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Misc => Debate => Topic started by: Kpyna on August 07, 2015, 01:13
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Ah yes, it's almost that time of year, when all of the politicians come out to try to stake their claim to the white house, in 'merica. Talk about whose team you're on, idiotic quotes from the hopefuls, and what key issues you're concerned about.
Quick recap for those who are out of the loop but still interested:
Obama has almost served all of his eight years of presidency, so it's time for someone else to take over. On the republican side, we have many, many hopefuls, while on the democratic side, we have a lot less options, which is to be expected when a democrat leaves office, as people who swing from one party to the other will often switch sides. Right now there seems to be a lot of options, but as debates continue our options will narrow until we have to choose between only two people we probably don't really like. Yay!
From poking around the internet, I'm predicting the big issues will be:
- Drone use on and off American soil
- Planned Parenthood
- International Relations with NK and the Middle East
- Privacy
- Affirmative Action
- Police reform
The Republican Corner:
Donald Trump: (http://www.ontheissues.org/Donald_Trump.htm) A real estate magnate with no filter who also did the apprentice. He's a favorite of the republicans at this moment, pulling in 25.5% of the republican vote in primary polls. He's not taken seriously by most people in politics, most likely because this isn't his first rodeo, and his lack of eloquence with speaking. Earlier this year he got slammed for referring to mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists at a rally. He's wishy washy with his stances: He's against gun control, but supports a ban on assault weapons and longer waiting periods to buy guns... for that reason I won't bother to explain his further stances, because I feel they hold little salt and I feel that all he needs is some clown makeup to complete his image.
Jeb Bush: (http://www.ontheissues.org/Jeb_Bush.htm) Fun fact, Jeb's nickname is an acronym of his full name, John Ellis Bush, meaning when you call him "Jeb Bush", it's like saying ATM Machine. Hailing from the Bush dynasty with ~13% of the vote, he's most similar to other familiar republicans, like John McCain and Romney. Traditionally anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, pro-surveillance, pro-gun, anti-obamacare, and supports mining the earth for energy, including on federal lands. Opposes medical and recreational marijuana, net neutrality, and believes in giving illegal immigrants legal status, but not citizenship.
Ted Cruz: (http://www.ontheissues.org/ted_cruz.htm) A texan senator with less than 6% of the vote, he's against the affordable care act, and more for bombing ISIL than putting boots on the ground. He stands with Israel, and has a bit of a harsher stance on foreign policy than some republicans. Opposes net neutrality, abortion, criticizes the NSA, and is a big fan of the flat tax.
Ben Carson: (http://www.ontheissues.org/Ben_Carson.htm) A black neurosurgeon with grassroots origins, he's a favorite of some republicans, but can't seem to garner support from the majority. He doesn't believe in evolution, and does believe being gay is a choice. He's anti-marijuana, pro-gun, and once equated the Affordable Care Act with slavery.
I'll add anyone else who can manage to get more than 5% of the republican vote. Here's a list of how the candidates are polling as of now. (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-gop-primary)
The Democratic Corner:
Hilary Clinton: (http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm) The former secretary of state from the Clinton Clan, she got off to a bad start due to an email controversy, but she's currently raking in about 54% of the democratic vote. She supports social programs, clean energy, and wants to raise the federal minimum wage. She likes socialized health care, Israel, and believes in opening up legal pathways for illegals to live and work here. She threatened to obliterate Iran if they used nukes on Israel, and wants to open diplomatic relations with Cuba. There's literally so much info on this woman, if you wanna know more, click the link.
Bernie Sanders: (http://www.ontheissues.org/bernie_sanders.htm) Reddit's favorite, Sanders is an unapologetic socialist who is managing almost 18% of the democratic vote. He is unique in how he has been funded by his own pocket and individual donations, without the help of super PACs or corporations. He's staunchly pro-choice, even voting that partial birth abortion should remain legal. He promises to focus on income and wealth inequality by raising taxes on the richest percentage of the US and making it harder for businesses to dodge taxation. He is one of the few candidates to speak out against the TPP, and he also hopes to make college more affordable for Americans. Pro clean energy, and against getting involved in the middle east. He's for restrictions on guns, giving workers more family related benefits, and doesn't support the immigration of unskilled workers.
If more dems come up, I'll add 'em. Here's an up-to-date poll. (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primary)
Tonight is the GOP debate, so we should be hearing a bit from the republican candidates, and get some new fresh 2015 information of their views. Personally, I'm interested to see how they're supposed to disagree with each other... well, except Donald Trump, he's a total instigator.
Personally, I'm the biggest fan of Bernie Sanders, but I usually seem to be in support of the people who don't gain a lot of traction... I appreciate Bernie's transparency and I probably disagree with him on the least amount of issues. I would appreciate Clinton, but she seems incredibly bought and while I don't disagree with her on as many things as the other candidates, I feel like her priorities and what she talks about aren't exactly where they should be.
What do you all think?
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Waka Flocka for president tbh
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Ah, I've heard he's very sympathetic to reforming drug laws. I forgot to write a short bio on him.
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I don't care too much for politics but here is my take on all the candidates.
Donald Trump seems to be all talk.
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got an awful feeling it'll be Hilary .vs. Jeb and jeb will win cos of public democrat disillusionment (like the uk's swing to tory after 12 years of labour) and the fact that the rather loud and angry majority will go "a WOMAN president!??!? after a black president????" and really force the vote for jeb to get some "normal looking president in for once to restore order" cos you know how it goes
i mean obama got in twice so anything could happen and i really hope you dont join us in the UK in "idiotic swing to right because imigants and terrorism arg blarg ARE TROOPS etc" and everyone being magically surprised when the right-wing defunds everything they have but it seems to be the Trend lately, sadly.
really the big issue to Discuss is environmental control and the whole fiscal cliff thing but lmao good luck at people being interested in that and the corporations/1% standing for "we need some of YOUR money for once for the good of the country instead of all the poor peoples' money"
trump has said that he will run independant if he doesn't get the leader nomination which hopefully should mess the republican lot up a bit if nothing else? this election will be an entertaining one for sure.
for anyone not quite up to speed this (the odd nsfw warning if u know of some pbf strips) (http://politicalpbf.tumblr.com/) is a good tumblr to get an idea of whats been going on in the election run-up, if you're like me and learn best thru satire
what i really want to happen is Sanders .vs. Trump, mind you cos it'd be the perfect match in hell, socialism vs capitalism in its purest and most beautiful form. sanders would win and the working classes and minorities would rise and seize control, and the efforts of the usa since the cold war began to be vehemently anti-union and anti-socialism would finally collapse. the GDP of the us would surge overnight as poor and less-poor alike co-operate for the good of all. i mean i can dream right?
(p.s. trump is the word in northern england for a fart so its p apt)
p.p.s. is ron paul still running?
p.p.p.s. this is SO DUMB of me to say and ive been meaning to say it for a while but uh liz this is a really good OP and u put an awful lot of effort into these sorts of Discussion topics ive noticed. i dunno if people tell you this or let you know cos usually it devolves into trademark puk style awkward staring at the floor and arguing/trying too hard to be funny/nerding out about something unrelated half a page most the time, but goddamn u do work hard to create Discussion here i think and i dunno if people tell u this enough
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got an awful feeling it'll be Hilary .vs. Jeb and jeb will win cos of public democrat disillusionment (like the uk's swing to tory after 12 years of labour) and the fact that the rather loud and angry majority will go "a WOMAN president!??!? after a black president????" and really force the vote for jeb to get some "normal looking president in for once to restore order" cos you know how it goes
I gotta admit, I don't see the whole "woman president" discrimination thing being too big of a deal -- what I am sure of is if it comes down to Hillary as the forerunner of the democratic party, it's gonna be like how it was with Obama: "You only want to elect her because she's a woman!" which of course has little to do with it, I doubt she's gonna actually win or lose a lot of votes based on her sex. I see if it comes down to the two of them (which at this point is probably the majority opinion for what will happen), Jeb will win because at the moment there's this weird attitude towards the Bush family. People keep saying, "Well, George Bush wasn't the most eloquent speaker, but at least we know he loved America!", while ignoring the fact that he got us involved in an incredibly economically draining war. I feel like since he's a Bush, but doesn't give off the impression of having flies for brains like George, that's gonna do him a favor for Americans with their rose-tinted glasses.
I would pay large sums of money to watch Bernie and Trump go at each other. I want Bernie to get invited to a major debate: Even if he doesn't come out on top, I think he's willing to ask those question that people really want to hear about, as opposed to foreign and immigration policy which candidates love to talk about more than anything.
Ron Paul isn't in this race (he's ancient at this point, really), but we have Rand Paul in to scoop up all of the people who favored his father, despite that I don't see them as similar figures at all. He's not polling exceptionally well at the moment but I have a feeling he'll get bigger at some point within the next year.
And thanks Beth! I appreciate it. I personally really enjoy politics (even if politicians give me headaches) so I was happy to write all of that out :p
I'm guessing nobody watched the GOP debate last night -- which is alright since as I've heard nothing interesting really happened, which you can kind of expect because how similar the Republican party is at this moment. Also, it's a year before the elections so things aren't super heated just yet. I'm just gonna rip from the Fox news article:
The governors on stage, notably John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, touted their economic records. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz vowed to scrap the Iran deal. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson reminded voters in his closing remarks of the professional background that separates him from the rest: “I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins.”
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reclaimed his reputation as a tough-talking executive, blasting his rivals for their positions on domestic surveillance and entitlements. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul traded barbs with several candidates, including Christie.
Meanwhile, one-time front-runner former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush found himself on defense several times and largely avoided tangling with Trump on the Fox News/Facebook stage.
And at the end, I know that Chris Christie (who you may remember at the guy who closed that major bridge a few years ago as the result of a hissy fit, which actually ended up killing people because it was a main route to a hospital) and Rand Paul went back and forth about government surveillance because CC thinks that Paul was unamerican for not wanting the government to continue collecting phone data from civilians. I have a friend who watched the debates and he said that's the one part that actually stood out -- I'm thinking that might help Rand Paul's fall in popularity, or at least win him the favor of younger voters who are more concerned with privacy.
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I really hope Hilary Clinton doesn't win, she's definitely going for the whole internet cult of personality campaign that Obama did so no doubt there will be many who will fall for it hook, line and sinker and of course she will definitely be going for the women's vote. I think her stances on encryption and national surveillance are pretty sideways - the NSA needs to be controlled but Google and Apple basically need to backdoor all of their secure channels to 'protect national security', meanwhile she wants to route all her mail through her own servers and none of it is accountable...You can't have it both ways.
I don't consider anyone on the left wing with that kind of stance to be trustable, it's a big red flag for me. I think Hilary should stick to being secretary of state, IMO she did better in the Middle East than any other American politician, her international game is strong.
The rest all look pretty measly though, republicans look mental as always; no surprises there. Bernie Sanders seems the most level headed but he doesn't really jump out at me as being a particularly iconic president, though maybe I can't have it both ways either. He seems smart on NSA spying and the war on drugs so that's a big plus.
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Waka Flocka for president tbh
Will he run with Nicki Minaj or Gucci Mane?
Find out in 2016!
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(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/11794472_10153660090778812_2820940606227377236_o.jpg)(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/t31.0-8/11144966_10153660069373812_2965568346571441965_o.jpg)
The Mike Huckabee one legit makes me cringe and there's Lil' Paul for you.
(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/11700757_10153659963343812_4455197629309496468_o.jpg)
Bonus Donald Trump for you.
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Choices all seem absolutely abysmal tbh, I don't think I could happily vote for any of them if I was in the US. All the republicans seem to be nut jobs, and they're pro-guns, anti-abortion and generally on the bad side Christianity, so that's republicans out the window. The fact that some of them don't believe in evolution baffles me, it's like you'll sooner believe a 2000+ year old book than a theory presented by some of the greatest minds on earth with an absolute tonne of evidence? People are crazy xD
Hilary would probably be my choice, but more of a she's the least bad then I actually think she'd be good in any way xD Don't like how it's likely Bill will use her to get into the office, obviously not as president. Would like to see how the whole first lady thing works, would they keep the role but reverse gender or just not have it?
Don't like Bernie at all, way too socialist. Do like his stance on abortion and guns though, which seem to be pretty major issues in US politics.
Hadn't heard of Joe Biden running before this post, but he seems kinda middle of the road Democrat, nothing special.
But seriously, American politics is literally a choice of absolutely crazy people if you want right wing, or whoever the democrat candidate is. It makes the British choice of Milliband .v. Cameron look fantastic xD
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whats wrong with socialism, everything is basically socialist
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i gotta say bernie's socialist views... not that big of a problem. if by some stroke of luck he became president there would be SO much red tape to stop him from progressing us too far.
and people tend to think he's socialist because of his views on income inequality... i honestly feel like if you're at the top, and making more money than you know what to do with, then you should be able to afford to give your employees who helped to make you a wage that they can live on... people every day in the US go without health and dental care, struggling to keep a roof above their heads, and just doing what they can on food stamps. and those food stamps -- republicans love to complain about people taking food stamps -- are just the middle class footing the bill of those CEOs lack of care through taxes.
i agree, i do find the republican party kind of strange... just a very very strange overreaching attitude but at the same time "muh guns!" even though the gun control anyone is pushing for in america is VERY slight... just wanting longer waiting times to approve the mental health of some people i don't think is obnoxiously crazy, and as for the far left wanting to ban "assault weapons" (most broad, useless term ever, not to be confused with assault rifles), well, that's some stupidity we have to be vigilant for. i have no issues with keeping guns, i feel most people are very responsible with weapons, if i wanted to buy a personal gun i doubt i'd find myself in a situation where i would need one to buy instantly... like you can at a gun show. whats a few days extra wait if we can stop a few shootings imo. they don't see it like that though i guess. just keep protecting the unborn
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Yeah I'm personally undecided on gun laws. I'm fine with how they are in the UK but the situation in the US has its roots so much deeper that there's no way I'd suggest they just suddenly ban guns or something.
I think though when the main hook of your political campaign is to protect gun owners then there's clearly some first world problems going on. Surely even if you're right wing there must be more pressing issues to care about than the sanctity of guns. If I was a nutcase republican it would still be medium-low on my priority list.
Also I generally don't take any American cries of "But socialism!" seriously. A lot of things that I've heard Americans throw the dirty S word at just actually seems like common sense/equality to me, but maybe it's just because they've been raised in a hyper-capitalist society.
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I get why America has guns. I get that once upon a time you wanted to form individual militia should the govermnent turn on you or if we ever decided to come back for round two, but it's never going to happen. I've been to America a couple of times: Once when I was nine the other when I was thirteen. We visited relatives in Oklahoma and one of them showed me his .308 rifle that was bigger than I was. Being in OK and holding a massive gun for me at the time was feeling like I was in the 'real' America. But then I ended up in a Wal Mart the second time round and seeing how you could walk into a supermarket and buy a shotgun or a 9mm pistol along with your milk and bread was terrifying. Okay, you can't just chuck 'em in the trolley and walk out, but it's the concept of being able to do it. From this side of the Pond, the fact that the ability to still easily acquire guns for a government revolt that will never happen is being prioritised over universal 'free' healthcare like we have is just mental. I'm hoping to visit New England on honeymoon for history purposes and I wouldn't mind visiting a range to have a go. Just to experience it.
(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/11794472_10153660090778812_2820940606227377236_o.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/24/6a/66/246a663975f15f90e2f62ff76a0ffe11.jpg)
Memes like these were made for people like him. Makes Nigel Farage look normal...
The rest of the world can see that Obama or whoever doesn't want to take guns away (which it seems the NRA is convinced will happen) but just make it much, much harder for people who clearly should not have them to get one (Aurora shooter, the Charleston shooter, Sandy Hook etc); so why can't the gun nuts see that?
After the Dunblane school shooting we said "okay, this is never happening again" and banned all guns except shotguns which are now regulated to two shells only. Pistols were sold for competition use only and even then we had very few shootings. Maybe it's the differing attitude to guns here. We say "Just because you can doesn't mean you should" while amongst the right wing gun nuts it's "I can have one, therefore I will... And not just one... I'm starting my own munitions bunker"
"assault weapons" (most broad, useless term ever, not to be confused with assault rifles), well, that's some stupidity we have to be vigilant for.
Isn't an 'assault weapon' anything that uses 5.56 NATO ammo and above or something like that? Or fires at a certain rate?
Also I generally don't take any American cries of "But socialism!" seriously. A lot of things that I've heard Americans throw the dirty S word at just actually seems like common sense/equality to me, but maybe it's just because they've been raised in a hyper-capitalist society.
Socialists were their big enemies for nearly fifty years during the Cold War. Anything that gives everybody equality is sharing and sharing is too close to Communism for some.
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i'm too lazy to update the first post, but i think its pretty funny jeb really doesnt exist anymore. he keeps running but i think deep down he knows he won't win.
and donald and cruz are pretty neck and neck for first place now, i think i've seen donald between 36% or 44% of republican favor. i never thought trump would stand a chance but he has a really rabid following of crazy americans.
and my man bernie is neck and neck with hillary, and it looks like in my home state of NH he's gonna beat her. i'm getting my ballot to vote tomorrow since i won't be home on the 9th when bernie takes it in our primary... he came and spoke at my school a couple days ago and i went and listened and he was SO confident he was gonna win NH and i agree!
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necroposting but how did it end up hillary .vs. trump?????????
i mean other than the fervent media storm on both sides (kinda suspect the millions of cheeky nandos memelords to not get it and give trump even more publicity) and the GOPs inadequacy to stop a reality tv star from destroying them all, again. so i guess we can look forward to trump covertly floating mines into a peaceful nicaraguan port in a couple years time and for cameron n trump to bffsies against Communism
fake edit: seeing mention of jeb in liz's last post makes me remember i actually felt a little bad for the dude when he dropped out early. "sorry ma, i hope ur still proud." poor baby.
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Kasich made a plan to let Cruz 1v1 Trump in Indiana and then Kasich would 1v1 Trump in Oregon. Trump beat Cruz and Cruz dropped, and Kasich chickened out. It's plans like this that make me wonder how he became our state's governor.
Edit: And once again I fail to spellcheck
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trump is better than everyone else running for the republican party
.. except like rand paul and maybe marco rubio
hillary at the start vs hillary now is much different, i think ultimately hillary's foreign policy comes from a position of better standing than Bernie's due to her experiences as first lady among other things so that's ultimately what it came down to. Hillary and Bernie don't really differ too much in a lot of things these days.
like Trump destroying the GOP may be a wonderful thing for this country, especially if Trump pulls a punk'd routine and decides to remind the world that he is in actuality a moderate and not a crazy ass reactionary like he keeps preaching, but I'd still rather go Hillary to prevent pandora's box from opening
Anyway, I'd like to end this post with this
(https://i.reddituploads.com/047a4720d20e4feebf88087a59d79104?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=06bda0b9fb635b73ed75ad248a6c4735)
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i've become so ambivalent, i don't want hillary, i don't want trump. people assure you trump would be a disaster, but i'm not so sure hillary would be much better. she has foreign policy experience but it's nothing particularly good. i don't care about her foreign policy experience if she's on the wrong side of everything. i'm gonna be equally as disappointed no matter who becomes elected tbh. i feel like trump is a lot of hot air, he would still make efforts to repeal citizen's united which to me is the main objective of this elective for the US people because things are never going to change if we don't repeal that. i hate the fact he's awful to pretty much everyone who isn't a white male, so i'd never support him, let alone vote for him, but i'm honestly so ambivalent. with hillary black youths will continue to get jailed for smoking marijuana and then as a result of what prison does to you will go down a slippery slide to become another statistic. she's not going to improve the lives of immigrant workers or americans who are dangling on the poverty line because the whole problem is the 1% who funded her entire campaign keep amassing more money.
basically if nothing happens to citizen's united for another 8-12 years i can see poop SERIOUSLY hitting the fan and you know she's not gonna repeal a damn thing that might hurt the richest people in our country. but will probably continue to hurt people who make 100,000 - 200,000 and pretend they're "the rich" and drive the democratic party more towards total nonsense
also that trump quote isn't real but he has a history of having democratic ideas. he's an independent like bernie who doesn't adhere to either side, although he's definitely on a total different side of the political compass that i don't like
so yea i'm probably gonna spend election day snoozing and playing DOTA 2. i feel like not voting is wasting my vote just as much as if i voted for either of them. plus i save some time!
oh and @beth *dons tinfoil hat* i personally have a suspicion but i'm obviously not gonna call anything for certain, i think hillary is cheating and republicans really want an outsider because the republican party is SO WHACK, moreso than the democratic party. most republican candidates were the far religious right which is really a dying breed of republican, but there weren't many people to actually elect them. combine that with the south's hate of mexico for a variety of reasons, and you get trump and a big ol' wall
i think hillary is cheating because 1. she sent her husband Bill into polls to try to get people to come out and see him and vote for Hillary, basically using her husband as a way to secure more voters. He was going around the polling locations shaking hands and talking about his wife to people. for the record, if i wore a shirt that said "Bernie Sanders" on it to a polling location, i'd be kicked out, forced to change, and then have to wait in line again. plus things like caucuses can last 6+ hours for people to get their voice to actually matter... guess who has hours to kill in a day... old people who are plugged into CNN and other mainstream media outlets who actually are VERY closely associated with hillary, as in their parent company is hillary's 7th largest donor, so i don't think you can trust them to be honest... anyways, know who doesn't have 6+ hours to kill in a day because they have work and need to make money or else not make their rent and starve? people who are still working.
not only that but in locations like in New York, the exit polls DON'T match the results of the election which is an indication that voter fraud took place. not only that, but at one voting location citizens tested the voting machines, and there were like 71 votes casted for bernie, and 30 or so casted for clinton and it came out closer to being 50 votes to each candidate when they read the results. when they voiced the concerns to the board that the results didn't match the actual votes casted at all, the people who ran the elections were like, "uhhh you don't understand voting, you're just a citizen and this is our job soooo"
not only that but she's really buddy buddy with a lot of people in the DNC so she gets a lot of easy questions at debates and stuff and rarely gets put on the defense.
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liz and me drinking whiskey sours to drown our sorrows about the state of the world (sorry for unfunny quoteclip) (sorry if you hate whiskey sours) (i got lime in whiskey once and it tasted like burnt hair so untainted single malt for me tbqh)
man i hear ya on that one, the subtle gerrymandering and media circus that got Cameron in on our end was shameful and transparent as the dickens but they voted him in cos first-past-the-post is broken and the biggest shame of our election system, sadly. i understan you lot over there use it too????
our equivalent to the democrats (the labour party i guess) has shifted to centre right in the last few elections after Blair and New Labour and we're vaguely excited, if incredibly jaded, that jeremy corbyn seems a bit Old Labour cos it seems like in this day and age being True Left is too scary???????? everyone seems to be focussing on the casually racist right-wing vote and its such a shame.
AV+ or STV would be better and you'd actually get a representative democratic vote which would probably usher bernie in and woulda given us a sizeable libdem majority in our penultimate election (with a few incredibly weak n ineffective BNP seats being the tradeoff) but then the rich n conservative would lose their support n money n control cos FPTP works really well for them. and they kind of will fight against that unfortuneately.
its why when the referendum for AV (still kinda crap compared to AV+ or STV) happened in the uk the tories immediately swamped the uk with the no2av campaign and everyone was like "oh i guess we vote no then." it was depressing and frustrating but at least there's Private Eye for the brits and The Onion for you lot. I dont know much your end re: political satire stuff but honestly its the only way i cope.
i do still reccommend you vote even if its for a 3rd party or you Deliberately Spoil your ballot or whatnot for protest reasons cos they are largely counting on people being Ambivalent/Too Depressed with it all to not vote. i mean i wont like, hate you if you dont. but its that whole thing about being able to go "dont blame me, *i* voted for kodos! //whipcrack// (https://frinkiac.com/caption/S08E01/1311726)". i dont really know how voting works over there (you register as a democrat or republican voter or something? we just get a poll card we take down and we vote whoever) so idk.
with luck you'll get the odd laff like when someone leaked the BNP member list and a lot of Outted Racists had to do a lot of embarassed scrambling so maybe trump's running mate will be caught in a massive scandal or something. we can hope.
like im willing to hope that the 1% aren't so stupid that they'd let a situation where everyone is Proper Fed Up cos all it takes after that is blood on the streets and then you've got a bit of an uprising. the middle classes were p much invented to Distract and make a Barrier between the disgruntled working classes and the rich upper classes and i dont wonder how long thats going to last these days?
idk if you kept your eyes on whats going on in silicon valley/the tech industry lately but there is going to be a bit of a Collapse Financially i think. i could be wrong and it could go on for years but we all thought the housing bubble wouldn't collapse and house prices in SF are just getting ridiculous rn. i mean i hope there is cos it will take away Uber and boy i don't like Uber a whole lot primarily cos the inner workings exemplify everything wrong with the system (conning poor people into taking out huge loans they can't afford and then breakin their back over a barrell)
to bring my political rant to an end i know i dont live there but given how our nation voted for whopping cuts across the board and Rich People ive had an img saved in my Hoarded JPGs folder for just the sentiment i feel bout the upcoming us election:
(http://i.imgur.com/lXEmO3n.jpg)
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our equivalent to the democrats (the labour party i guess) has shifted to centre right in the last few elections after Blair and New Labour and we're vaguely excited, if incredibly jaded, that jeremy corbyn seems a bit Old Labour cos it seems like in this day and age being True Left is too scary???????? everyone seems to be focussing on the casually racist right-wing vote and its such a shame.
To be fair, our democrats have always been center-right.
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CRAP in my big political rant i missed ur post raven cos liz posted and "new post!" thing popped up and i lost the tab cos i am distractable as the dickens until i make some dr appts and close down some of these fourty-plus tabs. agggggg
like Trump destroying the GOP may be a wonderful thing for this country, especially if Trump pulls a punk'd routine and decides to remind the world that he is in actuality a moderate and not a crazy ass reactionary like he keeps preaching, but I'd still rather go Hillary to prevent pandora's box from opening
honestly im crossing my fingers that Congress is gonna be a bit harder for trump to topple than the gop. the one time in our life we actually can hope to count on the uselessness and bickering of a bunch of grown men/ladies to slow down a tyrant
To be fair, our democrats have always been center-right.
really? aw, thats a shame. i mean i expected as much, political skepticism, but labour started out from Trade Union stuff before selling out to centre-right stuff in the 2000s. i aint too up to scratch on my American History (want to find the time one day) but i take it the democrats were p much just Other Rich People With Money Who Weren't Republicans?????
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Congress is definitely harder for Trump to topple
they already don't like him; many have gone on to say that choosing between Trump and Cruz was like choosing between like Poison and Cyanide, and I'm not sure which was which
but they would likely be a lot less favorable towards Trump than Cruz unless Trump does a 180 (but it won't be a sudden 180)
but i take it the democrats were p much just Other Rich People With Money Who Weren't Republicans?????
Yes. A common question addressed to Hillary Clinton has been along the lines of "How can you represent the 99% if you've never been apart of it?"
I personally think Martin O'Malley-senpai is the guy of the future, but thats only because I met him when I was 14 and my dad catered for a few Maryland Governor's Mansion events and met him there
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I live in the UK, so the USA presidential elections don't really affect me.
I also don't follow them much, it's just stuff showing up on my dashboard and I get snippets from that.
Basically, the candidates seem to be absolute ass. But I think Bernie Sanders would by far be the best bet, and maybe I'm saying that since I'm a socialist myself. Most policies don't exactly affect me (or rather they wouldn't if I lived in America), but they still seem to make the most sense.
More sense than building a giant wall to block out the Mexicans at least.
Seriously if Trump wins I'm losing my last scrap of hope for the human race.
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Basically, the candidates seem to be absolute ass.
2004 elections were probably about as bad, but Hillary is probably a much better candidate than John Kerry was. And we've had much much worse in our country alone.
Seriously if Trump wins I'm losing my last scrap of hope for the human race.
Really? Because if a reactionary candidate like this ran in say 2004 then you'd probably see much more voter turnout for Trump. The fact that every news organization is calling him out for his crap should be a sign that the human race isn't tolerating it either, and nobody really knows where Trump stands on anything in reality. That truth will come election time.
If Cruz or Carson won the presidency, then I guarantee you they would be much worse than Trump. Carson because he lacks every shred of the type of competence necessary for politics, and Cruz because he in actuality is competent. A Trump presidency would put us back in foreign relations - which is bad - but that's just about it. Putin seems to like him too, so it's not like he's universally reviled, and the way the US Government works he is going to get blocked by both parties, which is why I think he's unlikely to win the presidency (because I think a lot of Republicans would rather go for Hillary) and if he does, won't get anything meaningful down. I mean, this dude basically does what Republicans have been doing for decades but he executed it far "better" than previous republican candidates have. Unless you forgot about Mitt "I Wish I Were Mexican Because My Life Isn't Cozy Enough" Romney.
You also live in the UK where people are up in arms about Sadiq Khan being elected mayor of London despite being born in the UK. I don't know why Trump is the straw that broke the camel's back.
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i do still reccommend you vote even if its for a 3rd party or you Deliberately Spoil your ballot or whatnot for protest reasons cos they are largely counting on people being Ambivalent/Too Depressed with it all to not vote. i mean i wont like, hate you if you dont. but its that whole thing about being able to go "dont blame me, *i* voted for kodos! //whipcrack//". i dont really know how voting works over there (you register as a democrat or republican voter or something? we just get a poll card we take down and we vote whoever) so idk.
yeah, i might just write in bernie and hope for the best, but voting takes hours so i think it's largely gonna depend on how i feel in november. i did already vote, i voted in the NH primary for Bernie, which he won. and yeah you have to register as one party or the other in order to vote. i'm really kind of between either voting or just switching my alignment back from democrat to independent if bernie doesn't get the nom. cuz that takes 5 minutes not counting driving to the town hall.
the thing is, i don't remember 2004 that well, i just remember my dad asking who i wanted to be president to get my lil 7 year old opinion on politics. i said john kerry just because all i knew was Bush went meddling and killing not only a variety of brown people but also americans by sending them to war in the first place, which made me real confused and disappointed when he got elected... you know your country is messed up when you're 7 years old and already starting to hate the system. i know now that kerry is pretty much an idiot from what he's done in his short stint as secretary of state, but anyways i feel like it is just a massive amount of ignorance and money that gets people elected...
like i've actually never met a hillary supporter who supports her based on anything in her political career. all i've heard is "it'd be like the 90s all over again" (like we're gonna see how many young boys hillary can sexually assault now?), or "it's time for a woman president". it sounds stupid as hell and it seems like those aren't things people would actually say but before i got my mom on the bernie bus those were both things she was saying. the "it's time for a woman president" is the worst one though because it's honestly so lowkey sexist, it's time for a president who's not under investigation by the FBI jesus christ. i want my first woman president to be someone who actually has a record that's not absolutely filthy, because i feel like if hillary sucks enough people are just gonna start being like, "looks like president just isn't a job women can do" and we're gonna have to wait another 20 years for the misogyny to blow over and we miss out on good female candidates, ie Elizabeth Warren or Jill Stein. Although Elizabeth Warren and i are fighting because she didn't endorse Bernie before the massachusetts primary.
oh and just gonna tie this up by giving you all an article with a clip from when Hillary came to my school (http://www.mediaite.com/online/nh-woman-to-hillary-you-say-rape-accusers-should-be-believed-what-about-your-husbands/) and a girl asked her about her husband's rape allegations and she laughed and couldn't give a straight answer.
JK i'm gonna minirant about how i'm sick of being referred to as a "bernie bro" and implied i have "internalized misogyny" and other crap when hillary is actually just not pro-civil rights, and bernie is way more of a feminist than she is.
EDIT: HOL' UP, just wanted to say by the way trump has some OK ideas on mexico. there's definitely ways i'd like to go about it, i'm really more interested in just helping the mexican people, but the united states really is getting screwed by mexico's inability to get it's collective crap together. not the mexican people at all, but the mexican government is so corrupt and they don't care about their people. most immigrant workers are just wiring money back home because their families can't afford to eat, and they pretty much just allow the cartel to be a thing.
the wall is really just a bargaining chip. in my opinion, the price is impossibly high to expect mexico to pay for it. what it will do though is if we put the squeeze on mexico by making life difficult for the elite, like making it difficult for THEM to come to america. i really don't think we even need a wall. mexico just really needs a wake up call that they can't keep on being just awful to the people that live there, and then make their people's only recourse to come mooch off of us so their kids don't get sick and die. if they just made their country a better place to live instead of turning the other cheek to the needs of their people, they wouldn't be literally risking their lives to come here.
really with all the things he should be angry about it's not right mexico is the thing he's most angry about (especially since his angle is such a selfish position) but he's not totally wrong with his basic general direction. i think his end goal is to bring the mexican economy to a crash which i mean, that's gonna suck for mexicans for a while but i think that's the only way to make progress into fixing the mexican government itself.
yeah there's other ways we could try to fix it, or we could just accept mexicans wanna be here and give them legal pathways to be here which is the cool thing to do. i feel like there's no good answer with mexico TBH
just a disclaimer, i hate hate hate hate trump on everything that isn't income inequality or punishing mexico. just like how i hate hillary on everything that's not planned parenthood and abortions. which sounds insignificant but those are actually two positions i'm always going to care a lot about. even though planned parenthood and i are fighting because they endorsed hillary and gave her a ton of money. i'm gonna steal all their condoms and make balloon animals out of them as payback when i get home.
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i've become so ambivalent, i don't want hillary, i don't want trump. people assure you trump would be a disaster, but i'm not so sure hillary would be much better.
It must suck getting the choice of really only two people. Here we vote for a representative of a constituency (of which there are about 650 in the UK) and the party with the most representatives in the House of Commons gets power, with the party's leader being Prime Minister.
Gives you much more choice on your ballot paper, but really it's between Labour and the Conservatives every five years.