The General US Politics Thread

Hence Colin Kaepernick?

Which it is, more or less.

edited 30th Aug '16 10:14:44 AM by Greenmantle

I recited the pledge when I was in school but it still annoyed me. It always struck me as the kind of false patriotism that nationalists love.

Even in elementary school, pledging allegiance to the flag felt somehow weird and unnatural. Even as a kid of age 9/10, it felt artificial, being told to say something I didn't mean (or even understand). I've always had a problem with artificialness. Might be related to being on the autism spectrum, as I've seen a great many other autistics say that they too can't tolerate saying things they don't mean. Or it might be something of my nonconformist personality, which was strong even back then.

I am seeing polls now saying that Trump is catching up. How? I'm really disturbed. I know a lot of people say Trump can't win, but the low voter turnout amongst young people and liberals isn't fucking helping. Do they want what they see as the clearly greater of two evils to win??

I guess the pledge is weird by global standards. I was just taken aback by the North Korea comparison because, having grown up with the pledge, I think of it as a harmless thing. But yeah, I always mimed it and didn't think about the words.

Part of it is the post-convention bounce finally wearing off for Clinton, and I think part of it is that Trump hasn't don't something above and beyond in terms of negative backlash in a while.

edited 30th Aug '16 10:42:56 AM by megarockman

Meh. I never answer polls, but I'm voting Democrat come election day. I think the polls don't necessarily reflect actual voter intent.

My sister is too young to vote, so my mother is casting her ballot based on what my sister wants.

My mother likes Trump because she thinks Trump will improve relations between China and the US.

My sister has convinced her to cast for Hillary though. I think my mother would be flattered at the idea of a female chief of state.

We're first-generation Chinese-American immigrants, for context. My sister is native-born.

How would Trump improve relations with China?

Trump's done nothing but say China are our enemies.

While he secretly hires them to manufacture everything he tries to sell.

It's a thing. My mother isn't necessarily the most knowledgeable person in this regard.

Interesting you bring up the female head of state thing. My mother can't vote in the election (we're Canadians) but she among other reasons would never vote for Clinton because she believes voting in Clinton would make it much harder for women to get the position afterwards.

But then, she hates Clinton.

I can't understand that line of thinking. Precedent is a fantastic way to normalize something.

Oh, also, my parents are both fans of the Clintons in general, because of the general economic ease during the other Clinton's presidency. Also a lot of really good social programs, or something. I do remember the "President Clinton" era to be a pretty sweet time. I was a kid, though, so that could be pure Nostalgia Filter talking.

I think the thinking is that "when" (since again, my mother hates Clinton) Clinton is a bad president, women will always be compared to a bad president and so it will be harder for them.

Part of why my mother hates Clinton is because she hates Bill Clinton too, so that's another issue the Clinton campaign is suffering with. For good or bad, Bill Clinton's reputation affects Hillary's.

edited 30th Aug '16 11:00:46 AM by PhiSat

I'd imagine a time period that follows the end of "nuclear armageddon hanging over your head every moment of your life awake or asleep" would compare nicely.

Yeah, I was never much for the Pledge of Allegiance either.

Still, I think Smokey Cut's post isn't very helpful. If your point is you won't be proud of a place until has no injustice at all you must hate all human societies. Besides, people are probably more willing to change things for the better if they actually care about the place they're trying to change. "Fuck you, what have you ever done for me" probably isn't all that helpful even if it is pretty understandable.

edited 30th Aug '16 11:02:23 AM by LSBK

I don't feel very strongly about the Pledge either way, but I'm not a fan because it feels like a waste of time on empty promises. Making us say words we might not even really mean, when we're too young to understand what we're saying, seems like a pointless endeavor. For adults, sure, but children don't understand what exactly they're praising or why it might be important.

Well, supposedly they're supposed to teach us why they're important; that's why we're in a school to start with. I mean, we don't start out knowing the importance or meaning of things, we learn them as we grow. Theoretically. Anyway, I don't think it's particularly creepy, just one of those things you do. Comparisons to North Korea are definitely overblown.

I just received (another) phone call from the NRA pollsters. They asked some pointed question about Hillary Clinton's (alleged) stance to ban guns or whatever.

Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't; I don't know. But all I said to them was: "When the NRA came out in support of Donald Trump, I wrote you guys a letter telling you to cancel my membership. I cannot support Trump, no matter what his stance on guns may be." And then I hung up.

Hillary hasn't said we need to ban all guns. She shares the public view that we need better background checks and have to find a way to get rid of assault rifles.

I know that. And you know that. But try telling that to the NRA. They have teams of pseudo-researchers whose sole job it is to twist statements and skew sound bites to make her sound like the gun control Anti-Christ.

edited 30th Aug '16 11:44:52 AM by pwiegle

I think the NRA is convinced that if even reasonable gun laws are passed, it will be a slippery slope to banning all guns. Which is a Logical Fallacy.

And that's why we can't have nice things.

Exactly. Somebody goes postal because they just can't hack it in life. Somebody in the government over-reacts to the actions of a lone nut. Somebody else over-reacts to the overreaction, and it all becomes a vicious cycle of negative feedback which accomplishes nothing.

Maybe if marijuana were legalized all across the board, people would just chill the fuck out...

(Politico) Grassley hints at Supreme Court confirmation hearing in lame duck session

i.e. Republicans might be willing to take a centrist over a relative leftist Supreme Court Justice if it looks like Trump is going to be a blow out.