Cause for (Guarded) Optimism

[Teacher Terry]

I hope I am wrong but I see civil unrest, demonstrations, etc and things going backwards in regard to education, environment, etc.

[iris lilies]

I seem to remember it about as soon as Bush got done, but that's probably just me. Definitely way, way before 4 years in.

Updated: First I found on the forum (not exactly those words) was 06/11 - so later than I thought.

Thats ok because I was not clear. For sure, I think that President
Obama will be blamed for lots of stuff early into the Trump reign.

Just don't bring up Obama as scapegoat beyond, oh, three years into Trump.

Remember that the begnning of the Obama reign was 2008 and all of those old posts are not accesible, they are on a previous site.

[Rogar]

My guarded optimism is that government operations will get so messed up that many departments will have to be white boarded and rebuilt from little more than scratch. That the left and right media conflicts and the politicians that interfere with them will come to a head and a more accurate representation of the state of things will evolve. Most other optimism I can come up with is probably self-delusional.

There is a good point that what ever the Trump regime does, life will go on, but there is a new element of risk and uncertainly. Probably my daily routine and general well being will not change a lot. But on a more global sense the environment could be irreparably damaged at a much faster rate. Personal freedoms, especially for minorities, may be more limited. Deregulation of the financial sector puts us at risk of another meltdown. Big money and politics will be better bed partners. International relationships and any balance of global power could be upset and cause new conflict. A new nuclear arms race could results in global obliteration. Other than that I'm sort of optimistic it will work out. That people will stand up for what is right and just and keep the new driver inside the white lines.

[bae]

I'll be curious to see what happens to Israel and the UN....

[Alan]

I'll be curious to see what happens to Israel and the UN....

Me too, delivering a sucker punch on the way out the door will surely have repercussions.

[jp1]

I'll be curious to see what happens to Israel and the UN....

But at least relations with Russia are going to be much much better.

[LDAHL]

It's not clear to me where Trump stands on Israel. It's not clear to me where he stands on much of anything.

It does seem to me to be a pretty drastic policy reversal to in essence support pushing Israel back to the pre-1967 borders. While UN votes aren't terribly relevant, I wonder if this signals reduced diplomatic and material support for Israel if Trump was apprised beforehand. Otherwise, it's just an empty, spiteful gesture.

[creaker]

It's not clear to me where Trump stands on Israel. It's not clear to me where he stands on much of anything.

Gaslighting does that - and he is really good at it.

[jp1]

I don't see this as a cause for optimism! I prefer an admittedly flawed human over a system that is driven, or at least navigated, by technologies that are far from fail (or fool!)-proof. But then I'm not a fan of robotic machinery replacing workers, or of being connected, or of controlling anything in my home from my cell phone, either.

And I do not believe that a willingness to overlook threats to our liberty -or the liberty of Americans who don't look or believe just like the majority of those holding political power- and get back to "business as usual" is a GOOD thing. Obviously, YMMV.

While I share many of your concerns I'm optimistic that self driving cars will reduce accidents, possibly significantly.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/2...-and-avoid-it/

[Rogar]

Among my immediate personal concerns are what Ryan and his club are going to send to the new administration on Medicare and Social Security. I'd wager they are already working on the plan and it will come up early in 2017.