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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2015 10:12:39 GMT -5
Happy November! We're a little over a year from the presidential elections, and some months from the primaries. This will be my first time voting for a president, which is exciting, but...somewhat disappointing. For those not in the know, there are a lot of candidates on the Republican side, at least three of whom are political outsiders. Not so much with the Democrats, who have four officially, two of whom have gained traction. The most popular candidates on the Republican side, according to the polls, include Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and a bunch of other guys. As for the Democrats, there's Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the latter being kind of an outsider, at least ideology-wise. Issues on the docket range from immigration to the economy to foreign policy to abortion.
In other words, there's a lot going on, and we're barely in the primaries. xD Some questions:
What do you consider to be the most central issues, domestically or internationally?
What do you believe makes a strong presidential candidate, and who best embodies this?
How do you feel about the variety (or lack thereof) of candidates on either side?
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Post by Zoey on Mar 28, 2016 16:04:40 GMT -5
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Mar 28, 2016 18:31:32 GMT -5
Zoey- That gif that you posted pretty much sums up what's going on, especially on the Republican side. I'm no American, but because I live in an area that's close, I'm pretty much bombarded by American politics.
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Post by Geodude 🌻 on May 4, 2016 20:54:05 GMT -5
Lord Kass > Trump
No wait....
Kass + The Darkest Faerie + Xandra + Ylana + Dark Faerie Sisters + Jhudora + Sloth + Hubrid Nox + The Drenched > Trump
I think we're at a point where no matter who wins, I think we'll have a Congress that's going to make life difficult for any of the remaining candidates. I don't think Sanders can get all of his proposals through Congress. I don't think Trump or Clinton will be able to either. If Trump ends up winning, I might actually hope for a "do-nothing" Congress...
Free college seems quite a bit radical and costly. Raising taxes on the wealthy in America is rather hard when the wealthy class pays off the politicians.
I don't think Trump can build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. I doubt he's going to be able to kick out the amount of people he says he wants to kick out.
Hillary? I'm not quite sure if she will change many things... maybe she'll be able to push Equal Pay or paid family leave.
I'm still kinda disillusioned with politics now with the changing climate. Apologies if I'm no longer making any sense...
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on May 5, 2016 7:52:59 GMT -5
Yeah, Trump's policies are a bit extreme (actually, that's an understatement). Banning all Muslims? Ouch. Not only is he disillusioning that group, but what about those already living in America, or born on American soil. Is he going to deport them back?
Another policy that I've been hearing recently is that if he's in office, he'll repeal NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). If he does that, not only is he burning bridges, that action alone will probably set back relations between Canada and Mexico (by how much, I'm not sure), their closest trading partners.
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Post by Geodude 🌻 on May 5, 2016 18:21:24 GMT -5
I think NAFTA is what Trump wants to use to threaten Mexico if they don't pay for his wall...good luck with that Mr. Trump. You can't just totally quit cold turkey on a deal that's been in place for years. For someone that supposedly is a "dealmaker," such a mistake makes him look like an amateur. I feel like Trump thinks he's going to just waltz in and snap his fingers and everyone will just agree with him. Also: www.yahoo.com/news/house-speaker-paul-ryan-refuses-back-donald-trump-201610228--election.htmlFight! Fight! Fight! A house divided against itself cannot stand. Such irony that Abe Lincoln's party has become such a hot, divided mess (yes I do understand the political parties shifted their ideologies drastically during FDR's presidency, but still ironic). |
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Post by M is for Morphine on May 6, 2016 10:40:29 GMT -5
Every time I see the thread title I think "How about not" which sums up my feelings pretty well.
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Post by Geodude 🌻 on May 6, 2016 13:02:01 GMT -5
Every time I see the thread title I think "How about not" which sums up my feelings pretty well. Well the date this thread was created, nobody in the world would have thought the Grand Old Party would choose who they chose this week. |
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Post by M is for Morphine on May 6, 2016 13:27:22 GMT -5
Every time I see the thread title I think "How about not" which sums up my feelings pretty well. Well the date this thread was created, nobody in the world would have thought the Grand Old Party would choose who they chose this week. I felt the same way when it was created, tbh. It felt too rude to say when there were no posts. But now I think it's a shared sentiment. Edit: that said, kudos to Nat for trying to be politically active and engaged. I do intend to vote no matter the candidates, because voter apathy is how we got this garbage congress in the first place. |
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Post by Geodude 🌻 on May 6, 2016 16:03:01 GMT -5
I came here to break the ice since the thread was relatively quiet. The political discourse in the media is pretty toxic and I wanted to get away from all that. I wish this was an election about policies but now it's a circus, especially when the frontrunner of the GOP (I'm not referring to him by name anymore) has repeatedly condoned violence over discourse.
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Post by Breakingchains on May 6, 2016 21:43:32 GMT -5
It kinda... interests me that this particular election is so polarized. The two biggest movers and shakers have been an open socialist and a noisy near-fascist--it seems being anywhere near middle ground is sorely out of fashion at the moment.
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Post by Geodude 🌻 on May 7, 2016 8:33:47 GMT -5
Hillary Clinton is your de-facto middle ground. However, it would not surprise me too much if the FBI found something in her emails. Yes, I would be a little surprised but this election has given me plenty of surprises already.
In the grand scheme of things, emails aren't a huge deal to me although I don't think it was a particularly good decision. I would lose my job if I refused to use my provided work email to talk about work things.
As a techie, I don't have any faith that our Congress people (or some government officials) know anything about tech policy. Instead, they draft garbage like SOPA. So a bad tech decision? Eh, I almost expect it to happen.
I don't expect all of Congress to become software engineers lol. I do expect them to consult industry experts and listen to them.
Just like how I expect them to consult with scientists on topics like climate change. I hate this "I'm not a scientist and I won't listen to any scientists because my fossil fuel industry 'donation' will dry up!" junk. A whole city in Canada is going up in flames and all you care about is your political "donation."
Okay...maybe I should step away from politics. Lol. I'm getting too riled up.
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Post by Yoyti on May 7, 2016 16:32:12 GMT -5
This election has become so polarized that it's hard to focus on what the candidates' actual positions are. For a period of time I was actually considering that I might actually like Kasich because even though I agree with basically none of his positions, he seemed like he'd be the most willing to compromise and work with both parties. Unfortunately, when the campaign becomes a shouting match, staying calm and civil and trying to compromise doesn't exactly help.
Michael Bloomberg said he isn't going to run because he felt that if he ran as an independent he'd split the moderate vote and give the victory to Trump. While I understand this reasoning, and I don't really want a President Bloomberg, a little bit of me is still secretly hoping for him to change his mind and ride in on a white stallion to save the day.
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Post by Breakingchains on May 7, 2016 17:11:58 GMT -5
Hillary Clinton is your de-facto middle ground. Which kinda furthers the point--she's the one almost nobody is excited about. xD; She's just widely seen as more electable, and therefore might be the only option for damage control in this whole circus. (It's gonna be a bonkers 4-8 years regardless.) |
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Post by Reiqua on May 7, 2016 17:33:16 GMT -5
Sitting here in Australia, you might think American politics have little to do with me. Normally I don't manage more than a vague interest in the American elections... (Lots of Aussies aren't very politically minded. I've heard it said we're one of the most politically apathetic developed countries - probably because voting is compulsory for us so it's never feels like a privilege, lol!) But yeah, this time I do have opinions... Mostly I figure that America will just go on being America, regardless of what president they choose... But this time... Well, we'll see how you guys vote  |
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