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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Depends on the old people in Question.
Basically all the worst parts of the Culture clash are from the GOP people that ended up being pissed off after the Democrats ended up becoming the equivalent of the Party of Lincoln republicans during the 60s, being all for the civil rights of minorties under JFK, and the GOP turned into the modern Day Federalist party in response (IE, the party that almost destroyed the US as soon as it became a thing through the Alien and Sedition Acts, which in turned caused them to be destroyed after Thomas Jefferson won against John Adams).
Watch SymphogearCalling the GOP of today the modern-day Federalist Party is an insult to that party's memory, seeing as John Adams probably saved the early US from getting embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars and Thomas Jefferson himself had supervillainesque designs on annexing Canada.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."True, but the Alien and Sedition acts themselves expired in less then 2 years for a reason. Being jailed just for criticizing the government is very totalitarian in itself.
Watch Symphogear
x7
I seem to remember that the baby boomers are an anomalous generation that have managed to increase their consumption all the way through their life-cycle rather than have the usual parabolic shape where it drops off during old-age, and they mostly did that by pressing down the consumption curves of the later generations. Amass assets in the late 60s/early seventies, have the corresponding debts inflated out of existence during the late seventies, murder the inflation during the eighties, beat down on anything remotely resembling demand-side policy for the next forty years and make sure the house prices keep rising.
Sure, obviously not all of them benefited from that, but as an aggregate the boomers have certainly scrambled up the ladder and then pulled it up after them, and they will keep doing that as long as old people vote disproportionately often and politicians of all stripes have to pander to them.
Remember that Cancer Moonshot thing Biden got passed? Benefits older people at higher cancer risk a lot more, they took half the money from general preventative care which provides more benefit to the young. This is not even a partisan thing half the time, there's a reason social security is sacrosanct and the pension funds must never take a loss ever while the right is cutting everything else.
...now seriously. I'm sure that someone actually tried it.
Now for a serious question. Someone see the possibility of a better Right Wing in the future? Is boring have everyone decent being forced to vote the same thing all the time.
edited 25th Jun '18 8:33:08 AM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my country
How? Trump's most enthusiastic age group in his base are 60+ years old (IIRC).
But yes giving more power to the state's is a terrible idea in that they tend to be corrupt and bigoted, defacto unitary government is the way to go.
edited 25th Jun '18 9:10:13 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangA unitary government structure in a country as big and diverse as the US is a terrible idea. A (relatively) simpler solution is do away with or heavily modify the 10th Amendment (honestly, I'd prefer to see that one gone over the 2nd, if it was a choice of only one Amendment), and establish strong federal human and civil rights law (ideally enshrined in the Constitution) that the states cannot override or evade.
edited 25th Jun '18 9:18:31 AM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
I disagree, I see no reason that size or diversity makes a unitary government nonviable. We aren't in the 19th century any more, communication lag and organizational efficiency are rather different.
I don't think a unitary government would be nonviable, per se, just very chaotic. We'd need to delegate a lot to keep everything running, which would just end up giving us something like what we have now.
Having administrative regions makes sense for large and populous countries, and the states are essentially that. Some tweaking of their authority is obviously called for, but the idea is sound.
They should have sent a poet.
Unitary government does not mean that administrative regions do not exist, it means that they do not have delusions of psuedo-sovereignty like they do now and are beholden to the central government.
Honestly, the sheer incompetence of the Trump administration will probably put us on the path to looking like a republican version of the Holy Roman Empire than towards a more unitary model. Trump is like a personification of every institutional flaw in the American system, and in particular, how dangerous it is to give the reins to an idiot. Since we're assuredly going to elect more idiots to the White House in the future, we're probably going to have to look to governors more and more for sensible policy.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Well this is a horrifyingly bad idea, local governments are shit and the idea that we would give them more power as a response to Trump acting exactly like them is a horrifying thought.
Still, on the bright side I could easily imagine things going in the opposite direction. People wanting government to actually do something and help people (i.e more centralization) because Trump is so blatantly doing the opposite.
edited 25th Jun '18 10:33:34 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
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I think it's just a matter of relative power. A country like the US probably needs stronger local governments than a small European country. We have pretty diverse populations and regions, so we need local governments that are able to adapt to a degree.
They shouldn't be as strong as they are now, I agree.
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It's thought that the Holy Roman Empire had 1500 or more individual states within it. Let's try not to do that to the US.
edited 25th Jun '18 10:42:33 AM by archonspeaks
They should have sent a poet.![]()
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I don't really think that's preferable under the circumstances. Until we can free our institutions from the reactionary yoke, devising policy in state houses that are closer to home is really the best option.
edited 25th Jun '18 10:43:24 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."Considering the amount of fundies, evangelicals and people that tend to make religion look bad in general in the GOP and their bases, I'm certain that looking like the Holy Roman Republic might actually be their goal. Why else would they be called Republicans?
This argument could be used against literally any kind of government power and has been.
It's a terrible idea that will only make our country worse.
edited 25th Jun '18 10:47:51 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangThe thing we need to get rid of is the idea that states have "rights," and enshrine in law that the federal government can come in and topple state governments that don't obey federal rules. Beyond that, a federal system is necessary.
To clarify the difference between a federal and unitary system, I'd rather still have state governments elected at a state level, providing that they haven't been suspended by the federal government. Yes, that means that Texas gets to elect Rick Perry, and so long as Rick Perry abides by Democratic-written EPA regs, there won't be a problem. If he doesn't, there can be federal heat dropped on all involved.
edited 25th Jun '18 10:53:06 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

Also. Most of the Dems opossing the GOP are old too. I'd still call Grandma to Hillary.
The GOP is bad, but Old People aren't really worse than anyone else.
edited 25th Jun '18 7:14:26 AM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my country