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Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#186326: May 2nd 2017 at 6:07:31 PM

[up][up][up] and [up][up][up][up]I would agree, and those are issues that deeply need to be fixed, but I think understanding the difference between the statistical observation that Republicans and hardcore Trump voters tend to have much higher negative views on racial minorities is different from black listing them all as unsalvageable racists.

Plus, part of stuff like this is that a lot of them just don't think the people in question will actually do what they do. I talked to a Trump voter who bet a lot on the people around him being able to reign him in. That seems to be a lot of them.

I never said we should blacklist them. I just want, in a vague idealistic sense, them to understand that we're all in this together, and that ultimately everyone relies on the goodwill of their neighbors. That's the human condition. I don't hate them, I just want them to stop hating me.

edited 2nd May '17 6:07:47 PM by Clarste

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#186328: May 2nd 2017 at 6:11:02 PM

I think Madskillz is proposing essentially reforming our 50 states for half a dozen or so larger states.

I'll be in cold grave before I share a superstate with Oregon though.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186329: May 2nd 2017 at 6:12:07 PM

Like Canada and its giant provinces and territories?

edited 2nd May '17 6:12:49 PM by LSBK

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#186330: May 2nd 2017 at 6:13:43 PM

Canada has a lot fewer people which makes the idea more practical. California already has almost 40 million people. No way could a state sustain itself if it had to cover an even larger area and deal with even more people.

edit: It could work better for the Midwest states but that would also mean the entire region would only get two senators which just seems like a way of taking away their power.

edited 2nd May '17 6:14:24 PM by Kostya

Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#186331: May 2nd 2017 at 6:15:17 PM

My understanding is that Canada is mostly empty though, with the vast majority of its population essentially hugging the southern border. Not that parts of the USA aren't also empty, but the giant provinces don't really mean all that much in Canada.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186332: May 2nd 2017 at 6:16:11 PM

Speaking of power and representing people, I'm sort of surprised we don't here more about undoing the cap on the number of districts in the House of Representatives.

ViperMagnum357 Since: Mar, 2012
#186333: May 2nd 2017 at 6:24:22 PM

[up]We did, back in November. That would be one of the few things that would unite the Republicans, since it would decisively tip the scales away from them and go a long way towards countering their state level gerrymandering.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#186334: May 2nd 2017 at 6:31:45 PM

something that we should consider, Trump is a conman. People were conned into thinking that he cared about them, that he would help them. To quote the man himself, "what do you have to loose by trying Trump."

The last thing we should be doing is dismissing the conserns of a large population of the country, regardless of your personal beliefs. This just makes things worse.

edited 2nd May '17 6:35:21 PM by megaeliz

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#186335: May 2nd 2017 at 6:37:32 PM

Except democrats aren't dismissing their concerns. We're just getting fed up with them whining after they intentionally sabotage their future.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186336: May 2nd 2017 at 6:40:22 PM

I mean, Clarste was being pretty dismissive. And saying "intentionally sabotage" implies they don't actually think Republican policy will work. They're wrong but it's not intentional. It's due to terrible media and cultural values being warped and applied in situations they really shouldn't.

Like I said before, I have a hard time taking that personally when being low-information is hardly just a Republican Party thing. Many average Democrats just vote for things because they sound good, it just so happens that what sounds good to Democrats also tends to be more economically sound.

edited 2nd May '17 7:44:50 PM by LSBK

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#186337: May 2nd 2017 at 6:41:28 PM

By "intentionally sabotage" I think he means they willingly vote for people that call for cutting taxes on the rich and slashing social programs. That's as close to intentionally sabotaging your future as you can get.

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#186338: May 2nd 2017 at 6:42:43 PM

Correction: everyone's future.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#186339: May 2nd 2017 at 6:42:44 PM

The giant provinces and territories is kind of a side effect of the way they formed in the first place. It wasn't like the US where most of the States were independent entities that eventually joined and the rest were areas that were incorporated as the people moved West.

In Canada, the Maritime provinces (the small ones) were formed essentially the same way as the original 13 American colonies, with the exception of Nova Scotia, as that was the core of a French colony called Acadia first. Fun fact: Acadia actually included what is now Maine. The Acadians were kicked out and eventually settled New Orleans, becoming the Cajuns. Quebec was settled as a French colony called Lower Canada and was sold to the British who had settled Ontario, called Upper Canada, by that point. Eventually the British went around the other way and settled British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, but not before handing pretty much everything except Alaska and the Yukon to the Hudson's Bay Company, calling all of it the Northwest Territories. Over time, the Northwest Territories were carved away and made into provinces, being taken away from the Hudson's Bay Company in the process. The most recent example of this was the creation of Nunavut in 1999. So, the Northwest Territories in the middle of the north part of Canada wasn't really a formal thing, it's just kind of what's left of the original Northwest Territories.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186340: May 2nd 2017 at 6:44:23 PM

[up][up][up]...Weren't you the one who said that? Anyway, I get the frustration, but I edited my post to explain why I can't really take it so personally.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#186341: May 2nd 2017 at 6:46:33 PM

Yes, that was me. I forgot. Either way that's what I mean. They bitch and moan about how their lives are so hard and nobody cares about them while spending the past few decades voting against their own interests and treating the Democrats as the devil incarnate. Frankly I think we're within our rights to throw up our hands and let them rot.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186342: May 2nd 2017 at 6:48:32 PM

That's not how functioning countries/democracies work.

RAlexa21th Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer from California (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I <3 love!
Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer
#186343: May 2nd 2017 at 6:49:00 PM

[up]It's not like it will work either way.

Continue writing our story of peace.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#186344: May 2nd 2017 at 6:50:23 PM

That things aren't perfect isn't an excuse to let them get worse.

edited 2nd May '17 6:52:33 PM by LSBK

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#186345: May 2nd 2017 at 6:51:14 PM

I agree, which is why I'm not saying we actually do that. I just think there's nothing wrong with expressing frustration about these things.

RAlexa21th Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer from California (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I <3 love!
Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer
#186346: May 2nd 2017 at 6:52:02 PM

If it refuses to get better, may as well try something else.

Continue writing our story of peace.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#186347: May 2nd 2017 at 6:52:08 PM

These people are your countrymen whether you like it or not.

RAlexa21th Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer from California (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I <3 love!
Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer
#186348: May 2nd 2017 at 6:52:52 PM

Arbitrary categories. I'm an internationlist.

edited 2nd May '17 6:53:53 PM by RAlexa21th

Continue writing our story of peace.
TrashJack Confirmed Doomer from beyond the Despair Event Horizon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Confirmed Doomer
#186349: May 2nd 2017 at 6:53:26 PM

[up][up] They sure don't act like it. Far as they're concerned, we're a bunch of Satan-worshiping baby-killers out to destroy everything they know and love.

edited 2nd May '17 6:53:42 PM by TrashJack

"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary
RAlexa21th Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer from California (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I <3 love!
Zettai Ryouiki Enjoyer
#186350: May 2nd 2017 at 6:54:22 PM

[up]They are right. The last part, I mean.

Continue writing our story of peace.

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