Maybe it will take a collapse as in atlas shrugged to wake people up to the idea that socialism is flawed and individualism is better. Maybe it can be done one step at a time. Uber is better and cheaper than state supported taxi monopolies. Airbnb is cheaper than big hotels. Etc

I love facts and I'm not Ghandi. Bull shit is power through intimidation.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.Ghandi

Progressivism is a ploy to establish an "intellectual aristocracy" ruled by a self proclaimed elite. It is a complete abandonment of true democracy or a constitutional republic.

Indeed. As an astronomer I recognize that the Sun is considered to be a variable star. While the variability is not large it is still enough to have significant impact on the dynamics of the ecosphere of the planet. Many of the fluctuations of solar emission have been observed to alter the thermal equilibrium of Venus, Mars and Jupiter as well a the Earth. The anthropogenic contribution to climate processes is only one of many factors that must be included in any realistic model.

Plant response is a good one, but an even bigger one is the SUN!!! How can one ignore the sun in a CLIMATE model?!?

Let's hear it for inquisition 2.0!!! Where's Galileo when you need him? No. Wait. He recanted. I guess we'll have to settle for Luther, even though he didn't end inquisitions.

Take these creatures apart. These so-called Attorney Generals that is. This is America, not Soviet Russia.

"...how is it going to be possible to break this progression..."? Now there's the trillion dollar question. I don't really have a working answer, but wish I did. Nickursis elsewhere in this thread said "It is something inherent in the sheeple. In the DNA..." and I think he may be on to something there. That is, if the given is the human species survives best when it uses its rational mind, then refusal to use rational thought (or loss of rational thought ability) will call upon "mother nature's evolutionary engine" to cull the bad DNA out of the species or the species goes extinct. This could be very nasty business as those who use rational thought to learn the lessons of history well know.

Maybe the start of a solution to save this republic is to find a way to massively kick start rational thought in the minds of the "sheeple". Now, convincing people that what they "know absolutely" is false is not an easy job. The first step, I suppose, is to make sure what you "know absolutely" is true.

Which leads into how is it going to be possible to break this progression to socialism or do just have to get to a total collapse of the society as in AS and in Venezuela today

I have thought the pragmatic approach, how socialist programs "just haven't been working" is a good way to break this blind trust in government

That's going to be a hard pattern to break. It leads to socialism for sure

Boggles the mind. It seems when I was young and T-Rex was still walking the earth, the left was making war on the government, now the left is the government and is moving more left.

It is something inherent in the sheeple. In the DNA that the only real mommy and daddy must be from the government, because they are here to help...

Yes, as in "The Gulag Archipelago", having an anti-Soviet thought could get you a one way ticket to the gulag.

They say in the nuke world: "The reactor is now self sustaining"...guess it bled over to government...

No maybe about it...laughing...(sad)

You hit it right on the head. There is a blind faith in government here, no matter how badly it performs

Maybe the real goal of liberals is control , not the actual accomplishment of anything. Maybe the real goal of government is the sustenance and expansion of government and its minions, not the actual accomplishment of anything

I also think it is just cover for a way to exercise more control. The sheeple are so stupid that all they have to do is be told the sky is falling to believe it. The government wouldn't ever lie, would it?

And a very poor, holed fill correlation at that.

Nope you are not, but in their universe, you are both a nut and a criminal. I still am amazed the tree huggers have never invaded Bolivia and Brazil to stop the Amazon deforestation, which at least, has an arguable case for being a contributor to GW. These idiots just do what they always do, screw us, because they cannot tell others who are really doing it, because they just tell them to F@$K off.

The other thing is the costs to the taxpayers, I do not want to fund some politically motivated BS snipe hunt. They blow enough money on their crap.