[continued from previous message]   
      
   >> use of the improper stratagems and theories used to try to   
   >> delegitimize the 2020 Presidential   
   >> election.   
   >> 10. I believe there is little doubt that former President Trump failed   
   >> to intervene and stop the   
   >> attempted occupation of the Capitol of the United States for several   
   >> crucial hours on January 6th   
   >> 2021. I believe we need to elect as President a person fully committed   
   >> to "protect and defend   
   >> the Constitution" under all circumstances.   
   >> Michael   
   >>   
   >> PART III THE ECONOMY CLAIM AGAINST BIDEN (and, by implication KH)   
   >>   
   >> Those inclined to vote for former President Trump often say that the   
   >> economy for them was   
   >>   
   >> better in the Trump years before the onset of the COVID crisis than   
   >> they have been in the post-   
   >> COVID years of the Biden administration. By this, they generally refer   
   >> to the inflation in the costs   
   >>   
   >> of food, housing and energy. The implication is that the economic   
   >> policies of former President   
   >> Trump created the better conditions during his administration and that   
   >> the policies of the Biden   
   >> administration have created and are responsible for the recent   
   >> inflation and sense of economic   
   >> crisis.   
   >> I believe both of these conclusions are mistaken. First, the relative   
   >> low inflation from 2017   
   >> through 2019, I believe, represented the results of the efforts to   
   >> stabilize and grow the economy   
   >> by the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve after the Great   
   >> Recession. I believe that   
   >> little of this relative prosperity (including wage increases for   
   >> African-American men alluded to by   
   >> commentators such as Bret Stephens) can be attributed to the explicit   
   >> policies or initiatives of   
   >> the Trump administration (with the possible exception of some modest   
   >> stimulus from modest tax   
   >> decreases for middle-class families in the 2017 tax legislation).   
   >>   
   >> On the other hand - and I think this has to be said very loudly and   
   >> clearly - the inflation in the   
   >> post COVID period Is mainly the result first of the severe supply   
   >> chain disruptions due to the   
   >> shutdowns, quarantines and restrictions on productivity resulting from   
   >> the need to contain the   
   >> COVID virus. More recently, inflation has been exacerbated by severe   
   >> interruptions in shipping   
   >> by the war in Ukraine and the wars in the Middle East, and threats to   
   >> the safety of maritime   
   >> traffic. While the combined stimulus packages of the CARES Act (passed   
   >> towards the end of the   
   >> Trump administration) and the American Recovery Plan (passed early in   
   >> the Biden   
   >> administration) may said to have also been factors, these Acts I   
   >> believe largely saved America   
   >> from a depression or terrible recession in the wake of COVID. I   
   >> believe it is also undisputable   
   >> that the rate of inflation has significantly fallen in the last year,   
   >> largely due to the careful policies   
   >> of the Federal Reserve augmented by the policies of the Biden   
   >> administration.   
   >> Thus, I believe that voting for former President Trump on the premise   
   >> that he can better run the   
   >> economy or restore the price levels in the first couple of years of   
   >> his administration is based on   
   >> faulty assumptions and is gravely mistaken. The proposals for an   
   >> across-the-board tariff on   
   >> foreign imports of good and technology proposed by the former   
   >> President is intrinsically   
   >> inflationary and likely to reverse the steady if still incomplete   
   >> progress in checking inflation while   
   >> working to increase wage levels.   
   >> One of my disappointments in the debate during this election season is   
   >> that there has not been   
   >> a more comprehensible discussion about the reasons for the economic   
   >> pain experienced by   
   >> many Americans despite the state of our economy being what Heather Cox   
   >> Richardson calls   
   >> "the envy of the world." I believe that the long-term   
   >> infrastructure, research and development,   
   >> and capital commitment legislation passed during the Biden   
   >> administration is a major   
   >> accomplishment that a Harris administration will sustain and build on,   
   >> but that a second Trump   
   >> administration is more likely to undermine and undo by misguided   
   >> approaches such as the   
   >> Trump campaign's tariff proposals. Thus, I think that voters for whom   
   >> the state of the economy is   
   >> a major concern should be voting for the Harris-Walz ticket so that   
   >> the foundations for a strong   
   >> U.S. economy laid by the Biden administration can be built on and   
   >> strengthened.   
   >> Michael   
   >>   
   >> Part IV THE DO-NOTHING CLAIM AGAINST KH   
   >>   
   >> Former President Trump and Senator Vance have often suggested that   
   >> somehow Vice   
   >> President Harris could have seen to the enactment of her policy   
   >> proposals and initiatives during   
   >> the three years she has been Vice President.   
   >> I think this suggestion is unfair - and very ironic as well - for the   
   >> following reasons:   
   >> First, very obviously, the Vice President is not the President and   
   >> therefore has not had unilateral   
   >> control of the Biden administration�s agenda.   
   >> But more importantly, President Biden and Vice President Harris have   
   >> tried to advance some of   
   >> the Vice-President's proposals and others that flow from a belief in   
   >> the power of government to   
   >> maintain fairness and opportunity in our economic and social systems.   
   >> A striking example to me   
   >> is the expanded childcare credit, which was passed temporarily under   
   >> the American Recovery   
   >> Plan in 2021 but had to be pared back in the 2022 budget negotiations   
   >> due to opposition mainly   
   >> from Republican lawmakers and, yes, a few Democratic or independent   
   >> lawmakers, especially   
   >> in the U.S. Senate. Other plans to provide initiatives designed to   
   >> support workers in the service   
   >> economy had to be scrapped because of opposition largely if not   
   >> exclusively from Republican   
   >> lawmakers.   
   >> To ensure that more of the proposals and initiatives proposed by Vice   
   >> President Harris can be   
   >> fairly considered, refined, and implemented requires not only on   
   >> electing Vice President Harris   
   >> to be the next President of the United States but also on electing a   
   >> majority of Senators and   
   >> Representatives who understand the potential of government to support   
   >> economic security and   
   >> encourage fair competition and a level playing field for   
   >> entrepreneurship and investment, be   
   >> they Democrats, Independents or Republicans who are willing to work   
   >> with the Vice-President in   
   >> pursuit of her goals for our country and its people.   
   >>   
   >> Michael   
   >   
   > ***   
   >   
   > Kamala Harris is coming to Atlanta for a campaign rally on Saturday!   
   > Will we see you there, Doris? - Cameron volunteering with Team   
   > Harris-Walz (stop to quit)   
   >   
   > RSVP here: https://txt.democrats.org/h7n8   
   >   
   > p.s. Friday 11/1 is the last day to vote early in person!   
   >   
   > ***   
   >   
      
      
   I voted.   
   I do not live in Montana, wish I could have supported Jon Tester with my   
   vote.   
      
   Tester is really well liked in red Montana, despite being a Democrat,   
   because he’s a real Montanan “dirt farmer”. He’s won easily for the   
   past 3   
   terms, but this year was looking really sketchy for him.  And trump  made   
   it his personal mission to get him ousted.  And so Tester lost   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)