Donald Trump

[Papsmear]

I just read a quick synopsis of the SOTU speech.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned it in this thread yet.

[peet]

QUOTE (Papsmear @ Feb 6 2019, 04:13 PM) I just read a quick synopsis of the SOTU speech.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned it in this thread yet.

[SumVeritas]

QUOTE (minigun @ Feb 6 2019, 09:40 AM) I'm not a die hard Republican but when it comes to money and power and everyone enjoying it, no matter how much you get of it...well I just look at what trump is doing then I look at what maduro is doing.

and then you realize they're pretty much the same thing. Thiefs in chief.
The difference of course is the US has stronger institutions and a diversified economy, while Venezuela is, was and forever will be a $#@!ing dumpster, trust me, i'm southamerican and it was a @#(!hole before and it'll be @#(!hole after.

About liberalism, i understand the confusion, after all, the US doesn't really have a left, and the Republican party has become more or less an envagelical integrist one, much like any political force in a theocratic country (think Saudi Arabia). Again, the difference is not that evangelism is better, it's just that the institutions (created and developed by liberal thinkers, your hallowed founding fathers), are strong enough too keep checks on that stupid in you.

So yeah, you don't like liberals, because you don't like rights (nor the responsabilities that come attached to them and the fact that everyone has them, regardless if they're elzam or otherwise).

[zombywoof]

QUOTE (Papsmear @ Feb 6 2019, 07:13 AM) I just read a quick synopsis of the SOTU speech.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned it in this thread yet.

Not much to say. SOTU is a waste of time. I've never really paid attention to it before and I'll probably never pay attention to it again. It's basically a fluff PR speech for the US government so the guy in charge can be like "everything is awesome."

About the only thing that I'm amused by was a single picture of Nancy Pelosi and Trump. But I know who Trump is and I know what he's going to be doing for the next few months. About the only political mystery left is whether or not Mueller's going to be able to end this presidency. Otherwise, I'm ready for the 2020 primaries.

I'm also enjoying how metz is consistently open and honest about his racism. He also has a level of homophobia I've only seen in the sort of church minister who eventually gets outed as soliciting sex in bathrooms from other men.

Finally, minigun, just because I point out your not-so-well-hidden racism doesn't mean I hate America or think it's doing poorly. Quite the contrary: I'm fairly consistent in stating that living in America is generally better than living anywhere else. The exceptions to that rule are places like Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. What probably has you confused is that I feel free and able to criticize the things that I like and love. I do that because I want those things to get better. If you're content standing still, you'll never get anywhere.

[cashto]

I'm always amused how people think P1 and I are leftists. Ask us about Bernie Sanders some time.

You would also think redcaps would get accused of hating America at least half as often as we do. Isn't MAGA an outright admission that American isn't very great right now?

If Metz lived 150 years ago I'm positive he'd think abolition is a libtard idea. Can't you just see the races are different? And even if they aren't, isn't it just stupid of us as whites to lift the foot off the slaves' necks? Maybe given another 150 years he'll see people aren't so different just because they're born under different skies.

[sunrodent]

uhnnn, how come no one is yet talking about the fact that they sang Happy Birthday, which is a copy righted song. Can't they be sued?

[badpazzword]

Because that's really dumb

[sunrodent]

QUOTE (badp @ Feb 6 2019, 05:26 PM) Because that's really dumb

ya i know it's dumb however when star Citizen staff sang happy birthday for a staff member they had to pull to video because of the song. Fact.

[zombywoof]

QUOTE (cashto @ Feb 6 2019, 01:11 PM) I'm always amused how people think P1 and I are leftists. Ask us about Bernie Sanders some time.

Well my objection to Sanders is more that I find him ineffectual and insincere. I'm pretty far on the left. The main difference between myself and what most people call a "leftist" is that I think most of the things a "leftist" government would do are things that should just naturally arise from community action.

I believe the purpose of government is twofold, the first role of government is to protect its constituent communities from external threats, and the second role of government is to organize and administrate large scale community-level projects. To me, a democratic government is just an agreement by its citizens to work together to create a society in which everyone has enough to survive. That's pretty $#@!ing leftist and is basically just communism. Where I diverge from communism is that I a) don't think that warfare can achieve these goals, and b) don't believe in linearity of thought. Diverse perspectives are important simply because you can't know what's hurting me unless I tell you and you listen.

To that end I tend to look like a liberal capitalist because I don't actually give a flying $#@! what the tax rates are, who has megayachts, or what the computer market looks like, and I vastly prefer working within an agreed-upon framework for solving problems to outright revolution. I genuinely believe in the version of the Founding Fathers vision that I was taught: that we can create a government that does all that preamble @#(! for literally everyone all at the same time, and that in doing so we have to recognize that there are certain rights and aspects of existence that we should be guaranteeing to citizens.

I actually think a representative democracy works great, and that a version of the electoral college is an ideal way to elect an administrator. I think that a bicameral legislature is an interesting idea that's perhaps outmoded. I have several ideas for ways that I would amend the constitution to tweak the system to be more representative of the demographics of the nation.

By the way, SumV, yes I know you're going to go all "well leftist means that authority flows from community and not the individual therefore you aren't leftist you ignorant yank" but that argument is $#@!ing dumb for two reasons:

1) Any authority which flows from the community has to be agreed upon by members of the community because there is no community without individual constituent members. An idea cannot exist without someone having that idea. Therefore, community ideas are ideas that are shared by members of the community.

2) I'm expressly suggesting here that communal authority is more important than individual authority in the cases where the individual interacts with the community. I am only denying communal authority in cases where there is no (or negligible) interaction with the community. I don't really care if Metz is racist. I care if Metz attacks someone.

I would also argue that if revolution is truly viable, then revolution in a democratic system is unnecessary, because in order for a revolution to be viable it must necessarily have a majority backing it.

[badpazzword]

All I'm saying is y'all should try having basic civilization things like universal healthcare or uh retirement pension or like a proper work life balance

You could start small, like, for example, running drinkable water. I hear that's still a problem in flint