Date: 2024-07-17 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00022803
TRANSPORT
PETE BUTTIGIEG
PBS Newshour Geoff Bennett talks with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
PETE BUTTIGIEG
PBS Newshour Geoff Bennett talks with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
Original article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pete-buttigieg-discusses-travel-woes-supply-chains-infrastructure-and-lgbtq-rights
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
A great interview! Pete Buttigieg is 100% positive about the policy agenda of President Biden and the Democrats ... very clear and from my point of view, very factual.
The media ... and most Democrats who have any sort of a voice rarely exhibit this sort of clarity.
Republicans got the message that messaging was important more than 50 years ago when Nixon lost an election because Kennedy was better at messaging (I think this is historically correct but I have not checked it recently). Nixon identified Roger Ailes as a potential Republican messenger and over time this became the Fox network ... a mouthpiece for all that is conservative, no matter how outragious.
Within American society, I usually describe myself as conservative ... somewhat to the left of Bernie Sanders. But I grew up with British politics, not American politics and they are very different animals. Britain, and most of Europe (and Canada) has embraced a robust social safety net as being of immense value in a modern society while in the United States the social safety net is a complete mess, ineffective while still being expensive.
American politics is unique ... more unique than in most places (if that is logical). While there are two 'chambers' in the UK, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, essentially all the legislative process takes place in the Commons with the Lords having almost nothing to say. In the United States, the House of Representatives and the Senate both have a major role in the legislative process and both ... that is one or the other ... can stop a bill becoming law.
I cannot pretend fully to understand the structure that is American politics, but the House has almost 500 members, with one Member elected for a congressional district which comprises a polulation of around 750,000 people. There are 435 congressional districts as of the 2020 census. The Senate has 100 members, with two Senators elected from each State. Seven States have one Representative each: Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Delaware. This contrasts with California with 53 representatives, Texas with 37 and Florida and New York with 27 each. Not surprisingly the political profile of members of the Senate is very different from the political profile of members of the house which in theory could give balance to legislation but in practive in recent years (decades) has merely logjammed a lot of legislation.
Fifty Republican Senators have been elected by a total of people while fifty Democrat Senators have been elected by a total of
Peter Burgess