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.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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.
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.
![]()
![]()
![]()
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
speaking of the US, The House had passed an election reform package
that 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
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
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.
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.
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.
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 YangI 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 YangThis 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."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.

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.