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

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#53851: May 2nd 2013 at 4:58:55 AM

Vile traitor or no, I don't feel that Christie is blue enough for that.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#53852: May 2nd 2013 at 5:05:09 AM

[up][up][up]

I think it would do US politics more good if he ran for the Republican nomination and got it, because that might deliver a moderate and sane Republican Party. Christie/Huntsman, for instance, would be a Republican ticket I could get behind. Of course, I can't vote in US elections, but if I could, a Christie/Huntsman ticket would actually make me think about voting Republican. I wouldn't be over-upset if they won either.

edited 2nd May '13 5:05:57 AM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#53853: May 2nd 2013 at 5:20:46 AM

@Achaemenid: It would. Only problem is that Republican primaries are controlled by the loony bin.

The conservatives can't purge the reactionaries, because the reactionaries are strong enough and organized enough to purge them.

[up][up] Hey, he's not much more red than Obama is.

edited 2nd May '13 5:23:32 AM by Ramidel

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#53854: May 2nd 2013 at 5:25:46 AM

[up]I wonder what would happen if hte Reps split.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#53855: May 2nd 2013 at 5:49:50 AM

[up]

They can't. If they did, the only way to keep the Democrats out of office would be for the two Repub factions to form a coalition government, something which I don't believe has ever happened in the US system - and then what would be the point of splitting?

edited 2nd May '13 5:50:08 AM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#53856: May 2nd 2013 at 5:51:20 AM

I'm surprised they haven't already. When Romney won I was more then half-expecting Santorum to pull a third party run. If Republicans continue to get more complacent about gay marriage I wouldn't put it past him to do a Strom Thurmond.

Trump delenda est
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#53857: May 2nd 2013 at 5:54:15 AM

What Ramidel said. The first mention that Christie allowed FEMA and federal aid money into New Jersey will make the people who elect the Todd Akin and Richard Mourdocks of the party vote for the others instead. That and with Mc Cain and Romney, both "soft" conservatives, losing, I don't think 2016 will allow for a non crazy to be elected in the primaries.

The Inmates, effectively, run the asylum.

edited 2nd May '13 5:55:09 AM by PotatoesRock

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#53858: May 2nd 2013 at 5:57:42 AM

I don't personally care who they nominate in 2016. More of who they nominate in 2014.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#53859: May 2nd 2013 at 6:22:12 AM

From the first Facebook comment on this article I posted, an example of why I actually read the comments on Esquire, from a fellow named David Grover:

30% of every OECD country polls fascist. That's just always been the case, for 150 years. In most modern wealthy democracies those people are afraid to express their opinions, because its commonly understood that people who hold those opinions are generally detrimental to the common good. That was the political lesson of WWII.

In the US however they get their own news channels and one-half of the political power, because for some reason around 1980 we all started feeling sorry for the narcissistic fantasists and sentimentalists that call themselves "movement conservatives," who told us they felt bad because they were left out of what they called "the Liberal consensus."

The Liberal consensus was really just an agreement not to let the aforementioned narcissists do what they do best, which is to monopolize the conversation and claim its all about *me* and *my pain* and what about *my people*, which in general prevents us from confronting actual real live reality, like genuinely poor people and genuine disasters like climate change. And we let down our guard, forgetting that these 30% always feel bad, because they really have nothing more to their belief system than a heightened sense of persecution coupled to a heightened sense of their worth. Everything else - their politics, economics, religion, sociology - is an attempt to rationalize those two basic principles: "I oughta be in charge, but my inferiors won't let me."

30 years later people in the media think they're entertaining and sell eyeballs so they give them a seat at the table, and they don't realize the fascists want all the seats and have bad table manners besides. And while the rest of us would like to pay attention to the reality we've ignored since Reagan first pretended he was President, the media and the conversation is dominated by these 30%, who refuse to give up their fantasyland, just as we should have known they would.

I'm not normally reductive when it comes to people, but that these 30% would hallucinate that they're hard done by and at the same time threaten the rest of us over their perceived injury is as predictable as flowers blooming in spring.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#53860: May 2nd 2013 at 8:23:24 AM

I think the only thing that effectively unites the Republicans these days is their shared hatred of all things "liberal" and "Democrat".

You could put "liberal" on a block of cheese and suddenly the cheese would be evil in their minds or something.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#53861: May 2nd 2013 at 8:24:45 AM

I wonder how they'd react if you told them Iran was ultraconservative. Because it is.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#53862: May 2nd 2013 at 8:27:39 AM

The only thing that exceeds their sense of shared conservatism is their xenophobia. In fact, I'd say that xenophobia is the primary driver of their political beliefs, as opposed to the other way around.

edited 2nd May '13 8:27:57 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#53863: May 2nd 2013 at 8:34:42 AM

[up]

Too narrow.

Conservative politics is at its core based upon fear of those not like you. Foreigners are simply one such category.

Schild und Schwert der Partei
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#53864: May 2nd 2013 at 8:51:53 AM

[up]

which is why they aren't even conservatives anymore. They're reactionaries who long ago tied "conservative" to their policies.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#53865: May 2nd 2013 at 1:43:33 PM

Re lightbulb: Wow, that's some mind-boggling stupidity. Really? A knee-jerk "IT'S A LIBRUL TRAP" whenever environment is mentioned? These are the kind of people who'd pick up a light grenade if you wrote "I'm a pollutant" right below the "pick me up" label...

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#53866: May 2nd 2013 at 2:26:17 PM

@Handle: Not really possible. The remaining old-line conservatives are fairly secure in their individual power bases and don't need to actually break with the Republican Party, or else they've already defected to the Democratic side (again, Obama) because the Democrats encompass every worldview from far-left to mid-right.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#53867: May 2nd 2013 at 6:27:00 PM

I expect 2016 to ultimately decide the future of the Republican Party.

With Rubio, Paul, Ryan, Christie, Walker, Santorum, J. Bush, Carson, Huntsman, Perry, and Cruz(?) all throwing around the possibility of running; 2016 is turning into a real slugfest for the Republicans.

It'll pit the Libertarian, Moderate, Neo-Conservative, Reactionary, Social Conservative, and Country Club Republicans in a duel for supremacy of the party.

Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) this week compared GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to a "kid" who couldn't explain his science project, and said his weakness as a candidate cost Republicans the White House last year.

EMILY's List begins campaign for female president

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) demands answers for CIA ‘ghost money’ to Afghanistan

edited 2nd May '13 6:51:20 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#53868: May 2nd 2013 at 6:38:11 PM

Somehow I feel like 2016's "Who can out crazy the other candidates" contest will be even more fun to watch than last year's. I hope a real nutcase like Bachmann or Perry gets the nomination just to see them get clobbered.

[up]Romney was a terrible candidate but people also hated what he, and by extension the Republicans, stood for. We know what you're selling and we don't want it. When are they going to realize this?

edited 2nd May '13 6:39:10 PM by Kostya

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#53869: May 2nd 2013 at 6:53:41 PM

[up] I'd rather someone sane won. I'm tired of the psychopaths gumming up the system.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#53870: May 2nd 2013 at 7:01:18 PM

The problem I have with that is that if they're sane they have a chance at winning. A Republican winning the presidential race at this point would be seen as a vindication of their insanity and they'd think the public is on their side. While them being insane gums things up they'll eventually get kicked out or will be forced to change.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#53872: May 2nd 2013 at 7:13:03 PM

[up][up] Alas, I'm not partisan enough (or really at all) to really see it that way. I'd rather they be vindicated and the government works better than they not be vindicated but we have to deal with the current bullshit even more.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#53873: May 2nd 2013 at 7:14:07 PM

[up][up]Headline grammar is headache grammar...

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#53874: May 2nd 2013 at 7:22:14 PM

[up][up]My fear is that if they're not stopped now they could tone it down for a time and then turn on the crazy once more when it's convenient.

Also I'm not doing this to be partisan. I believe that they are a danger and that them being as insane as possible is the quickest way to remove it. I don't want a one party dictatorship when they're gone. Rather I'd like it if the Democrats became the conservative party while we get a true liberal party to be the opposition.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#53875: May 2nd 2013 at 7:24:29 PM

NYPD Commissioner David Kelly Defends ‘Stop-And-Frisk’ Against Critics: ‘African Americans Are Being Understopped’

Not the exactly words I would use to get the message across.

edited 2nd May '13 7:39:40 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016

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