon Musk for that matter) should not expect to get to do shit with their kids or attendance that would get you fired as a cashier at Walmart. In the year of this lord 2025 I see no issues with proxy voting for some amount of time after birth or similar recovery from a medical complication, but you got people to vote for you to be a member of Congress for 2 fucking years, I’m sorry if Mommy doesn’t get her cuddle time. Even if breastfeeding, pump or even pay a nanny (out of pocket) to be in your office or something. Elected officials need to be reminded they fucking work for us and are already paid fairly to do so.