Puttering by foul tempestsJan 4, 2023
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Reagan was extremely destructive to declare “Government is not the solution to our problem, Government is the problem.”

Has the "Party of Lincoln" forgotten that Lincoln proudly said, "Our Government is of, by, & for the people."

To declare Government as the problem is to declare the American people as the problem. And when you declare people as the problem, you become exclusive, cruel, & unjust. That's not pro-America—it's literally anti-America. That's what the GOP has become. Vote Them Out.

Jan 4, 2023 at 4:34pmWeb
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Jan 4, 2023

Accepting that our government is "of, by, and for the people" doesn't mean accepting our Govt is perfect.

It means affirming the value of representative government, electing the best person for the job, and then holding them accountable to ensure justice for ALL people in America.

The Party of Lincoln no longer believes any of this. Hence, the Party of Lincoln is long dead. It's now the party of Reagan/Trump & it's grounded in cruelty, every person for themselves, & no actual accomplishments.

Show threadFlyover ProjectJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
When one understands that the #GOP's plan is to get constituents to disengage in civil exchange(s) about government, their conduct makes sense.
Show threadSnwdrftJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid I think they would argue that overturning Roe was an accomplishment
Show threadJohn CarlsenJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

Republicans stopped being "The Party of Lincoln" when it turned against democracy and the American people.

Trump's extremism was enabled because Americans accepted Gingrich.

Gingrich's extremism was enabled because Americans accepted Reagan.

Reagan's extremism was enabled because Americans accepted Nixon.

Nixon's extremism was enabled because Americans accepted McCarthy.

Americans should have nipped extremism in the bud.

Show threadC.D. LewisJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid Under Regan the GOP at least had some principles from which one could predict its response to various stimuli. Current GOP has no principles beyond the immediate self-interest of the GOP members involved in whatever corrupt affair presents itself.
Show threadSocialistStanJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid It's not and has never been 'of, by, and for the people' nor will it ever be while the constitution enshrines 400 oligarchs over the rest of us.
Show threadBernieJan 5, 2023
@SocialistStan @QasimRashid Have you ever lived in a "socialist" state?
Show threadSocialistStanJan 5, 2023

@Bernie @QasimRashid True socialism can't be achieved through the government, because socialism is the population, not the government, controlling the means of production in an equitable manner.

So a 'socialist state' is kind of an oxymoron. But if the government were to seize the means of production and redistribute it that would at least be preferable to a capitalist system.

Show threadSincerely SabineJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid #CrueltyIsThePoint @GOP
Show threadBernieJan 5, 2023
@QasimRashid Government IS the problem. When, in the millennia of human existence, apart from a few periods of exception, has government performed well for its people? Government, especially federal government is a necessary evil and must be kept as small as possible. But sure, give your rights and powers away to the people who tell you "nice" things and then turn around and fleece you.
Show threadBlueWaterFan 🐴Jan 5, 2023
@QasimRashid well ain’t this the truth.
Show threadCurtis "Ovid" Poe (he/him)Jan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid You have two candidates for a job. Both look excellent on paper. You ask them what they would do with the role.

One is excited and tells you about possibilities.

The other one insists that the job can't be done well.

Any competant hiring manager knows not to hire the second one.

Now imagine those are politicians.

Show threadBluedotmoJan 4, 2023
@ovid @QasimRashid Voting for a republican is like wanting an atheist to be the pope.
Show threadCurtis "Ovid" Poe (he/him)Jan 5, 2023

@bluedotmo @QasimRashid Well, er, whenever a new Pope is chosen, I'm invariably disappointed to discover they've chosen a Catholic. I'd be delighted to see an atheist pope :)

(To be honest, I'm pretty damned sure there has been more than one)

Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Jan 4, 2023
@ovid @QasimRashid There's no candidate who will admit that much of the job description should not exist.
Show threadCurtis "Ovid" Poe (he/him)Jan 4, 2023
@cgervasi @QasimRashid Sure, but think about how many Republicans insist that the government is the problem and then rush to join it.
Show threadKen KemperJan 4, 2023
@cgervasi @ovid @QasimRashid They do not believe in the federal government but people keep expecting them to comprise the govt competently.
Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Jan 4, 2023
@Icarus745 @ovid @QasimRashid I would like them to limit govt powers and spending and to set up oversight to prevent individuals from abusing their positions. Except for lip service, #GOP seems to stand for the opposite of this.
Show threadlolonurseJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
I see it slightly differently. Government is the elected & appointed people who are entrusted to "govern", to ensure that the country operates smoothly & in the best interests of the people & the republic. The people entrusted to lead us are "the problem", because they become arrogant, greedy, self-serving & corrupt. They say "government" is the problem as they "govern". There is no government without them.
Show threadDoctorOctothorpJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid Funny how he didn't say that after the big earthquake in 1971 while he was Governor of California.
Show threadKevinJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid reworded from their POV:

“To declare Government as the problem is to declare a system that benefits Black people as the problem. And when you declare a system that benefits Black people as the problem, you become exclusive, cruel, & unjust.”

It’s easy to understand, BIPOC aren’t people to them and white people are the Real Americans. So from their perspective they are pro-America.

Show threadAlexander RutholJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
They're confederates. They WANT to destroy the republic and create the white christian confederacy of their dreams. That's USA they're "patriots" of, not the USA which currently exists.
Show threadCJ🌪️Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid ah but Lincoln was a dirty liberal and the modern republican doesn't gaf about the people.
Show threadBuster McNuttJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

First three words in the Preamble of our Constitution.

And we need more powerful and immediate tools than voting at appointed dates for dealing with corrupt and dishonest actors.

Show threadUS Dept of ShitpostingJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

I can't completely disagree. I mean look at the motley collection of seditionists, traitors, extremists, criminals, liars, and sexual predators we have - particularly on one side.

They didn't get there by themselves. They got there because people voted them in. And that is the problem.

The GQP has curated an organized campaign of grooming outrage and and hatred for decades - this is the result of it.

Show threadBassballPlayerJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
I really feel that most of this current garbage started with Reagan. That’s 42 years of anti-government white-supremacism.
Show threadDavePerrino ✅Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid Reagan was a disaster for our nation.
Show threadGATEKEEPERJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
Morning Joe singing his praise this morning...same old shit.
Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid I generally agree with Reagan on that point, but I don't see the current #GOP as the opposite of limited government.
Show threadtibbi ✨Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
I’ll never understand how people could look at how he destroyed California’s awesome systems and say “yep, I want this for the rest of the country “
Show threadSISTRchiJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
IMHO, "governing" is not the problem but when those elected or appointed to "government" are more interested in their bank accounts, their PAC's or their re-election, then they make the institution of government a problem by refusing to govern, refusing to provide for the social welfare of the people, by refusing to prosecute the corrupt. Not trying to get overly semantic, but we guess we just did get overly semantic . . .
Show threadBluedotmoJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid I can be more articulate when I like, but in this instance, I'll just say "Fuck Reagan". The beginning of the decline of the US.
Show threadBlackDutchSnarkJan 4, 2023
@bluedotmo @QasimRashid Reagan was bad, but gotta go back a little farther to Nixon, in my opinion. He’s when the real distrust in Washington and cynicism began for a lot of people. People don’t think their vote matters, because the people at the top are just going to do whatever they want anyways. Of course the mango menace makes Nixon look honest.
Show threadMatt RJan 4, 2023
@johnettesnuggs @bluedotmo @QasimRashid the problem with history is how to pinpoint the starting point for some historical event. I'd say it was Wallace and Goldwater that pulled the extremists out of the democrat party and into the republican party (overtaking the moderate majority), and brought with them the lesson that extremism is chic, leading to Nixon then Reagan
Show threadOJan 5, 2023
@johnettesnuggs @bluedotmo @QasimRashid It started with LBJ. It's a shame. If it weren't for his character flaws and disastrous Vietnam policy LBJ would have gone down as a Mount Rushmore level president.
Show threadRickNobodyBeinzJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
Even Reagan couldn't have foreseen what his idiocy would bring after he went back 2 California and proceeded 2 live out his life with severe Alzheimer's.
He served as the stepping stone 2 the most powerful corporations in the world, when he was elected. He was immediately a global warming denier & even said that "Trees cause pollution" among other irresponsible idiotic statements!🤦🏽‍♂️
But during that time, his Corp billionaire supporters got 2 run amok with all 3 US Govt branches 🤬🤬
Show threadOJan 5, 2023
@ahumanbeinz @QasimRashid Democrats controlled the House his entire presidency and had the Senate his final 2 years. Reagan, though, was able to get large parts of his agenda enacted by winning over a chunk of Democratic votes and being a compromiser in practice (despite being a conservative hard liner rhetorically).
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Jan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

Excellent summation.

#GOPIsTheProblemNotTheGovernment
#GOPIsTheProblem

#ConsAreTheProblemNotTheGovernment
#ConsAreTheProblem

#KochNetwork #IDU #Cons

Show threadEungerJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid counterpoint, our government became a problem when our conservative SCOTUS decided to play legislature for corporate free speech and gun use, but pseudo-originalists when it comes to a woman’s individual right to choose her own medical treatment.
Show threadNicky🦨✌️Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid government and unions created a balanced system. Reagan and friends convinced the American public that capitalism could take over with limited government involvement. Stupid because the government and unions had to get involved because unfettered capitalism led to wealth inequality and socioeconomic stagnation for the majority of American people after the Depression.
Show threadRicky NetzelJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid ok,thankyou
Show threadIrishAfricanAmericanJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

#Facts

Show threadDecker harrisonJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid oh no no no, can't have the people involved, Who on earth would pay for our Servants,hookers and Yachat fuel 🤬
SV
Yeah we're Fd 😔💔
Show threadSonuvaSeaBeeJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
Show threadSocialistStanJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid The government is the problem because the people are not the government.
Show threadChrisUJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid
#IndictAllGOPTraitors
Show threadMatt RJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid A few people in the thread is trying to pinpoint a person or event to describe how we got here and I think it's a much larger web of actors. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2232&context=ulj highlights the choice the GOP had in 2002 and the path they chose that lead us to today.
Show thread[email protected]Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid The party of Lincoln was more Democratic than today’s GOP
Show threadAviva GaryJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid True.

But...

The US has always been this way, with in fact many people only gaining some rights and equality in the 1900s. Last. Century.

Once that happened, that *some* people got things, the people who always had things lost their minds, and organized to destroy that by any means possible.

If that meant the country as a whole... so be it.

Show threadMax Ganz II 🇺🇦Jan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid "To declare Government as the problem is to declare the American people as the problem."

I may be wrong, but I think this is crazy. The issues involved are not as they are portrayed, and this is not a logical or reasonable connection of them.

Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Jan 4, 2023

@maxganz Would appreciate you quote my full point, and critique that.

To repeat: If we have a government for, by, and of the people, then claiming government is the problem is to claim the people are the problem.

That's an absurd position to hold in my view.

Show threadMax Ganz II 🇺🇦Jan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid Government is a large organization. The information processing problems inherent in large organizations mean that the information coming in, where it is so large, must be aggregated and simplified, become *qualitatively incorrect*, then at some point decisions are made on the basis of this data, which then get deaggregated on their way out, in turn becoming qualitatively incorrect, and the find madness is what's done.
Show threadMax Ganz II 🇺🇦Jan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid The idea Government is for the people and by the people sets aside the issue that the unintended consequences of Government profoundly out weigh the intended consequences.

Government *is* a problem, because it is unable to cope with the complexities of real life.

The notion or question or whether it is for or by the people has nothing to do with anything.

Show threadMax Ganz II 🇺🇦Jan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid Anyway, thinking about it a bit, this is not the main issue on my mind.

The main issue is that Government simply is *not* and never has been by the people, for the people.

Government is an independent entity with its own set of self-interests, some of which align with the people and some which do not. This has always been so.

Saying "Government is by the people, therefore saying Government is wrong is to say people are wrong", this is demagoguery.

Show threadTC Won't Give In To LiesJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

Absolutely LOVE your take on this.

Reagan's attacking government was literally the start of decades undermining democratic representation.

The House Speaker fiasco, Trump, gov shutdowns are are logical outcomes. It is literally the road to oligarchy and authoritarians.

Show threadCharles JordanJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

Well said. You nailed it.

Show threadVHaschJan 4, 2023

@QasimRashid

I've given these two views a lot of thought. While a loose confederation of fairly autonomous states may have been viable back when the country was founded, the speed of events, and appearance of threats today simply can not be effectively faced without a strong centralized government.

i.e., too many chiefs puts us all in peril.

Show threadRichardOntarioJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid YOU get to choose from 50 candidates for your Miss America pageant but only 2 to head YOUR country Yep, it’s your fault
Show threadJoseph S Giacalone Photo ArtJan 4, 2023
@QasimRashid Paramahansa Yogananda (Founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship) in his writings related the purpose of religion is to eliminate human suffering...may I humbly add one of the main purposes of government should be to not eliminate, but to reduce human suffering. Things like greed, selfishness, personal profiteering, political dogma, anger, and hate seem to populate much of society including the American govt.
Take care.