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Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273976: Mar 10th 2019 at 11:32:03 AM

I was only ever talking about the context of the US and possibly a few other countries. Obviously if the overton window in a country is different it wouldn't apply.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#273977: Mar 10th 2019 at 11:34:14 AM

I would love for the House to ask Trump to come testify to clarify the matter and watch his lawyers have a collective heart attack.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#273978: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:10:25 PM

Yes, Left wing for a lot of people mean "In my country they used to murder people for being Catholic." China is a communist nation that is holding 100,000s of Muslims in prison right for insufficient ideological purity.

Authoritarnism knows no side as it seeks its own justification.

We talked about the Spanish Civil War as the ultimate Right vs. Left struggle where both sides passionately thought they were the good guys.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#273979: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:17:09 PM

You know, it's kind of weird that we constantly clarify that we mean in the US specifically in a thread that has US politics in the title. Do some of us think the topic has been forgotten? Or that we don't realize that it's a different situation in other countries?

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#273980: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:19:08 PM

More that just US Exceptionalism means "Right" and "Left" are very odd concepts and can't be applied universally.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#273981: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:21:53 PM

[up]Uh, Right and Left wing has very little to do with American exceptionalism. If anything when it comes to right and left its reverse American-exceptionalism in that people love to act as if we're Germany with the whole "Democrats are all right-wing" nonsense.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#273982: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:23:17 PM

It means things are different in America.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#273984: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:30:15 PM

Things are different in every country. The left-right scale isn’t a fixed one, it’s totally dependent on time and place. It’s more useful as a rule of thumb than a tool for accurately categorizing positions.

Edited by archonspeaks on Mar 10th 2019 at 1:30:53 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#273985: Mar 10th 2019 at 1:32:41 PM

[up][up][up][up]It means that each country has the centre at a different place, which makes the whole left and right concept not universally usable. It works for understanding where the parties stand in relation to each other in the various countries, but it doesn't really help to get a clear picture where they stand in a global context.

Due to the Red Scare, the US has kind of a special relationship when it come to left-wing politics.

Edited by Swanpride on Mar 10th 2019 at 1:33:05 AM

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#273986: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:46:55 PM

speaking of the US, The House had passed an election reform packagethat includes expansion to early voting, making Election Day a federal holiday, and a requirement for candidates to is close the last decade's worth of tax returns.

It is on the WTF feed, so I'd imagine its been linked before, but I was wondering about this package's chances on passing the rest of the process (or rather, if McConnell's blocking it from getting a vote could be vetoed), and if it will be a watershed for the campaigning process if it passes.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Mar 10th 2019 at 3:49:30 AM

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#273987: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:51:15 PM

I still find the fact that voting day isn't a holiday to be absolutely appalling and unacceptable. There is zero reason for that to be the case, it is actively antidemocratic.

Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#273988: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:52:26 PM

At the moment, I don't think we should be get excited when something passes the house. Right now it's very easy to pass things that they know won't be made into law because the other side controls the senate.

That said, there is a lot of good stuff in there, as well as stuff that I feel is a lot more iffy. However, I'm not going to let good be the enemy of great.

Edited by Soban on Mar 10th 2019 at 6:52:49 AM

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#273989: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:57:39 PM

Passing things in the House is still good because it forces Republicans to take a stance against them.

Oh really when?
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#273990: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:57:49 PM

I think the actual phrase is "not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good".

Either way, the fact that an election day is not a federal holiday is something I find nearly impossible to truly get; that and the fact that so many people just don't care about voting at all.

Elections around here are such big deals, knowing that there's people so apathetic towards it is just, weird.

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#273991: Mar 10th 2019 at 2:59:08 PM

[up]x4

There is zero reason for that to be the case, it is actively antidemocratic.

That's the idea.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#273992: Mar 10th 2019 at 3:09:05 PM

Mc Connell's already gone on record and called the bill socialist, proving definitively that "socialist" is their go to scare word, and has said he's not going to let it come to a vote. We really need to get rid of him as the speaker or whatever it is his position is called. The bill isn't even socialist; Socialism itself is more about the economy and not directly about voting rights. The bill itself is about points broadly agreed on by everyone on the left side of politics.

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#273993: Mar 10th 2019 at 3:20:16 PM

He also admitted that the biggest reason the GOP opposes the bill is because it will swing the election results to the left.

Which is an implicit acknowledgedment that yes, they don't care about democracy and free speech or any of that jazz, thet just want to remain in power, nothing else.

Not that anyone needed confirmation, of course.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#273994: Mar 10th 2019 at 3:47:43 PM

Passing things in the House is still good because it forces Republicans to take a stance against them.

For the record, and for those of us stuck in Republican districts, it passed the House along strict party lines. Not a single Republican voted for it.

RainingMetal (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#273995: Mar 10th 2019 at 4:18:37 PM

The best way of dethroning the Faceless Senator is to get control of the Senate into the Democrats. Sadly, we failed that goal in the Midterms because of the usual parasites.

ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#273996: Mar 10th 2019 at 4:37:59 PM

At the moment, I don't think we should be get excited when something passes the house. Right now it's very easy to pass things that they know won't be made into law because the other side controls the senate.

That said, there is a lot of good stuff in there, as well as stuff that I feel is a lot more iffy. However, I'm not going to let good be the enemy of great.

True enough, but if nothing else it creates a record which is useful for future elections (such as 2020).

We can see who votes down what and use it against them.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#273997: Mar 10th 2019 at 4:54:07 PM

Mitch is openly and proudly evil.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#273998: Mar 10th 2019 at 5:00:47 PM

Mitch is openly and proudly evil.

I would say he's more openly and proudly amoral, he doesn't care about morality one way or another and is purely focused on self-preservation and self-advancement.

Though, obviously, it doesn't make him better. If anything it might be arguably worse.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#273999: Mar 10th 2019 at 5:04:15 PM

In the West, you mean.

This is the US politics forum, so the USA-centrism is Ok. But applying this idea to the entire world? Dear God, you realize how weird it sounds to people in Left wing countries.

I know I'm late to this party, but there is a reason it's called the General US Politics Thread, Kazuya. We're specifically talking about the Left in this country. Now would you quit trying to paint the rest of the world's politics with those of Peru?

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#274000: Mar 10th 2019 at 6:01:47 PM

I kind of agree. As great as it is getting input from tropers from all over, this is the US Politics thread, and yet it feels like every few pages we have a minor derail where people remind us that the US's general political Overton window is skewed and the American left is conservative compared to X country, and things are different everywhere else. Which is good for contextualization, but I think most of us recognize that. It's just that when we talk about "the left" in the US Politics thread, we're using the US definition.

It's been fun.

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