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DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#110277: Jan 31st 2016 at 5:17:22 AM

Broadly speaking, most of the leading US presidential candidates today and of the past few election cycles would be considered baby boomers, including both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The inevitable conclusion? Baby boomer political views don't make any sense! That's not a harsh assessment. It's just a fair description.

Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#110278: Jan 31st 2016 at 5:24:07 AM

@Millenial political incoherence

This is probably true of most demographics in most countries in the world. Also, the idea that America is getting less white can only be sustained by counting white Latin Americans as non-white, which I fear will not be true in the long run, given how Irish and Italian Americans were subsumed into 'whiteness' during the Gilded Age.

Of course, it supports my idea that voting should be elitist; we pay someone to stand in the door of each polling centre and quiz voters:

'And which way and why are you voting today?'

'I'm voting for Trump because The Apprentice is my favourite show!'

'I'm sorry, based on your answer it seems you are too stupid to vote. America's Got Talent may be more your speed. Goodbye.'

tongue

edited 31st Jan '16 5:25:19 AM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
JackOLantern1337 Shameful Display from The Most Miserable Province in the Russian Empir Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Shameful Display
#110279: Jan 31st 2016 at 5:38:50 AM

[up] Not to mention people who are biracial, a growing segment of the population.

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110280: Jan 31st 2016 at 6:51:25 AM

I think most of the inconsistencies with millenials are pretty normal. Look at older people in the US. You've got everything from communists to fascists. You also have to take into account that various groups are deliberately lying to people which makes it hard for young people to figure out what they should believe.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110281: Jan 31st 2016 at 7:56:42 AM

If it's Kasich or Jeb (since the latter is a policy wonk, and I would like our presidents to be more on the wonkish side), I'm happy. Anyone else, I vote Hil.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#110282: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:00:56 AM

I don't get how anyone could be loyal to Jeb!. I am not trying to denigrate your political leanings, but I just don't get him. He's Bush 3.0. He has no original ideas. He's a zero. Even his major donors think he's got no business being in the race any more and have openly stated that they're giving him money because they feel like the GOP machine requires them to and it's just being thrown down the toilet.

edited 31st Jan '16 8:03:00 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#110283: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:05:53 AM

I imagine it's because next to his current opponents, he might as well be Abraham Lincoln.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#110284: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:12:20 AM

Jeb rehired his brother's foreign policy team; I don't see how anyone could think Bush the 3rd would end well.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110285: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:13:24 AM

Political leanings? I'm not conservative or liberal or part of any party, which I've told you before. Nothing to lean toward or away from. I was all for Sanders until it became clear his foreign policy was weak and his economic policy wasn't all it was being made out to be. Clinton, I just don't like. Nothing against her policies (I actually like her foreign policy the most of all the candidates), but she comes off as cold and phony. As for Jeb, I don't see how he's W just because he has Bush family advisors. They're completely different people, personality-wise (W was the exact opposite of a wonk, for one). Neither are their father, who wasn't a bad guy in the first place. So throwing around the Bush name as some sort of insult just because one of them did dumb shit is silly. As for no orginal ideas, I'll take just being competant and workmanlike over revolutionary or, in Trump's case, devolutionary.

I also don't judge by who someone's family is/was.

[up]Because having the same team doesn't mean you do the same job. Otherwise there would be no need for a president to actually, y'know, decide shit. Which is why I don't care who Sanders hires if its gonna mean he does everything in his power not to do anything in foreign policy.

Further, considering the last two republican presidents have been from the Bush family, ANY advisors from the last quarter century will have worked with them. Anyone else is either untried, from the other party, or too old for this shit.

edited 31st Jan '16 8:40:18 AM by FFShinra

DarrenFox Aquatic Vulpine from somewhere where there's lots of water Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#110287: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:52:45 AM

There was a moment in one of the debates where Kasich was asked a question, and as he started responding I thought, hey, he actually has some good points! But then he just kept on talking... and talking... and talking... and the time ran out and the moderators tried to interrupt him, he kept going for like half a minute, and by the end of it I just wanted him to shut the fuck up. When he finally stopped talking he hadn't even really answered the question he was asked.

Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#110288: Jan 31st 2016 at 8:56:03 AM

Kasich supports the silliness of a balanced budget amendment, which disqualifies him in my eyes (had I a vote).

edited 31st Jan '16 9:01:43 AM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110289: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:01:55 AM

Being Republican is an automatic disqualification in my eyes. Even if they don't support some manner of BS I don't expect any of them to have the guts to not fold when the Tea Party tries to push through something incredibly destructive.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110290: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:22:33 AM

I dunno, Paul Ryan has managed to keep those fools in line to do some (relatively, which isn't saying much, but its something) good work with the White House. It's not an impossible task, especially for a mainstreamer.

[up][up]Eh, his record seems better than his rhetoric, though I agree that said rhetoric is bad. More importantly, he's pragmatic rather than ideological without being outright toxic a la Trump.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110291: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:24:43 AM

Isn't Paul Ryan the guy that wanted to privatize Social Security? That falls under "something that would be incredibly destructive".

edited 31st Jan '16 9:25:28 AM by Kostya

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110292: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:25:35 AM

He has a lot of bad personal policies, but as the current Speaker, he's been more useful than Boehner on his best day vis a vis the White House.

EDIT- You care more about what he states than what he does. Fine. I care more about what someone does over what they state.

EDIT 2- Also, Kasich is less personally toxic than Ryan, so it matters not.

edited 31st Jan '16 9:28:57 AM by FFShinra

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110293: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:28:52 AM

Why shouldn't I care about what he says? I have every reason to believe that he fully intends to do that and the only thing stopping him is the fact that Obama would veto such a proposal.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110294: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:29:58 AM

Thats what divided government is all about. Anyway, I'm not here to defend Ryan, I was only making the point that he keeps the Tea Party yahoos from shutting down government while actually letting some form of Obama's issues get completed.

edited 31st Jan '16 9:30:49 AM by FFShinra

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#110295: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:31:54 AM

Ryan was one of the darlings of the establishment despite having an economic playbook straight out of Sesame Street. The "magic asterisk" was coined to describe his budgets. He made his staffers read Atlas Shrugged and was a hardcore Randroid until someone pointed out that she was an atheist, at which point he said, "Oops!" and quietly dropped it.

He has blatant Presidential ambitions but accepted the Speaker nomination because he was literally the only choice anyone would accept. It's interesting that he's switched to what passes for pragmatism among Republicans since then. I guess he's more of a politician than an ideologue after all.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110296: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:37:06 AM

Look, I don't care how pragmatic any of them are. The Republicans have already lost control of the Tea Party loons. Trusting any of them when those same idiots control both houses of Congress is suicidal in my opinion. Even if they don't personally support the idiocy I'm sure they realize that their continued electability rests on not pushing too strongly against the tide.

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#110297: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:44:20 AM

Re: the last page and the Phoenix City Council.

The problem with trying to counteract religious trolls like the Satanists or the FSM Church (or others like the Dudists or the Jedi Knights) is that you can't block them while letting in the "serious" religions, because the trolls could easily sue and open up the whole can of worms on precisely what constitutes a sincerely-held religious belief, and the question of sincerity in faith is so muddy that courts could never allow it to be testable, (e.g. "Are you really Christian or are you just a misogynist hiding behind Christianity?") you have to let the trolls play, or they could ruin it for everyone.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#110298: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:57:10 AM

[up][up][up]Which is why I made the Ryan point in the first place. If he, of all people, can be pushed into some kind of pragmatism, Kasich, who already is pragmatic in both word and deed (save for the odd balanced budget madness comment), would be even easier to work with than Ryan, and be more willing to say no to the tea party (since he doesn't have to sit next to them day by day). Shit might actually get done.

[up][up]Sanders promises the moon and has no way of making that happen. Clinton is just as pragmatic as Kasich and Jeb. I don't see how letting perfect be the enemy of good gets you anywhere.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#110299: Jan 31st 2016 at 9:59:53 AM

Of course even the relative moderates in the GOP are likely to put reactionaries in the Supreme Court; which could set the US back decades on a lot of issues.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#110300: Jan 31st 2016 at 10:02:26 AM

[up][up]Clinton is a democrat and has alluded to more progressive views numerous times. I trust her far more to call the Tea Party on its BS than I do any of the Republican candidates. There's also the Supreme Court to think about.


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