Come This Far with Chris Taylor

I had to vocalize my thoughts and feelings on the recent massacre in Uvalde, Texas. As much as I’ve tried to block out seeing or reading anything related to the recent massacre in Uvalde, Texas. I just can’t. The reason I want to block it all out is simply because I already know exactly what those in power will say and do. Nothing. At least nothing of any value…

The smartest people have done the dumbest things. The most courageous people have done cowardly things, the most honest people have told lies. The kindest people have made others very sad, the most motivated people suffer from procrastination. The most morally straight people have lacked integrity.

Nobody is just one thing. We all have the capacity to do good and bad equally. It all comes down to the choices we make. Research suggests the average person will make 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day and at least 27 important consequential ones. That translates to perhaps millions over the course of a lifetime.

Of course we will regret many of those decisions. However, it is not the decisions we make, but what we make of those decisions once we have made them that makes all the difference in our lives. When we mess up, simply do the next right thing and the next right thing after that.

In an unprecedented move, prosecutors have charged the parents of the school shooter in Oxford High School in Oakland County, MI with 4 counts each of involuntary manslaughter for their actions contributing to the massacre. They are now fugitives of justice.

I provide my updated opinions of Kyle Rittenhouse after watching his exclusive interview with Tucker Carlson.

My take on the whole Kyle Rittenhouse saga.

We have all seen the depiction of George Washington, the Father of our great nation kneeling in humble and sincere prayer on the snow-covered grounds of Valley Forge. What kind of guidance was he likely seeking from God?

With the emergence and full embrace of online sports betting by all professional sports leagues including Major League Baseball, how can they continue to justify the lifetime ban of baseball’s all time hit king and perhaps best all around player to ever live Pete Rose. Who was banned from baseball and thus ineligible for the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball.

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On the 20th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 we dive into the memories of that fateful day. I speak about where I was and the feelings I distinctly remember from that day and how profoundly the events changed the course of so many lives forever.

Why was everyone on board with the Government's decision to infringe on our ability to travel by airplane in the days following the 9/11 attacks in which less than 3,000 Americans died but so many people absolutely lose their minds at the very thought of the Government's good faith efforts to limit the number of deaths during a virus outbreak that has killed nearly 700,000 Americans?

Take The Quiz Here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/08/opinion/republicans-democrats-parties.html

America’s two-party system is broken. Democrats and Republicans are locked in an increasingly destructive partisan struggle that has produced gridlock and stagnation on too many critical issues — most urgently, the pandemic and climate change.

There is no reasonable or timely way to fix this broken system. But there is an alternative: more parties.

It is not so hard to imagine a six-party system — and it would not even require a constitutional amendment.

Each party represents a different portion of the electorate, not only ideologically but also by economic class and political engagement.

There is no “center” party here. That is because there are very few voters in the middle across all issues. Many readers who consider themselves centrist might also think of themselves as socially liberal/fiscally moderate or socially moderate/fiscally conservative. They will find a home in either the New Liberal Party or the Growth and Opportunity Party.

These six parties reflect the underlying factions — and divides — within the Democratic and Republican parties. Until American politics nationalized in the 1980s and 1990s around divisive culture-war issues, they operated more independently within the two major political parties.

We get to such a system through proportional multimember districts. This approach features districts much larger than our current tiny congressional ones — and each elects more than one person, at once, to represent the region. So more than one party could represent a district in proportion to their popularity within that large district — just as they do in most advanced democracies.

Legislation introduced in the current Congress, the Fair Representation Act, would require use of multimember districts with ranked-choice voting in most states’ House selections as well as elections for the Senate. If more parties emerged, coalitions across parties would form to elect a speaker and organize committee assignments — just as coalitions form in multiparty legislatures around the world. Multiparty democracy would facilitate the shifting alliances and bargaining that are essential in democracy but have largely disappeared in today’s zero-sum conflict.

The Senate would most likely become a much more free-wheeling institution, as it was in the past. Absent reform to the Electoral College, presidential elections would still probably come down to two major candidates. However, with partisan loyalties less fixed, more voters would judge candidates on the content of their ideas and character rather than the D or R next to their names. Moreover, a less hyperpartisan Congress will also most likely be less gridlocked and more productive, enabling it to reclaim a more central role in our national politics, lowering the stakes of presidential elections and potentially lowering the stakes for Supreme Court nominations in a new era of reduced partisanship.