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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
#108776: Jan 15th 2016 at 3:10:20 AM

Cruz looks more harmless than Trump, in these terms. Otherwise they are roughly the same, I believe.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#108777: Jan 15th 2016 at 4:57:23 AM

Cruz has the real political experience to do genuine harm in office. That's the difference.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
NoName999 Since: May, 2011
#108778: Jan 15th 2016 at 5:13:22 AM

ignore this post

edited 15th Jan '16 5:19:28 AM by NoName999

Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#108779: Jan 15th 2016 at 5:23:46 AM

[up][up], [up][up][up], [up][up][up][up] Thanks. I honestly don't think I'll try to know more, because I feel like reading Cruz' or Trump's quotes/programs might force my brain cells to enter apoptosis.

edited 15th Jan '16 5:24:00 AM by Julep

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#108780: Jan 15th 2016 at 5:37:21 AM

Even though I live in deep blue New Jersey, I just had a rather pleasant situation at the clinic I go to on Thursdays.

I walked in, and I heard loud laughter, and some video being played on a phone where it sounded like some comedian was badmouthing Obama. And my doctor, who I have a ton of respect for, was laughing loudly with some other guy - apparently a patient.

Then later, while I'm getting my IV drip in, one of the patients, possibly the guy the doctor was laughing with, loudly talks about the Pope bringing in refugees. He says, "They're gonna kill everyone." Later he mocks a singer, Bruce Springsteen (whose music is playing on a TV), calling him "Loose Bedsprings". I laugh, not realizing his insult is political, but then he and another patient both call him a "commie".

I think one of the doctors felt uncomfortable with all this, though she didn't express her views.

These people do exist, and they exist in the deepest blue areas. Maybe I just saw an aberration. I don't know. I'm just glad the current state of the Republican party is scaring more and more people away.

FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#108781: Jan 15th 2016 at 6:13:43 AM

bloody hell... a Republic who realises Springsteen was left wing and shit like Born in the USA was an attack on them...

advancing the front into TV Tropes
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#108782: Jan 15th 2016 at 6:48:24 AM

That was in fact the song that was playing at the time.

Morgikit Mikon :3 from War Drobe, Spare Oom Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Mikon :3
#108783: Jan 15th 2016 at 6:59:14 AM

An American who is opposed to helping the less fortunate and hates the Boss can hardly be called a real American.

FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#108784: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:38:16 AM

wait... wasn't that the principle your nation was founded on?

advancing the front into TV Tropes
Morgikit Mikon :3 from War Drobe, Spare Oom Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Mikon :3
#108785: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:41:18 AM

No, America was founded upon the Ultimate Contradiction: slave owners who wanted to be free. Opposition to helping the less fortunate is a more recent tradition.

edited 15th Jan '16 7:42:45 AM by Morgikit

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#108786: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:41:38 AM

Well really it was founded on the idea that rich slave owners shouldn't pay taxes for a war that literally happened in their back yard but whatever.

Oh really when?
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#108787: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:48:14 AM

Not rich slave owners; rich Northern businessmen. Despite the noise made by Virginians, the South in general was kinda along for the ride. In particular, South Carolina and Georgia, which were the two most pro-slavery states, were also two of the most pro-Loyalist.

So the joke really doesn't go as far as it could.

edited 15th Jan '16 7:49:41 AM by Ramidel

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#108788: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:54:03 AM

The Revolutionary War was very much a war started and abetted by rich white folks who were pissed off at Britain's political system. It really had little to do with taxes; that was just a fancy line sold to the public. And even at the height of the war, only something like a third of the colonists actually supported the Revolution. (I could be off a bit on that number as I'm writing it from memory.)

Had war not been provoked at every turn by the Patriots, the British government may well have acceded to some of the colonists' demands, such as for representation. And Britain would most certainly have eradicated slavery much sooner than it took us to do so.

The Yeehawdists, somewhat ironically, represent a surprisingly pure encapsulation of the real revolutionary mentality of the 1700s, not the fancied up propaganda version that made it into the history books.

edited 15th Jan '16 7:56:55 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#108789: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:55:43 AM

The U.S was founded because the UK was tired of a couple of loud obnoxious religious fundies and sent them away in the hopes they would shut up

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
nervmeister Since: Oct, 2010
#108790: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:56:06 AM

Question: If, on the off chance, Trump does become President, will he honestly try and go through with his more radical-sounding policies, or his he really just blowing smoke and won't really follow through in the moment of truth because of PR concerns, Congress dragging their heels, or other more immediate issues he has to tackle?

edited 15th Jan '16 8:00:39 AM by nervmeister

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#108791: Jan 15th 2016 at 7:59:20 AM

[up] Well, it is extraordinarily unlikely that Trump would find himself presiding over a Congress that would be willing to back his more radical proposals. That said, the demographic voting patterns that would need to happen for Trump to be elected are so absurd that he might well get a fully sympathetic Congress behind him.

In that case, a lot of people might find it very uncomfortable to live here.

As for his ideology... I think that he means what he says. That's rather scary for someone like him with no political experience and a hell of an ego. He is genuinely an asshole to everyone whom he disagrees with. He genuinely believes all the BS he says about Hispanics and Muslims. He certainly comes by it honestly, since his dad was a KKK supporter.

edited 15th Jan '16 8:01:22 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
nervmeister Since: Oct, 2010
#108792: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:11:46 AM

[up]Hmmm. Interesting. I posed this question mostly because America has a growing tradition of Presidents who ultimately, heavily compromise, if not pull a complete 180, on all the shit they "promised" while on the campaign trail, once they reach office.

But I guess the possibility exists that Trump could end up being a rare exception since - lacking experience in the political game as you say - he's probably going into this assuming he can just do whatever without much pushback if he wins just like he could in his corporate element.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#108793: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:14:42 AM

Thats what I fear more than the rest. I trust Congress to be an impediment to Trump's wishes, but I also trust Trump to veto everything Congress sends his way if they do.

It'd make the Obama era battles over the budget seem like child's play.

nervmeister Since: Oct, 2010
#108794: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:26:49 AM

[up]Only remotely good thing I see about Trump taking office is that he could provide something of a strong buffer against the extreme left's disconcertingly palpable efforts to turn the country into one big thought-policing "safe space" via education and the media.

edited 15th Jan '16 8:27:52 AM by nervmeister

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#108795: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:28:27 AM

[up]Two words: Flint, Michigan.

Okay, two more: West, Texas.

I could continue. I'll take the Democrats' version of safety, thank you very much.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#108796: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:28:27 AM

The fuck is wrong with you? That faction doesn't exist in American politics and Trump is advocating ethnic cleansing and is loved by a great deal of the country for it.

In what world is genocide an acceptable trade off for a push against a group that exists only in bigot's imaginations?

edited 15th Jan '16 8:28:45 AM by LeGarcon

Oh really when?
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#108797: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:39:13 AM

In the void where a politically-active American minority's brains should be.

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#108798: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:40:10 AM

[up][up]I suspect, and I pose this as a question not as an assumption, I suspect he is refering to political correctness as a bad thing. Or certain levels of political correctness.

edited 15th Jan '16 8:40:39 AM by Aszur

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#108799: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:43:46 AM

@Bonsai, I've often seen it a point to be made that places like say New Jersey and New York aren't less racist so much as they're racist in a different way. Usually by liberal people actually from these places to liberals who have never been there.

Also, most states are more purple than you'd think. Not enough to make ever election a guess to which way they'd go but still fairly purple.

edited 15th Jan '16 8:43:59 AM by LSBK

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#108800: Jan 15th 2016 at 8:46:59 AM

There exists a strawman among the American right. This strawman holds that the left wishes to wrap us all up in cocoons to protect us from the hardships of the world. It is related to the meme that adversity builds character: that people need to "tough it out" so they learn how to be resilient.

Things like seat belt laws, the attempts to ban sugary sodas, regulations on tobacco, "this product is hot" warning labels on coffee cups (which came from a civil suit, mind you), and so forth are seen as evidence of this trend, which will ultimately lead us to Idiocracy.

Frankly, I don't see what's so objectionable about it, but regardless of whether you feel that protecting people from their own stupidity and/or the stupidity of others is a good thing, it's not really comparable to what folks like Trump have advocated, such as genocide and mass deportations.

In any event, you cannot find this supposed "nanny state" ideology in any public statements by anyone running for office on a Democratic ticket. Go ahead, look. Come back with specifics. You'll find calls to protect consumers from predation by business, to be sure. If you find that objectionable, I can't really help you.

edited 15th Jan '16 8:53:51 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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