Politics

[Zavon]

So, who are you voting for president catacombs and why?

[Wulf]

I'm voting for myself

[Mute]

Not sure, but until candidates start stating their opinion on important issues, Norska or Boxy could get my vote for President Catacombs.

[Zavon]

Yeah well cats is a dictatorship, run by the biggest dicks.

[Random Havoc]

Hmm, isn’t the manufactured dialectic between Dems and Pubs just another control of the system? Sort of like the war between humans and the machines in ‘The Matrix’.

I have historically supported the Republican side because of the ideas of limited government and free market enterprise, I am much more Libertarian in my social views, but 3rd party doesn’t have a chance. I will admit it is getting harder and harder to support the Republican side these days.

[Sillywilly]

Hmm, isn’t the manufactured dialectic between Dems and Pubs just another control of the system? Sort of like the war between humans and the machines in ‘The Matrix’.

That's pretty much what I've decided.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the current political game is one about keeping people in power based on their economic situation rather than their beliefs.

That being said I'll be voting for Mitt because I can't stand Obamas socialist, euro wanna be ass.

[Marou]

Democrat, Republican, they're both fascist police state puppets. This sums up my opinion on them. Lobbyists write all of our laws, bankers run our economy, corporations run our prisons and have occupancy agreements with states. Democracy has lost, game over. Maybe some day we'll have a benevolent emperor or *something* but until then we're pretty well fucked.

All voting in federal elections really accomplishes today, is signing up for jury duty.

[Dumah]

I am not voting, and absolutely love it when people dangle the argument of how many people died for my right to. Those same people also died for my right to shove a middle finger in the face of a broken system, for reasons mentioned above that I really can't put any better.

Edit: And my other favorite - "If you don't vote, you can't complain!" What better complaint is there than abstaining? Until we have a 0% voter turnout rate, or something similar, nobody's going to get the message, and these hyperinflated egos are going to keep getting our consent for doing what they do, because people just had to vote for somebody.

[ofrm1]

It doesn't matter who I vote for because my state is going to Obama.

That said, I'd vote for Obama because I despise Romney, not because I like Obama.

Would vote 3rd party in a second if I didn't have to worry about the possibility of the lesser or two evils losing to someone who wants to destroy social services, provide more tax cuts to the 1%, and has flip-flopped on virtually every issue possible.

[Andile™]

I'm voting for myself

Two votes for Wulf - best poster in the history of my profile page.

[Boxy Brown]

I'm voting for Obama because in Florida it will actually matter.

[Valec]

Romney is terrible and if you think he isn't you should feel terrible.

[Mute]

Romney is terrible and if you think he isn't you should feel terrible.

I lol'd







cause its true

[Marou]

Romney is terrible and if you think he isn't you should feel terrible.

Obama is like Bush's grown up black brother, and if you think differently you're ignorant. Romney isn't good either, but being unable to have the worst civil liberties record for any recent president, he's better in that field than Obama.

[Ziel]

The rest of the world would much appreciate it if you'd all vote for Ob-...not vote for Romney. We really don't think we could cope with America having another republican president just yet.

[Valec]

Obama is like Bush's grown up black brother, and if you think differently you're ignorant. Romney isn't good either, but being unable to have the worst civil liberties record for any recent president, he's better in that field than Obama.

I'm just going to say no here. This is like comparing people you don't like to nazis. Just no, Marou. No.

[dr.wang]

Are you saying that comparing anyone to Bush is like comparing someone to the Nazis? What kind of shit is that, way to Godwin this topic.

[Sillywilly]

I'm just going to say no here. This is like comparing people you don't like to nazis. Just no, Marou. No.

Uh I think Marou's point is that Bush was heckled by the queers and abortionists, the... and ok the god damn liberals for short, because he was "eroding" our freedoms with the Patriot Act etc, yet Obama is being praised for doing the exact damn things just in a different area.

Obama has less respect for our rights as individuals, much less states rights than ANY other president we've had to date so there's really no point in talking shit about Bush and his anti-civil liberty policies if you're voting for Dictator Obama.

The rest of the world would much appreciate it if you'd all vote for Ob-...not vote for Romney. We really don't think we could cope with America having another republican president just yet.

Does the rest of the world have over half of the worlds top 50 universities, 3 times as many nobel prizes as any other nation or have they put 12 men on the moon?

Don't be mad if we pass on "the rest of the worlds" opinion.

[Ziel]

Does the rest of the world have over half of the worlds top 50 universities, 3 times as many nobel prizes as any other nation or have they put 12 men on the moon?

Don't be mad if we pass on "the rest of the worlds" opinion.

Oh shit, please, I urge you all to vote Romney then. I wouldn't have said anything if I'd known he was responsible for all that.

[Alex Mars]

I would have voted for Huntsman but a rational, educated Republican never had a chance to get to the general election, so I will be voting against Romney

[Sillywilly]

Oh shit, please, I urge you all to vote Romney then. I wouldn't have said anything if I'd known he was responsible for all that.

I'm not sure how you're trying to relate what I said to a specific candidate. I was merely stating that non-Americans are spoon fed mindless retards that only know what their heavily regulated and biased media tells them and therefore their stupid opinions are invalid.

[Bragi]

Hmm, isn’t the manufactured dialectic between Dems and Pubs just another control of the system?

Wrong. Well, not wrong, just cynical.

I don't have time to go into it in great detail, but Duverger's Law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law.

That wiki article is a good enough summary. Essentially, the two party system in America is a natural byproduct of our electoral system. I've argued in favor of changing our electoral system to PR for years now. It'll never happen, of course. He was talking specifically about legislative systems, but it applies to presidential systems as well (as you are essentially casting one ballot for one candidate to fill one seat for one "at-large" district).

As for myself, I'm not voting this year. Partly because of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_voting. But mostly because, although I generally support the Democratic party and I like President Obama (especially on foreign policy, which is my thing), the fact and manner in which they included changing recognition of Israel's capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the official party platform sickened me. So I'm not voting this year.

That doesn't mean that I don't want Obama to win, I do; but he'll win or lose without my vote (I live in Texas, see the paradox of voting article above). Romney's foreign policy team are the same neocon hacks that got us into Iraq and Afghanistan and are chomping at the bit to take us into Iran. I've spilled enough digital ink on that topic already.

Does the rest of the world have over half of the worlds top 50 universities, 3 times as many nobel prizes as any other nation or have they put 12 men on the moon?

One could argue that these achievements were the result of the kind of investment in society President Obama has been arguing for over the course of his first term. One could also point out that we haven't been back to the Moon in 40 years, and that, given the state of decay in our primary and secondary education markets, along with the decline in accessibility to college for first-time and working-class students that things such as reduced Pell grants will result in, that in time, America will not have so many top universities.

In other words, we owe our hegemony not only to the massive contributions of entrepreneurs operating in our mixed-market economy, but also to direct state intervention in the economy in the form of redistributive policies designed to stabilize the market and protect it from the wild oscillations that, in the time between the mid-19th through early 20th-centuries caused numerous "panics," or as we call them now, recessions (including the Great Depression) while also allowing for easier and greater upward mobility. The kind of investment that, if you're anywhere from the age of ~40-70, benefited you directly and the most.

And let's not forget about all of the help that the federal government provides to entrepreneurs and small business owners, such as tax incentives, grants, and loans (or as I like to call it, "state intervention in the economy" because that's what it is). Not to mention the massive investment in infrastructure and services such as roads, sewage, police, and fire, that make starting and maintaining a business so much easier. An investment that needs to be renewed every few decades. The gall that some people have (http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/0...uild-that-loan) in regard to this topic is staggering.

Don't be mad if we pass on "the rest of the worlds" opinion.

This is the kind of arrogant thinking that squandered the world's good will toward the United States following 9/11, and makes dealing with states such as Syria and Iran much more difficult than it needs to be.

[ofrm1]

In other words, we owe our hegemony not only to the massive contributions of entrepreneurs operating in our mixed-market economy, but also to direct state intervention in the economy in the form of redistributive policies designed to stabilize the market and protect it from the wild oscillations that, in the time between the mid-19th through early 20th-centuries caused numerous "panics," or as we call them now, recessions (including the Great Depression) while also allowing for easier and greater upward mobility.

Business cycles exist? Blasphemy.

[Sillywilly]

This is the kind of arrogant thinking that squandered the world's good will toward the United States following 9/11, and makes dealing with states such as Syria and Iran much more difficult than it needs to be.

Bullshit. You're just one of those typical apologetic little pussies that likes saying "thank you sir may I have another" because it's easier than showing some balls.

Europeans, the people most overly opinionated about the what the US does are more ignorant, uneducated and more biased in their thinking that most of America could ever be. Most don't have access to as many news programs as we do, most have access to programs that receive direct funding and thus censorship by their government, and as one mildly intelligent Norwegian school principle put it "most don't know 99% of the internet is bullshit".

I wish I had a nickel for every "America is run by the Jewish Illuminati" and "Bush is in a Satanic cult" (actually ran in a Norwegian newspaper), etc. I've asked Europeans time and time again (Norwegian, Swedish, Lith, Polish, British) and none have ever been able to provide me with something I have not heard before in America. Apparently if we don't believe it in America (we bought all our space race technology on the black market) then it's because we haven't heard about it, not because we are smart enough to ignore most of what appears on the front page of area51forums.net.

I'm yet to meet an American who has lived in Europe that hasn't realized this and I'm yet to meet a foreigner that lived in the U.S. that doesn't either admit it or come up with some crazy bullshit conspiracy theory about how America is in control of the entire worlds media.

You're plain and simple being a submissive little bitch because you're a coward or a retard. Pick your poison.

[Bragi]

Business cycles exist? Blasphemy.

It's not about whether or not business cycles exist. It's about creating conditions for stable growth and limiting the deleterious effects of negative growth. Things like high inflation and unemployment, moral hazards, and loss of liquidity and credit. So that when a bubble does burst, the entire economy doesn't fall apart.

Silly, when you're ready to discuss things like an adult, I'll be here. I look forward to a long wait.