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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
To be frank I've seen some rather aggressive posts from you, considering the subject matter it's understandable but we all have to control ourselves and make sure that we behave in a productive manner (as difficult as that can be, these people are rather vile).
The case presented by the USA's example in how they concluded the American Civil War with peace at the expense of justice, on the other hand, clearly shows why such an approach is a Very Bad idea that reflects a dangerous combination of short-sightedness and over-optimism.
Edited by MarqFJA on Oct 14th 2018 at 10:44:13 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.I would argue it's both, we need Good presidents to salvage our reputation both from their actions and from the sign that the US electorate is sane again. Still no idea how that can reliably happen with the Republicans off the deep end.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
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Not to say things couldn’t have been done better, but I don’t think a punitive approach would have really helped after the Civil War. At some point punishing your enemies should be secondary to stabilizing your country.
Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 14th 2018 at 1:38:22 AM
They should have sent a poet.It depends what you mean by 'punitive', executing their leaders and thoroughly removing the influence of the Slavocrats from Southern society a-la denazification would've been far better than what we actually did in reconstruction. Probably not possible due to the North's selfish war fatigue and softness but it would've been nice all the same.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangThe worst-case scenario, for me, is that we get a Democrat into office in 2020 who spends most of their term desperately and futilely trying to fix all the damage Trump did, and come 2024, it turns out America as a whole learned nothing and we just elect Trump again, or someone similar.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Oct 14th 2018 at 2:36:23 AM
Trump has referred to Mattis as a Democrat.
Their already worsening relationship is going further down the drain.
At a North Carolina rally where he announced Mr. Mattis as his pick for defense secretary, the president described the general as the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, “semper fidelis,” or “always faithful.”
Maybe Trump didn't realize, that Semper Fidelis, meant towards the Corps and the Country, not him.
Inter arma enim silent legesNot to mention that while the Senate is important lets not ignore local seats, as the Republicans have shown local governments have massive amounts of practical power and thus if we do very well in the House then we'll probably do very well there too. And that is always important, especially considering that who will be responsible for redistricting will depend on the results of the midterm
.
So to treat the Senate as the most important thing would be a grave error.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangPerhaps I am overly optimistic, but if the Democrats manage to get enough support, they may be able to cripple the GOP for practically forever - or at least the next 100 years.
I mean, the Dems seem to get more votes and that's even with all the voter suppression and gerrymandering.
If they are able to get strong enough to tip the balance in their favour and restore rights to those disenfranchised, then I think it would be really hard for the GOP to ever recover. They would bleed votes every election until they are only supported by the reddest parts of the USA.
Again, maybe overly optimistic, but I have faith in the youths that will grow into voters. I have hope that the magic of the Digital Age will free them from the lies of Murdoch and his peers. And If this happens you can finally win the Civil War.
@Polar Phantom: Well, with crippling the GOP for a century, if the GOP gets crippled for just 50 years it likely would just cease to exist in general, perhaps being replaced by another party with similar values.
I don't think one should assume the GOP is going to fall apart, though. A very non-trivial chunk of the United States does support the GOP very enthusiastically. If even a quarter of your country has GOP-like values that creates considerable political demand for their desires to be met.
Leviticus 19:34

Obama needed around six years to somewhat restore the image of the US after Bush. Whoever will follow Trump will most like not being able to do it, even if he gets two terms. It take at least a decade for the US to get back where it was in terms of soft power (and that is if the next presidents actually put in some effort to win it back). And that is not a small matter.